York Guilds and the Corpus Christi Plays: Unwilling Participants?

Clifford Davidson

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Medieval Literature and History Theatre and Performance Studies Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies

Abstract

Maud Sellers, in 1912, introduced the notion that the York guilds which produced the civic Corpus Christi plays found them to be ‘an intolerable and vexatious burden.’ The idea has persisted. However, the picture of guild support for the plays is complex, especially during the period of economic and civic decline which in fact impoverished some guilds and left others with a membership deficit due to the inability to maintain their numbers. York, like other cities, was unable to maintain its population without immigration from outside since the death rate exceeded the birth rate. Pestilence and disease played a part in this with consequences for the plays, including the effect on the personnel available for playing the roles. Other indicators, such as strong support for parish churches, are signs of enthusiasm for efforts to maintain the cultural memory involved in recalling salvation history. The result was a play cycle, albeit not without changes, that continued to be produced over a very long run of two centuries.

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References

2011The Oxford Dictionary of Saints 2001Drama, play, and game: English festive culture in the medieval and early modern period 2002Signifying God: social relation and symbolic act in the York Corpus Christi plays 2009Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages. Social Change in England, c. 1200-1520 1988THE ILLUSION OF ECONOMIC STRUCTURE: CRAFT GUILDS IN LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH TOWNS 1982Desolation of a City: Coventry and the Urban Crisis of the Late Middle Ages 1973Admissions to the Freedom of the City of York in the Later Middle Ages 1967When Did a Man in the Renaissance Grow Old?

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2011“On the Pavement, Thinking About the Government”: The Corpus Christi Cycle and the Emergence of Municipal Merchant Power in York

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