Medieval%20Drama%20and%20Lay%20Piety

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Title: Medieval%20Drama%20and%20Lay%20Piety

1
Medieval Drama and Lay Piety

Place of medieval drama in history of European
drama
no connection to Classical drama
not entertainment
not money-making
begins as liturgy or ritual
Amalarius, bishop of Metz (before 850) begins
dramatizing liturgical moments, i.e.. Elevation
of the host
supports religious values and practices
earliest dramatized liturgy reenacts the Passion
and the Resurrectionthe Easter story

The medieval audience Why did they find these
dramas so powerful?
Nonliterary representation of the news of
salvation for mostly illiterate folks
Use humor and pathos as lures to invite audience
into religion
Complex theological and philosophical issues
presented as narratives
Took advantage of medievals sense of time as
more circular than linear to present all of
Biblical history, especially salvation history as
contemporary

3
How are these dramas attuned to the medievals
piety?

Forgiveness and salvation are continually
available to the penitent.
Social standing no obstacle to salvation.
Previous wrongdoing no obstacle to salvation.
Jesus is always present, even in Old Testament
moments.
All of Biblical history seen as leading to the
present Christian era, which allows salvation to
all.
Jesus returns again and again, as in the
Eucharist.

4
Cyclical Linear Time in the Modern Age

Moderns tend to emphasize linear time over
cyclical time
we celebrate birthdays, reunions, anniversaries,
New Years
age-based groupings are very important to us
tots, teens, etc.
heating, AC, and travel enable us to escape the
worst of seasons.
we think of history as teleological
living in the present is not our strength
instead we imagine the future and obsess about
the past.

5
Cyclical Linear Time in Medieval Age

Medievals tend to emphasize cyclical time over
linear time
almost everyone involved in agriculture
documents dated by Church calendar and kings
reign, for example on Michaelmas in the third
year of the reign of . . .
celebrations of Church feast days, not of
personal milestones
see themselves as living in the Christian era,
the time between the Incarnation and the Second
Coming, when salvation is possible

6
Medieval values reinforce cyclical idea of time
and medieval piety

Church calendar encourages annual rehearsals of
Biblical events of Christs life.
Theology of repentance gives believers the idea
that they can be cleansed and begin again.
Medievals saw human history divided into three
eras
before Christs incarnation--too early for
salvation
present time of Salvation
after the Second Coming--too late to repent and
be Saved
Time distinctions between eras outweigh those
within eras.

7
How were medieval dramas structured to enhance
lay piety?

Corpus Christi, cycle or mystery plays
performed by lay guilds
merging of biblical present with medieval
present made the Bible contemporary for
medievals
see all of salvation history (Incarnation to Last
Judgment) as essentially co-terminal with present
see selected moments of OT history as cyclical
precursors to the Crucifixion, and thus as OT
moments which also allow the possibility of
salvation

8
What NOT to learn from medieval drama?

that these dramas were quaint, primitive,
unsophisticated, and unplanned.
that medievals misunderstood the Old Testament
as being Trinitarian
as occurring after the Incarnation
that the medievals saw Biblical events as having
taken place in their neighborhoods, in their
local dialects, and to persons wearing their
clothing.
that medievals misunderstood time

9
What to learn from medieval drama?

that medievals saw the OT/NT relationship in
complex ways
because Jesus coming is always known to God, His
coming is continually an undercurrent in the OT.
because Jesus harrowed Hell, NT-style salvation
is selectively available even to OT figures.
That medievals saw the power of certain moments
of Biblical history as always available to them
in the present moment, especially the power of
Easter and of Christmas.

10
What to learn from medieval drama?

As Christ, because of the dramatized, ritualized
actions of the Eucharist, becomes present in the
mass, moments of Christs life can become present
for the medieval audience of these dramas.
At the Crucifixion, for example, the audience can
both relive Jesus passion, and can become
complicit as crucifiers.
At the nativity, for example, the audience can
relive the joy of the shepherds who were its
first witnesses

11
Evil vs. good

Evil characters always more dramatically
portrayed than good characters.
Medieval audience encouraged to identify with and
sympathize with evil characters, from whom they
can learn of their own need for forgiveness.
Mak and Gill become the characters with whom the
medieval audience is to identify. As Mak and
Gill need forgiveness for sheep-stealing, the
audience needs forgiveness for imperfectly
understanding the Incarnation
Catholic doctrine encouraged people to discover
their sins through self examination, confess
them, and learn from them.

12
Cycle plays suppressed by Protestant Reformation

Protestant
see the ritual reenactments of Christs actions
as no longer having the power to invoke real
presence
emphasis on limits to divine forgiveness in
doctrine of elect
sin as precursor to damnation

Catholic
plays reinforced possibility of real presence
of Christ arising from ritual reenactments of
Christs actions
emphasis on infinite human sin overcome by
unimaginably infinite divine forgiveness
sin as precursor to salvation

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