OupicT 2 PLAYS AM) TKHtMONlES The traditions of the common folk, no leu than (husc of the educated clerics and the profewkmal itunstrcU, found their way into the religious dimma.1 H is often difficult |0 establish the» presence because ttrj bttle u known about them fur certain; the flnl efforts to iccoid them In any detail were not made until the eighteenth century The clerics who produced the medieval record» did not describe folk custom* ;mü rituals, Uiuugh many peius ted in taking pail in them, despite repeated prohibitions. In tact ecclesiastical condemnation* and proscription*, which aie never aa explicit about the nature of what they are folbidding at ahout the tact tliit it must nop, ate far and away the mott imporluit source of utlormaiion on the subject. However, the attitude they express was not thai of all. ot «van most, Church authorities. There U evidence to show that the folk games and observances »fere accepted, and even to some extent directed, by the Church's reparatives.3 Frost) the fragmentary and indirect information «fitch n available II appears that me* and ceremonie* designed to hrmu about and celebrate the natural processes on which the life of the community drnended continued to exist from before the coming of Christianity, through the Middle Ages add in the centuries that foliu wed. often until the modern era.1 Son« v*cic douhtlev* connected with the major thresholds in the life of individual*,, like puberty and marriage, but these seemingly left no trace pertinent to the *iudy of a communal form like drama Many weie certainly bound up with the course of the season* and the related waxing and waning of the life force«, with food and survival, with death and tebrxuY I Aiiiulil WühSmi. r*e Onum of MtáfnH jflajjlilŕ. EdH l.snalnc 1961. M*-l3S. ľ TlMim. The Medu,-vai M*ee. I 90-«. 1 ll ippcati [hit aiU'j being effectively excluded from trie clerical culture, ■tul brace loal to vw». fur joerai hundred yaw«. the folk tradition.« cam« to tat lot« ■jam ň the aiaveaih century, in wbai hai been calkd a "fcilklonf roactiun.** and from Uwa t» enntinned to penetrate Into different formt »ľ Weilern tulíme Uacouta U GOfT< "CuHiin: clít umlč ci Uadiúom foUcDoilquri dmi la ovilnatlon mífovinaiana«'' and tľalruic eecablaiuqiM et culture hilUunqu* au Mayen Agr milí'. Mami de Paru ci le drajon." Aw/ u« auf* Mayen -i|e. ŕarts 1977, 22J . '• m>4 236-279} Wlckham sums up the position thus "Loss uf energy terminating in death, and the renewal or energy culminating in procreation, provide i atanti and the polarities linking the old religious beliefs of successive generations and cults wtth those ol the O ■ ml tan fathcis who thcmseJves preached life eternal beyond the grave in the person of the risen Christ "* Probably the beat known of the folk plays which depict a death and A aie the Lnghsh Mummers' plays and the related sword-dance plays The origins of the sword-dance go back at lean to the first century, when luciiui described it as a favorite spectacubim of the Grmiun peoples, per-funned at all their gatherings5 It ii thought to be descended from a stül older ritual in the form of a linked circular dance around a sacrificial victim, whlüi may not have employed swords tit all until the initial sense of the ritual grow dim, and Qist the »wurds and then a representational performance were introduced m 0*4*1 W make it morcmtelligtbte.6 Alex Helm unheal« that not only the shorter "Rappers" but also ionic of the Hg Swords" In fact look nothing like conventional swords and adds "There is some evidence ['or thinking that the so-called "swords'had some former connection with the trade tools used in the perfontwrs' everyday work.'*7 Tacitus do« not specify the precise form of the dance, only that it waa performed by naked youths who leapt with peat agility among threatening swords and spears. In 1350 tt was described as a populai ludu\ m Nuietubcrg. and after that reference» M It are widespread, cropping up ail over Furope. It was known in trance and Fuglaod at the Renaissance as the Jonie i/o buffons, and In a number of examples subsequently recorded in England, Germany and Bohemia the dancers include, or are accompanied by. comsc or grulewiue personages.8 In 1555 Olaus Magnus described in some detail the form the dance took in Sweden,' and cei tainly by then It included the interlocking of the «words In the figure he calls rota, which later represented an execution and presumably already did so then The recorded forms of the dance vary, hut they often include a clockwise circular motion symbolizing the sun's movement around the earth, a death and a tesuriection. The dancers, who are five oi moie In number, at some point weave or mesh their swurdt together w as to create a rigid "lock" (Olaus Magnus' row) and tins U placed round the neck of a non-dancer, usually one of the comic characters but occasiiwtally *n 4. Wfckham. TheMetHevaJ DlMf/r. 12«. 5. Clamber». The Mt 4 ferrule emblem and lhal the gesture oí placing 11 over j nulr peitormcr'5 head symbolizes union in the sex-act." The combination of ihe dear h and revival with sexuality and with comedy link sword-dance with the MasrtčtJř on ihe one hand and with many or the later folk-play» on the other. Referiing lo several of the Balkan m;»-iiucrades where the vsciwi bear» a phallus, Jakobson remarked that "the theme of en living is deployed on tww equipuUcnt Jcvcli-the reiurreilioti at mingles with the phallic motif- while thf Taller u treated as a ŕ«" pe» iota, Ihe mm in turn is piewiited as u mere phaUophvrm, "u It a probable thit all the vicium originally symbolized Km hfe force in oac form n- notfm, and their death and resurrection celebrated lU priiLKhcai waxing and waning. or decline ind renewal; but by no means all are the "phallus-bearers" that Jakobson spoke of. Some «em lo »ymboltfc more particulaily the rcrtility of natuie, others energy or the life fbflg m a general KnK. and hi on. Thus the "wild nun" Jrcued in leaves and mou wlw was hunicd. executed and Ihen resuscitated h> r" m Saxony and Thurinpa. wbs rather a r.i Ranxnaar, the season when die fertility of nature reaches lis «mlh n Some of Ihe symbols of regeneration might even be female. This is obvinuslv the case in some of Ihe many versions of the widespread ccrf-mony known a» ilie hvpuluon or the Tarry ingOui o í Death nrof Wmtei. which was already mentioned m ihe eighth century as a reite of paganism and which still nourished in Central Europe nl the beginning 01" ihe twentieth '* As a rule, a female figure representing; Death or Winter was earned in procesínn out of the town 01 village and destroyed. The remnants of this symbol of death might then tum into tymboh of life and •"eriiliiy, u when the straw that hud nude it up was scattered in a pasture so that the g Spitter. Bera l93S.»l:a nvmbei Of death-and-fcviviti enrmatú» from different jum uť cunt mm tul Europe arcctttdfty Hal«. >*t ťnjliih Mummen' ľts. 45-49. 13 aiat»rw".r*f Mtitmrtvi Sitte I 115. 14 0\m*bci*.rht Mohan* Stare I 184 li Cent? Zlbtt. UaWJ oft ' h*. tttkiho | Merry stovce it In «w 1 ľ Hie Čiech F»opk|. Puguc 19M>2. 2 28 '« I re m 01 gMN us utdfi lu obi am healthy chicks 01 goslings '* More often ih- ( sirying Dni oj Q—|h tftt paiird wiih the Bringing In of Summer, a ceieninnv which nutcht uke place immediately afterward* or a wee» later. lirre 1 pmceulon brought into tne town or village a symbol of summet. wlifcli might be a decuraled tree, a female effigy or a live girl When this lepresentatrv* of the wntmei, ur of the renewed life of nature, is a girl who wean the clothes previously aYOfli by the effigy of winter or death/7 Ihe link between the two figures, and hence the pattern of death and resurrection which underlies the two-put ceremony, become* particularly sinking. A thirteenth-century Lnglisii document prohibits something called Ludus dt Rege er Kqpna. It gives no description but Chamber* thinks it «fers to an ancestor of the diverse ceremonies later performed nil over England on the first of May 01 ai Whitsuntide, whkh were often known as a '"luog-pUy," "king-game" or "rung's revel" and which, he believes. iMiglnalry centered on a quite or collection.'" The folklore of Bohemia and Moravia included a multitude of ceremonies with names like "King's Came" or "King's Play" (the C/.ech word hn, like the Latin fodui. may mean eliher ••game" ur "play"). "Ride of the Kings." -Beheading of ihe Kiiic'*andioon;maiiy assigned parU to Queens as well as Kings, and some were actually called "Oame (fif Play) of ihe King and Chicen'" Hra na krdlť a krátku, tbc Csacll equivalent to fjuius de Rege n Regina. In several the King was "executed," sumrlimes after a chaie, and the teiemony generally ended with everybody repairing to tlte tavcm 10 dance.19 A group of these Whit win "K'ng's games." performed by rkilicmian vuUaae lads, and particulaily shepherd boys, snare three significant elements which underlie considerable local variations the representation of an execution (by drowning or beheading} of the old Shepherd King, Ihe bistallation of a new one, and a qufire in which Ihe new King and his cornpsaalotu want froan house to house begging for food. In at lean one version the King posaesaed a cerlam regenerative power. When he was "beheaded" he plunged into the pond, subsequently emerging from It with his crown; by this act he "sanctified the water" which until Uten was "scuivy," in other words harmful. The surviving veislons contain no allusions to any kind of sexual activity, cither human ot animal, but most entail some sort of competition—in agility, or speed in ruling or running, or priori 1 y in getting a flock to a given pasture and this is reflected ana in ihe verses the boys sing during the quilt', one of ihe swigs p Tonuses tlw housewife that If she is generous she will have Iht upper hand over her I*. Zfbn. ľetetéchrMf . :i7-:ji\ I Zftm. KluJMlfr , 22J, Í.KIM I II. Chamten. TW Mrdlerml Stag* 1172-176. 19. Zfat. Vrteitrhrtt------329059. •11 husband n What Ihf game u about «*n« to be HWffriftg like energy oř powc: m pmnii rather than fertility. Ihc victim'» idenutv t-leatly maticn fefl ft» (he deathand revive! ceremonie* and plays than the fact that he Of «hi fe killed and revived ihu is especially evulnii m ihe type known at the Mummen' play Thu* in a N'oll;ngharn Hough Monday play the victim i* ;i grotesque woman. t>amc Jane, who is killed bv Beelzebub when she trios to father a child on Tom Fooä. and in a sword-dance from Dumán i it || a parish cl*rv>-•In u accidentally sUin a» I« *rte> to separate the fighting dancers.21 Tile Mi.nuiicu' play consist! essentially of four parts: the presentation or two or more champions, their combat tu the death, the revival of the dead man. and a quctc. In Fngfund (he hero u generally called St. licorjje, tu King George, but the other combatants, who vary in number m the different playi. hear a -.'air r;mge or nam«, wmc apparently old. »ome nuite recent-Siashcr. Turkish Knight, (iiaot Blunderhoie, hVJá Bonaparte, Lord Nelson, and King of Prüm, for instance Sornetimcs there i> a scries of duels, each leading up to a death and a revival Efttj cantly, it is not always Ihe hero who is victorious: in fact he is slain in about hull* the versions*3 The explanation foi (Jus aeemasg anurnah can be fouml in Kirby's statement: "The cure, not the combat, is the basic element in the ptrfonSttfte«.*4 ' Heb:t renarjtj thai hi some oi the "Woomg" versions or the Mummers' pray, the victim'i death takes a form "wfcfch suggests ritual killing rather than riiuui combat." and he adds 'This would accord with the central theme of the actions, that one champion must die for the benefit of his community.'"34 The ľíoctor who is summoned to ptifoftu the cure rs a BONUS charac-tet manifestly in the utne tradition as Master Scvcnn. the hero of the Aferriftd?. He boasts in ludicrous tenrn of his trčeli and his medical skulls, and he sometimes has a servant or assistant, often called Jack Finney, »ho con be seen in certain respects as i paler counterpart of Sevcnn's servant. Rubin, though he may actually revive one of the combatants when the play calls for mote than one cure.25 Pie method by whtch the Doctoi vovfc) tie tun » usually grotesque, though not fcatoJofical as il is in the MaitiČkář.26 Staafjne* he 20- Kaiel JatoinŮ Hibcu. Prwion&oJnS ?exkf /fünf a fBcaaia [Qeth Folk Soap and Rbya.e< . Prague (93?*,664?. 21 Chambers. JV Werfwew/ Sine. I 309-210 and 20?. 21 CJumfaen. The Mediartat Stajr 1211. : í im«! Thwdort Kut.?. Vr-fíMM* 1h< O'igOM of tHe 7*«/«*. New York ms, 142- 24. Heta.7»efc/irfa*.Snii«WJ'«rj. P 25. Chamlwn. The tajte* Folk Play. 58-59. 26. Hmm, itHOtdJng to Ktlm. iKe recorded Eogbv> w»ta ».<* «petMy cteoj flpu .--f br.wdternatwn m ihe cuict of Che S*otd Dvxc «eriioM aed m the ke« a large pill or bolus, comic simply by its disproportionate size. Often tlie treatment contains elements associated with fertility rituals of iiffeient kinds. One of these is the drawing out of a large tooth, found in a performance from AlVtrn u weil U in several from the British We*.*7 In the absence of «ny folk-play text! going back to the Middle Ages, u Is interesting to find a reference to the drawing of a great tooth in one of the medieval religious plays, the K Town Trial of Joseph ami Miry}* where Den, the grotesque Summon«, threatens the audience that unless b» give him KKM money. "1 »y! wtth-diawe my gtct rough torn" (v. 1^6). Clearly the tooth-dratving here does not evoke a eure or revival but on the contrary dire end possibly fatal harm. But such • meeting oi oppoatcs is not unusual in folk tradition*, ilms m one of the folk, plays where ihe slam person is a woman, her resuscitation lakes a form v.: ■to litaneously evokes the birth process and its opposite, an abort inn .M Althougii "d examples of the Mummers* play were iccordcd befute the eighteenth century, il is generally agreed that its origins are extremely aaxicnt and that it always centered on a resuscitation. According lo Tiddy, the doctor who cení« thü out "is only «cond in importance to the combatants thcmaeJves, and like them he appears to be a sutvsvnl of tihe ritual; he is the medKlne man of primitive tac» (. - .).">ü Tiddy saw in this origin the reason tor the doctor's cohik: aspect: "1*1« medicine man of »vage races is huted so long as he K feared, und his natural and incvjuhle fate U to become a target for wUticóru J' *oon as that fear is no longer felt. Theie need be no scruple in accepting the burlesque doctor of our mummers as a niual figure."-" Lack Of evidence makes it imposwble to trace the character's Reneaiogy so far hack.52 but that he was widely known In the Middle Ages IXicior'i firm in fencisl (TV ňifíút, Mummm'thr, 2* awfl 106 n. S| Snimpfl »>* Th»r ömortf the (B*ey wen« ut killing ittl WMWMtfCWl periA-meo m Spľni^by rhe Gertrunlc (eMffa*, Uit |kjf:.--r "not (Uťly" u»e% t hcaliitf. «nttiKni "**h>cři a abo ■Pfirted ii m Uic ManifkSf" bm he does not quote any »our«* oi «ampfes (Robert Siumpfi. Kaltipieit r Drama . . 14M43. 2H K. S. Block «J . iMdut Covenlrim. or the Pitie CaXtti Corjmi C/lrun. Uxt..J 1922 (repruiioj Undoa 19*0), IM-135. 29 fcc4y. Bat £jsee>* Hki—ihui 59- 30. R, I lLltMy.TheMtimiruri'FU}:V\laiil t<*2 J, 76. 11 iiödy.ü>w. ?2 Si-jraptl'» later attempt io dccumenl hi» Ihesi» ihii djt qui.'». 0t 9U nieiievjj E«*Tůr pUy» xnil Uw Doctor ot trW l\t\k ptivi mt! cuWom» *SS «e«endii! freer) ihe ntadkavc inan of the (.icurmmc tr»e> iSiwmpfl. KultipitU . . 243-251 and 359-2bV> pmv*d aulblr« «cepi bii íailoK :o find any tca\ evšdcBix thai »light tubvlfi-'iirit b prove«) by the fact lhal • del i|0 NM Am rPWOflttiV 4o ••/ the Sacrament,1* u was pointed oul by Ttddy who added: "To those who allow tlie Mummers' Ray only as much antiquity a» can be strictly proved. the CroMon ftoy 0/ the iúc'atnent musí bc ■ problem of consadctable difficulty.*"*4 The farcical Spice Merchant i represented m a number of taster and Passion plays trom Ceninu Furope a!» bear a distinct resemblance to (he L>octor of the Mummer»' play. There is at lea.« j strong likelihood that the figure of a comic Doctor who revived one or more dead persons was known iuT over luirope a« pan Of ihe living theatiK*! tradition a! the umc the Mastička? and the other religious plays with then burlesque charlatan» were being written. FiimJi-arity with this tradition would inevitably color an audience» perception of ihesc characters, whether tiwy were endowed wich a share of the folk Doctor'« power to resuscitate the dead or whether, by a typiťal comic reversal, they were portrayed instead as liable to bttng their patients Ento the grave; many, like ihe hero of the Mastics\ are credited with producing both kinds of effect- The English folk play« also present certain mure direct parallel.'. (0 the Mastička? No: only does the Doctor uf Ihe Mummen' plays usually claim that he hat inivcUcd widely and that he can cure all sorts of drieaw», as Muter Severin claim» partly in person and partly through hu servant Rubin fMu*. w. 323-32S; 5Ä-70, 116-127, 137-19;«)- As in the Mastička* (Mu» yy, 277. 283), tlte character who uaU* tor the Doctor's help frequently annooncea that the dead man is his sou:" in one instance he describes rum as "my only dearly beloved soO."io a phrase which »calls certain New Testament references to Christ" and so links up with Isaac's mie in lne Masnčkúř as a parodist* figure of Christ. On two occasions when the dead man is rcsusoiiaied he proceeds, like Scvcrin's client Isaac, son of Abraham (Mus. v. 310). to announce that he has been asleep. In the Orcatham Sword Dance play he aay»;M 33 Ncwnafl D*.* ed., \'on t»lo»ed Son," Muk 1:1;. Luke }:22. "Cod w kivod HvntoM, th»? ftc w«t hu only betonen San ..." lohn 3:16; "God seat tu» ooly bf*o:mv Sun into the MiM "fl. ■». 4 9 3S Brody. Tht f^A* Mummers . 144 33 ,r motmn gentlemen, asieeping I have been; I have had M«-ft a ilrep at the like was never seen; But how I ant jKiiAr and alive unto Ihii day. BN words arc used in the Ampíefmih plav." bvcnniorc ilrlking-ly, two other play»il:;.m Whttte) and from Nctlcy Abbey) refer to Father Abraham, üNough thsy present him not as Ihe victim's lamenting father but as the victim himself *° Such curious coincidence» VHM to hint that despite the corruptions which obviously crept in during ihe centurie» before H wa* written down, flic dialogue of the Fngjhh Muimnen' plays may have preserved traces of a broader European tradition going m> far back as the Middle Age», the references lo Father Abraham m connection with the dead victim and the uppMťľ.t biblical echo in "my only dearly behwed son" which linl. them with the play trum IV.«J;c^ijíj suggest that the various »lunds of the tradition did not begin to diverjic until after the original pie-Chmtian tolk rituál underwent a certain degree ol Chmi-Miuatlon. Ihe influence of meteni folk customs on the medtevAl dMH WW vailly ovei rated by certain scholars, whu contended thai pagan htcs and i plays constituted its chief sou rev ami the mainspring of its development. The most promlnetil of ihcm was Stumpft, who 0»d»*Ored to prove that tins Miuicc was specifically CorasMti lift (Wile to underpin hi» thesis, and without disuiminatlnx. between facts n Mt, he anassed a WRd *juanUty of material produced by cthnrinraphcrs. archcolo* justs, philologists, hiatoriara of ancient ralrgHXis and classical amtuuliy. etc. His argurnenl wa.i typically cucular. The first Mcp »a*, to "rccon-slrtict" a hroad outline of a «Jcrmaiuc cult drama out of a hodgepodge nf elements derived from old ir-Kliiioat, prehistonc rock Ctn4n$l afld iaicr custom». &nce he recogn»ed that there was no way to establish that this hypothetical drama continued to r*<*> ■>•"! develop until rite Christianity, his WOOod B*p was to assume tlat the Christian religious .i must derive from "cultic prototype»," *hlch tn their turn mu»l be inferred precisely from this Christian drama. Stumpf! realize-' reasoning was circular, hut believed that the result-. | :stlfy the method.41 With regard to the VtsUask) wpuknri plays, for bsUiitc, he jrgiicd that die three Marys owe their dramatic NdlANKt principally to the three matron deities veneraled by the pre-Christian Celt* and Germans ° StumptVs gencrai theory was refuied.4J J9- On '"*<■ tngiMi ľotít Hay. \*9. 40 Biudy, ihe fngink Mummen.... 5 J-S4 asJ 10, ■H Stumptl. Kutrtpirif .314. *2 ftmnpn. Ktitttßi*,.., 331-333 43. Smím important polní« ol the «jcKmc use mnntcd up in l-iank. The M*4k**t fihmeh Dr*"t*. 4.t; tee alw Siic-j. Ať un* fassto» flay . , 27. »i U i* now widely afioed that rive main source of the "*dic*al duma was the established ritual Oř (he Church But that u noi 10 say that iradjtiuns and forms did not contribute significantly, above all I i vernacular or mostly-vernacular plays. In to far u some figure descended from the pagan medicine man wu alive in the medieval eoniciownne«, perhaps as the "heto" of folk death-and resurrection riles or plays, it may well hart Influenced the portrayal of the Enter play Spice Merchant and would inevitably luve colored the spectators* perception of him. In the tunc »ay Hunningher u. certainly right when he points.out thai ihr Spíce Merchant owed much to th* professional mime*, though his attribution to the mimes of the main rcspomihiiliy for the rias of medieval drama as a whole** isumcnable. Si«« there is good reason lo bcikve that folk custom», in a more or lew Christianized form, occupied an important and popular place in me life of medieval society, nur only among the laity but also among Luge jcitiun» of the clergy, it may not be luo fanciful to detect traces of ihem in «ruin medieval plays, both secular ami religious. Thus in the early /-«A« paxhelu from Vicii.*5 the chant the Marys sing on ihťir way ro the sepulchre includes the line No&tro surge ai/reccio [Rise, our resurrection! v. 65], conjuring Christ-whotit they suppose lo b* still dead-to rise bací to life. Ax ton makes the point that "This remarkable incantation can best be understood as mimetic magic, intended to induce the yeaiW miracle."** Tliia »iay be connected with « theme which recurs in Mary Magda-left's vernacular »peaches in the bilingual Czech-Latin plays, that of the Marys intending tu "heal" 01 "cure" the dead Christ with their ointments. It occurs to two separate scenes, first as the three Marys approach the sepulchir and then just before Chnst appear* lu Magdalen. On (hl Qflrl occasion the third Mary, who subsequently uanu out to be Magdalen, sdíijw the Latin stanza Sed eamus unguenium entere, the same as in the Mamčkáf (Mw, w 254-2S6). and then paraplirases it in spoken Or Tor instance, in what Máchal calls the "T:rst Pby of the 'Ihr« Marys," o! Ripoil pul ii nu* known lo be from Vkfi Iwc noto in LOO VI446). 46. K\*t example can be found I" Hafl rV-Tnwn Anrv>unctment to the Three Maries*9 where Mary Magdalen says. Co wr wfrt salvyi ffor to lechrfttyit that thtrtwi wttunde ys expect to find a dead body So their desire lo foto oi A-mende it with their salvys reflects the same sort of thought process as the C&cfc oxymoron. Die Idea that the Marys intended oi hoped to "care*" ot resuscitate Christ has not the slightest foundation in the gospel. It mr, hftVf arisen ft «n a certain contusion between two KaSal utaations traditionally represented at the same lime of year, the mourning tor tlve dead Christ winch i» lurried to joy by the revelation of Ins resurrection, and the mourning fcr the slain folk hero which turns to joy when the mourners obtain h« resuscitation hy some "magic" means. In lhc Resurrection plays jusi mentioned, the Idea that the Marys might help to restore Criittt to life does not go beyond a de^re they exprew iir thenuatvas. But »me of the piays which present a Spice 48. SSDPL 143 -Vuiualty ihe wrno ipccth »pcu» Ic Onrc oraer playr. SSW!- IIÄ-IIS. IIMJSawl UO-nS *9. Block od.. '«ui-i CmnMw . . 137-313. Merchant akin to lne rath Doctor («ke H ■ »tep forth« and make H a factor in (heir entminter with htm Sometime» the Miiiyt uiuply Mil B skilled in ratdfceme (WoM'enbütirl Spice Merchant <-pia»de,<' w 43-**-. Innsbruck taster play «. i i !l0n which is reveal- ing enough »i tisatf sitce knowledge of medicine a irrelevant to lhe mticiiariť! orthodox function at a supplier of embalming unguent» or sniccs: elsewhere they expressly ask for, or are offered, an ointment which wiH heal Christ's wound» or restore him to life (Barlin fragment" it. 106-109. 114-120. Meik Spice Merchant episode rv 443-446, 478-*79). Sornetanes the Sptco Mensural claims that he can heal or revive a dead man (Aisfeld Passion play" w. 75?8-7580.íí»non da Patartnus w 1S95-I9Ä9). but neither he not the Mary« even hint that he might use Ulis power to resuscitate Chrisi. In this respect it H snatificanl thnt whslc MattiíkJf bangs out the Spice Merchant's Üfe-resloting puwer more BraflWoa3ry than any other Yoraion of the episode, since it akin« actually rows him retuieilAiing a dead person, it keeps Irüs folk clement separate from the Marys' purchase Though he ostensibly performs lhe resusdtitk» in order to prove to them what he and his wares can achieve, neither he nor they refer to it when they daicuu the ouiltnetil wiih which they mean to embalm Christ *s body The comic charlatans of both xcuiii and religious plays arc obviously in the first place parodies of the diverse apothccauei and pliyiiciam who actually earned their living in medieval society by promiame to cure all kinds of sickness. But some of lheEr more exuavagani claims, especially power to resuscitate Üie dead, may well hare reminded lhe spectators Of the Bfiufe life-resiorere who both claimed and exhibited such power* 1" the famílii» folk plays and nsuaU. If Urn happened, the memory of Uw folk performancci would naturally have modified trie *jy the audience perceived the more literary dramatic works. The 'Twcu" of Kutcbeufs Dit de I'hcrberk allcRCS not only (hat he con revřtiOizí both male and rcmalc sexual organs inKonť."*/ťWJc*.-i/* flrtkvtxHít Alrtrwm i>) | ir>26> 257-2*7. Fniäf mL. Da Drama ttatottiktttn 11-111, 1WI 1892. 54M64. 53 Fatal. Mrmn JrMcM . . , 69-76 54 Midiei Mathteu. T* petlonQagc da mmch»iwi d* purfii»-.« utrulr uffiue mÄiiewl on Funic," Morxn Age 23 (I W8). 39-71 particularly the řmlon du Palaiinus. the Pnskm d 'Arm55 and the řauum In all the« plays the merchants < I '! then wares can revive the chad, and in the one from Sctnur the claim is actually made twice; one* by the AporhtcaHut when he a about to seU lhe repentant Mary Magdalen che ointment she means to pour on Christ's fees in Simon's house, arid once by hi» son NoMet. before the three Marys come to buy the ointment with which lo anoint Christ's body (rVaUnw v. 1897. Arras x 2142]. Seriiur w. 1876 and S*?7>. The Bpicien of Palatini» and NoMet of Semur also claim to promote sexual love(Palaiimisvv. HSl-18Sii;5emur W. 8183-8185) and the Espiaen promises, in addition, 10 rejuvenate any client (TaJaimus « 187.1-1879) and tn "renovate" {renorelej old women <*v 1890-1891), which probably implies restoring their virginity asm the fjrrberie en proie. All thcio powers claimed by the charlatan» in the religious plays are characteristic of lhe factor! m bie-mtoren in the folk plays and CMlOaPI, However, the Czech Mntičkář a the urJv known example of a medieval religious play in which the quack's prornisc (0 bring a dead person to life it actually carried out. Folk traditions of one sort or another may be the wuirce of many different elemenu to be found in the medieval religious drama. Thus the quůte which r* introduced into the middle of the linglish moralitv cnM Mankind-*1 is a typical feature of folk performances, the solo spiel stddrcssed dirccily to the audience by a figure representing * dramatic character, which distinguishes a range ot cycie-play future* from Noah to PUatc. forms a basic type in fuBk tradition: and the wUd dances prescribed for »omc of lhe devils roflOBl ai once the dances with which the folk celebrated certain festivals of pagan origin intd lh* preachers' excoriation of them as diabolical and tending to damnation.5* Proverbs and popular saying» occur tn many of the religious plays, notabiy in the Wakefield pageant» which also employ such irarhöoniii tiles as the story of the men of Gotham, or of Moll and her pitcher of milk, or of the sheep-ucalcr and the tnck whereby he U\es to corneal hi» theft.5' The significance of weh borrowings from different tiadinons has sometimes been misunderstood. The point to be made is that each of the icliKious plays is the product of a particular intention, not of the blind pressure cil rivaJ iraditiofu jostling for a place In a r«rforrnancc both 55. I--M. Richarü el.. U Mytíht de k Fítafon, mtr dkr mmuscrtt 69?de k SO Bo,. U Myňht de íl fluito* «n Ftmc* .... 1-203 57 Miik Eccto» «d., The Uaero fít.9i. Uodce 1969. I53-1M. 58. lu-hani Axion. "Popular Mod« bi tbc E«litM Raya" in Nviik Dciuy vá.,MtdU*lDrtma. London 197.V i: ľ ' A C. Ca«tev «d.. T*i* WakcfbU Ikgmnit m :he Tawríty Odŕ, Mw- obeawi i95B.xaAL popu!« uid p/ftciaily miction«!. vVhather »i w» written by Un« ptttacn or by sever «I, (he finished wu»k WpfMM i cni»Jn intenl, *(o»ce esthetic. eclcbraiional and didactic, and m that kom a< Jratt has hi "author h :-this "auchoi" who decided whether an item from anothci tradition, be U folk ur minstrel or any other, can make the play moce apt tu «oconipilih in puipose. afld how it can do so nrott fllfecüsajiy, I: m important Id kmw whether ur not a given element derives from a popular custom, for instance, because it throws light on the background again« which the audience would have perceived it.*** ršui ii Is only a fttai si e p to understanding the function it serves, ur the meaning it bears, in the play itself. Hie use iimdo of «ich borrowings Is extremely diverse.*' In th* case of elements take» from u secular iradition, tur example, it may be afenpry their s*?cularity lhat » lurncd ti> advantage in the portrayal of «eular or diabolfcal character«.*1 But a much more complicated «miotic process may be involved. The Chester Adomion of ihr. Sheph^ds61 draw* on the popular imditkifi for three majot themes: the shepherds' concern with thear sheep's iOne**« and the nwdfotaga with wfUch to cure the»«; an «tin*. gant leas! of If they «re seen as displaced metaphors or physical profanations of Qualities trachuOiuliy associated with Ihe eucharistie Hot).*' that their ultimate referents are asciamcntal and ritualiviic. and that their function in thr plsy >> to objr«.-tiry "the psychological process of spiritual cnligbienment experience! by 60. A» c*«iiťle of how it; ihe um rf ihn fcrtut Bf«a—Kň umy h« mlauade»-rteod « fiimnfKxI &r f«m», »hen be triilOTef iakobson'i uu4y or* theItoitifW •ja the (jwund thai. In hn concern w;tň tli* traces ©Í vtfChHs\ua iott tMdJiions. Jakobem overlooked ike actual nature of rhe lUui&ff iiwuj clewline, hfa ofnttm to other »ŕheko» who forkjw taw tazn dne 01* ňnvjíIjnrtJon, Ceriif declare» that fof Hiv'lt people "The Wflfk of art «od lis uittnova hi* eftifcO io be jntCKiting in hacsT. iß that ú ŕifcrcRimi ix what UkíiMer. litiitwf ít. noi »hat theuiher bimseir*■ •■■' öui wh*r aw «laly-K hau roend oř i« teekinte" (VÍrta» Cernf. "Od oorriftíttn k ma»eWniin" t-nm BtxitfrRHrr to ApoÚuxaňn,S&aŕ*(k hUKmckf 9, Frame 1W2, 11.1). Rut íakobwTa inalftf« wvn pteci*.-jT te bn« la light tíic wmr of the wurk «i a whole ey drawing auraúor. in (he jpecMi meaning or l&oim&t rhu tmc*>f- r>l lu etcmeoLi wwiiij lu«e h/tf Tur tbc orUOiud aaokncc. for whom ifae ppiHOť »a» out of an Futer plcy, pftfbtntCl at j time jiropvbacb to th« ulapoui «Miralioai of *r Rvuinecriiin j.-ü M the lott cetctnvüon oi the return ol new bYe »nd Iciiiüiy la ruture, utd for whom U« two klhd» oi «tebf»tkm were toe»tneaWy íniwtwmeä. 61. WlUI«m. Ar ŕ>íífw ofMŕdicxiIĽntbmi. 133 62 Axtoo. "PopwiBr Můítei -. ■," 39. 63. II- DeHnilny Md Ml. M»nbwi c4i.. Dir Oeiřr/ «a« I. OMomi (»9J, 13M60. all I'jiihlui i hrtoiiaru who are sumnioned mto communio« with ihe Ucal Presence uf ihcii Savior "M Ihe plol about Mak and the stoku Uteep which occupies much of the Wakefield Secunda Patturum or Second Shepherds' Hay65 denves from a folk-tale, the outline of which it proved poaaWc to «subhtfi with some degree of »fcMiraiice w Since this is a longer and mun: structured Mem ihan the borrowing dlscuned so far. it furnishes a yel nwre Uiumi-nating example ot the transmutation such a loan is apt to undergo when il becomes pant of a rrirgious play. By using a *li>ry popular among his audience the author ensured tin (he one hand that they »uuld raioy watching lil« play and on the othťi ÚM ihry wuuld notice the clian^rt he brought to it The dramatisation difrers from Dm other known versions of the tale in a number of way> which tend to heifthte'l "> pfcwHslfa coftespundence to the nativity of Christ presented immediately afterwards*7 Successive generations of «hoíflis luve studied the scmintic effect the borrowed folk-tale produces on the Nativity j+lny. They differ in Their ipecifii interpretations, but they lend to demonstrate evei mo;c clearly and incouľoverlibly that the Mak episode Is not an extraneous addition, designed to encourage a rustic spcctaior to attend 10 a solemn representation of the gospel story but an inirinsic and essential part of a ciiftipíex bul unified play in honor uf the Nativity. A sfeuflariy masked but vital unity ehat*teri/e> the Masrii*k4řm It uses elements borrowed from i>r>;>uhr tradition as well as from piofaa-sional entertainment and even from liturgical diania in order io produce an uproarious, indecent and seemingly blasphemous farce which is at the same Imw an intcgial part of a religious play m honor of the Resurrection, M. Feter W. Travn, Omnak Daign in ihe Chevtr Cvek. OiIiíhju mul Lun- dortiwa. unii 65 Cawky.rV Wtke/btdPtrgrenti. ,4*49* «6. R. c CMbey. "Hic .Mak Sluo «nd Ii> Frdklnre AnaJopiei," Sptcuktm ■ O«. 310-317. 67 Arrinii Brown, ToAJw« Eleenenu tn M«((ev«l Uiama." ftrfft-fttfr 63 2