Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Map 1 Medieval Europe showing locations of principal play-texts and records cited in this study
- Map 2 Enlargement of central area showing locations of liturgical and feast-day plays as defined in chapter 1
- Map 3 Enlargement of central area showing locations of civic and community plays as defined in chapter 2
- Introduction: Christian Europe and the Play of God
- PART ONE THE THEATRICAL COMMUNITY
- PART TWO THE THEATRICAL TEXT
- 4 Creation and Fall
- 5 The Covenant and the Kingdom
- 6 Prophets and precursors of Redemption
- 7 The Birth and childhood of Jesus
- 8 The public life of Jesus
- 9 The Passion and Resurrection
- 10 Pentecost to Judgement
- Conclusion: survival and revival
- Appendix: the liturgical context of the plays
- Notes
- Bibliographical index of plays
- Performance records and references
- General bibliography
- Index
9 - The Passion and Resurrection
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Map 1 Medieval Europe showing locations of principal play-texts and records cited in this study
- Map 2 Enlargement of central area showing locations of liturgical and feast-day plays as defined in chapter 1
- Map 3 Enlargement of central area showing locations of civic and community plays as defined in chapter 2
- Introduction: Christian Europe and the Play of God
- PART ONE THE THEATRICAL COMMUNITY
- PART TWO THE THEATRICAL TEXT
- 4 Creation and Fall
- 5 The Covenant and the Kingdom
- 6 Prophets and precursors of Redemption
- 7 The Birth and childhood of Jesus
- 8 The public life of Jesus
- 9 The Passion and Resurrection
- 10 Pentecost to Judgement
- Conclusion: survival and revival
- Appendix: the liturgical context of the plays
- Notes
- Bibliographical index of plays
- Performance records and references
- General bibliography
- Index
Summary
We bring before your eyes, as best we can, corporeally, played out by men, this mirror of devotion so that you may look in it and humbly reflect on it.
(Gréban, 267)The events of Holy Week culminating in the Resurrection on Easter Day were dramatised innumerable times in the Middle Ages. Although I have tried to mention all the recorded or published vernacular texts, references to particular motifs are not comprehensive unless specifically stated. A number of the more unusual details and variants are also described.
THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM
On Palm Sunday, the gospel account of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem was read at the beginning of Mass before the procession during which the Palm Sunday anthems took up and amplified the gospel accounts. A number of plays include a scene of the disciples being sent to fetch the ass. There is often a keeper of some kind (Luke 19: 34 refers to the owners) who only allows them to take the ass when he knows ‘the Lord hath need of him’. In Ordinalia, I 239 the keeper hands the ass over willingly when he knows who it is for, and wishes it were worth ‘a thousand pounds in good red gold to Jesus’ whereas in Arras 123 he begins by calling them thieves and says they should have come by night to steal it.
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- Information
- The Biblical Drama of Medieval Europe , pp. 126 - 143Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995