I 1+

M. Vox

THE AND THE IN MEDIEVAL

AND EARLY RENAISSANCE DRAMA

John H. Meagher III

A Dissertation

Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

December, 1976

Approved by Doctoral Committee

BOWLING GREEN UN1V. LIBRARY 13

© 1977

JOHN HENRY MEAGHER III

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11

ABSTRACT

This study examined architectural metaphor and setting in civic pageantry, religious processions, and selected re­ ligious plays of the middle ages and renaissance.

A review of critical works revealed the use of an architectural setting and metaphor in classical Greek literature that continued in Roman and medieval literature. Related examples were the Palace of Venus, the House of Fortune, and the temple or castle of the Virgin. The study then explained the devotion to the Virgin Mother in the middle ages and renaissance. The study showed that two doctrines, the and the , were illustrated in art, literature, and drama, show­ ing Mary as an active interceding figure.

In civic pageantry from 1377 to 1556, the study found that the architectural metaphor and setting was symbolic of a heaven or structure which housed virgins personifying virtues, symbolically protective of royal genealogy. Pro­ tection of the royal line was associated with Mary, because she was a link in the royal line from and to . As architecture was symbolic in civic pageantry of a protective place for the royal line, so architecture in religious drama was symbolic of, or associated with the Virgin Mother. The study showed that the N-Town cycle con­ tinually associated Mary with the castle, tower, taber­ nacle and temple.

In The Castle of Perseverance, a written between 1410-1425, the central structure functioned sym­ bolically as in the cycle plays. Referring to sources, analogous dramatic techniques and themes, similar patterns in the mythology and drama of the Virgin Mother, and refer­ ences within the play, the study shows that the central structure symbolized the garden of Eden, the temple and the church. Each of those places was associated with Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ as the new Eve, or the castle of virtue, or the Virgin of . Similarly, in the Digby play of Mary Magdalen, a cen­ tral structure was used in an arena setting. Examining the sources and analogues including the Golden Legend, Myrc's Festial, cycle plays about Mary and the Passion of Christ, Latin passion plays, and The Castle of Perseverance, the study concluded that the essential symbolic meaning of the central structure is that of the temple associated with the Virgin Mother. The study concluded that the architectural metaphor and setting of medieval and early renaissance drama in arena settings often symbolized the temple or church associated with the Virgin Mother. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ARCHITECTURAL METAPHOR AND SETTING IN CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE. .... 1

THE VIRGIN MOTHER IN RITUAL AND ART IN THE MIDDLE AGES AND RENAISSANCE...... 24

ARCHITECTURAL METAPHOR IN TOURNAMENTS AND CIVIC PAGEANTRY ...... 55

RELATIONSHIP OF ARCHITECTURE TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER IN ART AND DRAMA...... 100

THE MEANING OF THE CENTRAL STRUCTURE OR CASTLE IN THE CASTLE OF PERSEVERANCE...... 156

ARCHITECTURAL METAPHOR AND SETTING RELATED TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER IN THE DIGBY MARY MAGDALEN...... 188

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 236 I

ARCHITECTURAL METAPHOR AND SETTING IN CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

Drama, like other literary forms, employs metaphor, symbol and setting to emphasize major themes. This study describes an important set of architectural metaphors, symbols and settings in early English moral drama. To help interpret the meaning of these devices, analogues from civic pageantry, painting, sculpture, religious liturgy, ivory carvings and literature are described and explained.

Analogues from Greek, Roman, biblical, patristic, medieval and renaissance sources are examined in the first three chapters, while the remaining two chaoters describe and explain the architectural metaphors, symbols and settings in two major medieval English moral plays. The plays were selected for their references to architecture and for their important place in the literary history of English drama.

In this study, The Castle of Perseverance (ca. 1425), and the Digby play of Mary Magdalen (1520-30), are examined specifically for their references to architecture. The architectural form most frequently noted is the castle, but the ark, bower, tabernacle, temple, tower, and city are also examined. Common to all of these architectural references is a comparison to the human body, , state of mind, or condition of life. Of these architectural refer­ ences the most interesting one alludes to the Virgin Mother of Christ, in her role as the mother of , the , the Immaculate Conception, or as one who was 2.

raised by God to heaven. This study examines architectural elements in drama symbolic of and related to the Virgin Mother.

In order to gain an understanding of the architectural references and their meanings, it is necessary to review origins in classical, biblical, and early medieval sources, as well as works contemporary with the plays examined in this study. The review is necessary because elements of pagan, Jewish and Christian beliefs and literature are even­ tually brought together in medieval literary and artistic expression of architectural images. The major, studies of architectural references were written before 1935 and did not focus on drama, but a review of these studies provides historical background for an examination of architecture and its symbolic meaning in drama.

The architectural metaphor has a long history, and three separate studies shed the most light: William Allan

Neilson's The Origins and Sources of the Court of Love, H.R.

Patch's The Goddess Fortuna in Medieval Literature, and

Roberta Cornelius' "The Figurative Castle

As with many elements of English literature, references to architecture appear to begin in Greek literature.

^William Allan Neilson, The Origins and Sources of the Court of Love (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914), pp. 1-17; H.R. Patch, The Goddess Fortuna in Medieval Literature (1927; rpt. New York: Octagon Books, 1967), pp. 123-146; Roberta Cornelius, "The Figurative Castle," Diss. Bryn Mawr 1930. 3.

Roberta Cornelius traces references to the edifice as a 2 metaphor back to Theagenes of Rhegium, Xenophon, and Plato.

For instance, Plato's Timaeus uses the motif as an analogue

to the human body. Longinus, in the Essay on the Sublime

summarizes Plato's use of this allegory:

Xenophon gives us...an impressive picture of the anatomy of man's bodily dwelling, and Plato does the same even more divinely. He calls the head the citadel, the neck an isthmus between it and the body. The vertebrae, he says, are fixed under it like pivots; pleasure is a bait of evil for men; the tongue is the assayer of taste; the heart is the knot of the vein and the source of the blood which courses violently round, and it is established in the guardhouse.3

The metaphor of an edifice for the body was used throughout classical, biblical, medieval and renaissance literature

including Elizabethan and Jacobean works. 4

Another important expression of the figurative building was the Palace of Venus in its early contexts. William Allan

Neilson's The Origins and Sources of the Court of Love traces

2 . Cornelius, p. 1. 3 G.M.A. Crube, trans., Longinus, On Great Writing (New York, Liberal Arts Press, 1957), p. 43. Cornelius trans­ lates "bodily dwelling" as "human tabernacle," based on a translation by W. Hamilton Fyfe. ^See Cornelius, pp. 1, 2; William C. McAvoy, "Form in Richard II, II, i, 40-66," JEGP, 54, 355-61; Thomas L. Berger, "The Petrarchan Fortress of The Changeling," Renais­ sance Papers (1972), 37-46; Arthur C. Kirsch, Jacobean Dramatic Perspectives (Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia (1973), 81-83; Purchas, Microcosmus or the Historie of Man, (1619: facsimile rpt. New York: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd. and Da Capo Press, 1969), pp. 32-143.

BOWLING GREEN UNIV. LIBRARZ ---- — ------4.

the history of allegory associated with the Palace of Venus

in classical and medieval literature.He notes that "In

Homer all the have houses, and from these doubtless the

later descriptions are elaborated. The palace of Apollo in

the beginning of Book ii of Ovid's Metamorphoses is an

example, and may also be a source, of the gorgeous descrip­ tions of such as we have in the Court of Love...."^

Neilson also mentions that a source of Chaucer's "House of

Fame" was Ovid's Metamorphoses xii, 11. 39-63, in which Fame

reigns in an edifice located between the earth and heaven which is set extremely high, with streets and openings 7 without doors. In another source, the Metamorphosis of 8 Apuleius, Psyche woke up in a grove with a fountain. In

Claudian's De Nuptiis Honorii et Mariae, the Palace of Venus is situated "...in a flat plain on the top of a mountain inaccessible to the foot of man, and surrounded by a golden wall built by Vulcan...." 9 Neither wind nor winter exist,

5 Neilson, pp. 1-17. 6 Neilson, p. 12. 7 Neilson, p. 13.

8 Neilson, p. 14. See Spenser's Two Cantos of Mutability, vi. 37-55. Though not an edifice, there is a similar purpose to that of the Palace of Venus in the protected or garden. The fountain is architectural. 9 Neilson, p. 15. See Spenser's The Faerie Oueene, III. vi. 30-48, and II. xii. 42-87 for the Garden of Adonis and the Bower of Bliss. 5.

and flowers bloom while birds sing.10 The palace itself is

jewelled.11 12I n* noting these places and edifices, Neilson explains that the palaces were where the allegorical per­

sonifications of abstract ideas lived. As is apparent, the locations signify heavenly places, distant from humanity in time, space and emotional state.

Old Testament sources are less remote. In these ver­ sions, the edifice is a metaphor for a virtue of the person in it or occupying it. Referring to the Old Testament,

Neilson calls attention to the personification of Wisdom, who makes "subtilty her dwelling, building her house and 12 sending forth her maidens ... radiant...." This reference is found in the book of Proverbs, the book of Wisdom of

Solomon, and the book of Ecclesiasticus. Wisdom is not the only female personification in the Old Testament. Other feminine figures are used as symbols of the collective people of Israel, or the city of Jerusalem as in lii,

2. In Psalm lxxxv, 10-11, the female personifications of

Mercy, Truth, Justice, and Peace were the basis of the Four 13 Daughters of God motif. The continues this

10Neilson, p. 15.

11Neilson, p. 16. 12 : Neilson, p. 17. ^Neilson, p. 18. See "The Castle of Love" in Carl Horstmann, ed., The Minor Poems of the Vernon MS. Early English Text Society. (London: University Press, 1892), pp. 362-369 and The Castle of Perseverance in Mark Eccles, ed., The Macro Plays. Early English Text Society. (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), pp. 94-111, 11. 3129-3560. 6.

use of female personification of edifice or social group,

providing a dramatic allegory in the book of Revelations xii,

1 , xvii, 3 and xix, 7, where Babylon is personified as the

scarlet woman and the church is personified as the New Jerusalem and "the Bride of Christ."14 15R e1f6erring to com­

mentaries on the , Neilson also lists Tertullian's De

Patientia, Augustine's sermons, and Prudentius'

and Harmatigenia as sources of female allegory and personi-

fications of the soul. Thus, the edifice and female are

used together as symbols of a third idea or subject.

Neilson then traces the Palace of Venus motif through

medieval poems, including Grosseteste's Chateau d'amour

where he finds that "The resemblance of this castle, an

allegory of the Blessed Virgin Mother, in its situation,

decorations, and , to the mansion of Venus is 17 quite clear." Neilson also calls attention to the Palace

of Venus motif, in various forms, in Chaucer's 's Tale,

14 . Neilson, p. 18. 15 . Neilson, pp. 18, 19. 16 Neilson, p. 23. "The Palace of Venus seems to be derived almost entirely from the classics, unless we suppose that the account of the New Jerusalem in the Revelation [sic] may also have given suggestions. The personifications, as was perhaps to have been expected, are found both in the classics and in Hebrew literature." ^Neilson, p. 137. 7.

"Hous of Fame," "Parlement of Foules," Lydgate’s Temple of

Gias, as well as in works by Hoccleve, James I, (Kingis

Quair), Henryson, Gavin Douglas, William Dunbar and Stephen 18 Hawes. Neilson's study shows along tradition in the use of the Palace of Venus in European literature.

Another study of medieval literature which describes the palace as a setting and symbol is H.R. Patch's The

Goddess Fortuna in Medieval Literature, particularly Chapter 19 IV, entitled "The Dwelling-Place of Fortune." Patch points out that the abode of Fortune, like that of Venus, has its own tradition in medieval literature. Gathering the common elements of the many versions of the residence of

Fortune, Patch calls attention to the island, the garden, palace and court of Fortune:

To sum up the meanings implied in all of these symbols, the permanent ideas seem to be (1) the inaccessibility of the house of Fortune, (2) its richness, and (3) the varying rewards received on getting here. In other words, the benefits of Fortune are hard to achieve, they are precious from a wordly point of view, they are bestowed in different measure, a celestial atmosphere clings about the place.. The island, and possibly the mountain, have an ancestry in folk-lore with which the idea of "the happy Otherworld" is con­ nected. Perhaps, the conception is not entirely unrelated to our present figure of a "Castle of Spain." ... the whole image is not so much a poetic creation as an automatic growth developing according to its own laws....20

^Neilson, pp. 149-168.

■^Patch, pp. 123-146.

20patch, pp. 145, 146. 8.

It is important to note that the salient characteristics and

heavenly atmosphere resemble the Palace of Venus. Though

Neilson and Patch do not consider the Palace of Venus and

the dwelling-place of Fortune to be allegorical, they do

think these "castles" are symbolic of a divine locale.

Similarly, symbolic value is attributed to the House of 21 Fame and the camp of Cupid by Roberta Cornelius. "The

Figurative Castle," like those essays of Neilson and Patch,

is concerned with the presence of figurative architecture in

classical and medieval literature. However, unlike the works of Neilson and Patch which are studies of epic and romantic poetry, that of Cornelius examines Christian re­

ligious writings and her study is essential to any discus­ sion about allegorical or symbolic edifices in English medieval and renaissance literature.

Cornelius lists writings of Philo Judaeus, the book of

Proverbs' references to the House of Wisdom, the allegorical interpretations by Honorius of Autun, , Petrus

Comester, , and Grosseteste of 's ark, the tabernacle, the temple and the tower as sources of the development of architectural allegory. These allegories stood for Wisdom, the church, Christ, the soul, the truth and the male or

21 Roberta Cornelius, "The Figurative Castle," p. 1. See also C.L. Powell, "The Castle of the Body," Studies in Philology, 16 (1919?), 197-205. 9 9.

22 female body. After tracing the definition of the word

castle from the Latin words castrum and meaning

town "built on a high place" to city or village synonymous with urbs, Cornelius briefly notes that "the most distinctive

allegory of the castle, [iis] that in which the Blessed Virgin 23 is conceived as a castle." The author then observes a parallel between literature and social conditions:

Before the twelfth century, so far as we find the castellum figuring in allegory we find its part interchangeable with that of other edifices; in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth cen­ turies, although the castle may still appear in allegory without itself being allegorically treated it gains significance from the commanding position of the real castle in actual life. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the castle was the center of social life. No story or romance of the Middle Ages could possible be written without its castles: no more could al­ legory, mirroring life in abstraction, dispense with the most important social institution of the time.24

In describing the allegorical castle in the later chapters, the author follows six categories which are also chapter titles:

The Castle of the Body The Castle and the Wardens of the Soul The Blessed Virgin as a Castle The Castle and the Abbey The Castle Besieged The Castle and the Pilgrimage

22 Cornelius, pp. 1-11. 23 . Cornelius, p. 12.

24 Cornelius, p. 13. 10.

Of greatest interest to this study is the building that

symbolizes the Blessed Virgin. The author traces this

symbolic structure back to the fourth century writings of

Archbishop that refer to a divine 25 temple constructed in the Virgin. Cornelius adds that in

...sermons attributed to St. Hildefonsus of Toledo (seventh century) and in a sermon of Saint Bernard's (twelfth century), the al­ legory of the House of Wisdom is applied to the Virgin. Throughout the Middle Ages the Blessed Virgin was frequently compared to the ark, to the tabernacle, to the enclosed garden.26

Cornelius points to the passage in Luke X, 38, beginning

with the words, "Intravit Jesus in quoddam castellum...,"

as the ultimate source of the allegorical or symbolic meaning 27 of the Blessed Virgin. Noting that castellum "...there

simply means village,... the Village of Bethany," the author

gives the King James translation of the Gospel: "Now it

came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into 28 her house." The passage appears to be unrelated to the

Virgin Mary as it introduces the story about Mary attending to the lessons of Christ much to the annoyance of Martha.

25 Cornelius, p. 37: Patrologia Graeca, XXV, 110. 26 ' Cornelius, p. 37 and 37n: Patrologia Latina, XCVI, 257; 674. 27 Cornelius, p. 37. 28 Cornelius, p. 38. 11.

Nevertheless, the passage was cited repeatedly as a source

for allegorical praise to the Virgin by medieval scholars, 29 including Alcuin. There are some sources that attribute

the origin of the allegorical Virgin interpretation of this

passage to Bede in an alleged sermon on the feast of the

Assumption, but Cornelius found no such sermon in Bede's writings.3° Yet, the feast of the Assumption was an occa­

sion for official Church worship, and indeed, used the

passage from Luke X, 38, found in the Bobbio Missal, "a 31 Gallican massbook." In the rest of that chapter on the

castle as the Virgin Mother, Cornelius describes versions

of the allegory, among which are a tower and wall by Anselm

of Canterbury, a tower by Godfrey, Abbot of Admont, a tower

in the castle by Honorius of Autun, the castle by Robert

Grosseteste in the Anglo-Norman Chateau d'amour and its

English translations, a castle in the Cursor Mundi (11.

9877-10,094) and a castle in a sermon for the celebration of 32 the day of the Assumption in Mirk's Festial. In each

29 . Cornelius, p. 38. She sees this interpretation evolving from an error in translation or "tortuous use of allegorical exegesis.", 3°Cornelius, p. 40. 31 . Cornelius, p. 41. See The Bobbio Missal: Facsimile (London: Publications of the Henry Bradshaw Society, 1917); E.A. Lowe, ed. The Bobbio Missal: A Gallican Mass Book (London: n.p., 1920). i 32 ' 'Cornelius, p. 4. / 12.

situation, the castle served as an allegory of the Virgin.

However, it should be noted that the Virgin Mother Mary is

f given many different roles by individual authors, as well as the official writings of the church.

The chapter on the allegory of the castle as the

Blessed Virgin does not include a reference to The Castle of Perseverance. However, in a later chapter on the castle besieged, the author suggests that the Grosseteste allegory

"influenced The Castell" but doubts "that such influence" 33 can be "definitely established." Also, Cornelius makes no mention of The Castle of Perseverance in relation to the idea of pilgrimage, nor is there mention of any dramatic presentation related to the castle of the body. 34

The studies of Neilson, Patch, and Cornelius form a foundation for the examination of the architectural motif in medieval and early renaissance drama. Neilson's evidence establishes a tradition of the Palace of Venus or Court of

Love. Patch's evidence suggests the same for Fortune's dwelling. Indeed, Patch's comments on separate parts of

Fortune's home describe a striking similarity between the place of Venus and that of Fortune. He states that a common source was Alanus de Insulis, who found the essential

^Cornelius, p. 47. 34 ... Cornelius does provide a list of Latin allegories of the edifice according to building type: castellum, domus, tabernaculum, templus, and turris on pp. 82-87. 13

elements to be the island, the mountain, the garden, the palace, and the court, which are the same qualities de- 3 5 scribed frequently in versions of the Palace of Venus.

"The symbolic idea of the island in the accounts of Fortune's home is clearly that of the remoteness and inaccessibility 36 of the desired fortune." So, too, is the mountain a place of inaccessibility and adversity, an "obstacle" that must be overcome to gain Paradise. 37 Another location for Fortune was on a high rock, where kings could be thrown down,, or 38 where suffering was imposed. In some versions, there were guides who resembled the court attendants of Venus, or the 39 virtues waiting upon residents of Christian castles. Like the Garden of Adonis, the garden of Fortune underwent "con­ tinual variation," according to Patch, and often contained in the center a tree, which may have been symbolic of "vary­ ing degrees of dignity," as in DeGuilleville's Pelerinage de la vie humaine; or, it may have been symbolic of warfare

3 5 Patch, p. 128. Alanus is the same author referred to by Roberta Cornelius as one of many medieval sources for allegorical edifices. 36patch, p. 129.

37patch, p. 132. 3 Q t . Patch, p. 134. Cf. Digby Mary Magdalen in chapter six. 3 9 Patch, p. 135. Patch lists Iuista» Audacia, Fraude, Lealta, Valore, Prudentia and Fortezza from Fregoso's Dialogo di Fortuna. 14.

40 with Fortune presiding. Also, Patch does not make any distinction between palace, city, and castle.410 *When he

examines versions of Fortune's court, he finds her status

to be royal, a queen over all kings, noble leaders, and

religious figures who are assigned their lots in life from ,42 her.

Patch's descriptions of Fortune's dwelling-place re­ veal a tradition similar to the Palace of Venus, and these

traditions continue in religious writings as well, accord­

ing to Roberta Cornelius. In her reference to the same

sources of the palaces of Fortune and Venus found by Patch and Neilson, Roberta Cornelius affirms their conclusions.

However, the emphasis of Cornelius’ study differs in the works analyzed; they are Christian religious works that are more didactic than literary, but do use architectural meta­ phors, settings, and allegories that resemble those studied by Patch and Neilson. Thus, a tradition exists that incor­ porates the elements of the Palace of Venus, the abode of Fortune, and the allegory of the Virgin as a "residence" of God. The best expression of this culmination is in the

Chateau d*amour by Robert Grosseteste, translated and de­ scribed here by Neilson:

40Patch, pp. 136-140.

41Patch, p. 143.

42patch, pp. 143, 144. 15.

...the author gives a description of a splendid castle -- an allegorical representation of the body of the Virgin. The castle stands on a high and polished rock. It is enclosed by walls and ditches painted with bright colors, and strengthened by towers, and so forth. In the highest tower is a fountain whence spring four streams that fill the ditches. In this same tower is a white throne, to which seven steps lead and which is canopied with a rainbow. It is explained that this castle is our shield against our enemies. The polished rock is Mary's heart, the green color betokens her faith, the blue her hopeful and humble service, the red her holy love (la seinte charité). The four towers are the cardinal virtues; the seven barbicans are the seven other virtues that quell the seven deadly sins. The well is Mary's mercy, which will never be exhausted; and the brilliant throne is Mary's soul, which God made his seat.43

The castle, mansion, city or Palace of. Venus, Fortune

and Mary owe something to each other, but obviously, the

Christian version -- the more recent of the three — is

indebted to the others. That the Chateau d'amour was an

Anglo-Norman work, and, perhaps, esoteric, does not mean

that the castle metaphor remained unknown, because there were

at least three English versions of Grosseteste's poem in the fourteenth century.*44 "The Chateau was very popular and was

41Neilson, p. 137.

44 , , Matthew Cooke, ed., R. Grosseteste Carmina Anglo- Normannica, Robert Grosseteste's Chateau D'Amour (London: Caxton Society, 1852). This volume includes the English version from the Egerton MS. 927., Robert Grosseteste, Castel of Love, ed. R.F. Weymouth (London: Philological Society, 1864) and the edition based on the Vernon MS and Additional MS, 2283. An English version edited by J.O. Halliwell, was published for private circulation from a four­ teenth century manuscript at Brixton Hill in 1849. R. Morris, ed., Cursor Mundi, Early English Text Society. (London: Oxford University Press, 1874-93). 16

translated into Middle English...though not always fully or 45 closely." The translations of Grosseteste indicate a strong literary tradition of architecture symbolic of the Blessed Virgin.

A more popular source which frequently used the architectural metaphor was the medieval sermon. In his study of the influence of the sermon on literature, G.R.

Owst points out that the "allegoric figure" of the castle or fort was used even more frequently than the well-known allegory of the ship. One sermon, also referred to by Roberta

Cornelius, was from Mirk's Festial (1400?) entitled, in die

Assumpcionis, which

tells how this Fortress of the Blessed Virgin had for its her Meekness, filled with the water of Compassion. Its is Discreet Obedience, its outer Wedlock or Patience, its inner wall Virginity, its gate Faith with the tower of Charity above. The captain of this Castle is the Holy Ghost, and its soldiery the angels. It is significant, however, that Myrc here, like our "nautical" homilist aforementioned who begins a discourse in the same strain, branches off suddenly into a more general application of the simile. The Castle, viewed tropologically, becomes once more the residence of and Martha, now treated as a symbol of Contemplative and Active Life respectively.46

Owst attributes Mirk’s "branching off" to the passage in Luke

X, 38, "Intravit Jesus in castellum...," discussed earlier.

Mirk's version, one of many variations on the castle allegory,

45 Morton W. Bloomfield, The Seven Deadly Sms (1952: rpt. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1967), p. 141. 46 . ... G.R. Owst, Literature and Pulpit m Medieval England, 2nd ed., rev. (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1961), p. 78. 17.

is significant in an interpretation of the Digby play, Mary

Magdalene, which is examined later in this study. Owst concludes that symbolic castles were "commonplaces in the pulpit" of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and says that these castles were "the true prototypes" of Langland’s

"Toure of Truth," the "Castel of Care (or Falsehood)" and the "Castel of Kynde" in the first Vision of Piers Plowman and Dowel, as well as sources of "miracle and morality plays, 47 ...and the Castell of Perseverance itself." Owst assumes that the medieval sermon was such a powerful source that its influence was unavoidable, and there is no doubt that such an influence may have existed in some places and under certain conditions.

The connection between Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ, and architecture began in the interpretation of the bible and in the liturgy of the Mass, the central ritual of Catholicism.

Cornelius reviews specific works and authors where the allegory was used:

The most complete and distinctive allegory of the castle is that in which the Blessed Virgin is represented as a ’castle of love and grace’. As early as the fourth century, the Archbishop Athanasius of Alexandria spoke of a divine temple as having been erected in the Virgin: "Nam cum

47 Owst, pp. 84, 85. See Bloomfield, p. 141, where he states that the Chateau of Grosseteste probably influenced Langland’s Piers Plowman. 18

ipse poteus et rerum omnium sit effector, sibi in Virgine templum, corpus scilicet, exstruxit, llludgue tanquam instrumentum sibi proprium fecit, in quo se notum faceret et habitaret: ... P.G., XXV, 110." In a sermon doubtfully attributed to Saint Hildefonsus of Toledo (seventh century) the allegory of the House of Wisdom is applied to the Virgin. P.L., XCVI, 257 and P.L. Cl XXXIII, 674. Throughout the Middle Ages the Blessed Virgin was frequently, compared to the ark, to the tabernacle, to the enclosed garden.^8

The ark and the enclosed garden are common images found in

the bible, literature and art, but the tabernacle shows a growth from Judaic to Christian tradition. Derived from the

Jewish device for carrying and protecting the Torah, the

Christian tabernacle was a small container, most often

square in shape, and approximately a foot or more high and

wide, which held the Eucharistic wafers. The tabernacle was

placed in or near a central location in the church. In

Egyptian and Syrian churches, the ark or tabernacle was a 49 significant part of the rituals. Their tabernacle was usually made of wood, cubical in shape, and sometimes decorated with paintings on each side. In the top was a circular hole, in which the chalice with the communion or

4 8 Cornelius, "The Figurative Castle," p. 37. In a bibliography, Miss Cornelius lists references to the Virgin Mother as castle, temple, ark, or tabernacle in patristic writings. 4 9 Louis Bouyer, Liturgy and Architecture' (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1967), p. 35. 19.

Eucharistie wafers was placed during the consecration, which

is the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of

Christ. Thus, the tabernacle was a symbolic womb for the

"incarnation" of bread and wine. In western churches, the

tabernacle was used to store the wafers, which were brought

out of the tabernacle to be consecrated, and "the taber­ nacle was very often made in the form of a tower, and 50 wrought of precious metals adorned with jewels." As can be seen, such uses of the tabernacle as a carrier or pro­ tector of Christian sacred objects developed very early into comparisons with the castle and mother..

The same three-way comparison was expressed in religious literature in various ways. Old Testament topics were seen as préfigurations of the facts in the New Testament. As a result, the personifications of Wisdom as a woman in the

Apocrypha and the Psalms were compared to Mary by patristic and medieval writers.^1 But the exact path is not clear. A step in the process appears to be from another comparison * 2

°Alfred J. Butler, The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt, 2 volumes (1884; rpt. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), II, p. 42. In volume I, Butler describes a tabernacle in an Egyptian church as having a picture on the "southward side" of the Virgin holding the Christ child with her right arm, as He holds a scroll; on the westward side, a picture of the Annunciation; on the east, Christ the Redeemer; and north, an anchorite martyr receiving the Eucharist, pp. 109-110. 51 Cornelius, "The Figurative Castle," p. 37, and Louis Bouyer, The (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1965), p. 46. ' • , 20.

between the female figure of Wisdom and the woman "clothed

with the sun, with the moon under her feet..." found in 52 Revelation, xn, 1. The appearance of the later female

figure comes in the book, when "God's temple in heaven is

opened and the ark of his covenant was seen within his

temple..." (Revelation, xi, 19). John Henry Cardinal Newman

speculates about how the comparison among the three might have been joined:

[Jesus] indeed was really the 'Wisdom in whom the Father was eternally delighted', yet it would be but natural if, under the circumstances of Arian misbelief, theologians looked out for other than the Eternal Son to be the immediate object of such descriptions. And thus, the controversy opened a question which it did not settle. It discovered a new sphere, if we may so speak, in the realms of light, to which the Church had not yet assigned its inhabitant ... Thus there was a 'wonder in heaven'; a throne was seen far above all created powers mediatorial, intercessory; a title archetypal; a crown bright as the morning star; a glory issuing from the eternal throne; robes pure as heavens; and a sceptre over all; and who was the predestined heir of that majesty? Who was that Wisdom, and what was her name, 'the Mother of fair love, and fear, and only hope', exalted like a palm tree in Engaddi, and a rose plant in Jerico', 'created from the beginning before world' in God's counsels, and 'in Jerusalem was her power'? The vision is found in the Apocalypse, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.53

52 . Bouyer, Seat of Wisdom, p. 46. 5 3 John Henry Cardinal Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845: rpt. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1949), pp. 132-133. 21.

Newman's prose betrays the absence of clearly defined sources

or causes, and shows how such comparisons were often derived

from inspired devotion like the vision in the Apocalypse.

The vision of the temple that precedes that appearance of

the woman is pictured in a thirteenth century Anglo-Norman book known as the Douce Apocalypse, which illustrated the book of Revelation. In one picture,

St. John with his book stands contemplating the appearance in Heaven of the Temple. . At each end it has triple lancets. Within is a shrine with a thirteenth-century trefoil arch. The Temple is in a cloud in which there are ten human faces and the heads of five creatures with open mouths vomiting forth rays of tempestuous fire upon the earth against a background of hail.54 This picture is set over the text which it illustrates, and is sometimes accompanied by a commentary on the passage by

Berengaudius, a religious writer of the ninth century. About this particular passage (Revelation, xi, 19), Berengaudius says that "the Temple can be understood as the Blessed Mary 55 and that the ark is Christ who assumed flesh from Her."

The temple is said to be opened because "through Her the Lord is made visible to us." The interesting point here is that the compiler of the Anglo-Norman book of pictures combined

54 A.G. and W.O. Hassall, ed., The Douce Apocalypse (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1970), p. 24. ^Hassall, p. 24.

^Hassall, p. 24. 22.

the picture with the passage from the Apocalypse, and an

earlier commentary which compares Mary directly with a temple.

Another example, from the office of St. Mary, which

praised the Virgin Mother at the moment of Christ's

incarnation, typifies the tone and manner of liturgical

devotion to her and which uses the architectural metaphor

is cited by Alan Watts:

Great is the mystery of the inheritance. The womb of her that knew not man is become the temple of the Godhead; by taking flesh of her, he was in no way defiled.

Since Mary was compared to the temple which was also

known as the New Jerusalem, she was associated often with

that figurative city (Revelation, xxi). As an image, the

city of Jerusalem was often used to illustrate future epochs within Judeo-Christian history. Because its figurative character combines the earthly with the divine, it blends easily as a metaphor for the earthly mother of God. Though

Mary was viewed in metaphorical terms as a temple, an ark, a house of Wisdom, or a majestic queen of. heaven, the meta­ phor or allegory of a city does not conflict with other architectural images or symbols of her. Beauty, majesty, fruitfulness and chaste integrity are qualities of the New

57 Myth and Ritual in Christianity (Boston: Beacon Press, 1968) p. 118. 23.

Jerusalem which Mary also embodied. Such a comparison is

made in the Sarum Missal:

Thou the temple was made, ' An immaculate maid of Christ our salvation, The Lamb and the lion, the flower and the Dew, By a miracle new, Bread and Shepherd, were born of thee, rose without thorn. Of all virgins the Queen. Of righteousness thou art the city Thou art the mother, too, of pity: ’Portal of Paradise,' 58 From which light did arise, ...

This review of major studies of the architectural

metaphor and setting shows a tradition that began in Greek,

Roman, Jewish and early medieval literature, and was con­

tinued in secular and religious writings. At times, secular

and religious versions were combined, as in Grosseteste’s

Chateau d*amour. The qualities of the Palace of Venus and

the dwelling of Fortune were present in the architectural metaphor and setting of the Virgin Mother. Her characteri­

zation varies from those of Venus and Fortune in one very important element: her distance from those who seek her help. This quality and its effect on artistic expression and the audience of the Virgin Mother will be discussed in the next chapter.

58Frederick E. Warren, trans., The Sarum Missal in English , (London: The De La More Press, 1911), pp. 85-86. 24.

THE VIRGIN MOTHER IN RITUAL AND ART IN THE MIDDLE AGES AND RENAISSANCE

This chapter examines the position of the Virgin Mother in the history, myth, ritual, and literature of the medieval and renaissance periods. The expressions of the "cult of the Virgin," as it has been characterized by G.G. Coulton, manifest a defined philosophical position and fervent devo­ tion, and are to be found in all forms of art and liturgical devotion. Indeed, the "cult of the Virgin" was much more than the isolated phenomenon in European culture which some have, claimed. In the height of Christian devotion, Mary, the , the "godbearer," was essential. This chapter traces the devotion to Mary, the Virgin Mother, from the time of St. Anselm to Michelangelo.1

In the twelfth century, folk stories of the miracles of the Virgin grew popular with monastic scholars such as St.

Anselm. The historian, R.W. Southern, in his book, The

Making of the Middle Ages, says the miracles of the Virgin carried "far and wide" the same conceptions of love and devotion developed earlier in their different ways by St.

lnThe cult of the Virgin was fully systematized, we may say by the beginning of the thirteenth century..." G.G. Coulton, Five Centuries of Religion, (London: Oxford Uni­ versity Press, 1924), I, pp. 142, 145-146, 170. "Above all, medieval man held the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, in the highest devotion " Marshall W, Baldwin, The Medieval Church (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1953), p. 113. 25.

2 Bernard and Chretien de Troyes. Southern sees the two common themes of love and sympathy for the human condition present in St. Bernard's and Chretien's writings, reflecting a social change away from the more masculine rigidity of the

Benedictine rules and the warrior society of the Song of 3 Roland to a more sympathetic outlook on the human.condition.

The result was a greater artistic emphasis on the human suffering of Christ, frequently expressed by visual and literary praise of Christ's compassionate and suffering 4 mother. According to Southern, "The transformation of the theme of the Virgin and Child was a natural corollary to the transformation of the theme of the Crucifixion." Such a change in thinking and cultural expression that was neither original nor reactionary, says Southern, came from sources in the Byzantine church, which were early models for the

European turn of mind. "The theme of the Mother feeding the Holy Child, for instance, can be traced back to the art

•? 'R.W. Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953), p. 246. °R.W. Southern, pp. 222-223; 225-240, 241-246. 4 R.W. Southern, "The homage to the Virgin for which new and more intense forms of expression were found from a period quite early in the eleventh century was one symptom of the concentration on the humanity of Christ." p. 232.

5r.W. Southern, p. 238. 26.

of the catacombs of the third century. Then it seems to have established itself in the Coptic church.The artistic versions were pictures of Christ and Mary in "distinctly 7 Byzantine dress."

More specifically, Southern refers to a Cistercian lectionary of the early twelfth century to illustrate the

Eastern ideas that came to be part of Western devotional 8 and liturgical expression after the twelfth century.

Southern’s example is a picture of the tree of Jesse, "sur­ rounded by four Old Testament types of the Virgin Birth, ... and the Virgin feeding her child." 9 Then, comparing the lectionary's formal disposition of figures with a later twelfth century Gothic carving from Liege, "The of

Dorn Rupert," Southern points out that the emphatic bowing of the Mother's neck and head to the child on her knee as well as other characteristics express a compassion for the mother and the helpless child.The later carving illus­ trates the change of cultural attitude from rigidity to romance.

In order to show the same change from rigid idealism to a sympathy for frail humanity in "secular" literature,

6 . R.W. Southern, p. 238. ^R.W. Southern, p. 239.

8r.w. Southern, pp. 239, 240.

9 R.W. Southern, p. 239.

■LOr.W. Southern, Plate IV, opp. p. 241. 27.

Southern compares the work of Chretien de Troyes to the earlier Song of Roland. In his analysis and explanation of this change in attitude, Southern refers to the literary studies of W.P. Ker’s Epic and Romance, and C.S. Lewis' The Allegory of Love.11 *Characterizing the world of men in the Song of Roland as the "thought world," Southern says,

With the work of Chretien of Troyes who was in the third quarter of the twelfth century, we enter a new world. His romances are the secular counter­ part to the piety of Citeaux [the monastery where Southern says the religious change took place] . Of both, love is the theme. Love is an inward thing and therefore a lonely thing united only to its unique object. So the knight of Chretien’s romances seeks solitude for the exercise of his essential virtue. It is true that his life is centered on a community — the community of King Arthur’s court — and that his highest virtues have their root in the everyday ties of loyalty to his lord and companions. But though the court is a school of discipline, it is in a higher sense a place of relaxation where virtue will become rusty unless sharpened by periodic flights into the wilderness.12

The medieval romance paralleled the intellectual change occurring in monasteries, which also emphasized a human helplessness and solitude. Though the secular and religious forms "in the twelfth century were kept rigidly apart," they were "alternatives opened out to the imagination in the mid­ twelfth century."13

11R.W. Southern, p. 265.

1^R.w. Southern, pp. 243, 244. 13 R.W. Southern, p. 246. 28.

At first, such alternatives in art were the privilege of a rich minority; nonetheless, the change in ideals from rigorous duty to sympathy and compassion were expressed in popular literature as well. According to Southern, the most

"influential" forms of popular literature were "the col­ lections of Miracles of the Virgin, which began to appear 14 at the beginning of the twelfth century." Again, the roots lie in the eastern versions of Christianity, and were part of an interest in relics of the . But, unlike the stories of the miracles of saints, the focus of those stories about the Virgin were "concerned above all with the salvation of ";

It is this which makes this literature— despite all its shortcomings — more spiritual and more exciting than the other miracle literature with which our period is so full. The Miracles of the Virgin were not written to proclaim the glories, or to enhance the reputation of any church or corporate body: they appealed solely to individuals; and if they had a propaganda purpose — as they very often had — it was the encouragement of pious practices, which came in time to occupy a posi­ tion at the very centre of medieval personal devotion.15

Southern states that the devotion given to the Virgin was not without its more intellectual believers, including St.

Anselm,.the archbishop of Canterbury, and his nephew, named

Anselm also. The younger Anselm came to England in about

1100, and later became the Abbot of Bury St. Edmund’s.

14r.w. Southern, p. 246.

Southern, p. 248. 29.

According to Southern, Anselm, the younger, was "known to

historians as the devoted protagonist of the most advanced

form of devotion to the Blessed Virgin then known in Europe

— the celebration of the Feast of the conception of the 16 Virgin." Southern also believes, "that it is to him that

we must give the chief place for making the collection of

the stories of the Virgin, which first set the fashion in

this form of literature, and which formed the nucleus of

nearly all the later collections during the next one hundred 17 years or so." Southern bases this conclusion on simi­

larities in situation, geographical location, and roles 18 between the stories of the Virgin and Anselm’s life.

Southern also mentions that the monastic group which gave

force to the popularizing of such stories of the works of

the Virgin were the , of which order Robert

Grosseteste was a member. 19 Grosseteste’s Chateau d'amour,

the poem which allegorizes Mary, the Virgin Mother, in the

form of a castle, is an example of medieval poetic praise , , - 2 0 to Mary.

16 R.W. Southern, p. 251. See also R.W. Southern, St. Anselm and His Biographer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963), pp. 287-289 for Eadmer of Clare's copy of prayers of Anselm. 17 R.W. Southern, Middle Ages, p. 251. 1 fi R.W. Southern, Middle Ages, p. 251.

19 R.W. Southern, Middle Ages, p. 256.

20 See Chapter I for Neilson's description and summary of the relevant passage in the Chateau d'amour. 30.

How detailed and specific the devotion to Mary was in religious expression is best explained by referring to particular Christian ceremonies and doctrines. In Myth and

Ritual in Christianity, Alan Watts traces the esteem and place of the Virgin Mother in the Church, by first de­ scribing the seasonal arrangement of the Christian calendar:

...the seasons of the year are themselves transformed from the pagan Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter to the Christian Advent, , Epiphany, Lent, Passiontide, and Pentecost. However, because the sun itself in both its daily and annual course is seen as a type of Christ, the Sun of Justice, the Christian Year is rather significantly integrated with the cycle of the sun.21

Thus, the Christian Year begins with Advent, about four weeks before- Christmas, when the sun is "at its lowest meridian and ... about to begin once more its upward journey 22 to the mid-heaven." The religious season and calendar is significant because the Old Testament is seen as a fore­ shadowing of the New in the Church. The old year wanes, but gives birth to anew one. In the Old Testament, the

Fall of Man begins a cycle of man's return to his God. It.

21 Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity, p. 87. Watts bases his descriptions on The Short Breviary (Collegeville, Minn.: St. John's Abbey, n.d.j, The Monastic Diurnal (London: Oxford University Press, 1940), L.W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (London: n.p., 1902), and Voragine's Golden Legend. 22Watts, p. 87. 31.

is a dark period of suffering from 's fall to Christ’s birth, but it is also one of hope for fulfillment and re­ demption by the New Messiah:

Seeing, then, the entire Old Testament as the hope of Christ, the mind of the Church goes back again to the beginning of the world, and ‘ calls upon Sophia, the Divine Wisdom, the Word to reform the universe of which he was at first the ideal form....23

The story of the generations from Adam to Christ "is also seen as a rehearsal in shadow-play for the manifestation of Christ."24

Since Eve and Adam destroyed man’s happiness there is need for a new Eve and a new son. The prophets prepared the way with clues for the events which seemed impossible, un­ less performed as miracles; particularly, the Virgin birth derived from the barrenness of Joachim and St. Anne. But when Mary is selected to be the mother of God it is like

"rain falling in a desert," suggests Watts, and Mary's passive humility was the perfect example of a penitential and 25 barren Advent leading to fertility and birth. Watts then

22Watts, p. 90. 24 Watts, p. 90. See also chapter four for a review of the mystery cycles. 25 . . Watts, pp. 97-101. See also Fr. A. Francis Davis, Fr. Ivo Thomas, Fr. Crehan, eds. A Catholic Dictionary of Theology (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1971), p. 146: "Our Lord is the mediator of the new covenant; and she is the Ark, containing that covenant. She bore in her womb Christ, the food of our souls; just as the ark contained the manna." 32.

quotes a hymn of praise from the "ancient English Use of the

Sarum Breviary":

0 Virgin of Virgins, how shall this be? For neither before thee was any seen like thee, nor shall there be after. Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me? The thing which ye behold is a divine mystery.26

Watts notes that in Christianity "the figure of the Mother of

God is second only in importance to that of Christ himself":

From every standpoint — theological, historical, or metaphysical -- her role in the Christian scheme is crucial, because she is that without which there would be no Christ.27

Watts points out that her origin was related to the concept of Sophia, the Divine Wisdom, and that she is "both the 28 Bride and Mother of God the Son...." As bride and mother, she is identified with the Song of Songs which is the source of symbols for Mary such as the rose, the lily, the garden, 29 . . the fountain, and the tower. As noted, she is also iden­ tified with the vision in the book of Revelation of St. John.^O

26Watts, p. 102. 27 . . Watts, p. 102. See Louis Bouyer, The Seat of-Wisdom, p. vii: "History shows, in fact, that a Christianity which no longer gives our Lady the homage accorded her by the Church is a mutilated Christianity." 2 P Watts, pp. 103, 104. 29 Watts, pp. 105, 106. 30 Watts, pp. 107. See the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Bouyer, pp. 45-48, and A Catholic Dictionary of Theology for confirmation of Watts. 33.

These metaphors are based doctrinally on the Church’s

promulgation of two doctrines: the Assumption of Mary into 31 heaven and the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The

Assumption of Mary is defined as a dogma that means,

’that the Immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever virgin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul in the glory of heaven.'32

The scriptural justification for Mary’s assumption into heaven is the book of Revelation, 12:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a . woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

Another basis for the doctrine comes from Christian tradition:

It is probable, though not certain, that the oldest explicit statements of the Assumption were in apocryphal legends of the 5th cent, or earlier. The oldest and basic form of this legend has been perhaps successfully restored by Fr. A. Wenger.... It includes an announcement by an angel of Mary's approaching death; Mary's assembling together of her friends; the arrival of St. John and later of the other Apostles, including St. Paul; the arrival of Jesus; Mary's death, her funeral, an attack on the mourners by Jews who were struck by by angels and healed on believing; the burial; the return of Jesus after three days; the carrying up by angels of the body of Mary to paradise

2^Watts, p. 110. 32 Francis, et al, Catholic Dictionary, p. 170, quoting Pius XII. 34.

followed by Jesus and the Apostles; the placing of the body under the tree of life and the return to it of the soul; with, finally, the return of the Apostles to earth. It is not established whether the earliest account was written in Syriac or in Greek; but very soon it is found also __ in Latin, Gaelic, Coptic and Arabic versions.

The medieval mystery play from the Hegge cycle, which is

examined in chapter four, generally follows the format described above.

In his explanation of the significance>and high esteem

of Mary in Christian myth and ritual, Watts emphasizes the

celebration of the Immaculate Conception. The portrayal of

Mary in this capacity provides an example of the dominance

of her image in . In medieval English poetry,

the Immaculate Conception was expressed by Robert Wace, 34 William of Malmesbury and John Lydgate. However, philo­

sophically and theologically, the most astute proponent of

Mary's Immaculate Conception was Scotus. John Duns

Scotus was a Franciscan theologian, whose writings on philosophy, theology and logic were used as "textbooks in the Universities in which (as at Oxford) his followers,

3 3 Francis, et al, Catholic Dictionary, p. 172. See The Golden Legend, pp. 449-465, for the same version. 34 . . A.W. Ward and A.R. Waller, eds., The Cambridge His­ tory of English Literature. From the Beginnings to the Cycles of Romance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1949), I, pp. 23, 24; Joseph A. Lauritis, et al, ed., A Critical Edition of John Lydgate's Life of Our Lady (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1961). 35.

called Scotists, were a predominating Scholastic sect until

the 16th century, when the system was attacked with ridi­ cule ...." 35

In his Scriptum Oxoniense, a work composed around 1300, Duns Scotus asserts that Mary was preserved from the Original Sin to which her body was condemned by its nature, through an equally original preservation. According to this theory, a modernization, so to speak of the idea conceived by St, Maxim of Turin in the fifth century, the soul of Mary was sanctified before the generation of her body took place and was united with the body at the very instant of generation. Her body was thereby pre­ served from corruption in the generative act. This preservation of Mary from Original Sin was not a natural gift but was granted to her in consequence of the merits of Christ and because she was to become His mother. Duns Scotus was thus able to accept the doctrine of free will on the part of Adam and to account for the exemption of Mary from Original Sin by the assumption that she, too, would have been subject to it by nature had she not been preserved by a special act of Providence. The theory that Mary was preserved from Original Sin not by her nature but through the merits of Christ is the basis of all later discussions on the Immaculate Con­ ception and is ultimately the ground upon which the Dogma was promulgated in 1854.36

35 The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971), I, p. 816, under the entry of Dunce, which became the term of ridicule for followers of Scotus. Grosseteste had sponsored the "founda­ tion of the Franciscans at Oxford..." according to George Hilmes, The Later Middle Ages 1272-1485, The Norton Library History of Encrland (New York: W.W. Norton Company, Inc., 1962) , p. 57/ 3 6 Mirella Levi d'Ancona, The of the Immaculate Conception in the Middle Ages and Early Renais­ sance (New York: College Art Association of America in conjunction with The Art Bulletin, 1957), p. 10. 36.

The feast of the Immaculate Conception was particu­

larly favored in England, and by the eleventh century was

celebrated annually on December eighth. The growing belief

in the Immaculate Conception spread in France and the

continent as well, and the artistic tradition of the con­

cept diffused into specific types that illustrated a

particular aspect or function of the Virgin Mother. For in­

stance, there is a tradition in art portraying Mary as the

new Eve, an idea which appears in the sermons of St.

Augustine: 37

Mary may be shown treading upon the serpent, while some allusion to Genesis 3 is made. Or the Virgin is shown triumphant while Eve reclines at her feet. Or the Virgin Immaculate is accompanied by an allusion to the Fall and Expulsion from the Garden of Eden.38

Another portrayal of the Virgin Mother as having been immaculately conceived is the scene of the Annunciation to

Mary of the Divine Incarnation in an illuminated manuscript of the 12th century. "The Annunciation is associated with the two figures of with the burning bush, and Gideon with the fleece; the flowered wand topped by the Dove which is inserted between and the Virgin Mary is suggestive of the Tree of Jesse." 39 This combination of episodes and figures is intended to show a préfiguration of the Virgin

37 . . . J.P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, XLII.

3 8 D'Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 36. / 3 9 D’Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 37. 37.

Immaculate by emphasizing her genealogy and fulfillment of

prophecies in the Old Testament.

In the role of the Virgin of Mercy, the mother of

Christ was portrayed as a consoling and forgiving mother,

who provided protection under the open mantle for "single 40 individuals or crowds." This depiction of the Virgin of

Mercy was a conventional means of expressing the capacity

given to her by legend that she was a shelter for sinners.

An example of the use of the Virgin of Mercy motif is in,

a ... Carmelite Missal in the British Museum (Add. MS. 29704, fol. 193v), an English work of the end of the fourteenth century where the Virgin of Mercy is identified with the Apocalyptic Woman and combined with the Trinity. ... the Immaculists borrowed the Virgin of Mercy but to identify it as an Immaculate Conception added to it features typical of the Virgin Immaculate (the Apocalyptic symbols, inscribed scrolls, and the Godhead).31

A fourteenth century English psalter depicts the Immaculate

Conception as covering a group of monks with her mantle, while Christ hovers threateningly over a walled city with three spears or arrows in His right hand and an apparent 42 globe in the other. Another version of the Virgin of

4 0 D'Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 33. 41 D'Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 33. 4 2 ' D'Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 33. 38.

Mercy as the Immaculate Conception is a fifteenth century relief which combines the Virgin and her mantle with the 43 Tree of Jesse.

The Immaculate Conception is also expressed in the image of a mediatrix. In a thirteenth century, "... French

Psalter ... in the British Museum (Add. MS I 7868) ... the

Virgin holds on,her knees the Child with the Globe and 44 shows Him her breast. Hell is represented below." Mary was both and empress of hell partly because she was born without Original Sin. Mary was also shown standing near the gate of Heaven, illustrating Psalm 118:2:

"This gate of the lord, into which the righteous shall enter." Mary's position near the gate connotes her inter­ mediary status as both a heavenly and temporal person, who was an aid to members of the Church.

Many monastic orders were acquainted with the image of the Virgin Mother as mediatrix, whether or not they endorsed the Immaculate Conception theory. An example of both

Immaculist and Maculist use of the Virgin Mother image in a specific role was a picture of Mary framed by a larger picture of her mother, Anne. Such an image is found in an

"... Office of the Mass for the Immaculate Conception, illuminated for King Henry VII of England (1457-1509).

^43 D'Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 34.

44 D'Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 35. 39.

(Brit. Mus. Royal MS. 2 A XIX, fol. I)."4^ Another version

is one of Mary holding the Christ Child pictured within the

womb of Anne who is surrounded by symbols of religious

litanies associated with the préfiguration of Christ's birth.4456

Since the doctrine and feast of the Immaculate

Conception implies birth, the feast of the Nativity of the

Virgin was often celebrated at the same time, but this

Nativity version of the feast was contested by those of the

Maculist school who held to the sanctification theory; in

short, Mary was a saint not immaculately conceived. An

example of the Nativity of the Virgin theme used as an

expression of the sanctification theory is found "in a

miniature cut from a French Psalter of the thirteenth

century (Brit. Mus. Add. MS 28784B, fol. 8) where the

Nativity of the Virgin is combined with the Tree.of Jesse

to show that the sanctification of Mary — which in our manu­

script is represented by the Tree of Jesse — coincided with her birth."47

The association of the Tree of Jesse with the Virgin

Mother was also made by an early proponent of the Immaculate

45 . D Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 36. 46 D'Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 36. One of the symbols is labelled "turris david," and another is called "civitas dei."

47 D'Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 41. 40.

Conception, Eadmer of Clare, an Englishman, who used a pas­

sage from Isaiah (II: 1-2) to support his theory that "Mary

received sanctifying grace at her Conception because the

Holy Ghost descended upon her. Mary would not have tri­

umphed over the law of death had it not been for the Tree

of Jesse, her genealogical tree, in which she was sancti­

fied and which was the beginning of the rebirth for the world, that is, abrogation of the law of spiritual death, 48 damnation." The Tree of Jesse version reinforced the genealogical theory that Mary was destined to be the mother of God.

A further "proof" of her near divinity and closeness to God was her abi. lity to perform miracles. 49 The legendary miracles of the Virgin are exemplified by an episode in an

English Lectionary (Brit. Mus. Harl. MS 7026, fol. 14) of the fifteenth century, in which she restored the foot of a 50 man. As noted, such miracles were a popular form of oral legend absorbed by religious literature later.

As the inevitable figure who carried and delivered the

Son of God, the Virgin Mother was easily associated in art

48 . D'Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 46. See also her reference to a Benedictine missal where.a picture of Mary includes the seven doves, gifts of the , on p. 48 and note 118. 49 R.W. Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages, pp. 229 ff.

50 D'Ancona, Immaculate Concepti. on, p. 61. See also chapters three and four. 41.

with a legend that she was predestined from eternity to do

so. The basis for such a belief came from three passages

in the Bible: Ecclesiastes 24:41, Proverbs 8:22-23, and

Psalm 109 (110):3. The passages are used in liturgies that celebrate the Immaculate Conception.

The idea of eternal predestination of Mary was represented in the Middle Ages by the group of the Virgin and Child. With this group the idea is depicted, for instance, in the New Minster "Quinity" — an illustration of Eccl. 24:14 (Fig. I) — and in the Constance fresco... — an illustration of Psalm 109:3. In the Renaissance, the Predestination of Mary is invariably represented by showing Mary as a maiden, her age varying from infancy to early womanhood, and she no longer carries the Christ Child. Artists emphasize her purity, no longer her motherhood.51

The artistic rendering of Mary as predestined from the passages in the Apocrypha and from the prophet Isaiah emphasizes the importance of the Virgin Mother in the popular mind of medieval and early renaissance artists and audiences. The examples show a status that rivals that of

Christ, occupying a central place in religious, artistic, and literary expression.

Asceticism was a preparation for spiritual battle just as the tournament was a preparation against adversities in the temporal world. The most famous literary example of the

Christian conflict with the temporal world, the Psychomachia, written by Prudentius in the fourth century also uses the

51D’Ancona, Immaculate Conception, p. 52. 42.

secular world of war and weapons to illustrate Christian

doctrine. And just as the inspiration for was often

a woman, so was the Virgin Mother an inspiration for ascetic

people, particularly in her role as the Immaculate Con­

ception. The presence of tournaments and ladies in the

medieval world grew in parallel with the presence of monastic orders and the adoration of the Virgin Mother, and

like the motif of the castle, one practice often exchanged

influences with the other.

The association of the Virgin Mother with asceticism was expressed in many ways by artists, theologians and writers in the early and medieval church. Asceticism

shared the ideals of virginity and chastity with the Virgin

Mother. More active elements in the practice of asceticism also took their spiritual inspiration from her legendary powers and qualities. The ritual exercise of ceremonial acts to achieve spiritual order, harmony, and control is akin to the discipline and training of an athlete, and the word asceticism is derived from ascesis, a Greek word meaning "the practice of discipline, or physical control and— 52 . order." The metaphor of athletic discipline was appro­ priate in characterizing the virtues of asceticism, and such

52 Colin Eisler, "The Athlete of Virtue: The Iconography of Asceticism," in De Artibus Opuscula XL: Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky, 2 volumes, ed. Millard Meiss (New York: New York University Press, 1961), pp. 82-97. See Miriam D’Ancona’s article in The Art Bulletin, 1956, for a different interpreta­ tion of the picture, but not of the Virgin Mother. 43.

a parallel was a theme of medieval and renaissance artists.

An example of the combination of ascetic ideals ex­

pressed in the Virgin is found in the art of Michelangelo.

In his interpretation of Michelangelo’s Doni tondo, Colin

Eisler describes the encircled position of the Virgin

Mother:

The Virgin Mary, seated at the end of an Olympic stadium, recalls Methodius' characterization of virgins as those who have sworn to engage themselves in the strenuous Olympian contest for purity throughout their lives. Mary's rather short neck, block-like head, and rippling muscular arms make of her a more conspicuously athletic ideal than she had been in Michelangelo's earlier works. Jesus' hands toying with the crown of braids above the fillet in her hair, while anticipating His crownipg of Mary in heaven, seem to allude to her athletic victory won on earth in the contest of her virginity. In his comment on Romans XLV, 6, "Salute Mary, who bestowed much labor on you," Chrysostom wrote: "A woman again is crowned and proclaimed victorious...' Such a woman puts us men to shame that we are left so far behind them!" The Saint told one of his disciples, significantly named Olympias, to note how virginity was a contest for which neither Moses nor dared strip.... Continuing his praise of Olympias, Chrysostum writes: "You are like a tower, a haven and a wall of defence, speaking in the eloquent voice of example and through your sufferings instructing either sex to strip readily for these contests and to descend into the lists with all courage and cheerfully to bear the toils which such contests involve.

53 Eisler, "Asceticism," in Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky, ed. Meiss, p. 94. 44.

Chrysostom continues, in praising Olympias, a widow, by

describing her as possessing integrity, courage and

adamantine perseverance. He ends the letter by saying,

"Therefore I rejoice and leap for joy; ... for I ... gain

no small cheerfulness from this cause —- I mean your 54 courage." Chrysostom often alluded to the athletic meta­

phor in describing asceticism, and in the 15th century,

the texts of St. were discovered and made 55 available m the Dominican monastery of San Marco.

Michelangelo was devoted to the Dominicans, and since he may have been at San Marco when the texts were available,

Eisler concludes that Chrysostom's writings influenced.

Michelangelo in his painting of the Holy Family. In addi­ tion, because the tradition of the athlete as a symbol of religious virtue was common, Eisler sees the added inspira­ tion for Michelangelo in Chrysostom as highly probable.

We do not know, for sure, Michelangelo's source of inspiration. Nonetheless, Eisler's reference to the comparison made by Chrysostom in the letter to Olympias,

54 Philip Schaff, ed., Saint Chrysostom: On the Priest­ hood; Ascetic Treatises; Select Homilies and Letters; Homilies on the Statues, in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Erdmans Publishing Company, 1968), IX, p.'298. 55 . John Alexander Sawhill, The Use of Athletic Metaphors in the Biblical Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1928). 45.

where she is seen as a "tower, haven and wall" in the center of , and before which the saint figuratively

leaps for joy (as David did before the tabernacle or ark of

the covenant in Jerusalem) is important. It makes meta­ phorical connections of three ideas associated with the 56 Virgin Mother. The "tower, haven and wall," elements of both the castle and the city, are combined with the ark or tabernacle metaphor.

The construction of the temple to house the ark or tabernacle was the crowning achievement of the virtues in the Psychomachia. But before such a joyful task could be undertaken, the virtues had to do battle and that militant task bears a resemblance to the exercise of athletic virtue described earlier by Chrysostom. Prudentius describes the opening gestures:

Faith first takes the field to face the doubtful chances of battle, her rough dress disordered. Her arms exposed; for the sudden glow of ambition, burning to enter fresh contests, takes no thought to gird arms or armour, but trusting in a stout heart and unprotected limbs challenges the hazards of furious warfare, meaning to break them down.

The metaphor of athletic prowess illustrating spiritual strength and integrity in Christian virtue lent itself to descriptions which used the metaphor of castle, tower, wall,

66See Saint Chrysostom in Fathers of the Church, pp, 297-298. 5 7 H.J. Thomson, Prudentius (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1949), I, pp. 280-281. 46.

ark or tabernacle. As described, architectural motifs

frequently symbolized, served as allegory for, or were

associated with women, virgins, Venus, or the Virgin Mother,

One particular work which uses the architectural meta­ phor is John Lydgate's The Life of Our Lady, written, it 58 is estimated, between 1410 and 1425. The poet synthe­

sizes myth, history and lyric poetry into a large poetic hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some parts of Lydgate’s poem are based on The Golden Legend. An example of the use of the architectural motif which stands for — or is associated with — the Virgin Mary occurs in the second of six books in The Life of Our Lady, where the poet describes the Virgin at the Incarnation:

And whanne the angelle from her deported was And she aloon in hir tabernacle Right as the sonne persheth thorough the glas Thorugh the Cristall, Byrell or spectacle Withoutyu harme Right so by miracle in to hir closet, the faders sapience Entrede is, with outyn violence Or any wemme, into hir maydenhede On any syde, in party or in all For goes sonne, takyng our manheed In hir hathe bilte, his paleys principall And under pight, this mansion Rial With vii pilers, as made is memorye And ther in sette, his Reclimatorye.

C Q See Derek Pearsall, John Lydgate (Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1970); Walter Schirmer, John Lydgate: A Study in the Culture of the XV Century. Trans. Ann E. . (Berkeley: University of Cali­ fornia Press, 1961); Joseph A. Lauritis, Ralph A. Klinefelter, and Vernon F. Gallagher, eds. A Critical Edition of John Lydgate's Life of Our Lady. (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University, 1961) , pp. 57-91. 47.

Whiche is therformed, al of pure golde Only to vs, forto signyfye That he all holy, naked hath his holde With Inne this mayde, that callet is marye And vii pillours, that shulde this mayden gye Been vii spirites, so as I can decerne Of god above, this mayde to governe For all the tresource, of his sapience And all the Richesse, of spirituall science In hir were sette, and closyde eke also For she is the tour, withoutyn wordes moo And hous of yvour, in wheche Solomon Shette all the tresoure, in his possession

She was the castell, of the cristall wall That never man myghte yet unclose Whiche the kyng that made and causyth all His dwellyng chefe, by grace gan dispose And like as dewe, descendeth on the Rose With silver dropes, and of the lives fayre The fresche bewete, ne may not apayre... (11. 519-553)

She was eke the gate, with the loke, breght Sette in the Northe, of high devocion Of wheche symtyme, the prophete had a sight Ezechial in his a vision Wheche stoode evere clos, in conclusion That never man, entre shall he pace But god hym selfe, to make his dwellyng place. '■ (11. 568-574;

These stanzas contain most of the architectural metaphors used for the Virgin Mother in the period. In addition, the architectural metaphors expressed a combination of qualities embodied in the figure of the Virgin Mother. In the same poem, Lydgate also refers to Mary as "kepyng the Manna, of our salvation" (II, 1. 590); "The yerde of Aron..." (II, 1.

594); "... the throne, where that Salamon/ For worthynesse, sette his Riall see/ With gold and yvory, that so bright

59 Lauritis, et al, Life of Our Lady, pp. 347-351 48.

shone" (II, 11. 610-612); "... the woman, that saint John/

Sawe in the hevyn, so Richely apere/ Clad in a sonne..."

(II, 11. 624, 625); "... the first faythefull wall" (II,

1. 642); "...constant, as a wall" (II, 1. 1509);

"...clene castell, and the chast toure" (II, 1. 1663);

"...blissede perfyte holy hill" (III, 1. 1774); "The weye of lyffe the ledder of holynesse" (V, 1. 627); "... of 60 god the cheve chaste toure" (VI, 1. 3).

Two plays, forerunners of the later morality, which allude to the Virgin Mother, are the Duk Moraud and The 61 Pride of Life. The first, called Duk or Dux Moraud, does. not follow exactly the pattern of Innocence, Fall, Repentance, and a final Salvation found in most morality plays, but it is concerned with a reversal of a sinner’s evil life and the 62 final salvation of the sinner. The manuscript is a fragment and the reconstruction of the plot has been de­ rived from other medieval poetry and histories. The plot briefly traces the life of a Duke who commits incest with his

6<^Lauritis, et al, Life of Our Lady, pp. 230-233.

6^See Bevington, Macro Plays, p. viii, where he men­ tions that this was the area of the Ludus Coventriae and Mary Magdalene as well. See Norman Davis, Non-Cycle Plays and Fragments, Early English Text Society (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), pp. lxxxv-cxi; 90-103. 6 2A.P. Rossiter, English Drama from Early Times to the

Elizabethans (1950: rpt, New York: Barnes and Noble, 1967) 9 pp. 78, 79, 103. 49.

daughter, who then kills the Queen-mother. She bears a

child and then at the father's bidding kills it. The Duke

then repents, renounces his daughter, who later kills him

in his sleep. The fragment ends here, but Constance Hieatt

sees the play as a miracle of the Virgin, because in other

sources the story continues. The daughter becomes a prostitute, then enters a church, falls dead with grief, zc 2 but through the intervention of the Virgin is saved.

This pattern, Hieatt argues, prevails through numerous miracles of the Virgin, and therefore is the essential structure of Duk Moraud. The language is in the same thirteen-line stanza form of The Castle of Perseverance and the Hegge cycle, and the similarity to a manuscript from

Bury St. Edmund's led Norman Davis to conclude that the play was probably written in an East Anglican dialect from the 64 ... Norfolk-Suffolk region of England. Dialectal similarities suggest a further use of similar staging and literary con­ ventions and themes.

The second play, which also alludes to an interceding and protective function by the Virgin Mother is The Pride of Life. This too is a manuscript fragment.which was the

Z- o Constance B. Hieatt, "A Case for Duk Moraud as a Play of the Miracles of the Virgin," Medieval Studies, 32 (1970), 345-351. 64 Norman Davis, Non-Cycle Plays and Fragments, p. ex. 50.

prologue of the play. However, from this fragment, the plot

of the play can be sketched. Briefly, a king arrogant in

his power, defies Death, challenging it to a duel. He loses,

and the homily that follows implies that the Virgin Mother

interceded to bring him into a sanctified state:

And throgh priere of Oure Lady mylde The soule and body schul dispyte; Scho wol prey her son so mylde, Al godenisse scho wol quyte

The cors that nere knewe of care, No more then stone in weye, Schal wit of sorow and sore care And thrawe betwene ham tweye.

The soule theron schal be weye That the fendis have ikagte; And Oure Lady schal therfor preye So that with her he schal be lafte.

Now beith in pes and beith hende, And distourbith nogt oure place, For this oure game schal gin and ende Throgh Jhesu Cristis swere grace.66 (11. 97-112)

Looking closely at these lines which end the prologue, one can see that the king was to be delivered up to the Virgin

("... with her he schal be lafte") after her prayers. To apply the meaning more specifically, , in the figure of the king in this fragment, comes under the protection of

5Davis, Non-Cycle Plays and Fragments, p. 1xxxix. See also Arnold Williams "The English Moral Play before 1500" Annuale Medievale, 4 (1963), 13-14, who says that The Pride of Life and The Castle of Perseverance are similar because both Mankind and the King are saved by supernatural means. 6 6 Davis, Non-Cycle Plays and Fragments, p. 93. 51.

67 the Virgin Mother. This reading of The Pride of Life is

similar to Bennett's interpretation of the words,

"lofly ladi" found in the prologue of The Castle of Per­

severance , which, he believes, indicate a differing ending

to the present version of the play. That end would in­

clude the intercession of Mary for the soul of Mankind,

according to these lines in the banns:

Whanne Manys spyryt is past, the Badde Aungyl ful fell . • Clemyth that for couetyse Mans sowle schuld ben hys.

And for to bere it ful boystowsly wyth hym into hell. The Good Aungyl seyth, "Nay, the spyryt schal to blys For at hvs laste ende of mercy he gan spell And therefore of mercy schal be nowth misse. And oure lofly Ladi if sche wyl for hym mell. Be mercy and be menys in purgatory he is, In ful byttyr place." Thus mowthys confession And hys hertys contricion Schal save Man fro dampnacion 68 Be Goddys mercy and grace. (11. 118-130)°

This chapter has reviewed the place given to the Virgin

Mother in medieval and early renaissance culture, especially

in England. The studies by R.W. Southern described the miracles of the Virgin as an expression of the changing view of man's place in the Christian scheme of things. Hu­ man solitude and romantic quest became more important in

67 ' Rossiter, Early Drama, p. 103. 6 3 Eccles, The Macro Plays, pp. 6, 7. 52.

secular and religious expression and the Virgin seemed to

be a fusion of the goals of the pilgrim, monk and the knight.

This prominent place of the Virgin was explained and de­

scribed more specifically by Alan Watts, showing the

special qualities and functions which became formalized in

the rituals of Christianity. The function of the Virgin

as one who was immaculately conceived without original sin occupied much of the devotional expression in art. In both ritual and art the architectural metaphor was used to de­

scribe various qualities of the Virgin Mother, according to

Watts and D'Ancona. In literature, John Lydgate expressed in many forms a great variety of architectural metaphors for the Virgin implying a strong devotion to her. In addi­ tion, Lydgate's place in social and literary history, as well as geographical proximity to the East Midland area, shows a strong current of devotion to the Virgin Mother in the early part of the fifteenth century. This is reinforced by noting dramatic literature which also expressed a de­ votion to the Virgin Mother, such as The Pride of Life and

Duk Moraud. In short, the East Midland district of fifteenth century England was thoroughly familiar with the devotion to Mary and saw the architectural metaphor or setting as a fitting expression of her majesty, since that district was where Anselm, Duns Scotus, Grosseteste and Lydgate nurtured the philosophical and literary praise to the Theotokos at

Oxford, Cambridge, London, Peterborough, Walsingham, Norwich 53.

and Bury St. Edmund's.

Perhaps, the best way to illustrate the dominating

presence of Mary in art and literature in the Middle Ages

is to refer to the words of two historians of the period.

Referring to the "Bible of the Poor," that is, legends and

the apocryphal gospels, G.G. Coulton quotes Emile Male:

"The meeting of Joachim and Anne at the Golden Gate is the

most frequent of all these subjects. The artists at the

end of the Middle Ages clung to it with marked predilection;

it was, in fact, the only way that had yet been imagined of

representi. ng the Immaculate Conception." 69 In the Pelican

History of England in the late Middle Ages, A.R. Myers, concludes similarly about the period from 1399 to 1471:

The idea of Christ as a terrible Judge was partly responsible for another late medieval development — the increasing cult of Mary and the saints who might intercede with Him for sinful men. Another reason for this cult was the increasing tendency in the Western Church to think in concrete images; hence the increasing desire to characterize the Virgin and the saints and to dwell on their attributes and physical appearance. This attitude of mind fostered a more intense religious emotion (as in the cult of the Five Wounds of Christ or the Stations of the Cross), and helped to bring

69 G.G. Coulton, Art and the Reformation (1928; rpt. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1969), p. 299 quoting Emile Male, L'art religieux due XHIe siecle en France (Paris: n.p., 1898), pp. 314-316. See also Coulton's appendix 21, p. 558, where he states that Voragine's Golden Legend led to formal authorization of devotion to Anne in 1378 in England. 54.

religious elements into the most common aspects of everyday life. But this involved the risk that holy things would become too commonplace to be reverenced; it was in this period that the great French artist, Foucquet, painted the most sensual Madonna of the middle ages, dressed in the height of fashion, with the seductive, thoughtless features of Agnes Sorel, the royal mistress.70

70 A. R. Myers, The Pelican : England in the Late Middle Ages (1307-1536) rev. ed. (1952: rpt. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1963), p. 163. 55.

ARCHITECTURAL METAPHOR IN TOURNAMENTS AND CIVIC PAGEANTRY

This chapter examines tournaments and civic pageantry

to describe and interpret architectural metaphors and

settings. These tournaments and pageants were performed

from the late fourteenth century up to the middle of the

sixteenth century, the same period as the rise of the

morality play. The works described in this chapter are

generally dramatic and show a familiarity with the symbolic

edifice. Beyond that, there are even more specific points

connected with medieval drama. The Castle of Perseverance

is most commonly viewed not only as one step in the tradition

of English drama, but also as a product of other traditions.

Viewing the play as a convergence of several traditions, one

can see the effect of the tournament or joust in the

"lancing" scenes by Penance and, later, by Death.

Medieval tournaments were essentially war exercises designed to recreate as vividly as possible the conditions of real battle:

The athlete who has never suffered a bruise cannot face battle with real courage; but the athlete who has seen his own blood, whose teeth have been knocked out; who, overthrown, has felt the full weight of his opponent on top of him and is still not downcast; who, however often he has fallen has still risen the more obdurate--that man goes into battle with a high heart.

Glynne Wickham, Early English Stages (New York: Colum­ bia University Press, 1963), I, p. 13 quoting Roger de Hovendon from C. deFresne, Lieur DuCauge, L'Origine des tournois in Collection complete des mémoires relatifs a l'histoire de France, ed. NL Petitot (Paris, n.p., Ï824 ), VIII, p. 119. 56.

Sources reveal an international similarity in the tournament

procedure and participants. The early versions of tourna­ ments were fought among several adversaries. Later, in the

thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the "mock combats" were

fought between two men, and were known as jousts. In both the tournament and the later joust, the fight could be per­ formed on horseback (Tilt) or on foot (Barriers).

Originally, some suitable spot in open country had been chosen for this, with a narrow defile such as a pass or bridge which the challenger could only get through or over by fighting with the defendant. By the fifteenth century, however, so popular had the Pas d'Armes become that it was normal to erect an artificial obstacle, with lists adjacent, in the streets and squares of towns. Castles, gateways and arches were set up to be defended against all comers, descriptions of which correspond closely with the pageants erected for Royal Entries and other civic fetes.2

The castle as part of the tournament continued well into the sixteenth century. Such a long life for a ritual motif implies the central place it occupied in the cultural life of England. The castle setting in tournaments and jousts was also illustrated in heraldic devices in the medieval period. For example, it was part of the coat of arms of Edward III, in

2 . Wickham, Early English Stages, i, p. 17. This includes photographs of four ivory carvings and a tapestry scene, bearing the Pas d'Armes castles on pp. 400-401. Wickham uses the term defendant, I think, to also suggest the trial by battle, when the joust was not a game. 57.

the form of a triple-towered castle, which came from the

King of Castile's coat of arms, and later was a part of the 3 arms of John of Gaunt and Henry VIII. Edward's fame,

according to Wickham, was well-known in jousting circles,

and the king apparently thought enough of the tournament to have a picture of one embroidered on a dosser.43 This

picture included a castle defended from inside by ladies.

The tournament version of a castle filled with women both in

the Edwardian dosser, and a Henrician masque described later

in this chapter present problems of interpretation. Loomis

labels the dosser version as secular, that is, without any

religious*allegorical meaning for the edifice or the women.

Loomis also gives a secular interpretation to another

version of the besieged ladies found on carved ivory cases

and in pictures in the Peterborough and the Lutterell

Psalters of the fourteenth century. Loomis does not refer

at all to the Psyghomachia in references to the dosser,

masque, ivory case, or psalter versions in his judgment

about them:

3 A.C. Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, rev. and annot. J.P. Brooke-Little (1909; London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., 1969), pp. 207, 213; for an explanation of the bearing of a wife's coat of arms, pp. 416, 417. 4 Wickham, Early English Stages, I, p. 20. For the dosser embroidery, see R.R. Loomis, "The Allegorical in the Art of the Middle Ages," American Journal of Arche­ ology, 2nd series, 23 (1919), 261. 58.

...the walls and of the castle thronged with ladies hurling roses down from the ; among them is Daun Cupido with his wings and crown, shooting his fatal arrows. Below, knights use the ponderous medieval siege engine to throw up baskets of flowers. Others scale the walls on rope ladders, doubtless a more efficacious way of bringing matters to the desired termination. Then we see the surrender of the castle. On the one hand, we see the ladies welcoming the successful knights and delivering up a sword in token of surrender; on the other, a lady issuing from the gateway and delivering up a key to a humble victor. Finally, each lady rides away with her lover on a horseback or is rowed away in a boat. ...on the casket lids the middle panel is usually occupied by a jousting scene, without any _ immediate reaction to the Siege of the Castle.

This description seems parallel with his judgment that the

ivory carvings are secular. But then Loomis goes on to

describe the psalter versions and compares them to the

Chateau d * amour, which "...must have diverted the thoughts

of many a worldly reader from his devotions...." His

opinion in this description strongly implies a secular

interpretation, though the Chateau d'amour is obviously a religious allegory.

In civic pageantry, the most frequent link between women and architecture is the association of virgins of virtue with a building. Sometimes, the virgins were abstractions without specific names, who were identified

^Loomis, "The Allegorical Siege," pp. 255-269.

Loomis, "The Allegorical Siege," pp. 259-260. 59.

chiefly by actions and color. For example, in pageantry honoring Richard II, the virgins are dressed in white which

stands for purity. Seated or standing above the street, they threw coins or leaves of gold to the audience and procession below. As a result, their identity is expanded from a symbol of purity to one which includes heavenly prosperity, providing the King of England and his people with bread and wealth as God provided manna for the Jews in their exodus (Exodus 16:12-15).

In other cases, the meaning of the virgins was more specific. In the pageants honoring Edward IV and his son, the St. George legend is presented, and the virgin with a lamb sits off to the side as St. George prepares to do battle. The woman is symbolic of the Christian Church liberated by St. George. There were even more specifically identified virgins, such as Dame Sapience with her sisters, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Anne, the mother of Mary, and Eve, the mother of the human race, were also represented within, and associated with, an architectural setting and metaphor. Symbolically, the analogy between women and revered edifices such as the temple, the tabernacle or the castle is reinforced by civic pageantry. In addition, civic pageantry provides an analogue to and a direct source of 7 information about medieval religious drama.

7 See John C. Meagher, "The First Progress of Henry VII," Renaissance Drama, New Series I (Evanston: Northwestern Uni­ versity Press, 1968), pp. 45-74, and Glynn Wickham, Early 60.

The Richard II coronation pageant is considered an

important point in the history of pageantry because it is

the first time a guild, the Goldsmiths, participated as an

official group acknowledged by the King. Their presentation o was of a gold castle "at the head of Cheapside." The

castle had four towers and appears to have been large enough

to hold in each tower, a "beautiful virgin, who blew leaves

of gold on the king as he stopped to observe the meaning and 9 workings of the pageant." "Wine ran forth...from two sides of the structure" and a gold angel bowed down by mechanical means to offer Richard a crown. Withington believes this castle probably comes from "the Court of Love literature by way of the tournament."^

The characteristics that help to reveal the meaning of the Goldsmiths' castle should be noted. First, of course,

English Stages 1300 to 1660, 2 Vols. (New York: Columbia Uni­ versity Press, 1959-63). See also Robert Withington, English Pageantry, An Historical Outline (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1920), I, pp. xvii-xx. See in Wickham, Early English Stages, I, p. 60 the map of the traditional route in London for royal entries. g Withington, English Pageantry, I, pp. 128ff. 9 See E.K. Chambers, The Medieval Stage, 2 volumes, (London: Oxford University Press, 1903), II, p. 167, where he states that "gilt models of coin," not gold leaves, were dropped. '''^Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 129. See Plate VI in Wickham, Early English Stages, I, p. 400 and Chapters I and II of this study. 61.

is the fortifying, defensive, or protective quality. Another

is that the pageant machinery (the woman and the angel) acts

with the king and the audience. The colors of white and gold

are symbolic of royalty and purity, while the dropping of

wafers, leaves, or gilt coins suggests a figurative divine

origin from above the royal procession, raining beneficence

on the king and his kingdom. The scene resembles the

providing of manna for the Jews in Exodus 16:12-15, and the

castle in its generous action upon the king, in its awesome

appearance, and in its use of the beauty and virtue of women,

symbolizes the residence of God, heaven.

In spite of this harmony, after quelling a revolt in

1381 in which he had sought protection in the Tower, Richard II came into conflict with the people again in 1392.11 12T h1e3 city refused him a loan; in retaliation, he moved the legal courts and his royal court to York. It neither worked nor failed. Richard was compelled to return, but he received 12 monetary gifts for doing so. He was publically welcomed, and in the festivities a castle appeared. 13 The author of

^Charles Oman, The Great Revolt of 1381 (New York: Haskill House Publishers, Ltd., 1968), pp. 56-62. 12 ■ Caroline M. Barron, "The Quarrel of Richard II with London, 1392-7," in The Reign of Richard II, Essays in Honour of May McKisack, ed., by F.R.H. DuBoulay and Caroline M. Barron (London: University of London, Athlone Press, 1971), pp. 173-201. 13 Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 131; Wickham, 62.

the description, Maydiston, speaks of London as Troynovant

and his exuberant tone celebrates the reunion with the

"city's spouse, King and Master, whom evil council had 14 estranged." Then after generally praising Richard, May­ diston goes on in a mythic tone and manner to "quote" the

Knight of the city (the mayor) in his call for decorations and community cooperation. In describing the beginning of the welcome to the mayor and aldermen, he compares London's government to 's. Richard is likened to a Troilus and an Absolom, while Anne is described as bejeweled. He then goes on to describe the cortege which came back into London, where at Cheapside,

The Conduit distils red wine instead of the usual water and there is ample for a thousand people to drink. A heavenly host is stationed on the top of it who sings songs with pleasing skill. Gold coins are scattered on all sides by maidens which flutter down like leaves or flowers.15

In the middle of the street, as the king moved away from the

Great Conduit, was "... 'a castle: he halted as this greatly impressed him. The whole structure of the tower is suspended on cords, and towers into the sky. A male youth and a

English Stages, I, pp. 63-71; Thomas Wright, ed., Allitera­ tive Poem on the Deposition of King Richard II, Ricardi Maydiston DeConcordia Inter Ric. II et Civitatem, London (London: Camden Society, 1838), pp. 31-51. 14 Wickham, Early English Stages, I, pp. 65-69. 15 Wickham, Early English Stages, I, p. 69. 63.

beautiful girl stand in this tower; he represents an angel;

1 ft she wears a crown'." The narrator said that the King and

Queen drew closer to the pageant and speculated about its

meaning. Then, both girl and boy descended from the tower

without any visible means, surrounded by clouds ("'by what

machines I know not'"), offered a cup of wine and a crown to

the king, with a speech saying London salutes the illustrious

king and the noble queen, the God-given rulers of this land.

This castle and the action proceeding from it resemble the

earlier coronation pageant for Richard. It appears that the

old castle of the coronation was still used, but a new device

of a suspending quality had been constructed for a tower 18 which was considered synonymous with a castle.

Farther on, a pageant stage on the "Little Conduit" was

built supporting a tableau of the Trinity in the midst of

angelic musicians and singers. Next was a service of

Thanksgiving at St. Paul's, then to Westminster through the

Temple Bar, where a "'forest had been erected on the roof of

the gate which, representing a wilderness, was populated by

^Wickham, Early English Stages, I, p. 69. 17 Wickham, Early English Stages, I, p. 69. Thomas Wright, ed., Ricardi Maydiston, p. 42. 18 Itur abhuic mediam dum Rex venit usque plateam, Cernet ibi castrum, stat, stupet hinc nimium. Peddula per funes est fabrica tolaque turris, Aetheris et ruedium vendicat ilia locum, in Wright (ed.), Ricardi Maydiston, p. 14. 64.

19 all manner of wild beasts'," In the middle stood John the 20 Baptist, pointing "agnus et ecce Dei," From the roof of the gate an angel descended and gave the king and queen engraved tablets. Richard's tablet reminded him of Christ's forgiveness; the Queen's recalled the mediating quality of 21 Esther. In his description, Maydiston mentions Mary, the mother of Christ, also a mediatrix in Christian doctrine and legend. That the queen was like the mediatrix, Mary, be­ tween God and man in Christianity may help us to understand why St. John was probably chosen. Christ had to be baptized, just as he had to be born. Thus, there is a penitential aspect on the surface of the part of the pageant which re- 22 sembles the pilgrimage and its purpose. Richard was re­ minded of his humanity.

The next pageant was Henry the Fifth's return from 23 Agmcourt. Before he reached London, Henry was welcomed

19 Wickham, Early English Stages, I, p. 70. 20 . Wickham, Early English Stages, I, p. 70. 21 Wickham, Early English Stages, I, pp. 70, 71. Thomas Wright, ed., Ricardi Maydiston, p. 47. 22 In Henry the Seventh's tour, after Bosworth Field, York’s pageantry implies an apology on their part. See Sydney Anglo, Spectacle, Pageantry, and Tudor Policy (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), pp. 30-60. 23 E.F. Jacob, The Oxford History of England: The Fifteenth Century, 1399-1485 (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), pp. 147-156. 65.

and ushered to the bridge to a presentation on the turrets.24 25

Then as he rode into the city, decorated "with rich clothes,"

he came to Cornhill where a tower "full of Patriarches" was • • 25 singing, and throwing "guyk briddes" (live birds). He

continued, passing by conduits running with wine, and on to

the Great Conduit where there were twelve apostles singing,

and twelve kings casting down "round leaves of silver mixed

with wafers, equally thin and round." At the cross in Chepe

was a castle, the towers of which were filled with banners,

and angels or virgins singing, "Welcome Henry the Fifte,

Kynge of England and of France!" The castle was labelled

with Gloriosa dicta siuit de te, civitas Dei and emblazoned

with the arms of St. George as well as those of the king.

When the king arrived at the gate of St. Paul's, an aqueduct

(conduit) of at least two levels held a virgin who also threw

coins, and above her hovered a mechanical angel. Farther on,

having come to the tower of the conduit at the end of Cheap, towards St. Paul's the king found many artificial pavilions (tabernacula) in each of which a beautiful virgin...elegantly dressed and crowned with laurel, stood with a gold cup in her hand, from which she blew leaves of gold upon the king. And the tower was covered with a ¿g canopy, the color of the sky, with clouds....

24 Withington, English Pageantry, I, pp. 132-137.

25 See chapter four on the Prophets play in the Hegge cycle. 2 6 Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 135n. 66.

Again, prosperity in the form of false or real coins is part of the royal entry. The theme of victory in battle was approved by symbolic angels, virgins, , and kings who inhabited fortified edifices symbolic of spiritual security and purity (white). The music, the white costumes, the coins and wafers "from above," the personages or beings symbolized, all point to the meaning of the castle as a place of divine existence.

When Henry V died in 1422, he left the monarchy to his son of one year, Henry VI, who was crowned in 1431 with a lavish celebration in Paris. When the child-king returned to England the following year, he was welcomed by the city 27 of London with still another celebration. The two pageants for Henry VI are related by the person honored, and the means used to honor the youthful king. First, in the course of proceeding through Paris, Henry VI came to a presentation,

"Before the 1ostel des dames de Saint Antoine avoit un petit 2 8 chastel d1 or,1" on one tower of which was a peacock. There was a 'scripture' --Filie Syon exultent in Rege suo, laudent nomen ejus-- rendered into French:

27Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 138-147.

2 8 The peacock was a symbol of "immortality and the in­ corruptible soul" according to J.E. Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols, 2nd ed., trans, by Jack Sage (London: Routledge Kegan Paul, 1971), p. 251. 67.

'Les dames de religion Commes les filles de Syon, Se rejouissent peur leur roy _ Qui est venu en noble arroy.'

The dames de Saint Antoine, like the daughters of Syon or

Jerusalem, greeted and rejoiced for their king who came in

noble array. Implied, of course, was that the chastel was

a model of Jerusalem and that the king's appearance was an

act of God, resembling David's entry into Jerusalem. A

further meaning was that such an entry resembled a figura­

tive entry into a New Jerusalem. In this case, the New

Jerusalem was a new era of peace, and as the king of England

and France, Henry was both the religious and secular leader,

just as David of Israel had been. The comparison went fur­

ther, when it is noted that David ruled a of

Israel and Judah as did Henry VI, over England and France.

When Henry VI returned to England the citizens of

London prepared a more formal welcome. This order may have

come as a result of greater planning by one person, the first known author of a royal entry, John Lydgate.1^ Lydgate's

experience in dramatic writing was varied, but seemed to prepare him for writing civic presentations. Frequently,

29 Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 140. 30 Henry Noble MacCracken, ed., The Minor Poems of John Lydgate. Early English Text Society. (.1934; rpt. London: Oxford University Press, 1961), pp. 630-648. 68.

Lydgate wrote poems which accompanied and interpreted tapes­

tries or frescoes, "the best-known example being his Dance

Macabre," which could be presented in a "performance with

several speakers." 31 Lydgate's services, for he was re­

quested to write verse for king and citizen alike, were also

devoted to other works related to drama. According to

Schirmer, Lydgate's authorship of mummings ("short scenes

in the form of dialogue or pantomimic presentations eluci­ dated by a text in verse ... read out before the audience")

is significant in the history of drama because,

...he combined these different genres and influences, masques, pictorial poems and 'king's entries' into dramatic 'entertain­ ments,' intended for Christmas festivities held by the municipalities or guilds, per­ formed in banqueting halls or in the open air.32

Between the years 1424-1430, Lydgate, according to Schirmer, wrote eight mummings. 33 These presentations were often pre­ sided over by a commentator who stood "... in the pulpit" while "Amydde the theater schroudid in a ten,/ there cam out men/ .../ Pleying by signes in the peples sigt,/ that the poete songon hath on higt." 34 A presentation written for judges and officials, his Mumming at Bishopswood was

31 Schirmer, John Lydgate ..., p. 98. 32 Schirmer, John Lydgate ..., p. 100. ^^Schirmer, John Lydgate . . . , pp. 100-108, 267.

24Schirmer, John Lydgate ..■, p. 102. This is a de­ scription from Lydgate's Troy Book. 69.

apparently played in an open field, using classical allu­

sions to praise the Goddess of Spring who brought prosperity

and harmony to all classes m England. 35 His Pageant of

Knowledge, noted in this chapter, was followed by the Mumming at London, which included five scenes of tableaux vivants with a commentator who did not take part in the action.

Each scene is dominated by a female goddess or virtue: Dame

Fortune, Prudentia, Justice (Ryghtwysnesse), Fortitude and

Temperance. In this presentation, the virtues first ex­ pressed their ability to resist the whims of Fortune, and then ended the piece by singing together. 3 6 They bear a slight resemblance to the Four Daughters of God found in

Grosseteste's Chateau d1 amour and in The Castle of Persever­ ance in their essential purpose and final act of harmony.

The Mumming at Hertford, according to Schirmer, shows 37 the influence of French debats. Concerned with marital disharmony in the lower ranking households of Robin, Beatrix

Bittersweete, Cicely Soure-chere, and Colyn, the presenta­ tion resembles the farcical interludes of Heywood, though it 38 is much shorter (254 verses). Other examples of Lydgate’s

35 Schirmer, John Lydgate ..., p. 103.

3 6 Schirmer, John Lydgate ♦.., p. 103.

37 Schirmer, John Lydgate ..., p. 105.

38 Schirmer, John. Lydgate ..., p. 106. 70.

writing for a lower class audience are his Mumming for the

Mercers of London and the Mumming for the Goldsmiths of 39 London. The latter also employs Fortune, who is a mes- 4 0 senger on this night, Candlemas Eve. She brings the Lord

Mayor the news that David and the tribes of Israel will visit this gathering bringing with them the Ark of Covenant.

No allegorical interpretation is made. There was singing 41 and a recitation by Fortune also. Lydgate's mummings strongly suggest a familiarity with dramatic technique, for high and lower class audiences, and at least a remote knowledge of the mystery cycles, particularly the play of the Prophets. For it is the allusions to the ark as a token of wisdom, the dance of David in the presence of it, the protective quality of the ark against evil and discord, that 42 echo those speeches of the N-Town cycle Prophets play.

Perhaps the best example of Lydgate's acquaintance with drama are the royal entries that he composed. The coronation of Henry VI in 1429 is described in this chapter, and it contained a tabernacle dominated by the figure of Wisdom, and a castle of green jasper decorated with the new king's

39 Schirmer, John Lydgate ..., pp. 107, 108.

40 Schirmer, John Lydgate ..., p. 108.

41 Schirmer, John Lydgate ..., p. 108.

42 See MacCracken, pp. 668-701, 724-738, and K.S. Block, Ludus Coventriae, or The Plaie Called Corpus Christi. Early English Text Society. (1922; rpt. London: Oxford University Press, 1960). 71.

family heritage and Christ's genealogical tree.43 44A c4c5om­

panying the pageantry of the coronation were dinners, and

between courses, entertainments, which included miniatures

of the pageants. Called "soteltes," they were written by

Lydgate for Henry Vi's coronation feasts and included a representation of the Virgin Mary with Jesus, holding a 44 crown m her hand. On an earlier occasion in 1416,

Lydgate composed a "soltelte" which showed "St. George gilt in armour by the Virgin Mary" in a scene with a king's 45 daughter and a castle.

The king was met at Black Heath on February 9th by the mayor and representatives of the craft-guilds of the city who were dressed in white; he "entered" the city on the 21st. On that day the mayor was dressed in red velvet, the aldermen in furred cloaks, and the citizens in white 46 "to shew the trouthe that they did mene, Toward the Kyng."

After being greeted by the mayor the king entered at London

Bridge and saw in the towers on the bridge "a sturdy champion," who symbolically would stand in defense of the king against any assaults. This figure was larger than life

4 3 See Schirmer, John Lydgate .■., pp. 141-143, and chapter one. 44 Schirmer, John Lydgate ..., p. 132. 45 Schirmer, John Lydgate ..., p. 132. 4 6 Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 143n. See also Wickham, Early English Stages, I, pp. 45-50. 72.

size, made from wood and cloth. Also on the bridge three

empresses, Nature, Grace and Fortune, appeared in a tower and gave spiritual gifts to the king.47 On the right of

the empresses were seven maidens dressed in white who gave

gifts of the Holy Ghost, symbolized by white doves. At the

same time they stated, "'God fill thee with intelligence

and wisdom, preserve thee from heaviness, give thee a spirit 48 of cunning, dread, pity and humility'." To the left of

the empresses were seven more virgins in white who gave three gifts in words: "that the king might have (1) glory, clemency and pity; (2) might and victory, prudence and faith;

(3) health, love and peace." Following this presentation of welcome and spiritual gift-giving, the king entered the city proper at Cornhill where he saw a decorated tabernacle made for Dame Sapience and the Seven Liberal Sciences. The tabernacle, in its construction, resembled a "consistorie" or tower with several levels of balconies or windows, and 50 tapered to a narrower size as it rose higher. The emphasis

47 See chapters one and six in this study for the com­ bining of these three. 48 Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 144. 49 Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 144. 50 See Withington, English Pageantry, I, opposite p.. 144 for an illustration of such a tower, though not the same one. 73.

in this presentation was on the harmony, order and construc­ tive usefulness of wisdom and the Seven Liberal Sciences of

Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Music, "arsmetryk," Geometry, and

Astronomy. To emphasize these qualities, especially the last, Dame Sapience gave oral and written applications of the sciences:

Kynges ... moste off excellence,/ by me they regne and most in ioye endure,/ For thurh my helpe, and my busy eure,/ To encrece theyre glorie and hyh renoun,/ They shall off wysdome have full possessioun./ ... Understandith and lernyth off the wyse,/ On riht remembrying the hyh lorde to queme,/ Syth ye be iuges other.sfolke to deme.51

The didactic and practical uses of learning are emphasized in this initiation rite of the young king by warning him of his responsibilities. The human virtues of order, harmony, precision, and a general strength of integrity were not only contemplative qualities, but also active and functional, especially for a young king. The tower's structure and arrangement represented the outer and inner strength that came from wisdom, building one quality on another in an up­ ward symbolic proximity to the divine view of temporal life below. As the king continued on his ride, passing two more presentations which gave political advice, he came to another castle. Lydgate describes the occasion in Cheapside:

31MacCracken, p. 639. 74.

The Kyng roode fforth, with sobre contenaunce, Towarde a castell bilt off iaspar grene, Vpon whos toures the sonne shone shene, Ther clerly shewed, by notable rembraunce, This kyngis tytle off England and off Fraunce.

Twoo green treen ther grewe vp- a riht, Fro Seint Edward and ffro Seint Lowys, The roote y-take palpable to the siht, . Conveyed by lynes by kyngis off grete prys; . Some, bare leopardes, and some bare fflouredelys, In nouther armes ffounde was there no lak, Which the sixte Henry may now bere on his bak.

The degree be iuste successioun, As trewe cronycles trewly determyne, Vnto the kyng ys now dessended dovn From eyther partye riht as eny lyne; Vpon whose heede now ffresshely done shyne Two riche crovnes most sovereyn off pleasaunce To brynge inne pees bitwene England and Fraunce.

Vpon this castell on the tothir syde There was a tree, which sprange out off Iesse, Ordeyned off God ffull longe to abyde; — Dauyd crovnyd ffirst ffor his humylite The braunches conveyed, as men myhten se, Lynally and in the Genologie, To Christ Ihesu, that was borne off Marie.

And why the Iesse was sette in that partye, This was the cause in especyall, For next to Paulis, I dar well specefye, Is the partye moste chieff and princypall, Callyd off London the chirche cathederall, Which ought off reson the devyse to excuse, To all thoo that wolde ageyn yt ffroune or muse.

Wickham sees the two trees of St. Edward and St. Louis as being arranged in front of the jaspar castle and the tree

of Jesse on the far side, nearer to St. Paul's, as one

52MacCracken, pp. 643, 644. 75.

53 approaches the presentation. In this presentation, the

c A castle has more than one tower and looks like green jaspar.

Though no clues from its inhabitants are available, trees

symbolic of the royal genealogy reinforced "iuste succession."

53 See Wickham, Early English Stages, I, pp. 72, 73 and volume ii, pp. 215-224 for descriptions of the motifs of tree, castle and city from 1590-1640. 54 In Joan Evans and Mary S. Serjeantson, eds., English Medieval Lapidaries, Early English Text Society (London: Oxford University Press, 1933), p. 23 is a medieval ex­ planation:

VI "iaspes ben of nyne maners & of diuers colours, & ben founden in ful depe parties of the world. But he put is grene ayeins the day, he is godely; & he that hath blake dropes, he is lesse worth; & when he is droped with reed & is grene, yef he be shape of the olde shappe, he is lorde Iaspe. This is the moste preciouse Iaspe. He is gode ayeins all manner wormes; & yef ther be any stronggen or enuenymed with.any maner poyson brought in place there as Iaspe is, he shal sone be amended of his maladie & colours. & hit shall staunche blod be reson in hym that hath gode beleue, & helpe a man of the menyson, of the,ffeuere, of dropesye. & who-so beholdeth the Iaspe ayeins day, he shal descriue metynge. & hit is moche worth to a woman that traueilleth of childe, for the sonner she shall be deliured. Iaspe kepeth a man fro his auduersaire. Who-so bereth hit he shall lede clene life. The/ veray bokes tellen vs that the gode Iaspe is grene & of grete grenebed, & signifieth the trewe peple of men that ben of the lesse vnderstandvng in the ffader & the sonne & the holy gost; thei be lewde men, that yet a god clerc opposed hem thei couth not answere hym, for thei ben bounde, and signifien Iaspe. Moyses seith that this stone is ful gode ayeins temptacion of fendes, of Iewes, & sarazins. Seint John seith vs in the Appocalipce that in the fundement of the heunly kyngdome of Ierusalem that Iaspe is first, and there­ fore hit signifieth thre vertues that shoulde be in eurery gode man. Iaspe is that stone that is cleped feith, the second hope, & the thridde charite, & he that grene Iaspe beholdeth ayeins day, of the feith of Ihesu Xrist he shulde haue mynde." 76.

The tree of Jesse implies the sacrosanctness of contemporary political order by offering the comparison of the genealogi­ cal line of David, Mary and Christ. In this context, the castle is a symbolic guardian of divine and aristocratic rule.

From this castle to a presentation praising the Trinity, to the Cathedral, Henry then rode to Westminster Abbey.

After meeting civic and religious dignitaries, he returned to his palace. This royal entry is of some importance because:

For the first time we see allegory in the royal entry; but the "raw material" stood ready at hand. Trade-symbolism as shown in the "gracious Paradise," we have seen before; the Biblical element: Enoch and Elias, and —by extension— the angels, with the "romantic" material —the castle— we have also met. The giant, we saw in 1415; the coats-of-arms, the displayed genealogies, the prose welcome, the gratulatory writings and the moral epigrams we have met, and shall meet again. Sacred music is giving way to roundelays; but the wine flows from conduits as it has in the past, and will in the future. The lion and antelope are rather heraldic than trade animals; and they do not seem to have been carried through the streets as were the animals of the Fishmongers in 1298. The one element which later, under the influence of the Renaissance, plays such a large part in these triumphs, and which has not —until now— suggested itself, is the classical; and that, in the figures representing the Liberal Sciences, may be said to have appeared in this entry. It is probably not a matter of chance that allegory first appears in the first pageant to which we can assign an author.55 In 1461, King Edward IV was welcomed to Bristol.The manuscript, MS Lambeth 306, folio 132, calls it The Receyving

55Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 147. ^Withington, English Pageantry, I, pp. 151, 152. 77.

of King Edward the iiiith at Brystowe, and with stage directions in red ink (underlined here) describes the early part of Edward's entry into the city:

First atte the comyng yune atte temple gate there stode Wylliam conqueror with iiij lordis, and these were his wordis Well-come, Edwarde, oure son of high degree! Many yeeris hast thow lakkyd owte of his londe: I am thy forefader, William of Normandye To see thy welefare here through goddys sonde. Over the same gate standyng a great Gyaunt delyueryng the keyes.

The Receyuyng atte temple Cross next folowyng.

There was seynt George on horsebakke vppone ,a tent fyghtyng with a dragone, and the kyng & the quene on hyghe in a castelle, And his daughter benethe with a lambe. And atte the sleying of the dragone ther was a greet melody of aungellys.

On July 6th, 1468, King Edward IV’s sister, Margaret, was married to the Duke of Burgundy at Bruges. When she entered the city, she saw a "pagent" 'made by subtyll crafte after the forme of A castell gate' which showed the creation of Adam and Eve, and their marriage...." The castell gate, no doubt, is that of the Garden of Eden and the impli­ cation was that Margaret's marriage would capture the inno­ cence and unblemished joy of the marriage of Adam and Eve.

Frederick J. Furnivall, ed., Political, Religious, and Love Poems. Early English Text Society. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1866), p. 5. See also Frederick Morgan Padelford, et al, ed., The Faerie Queene, Book I, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1932), I, Canto XI. iii. 2-5; Canto XII, iv-vii. 58Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 152. 78.

It should also be noted that the figure of Eve was often set

in contrast to Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ, who was

referred to as the new Eve. However, there is no mention

of Mary in this presentation.

The appearance of St. George with an edifice occurred

in a pageant for the reception of Prince Edward at Coventry

in 1474. After being welcomed into the city, and viewing

five presentations, the prince rode on to see,

'Also upon the condite in the Crosse Chepyng ...seint George armed, and the kynges doughter knelynge a fore hym with a lambe, and the fadyr and the moder beyng in a toure aboven beholdyng seint George savying their doughter from the dragon. And the Condite rennyng wine in iij plecez and mystralcy of Orgondeinge'; and St. George spoke, calling himself the protector of the prince, and praying the Lord to preserve him, as he himself defended the maiden here.59

Generally, the interpretation of the allegory of the St.

George legend was that St. George rescues the first parents of the race, Adam and Eve, the lamb, which is symbolic of

Christ or Christianity, and the daughter who, in the absence of more specific details, was either Mary the mother and guardian of Christ, the Church, or more preferably in the

Renaissance, England, the nation itself. As it applies to this occasion of the welcome of Prince Edward, the pro­ tection of St. George given to the daughter was offered to

5 9 Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 154. 79.

the prince, with all the implications of protecting both 6 0 royal blood and religious principles.

Yorkist rule prevailed in England until the death of

Richard III in 1485, and so did the pageantry despite the warring factions. Richard, after his coronation in 1483, with the same apparent purpose of Edward IV in 1474, at

Coventry, went to York to be "received" in 1483 and possibly to Norwich in the same year. 61 The later royal progresses of Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I have their prece­ dents in the Yorkist visits by Prince Edward to Coventry and

Richard III to York.

The victory of Henry VII at Bosworth field came from 6 2 skill and chance. The celebration of that victory seems to extend beyond the usual duration of coronation festivi- ties. 6 3 In any case, whether as an extension of that cele­ bration, or as a separate task, Henry visited York, Hereford,

^See the references to The Faerie Queene in note 34, and Granger Ryan and Helmut Ripperger, trans, and ed., The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine (New York: Arno Press, 1969) , pp. 232-238, where the St. George legend implies that the daughter was the Virgin Mother of Christ, because a church was built in her honor as well as in honor of St. George. Z- j Withington, English Pageantry, I, pp. 155-156.

See Jacob, Fifteenth Century, pp. 643-645 where Henry was outnumbered two to one. 63Withington, in English Pageantry, I, quotes Grafton's chronicle, "for a season," on p. 157. 80.

64 Gloucester and Bristol. At York, which had been "indis­

posed" to Henry's cause and which was still viewed as a

potential breeding ground for rebellion, a priest named

Henry Hudson was placed in charge of preparing the reception

for the new king.

Comparisons of Judeo-Christian history with English

national history, and with York civic history are what make

up the theme of one of the presentations. It was a castle

in which David stood, "armed and crowned, with [a] naked

sword in his hand...." In the castle with David stood 6 6 citizens dressed in white and green, the Tudor colors.

David then submitted "to Henry his sword of victory [as

Ebraucus had given his crown and keys] in a previous presen­

tation and Solomon his scepter. By God's will, Henry was 6 7 the successor of David, too." As he delivered the sword,

David spoke,

6 4 Sydney Anglo, Spectacle, Pageantry, and Early Tudor Policy (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), pp. 21-34; John C, Meagher, "The First Progress of Henry VII," Ren. D. N.S. I, pp. 45-74; A.H. Smith, "A York Pageant, 1486," London Medieval Studies, 1 (1939), pp. 382-385.

65Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 159. 6 6 Ang1o, Spectacle ... and...Tudor Policy, p. 26. z* -7 Meagher, "The First Progress of Henry VII," Ren. D. N.S. I, p/59. 81.

When I reynid in Judie, I know and testify That Ebraunce the noble which subdewid Fraunce, In memorie of his triumph this citie did edify That the name of his noble should have continu­ ance . 68

David goes on to say that the Divine Providence which gave

him victory over Goliath is the same which makes him "sub­ mit" to Henry VII. David then recommends the city of York, because it has never been conquered by force or violence.

Henry then went to Worcester where, in the script of the pageants and festivities, he was compared to David and

King Arthur as a "'Welcome Defence to England as a Walle.'"

The mention is made here because the analogy or comparison of king or leader is made to an implied edifice, more than 70 likely the wall of defense of a fort or castle. The speech was hot delivered, however, because the king moved quickly on.

Gn May 15, Henry came to Hereford, where the first pageant at the gate of the city was a presentation of St.

George killing a dragon. St. George goes on to compare him­ self with Henry and the dragon with Henry's enemies. After a presentation with the , Ethelbert (speaking as

Ebraucus did in York), Henry saw another pageant of the

68Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 159. 00Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, p. 26. 70 Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, pp. 29-30. 82.

71 Blessed Virgin; however, we are not given any details.

From Hereford, the king went to Gloucester where he was greeted by the civic authorities with no pageantry. In con­

trast, the next city, Bristol, took advantage of the oppor­ tunity to plead directly to the king. As at York, Henry was greeted (at the ) by the mythical founder of Bristol,

Bremmius, who welcomed Henry as an instrument of God's re­ form which would invest a prosperous new life into the decay- 72 73 mg city. Apparently, the appeal was successful. Henry then moved on past three other pageants to the last,

...of an Olifaunte with a castell on his bakk curiously wrought, the Resurrection of oure Lorde in the highest tower of the same with certeyne merveolously wele done.7^

The elephant with a castle on its back appeared mysteriously in medieval art, and seems to be a curious element absorbed 75 by romance from Eastern sources. The meanings attached to it seem to stem from two qualities: its strength and generally innocent disposition. References have been made to it by

71 Meagher, "The First Progress of Henry VII," Ren. D. N.S.I, p. 68. 72 Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, pp. 32-34 ; Meagher, " The First Progress of Henry VII,'1 Ren. D. , N. S . I, p. 69; Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 160. 73 Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, p. 34. 74 Meagher, "The First Progress...," Ren. D., N.S.I, quoting from the reprint in John Leland's Collectanea, ed. Hearne (London: np., 1774), pp. 201-202. 75 Withincrton, English Pageantry, I, pp. 66-69. 83.

Aristotle, Pliny, Juvenal, Polybius and Marco Polo.76 In

the literature and visual art of the medieval period (often romances), it was mentioned with the "castle" on Its back.77

Probably the most relevant reference for our purposes is the

story by Polyaenus, in his Strategematum, which said that

Caesar conquered London by outfitting an elephant with a

castle with men inside, which, when it crossed the Thames,

frightened the early inhabitants of New Troy and allowed 78 Rome to occupy Londinium. A second reference of possible

weight in the medieval period is the description by Aristotle:

"Of all wild animals the most easily tamed and the gentlest

is the elephant. It can be taught a number of tricks, the

drift and meaning of which it understands; as, for instance,

it can be taught to kneel in the presence of a king. It is

76 F.C. Sillar and R.M. Meyler, Elephants; Ancient and Modern (London: Studio Vista Limited, 1968), pp. 33, 99, 104, 105, 107. 77 Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 66n 4; p. 67n 1. See also Morton Bloomfield's The Seven Deadly Sins, p. 213, where an elephant is represented in an early 15th century sermon as having "to fight three enemies: The devil, the world and the flesh. The devil shoots at him with three arrows --pride, ire and envy-- while the flesh attacks with gluttony, lechery and sloth. The arrows of the world are covetousness and avarice." There is a resemblance here to The Castle of Perseverance situation. 78 78 Sillar, in Elephants, gives as a reference Stratege­ matum , Book VIII; in a book about Hannibal's conquest of Italy, Sir Gavin de Beer's Alps and Elephants, Hannibal's March (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1956), pp. 76 and 116, gives as a reference: Polyaenus, Strategematum, viii, 23.5. The British Museum Catalogue lists a translation by R. Shepher published in London in 1973.

BOWLING GREEN UNIV. LIBRARY - i . i .,h— 84.

very sensitive and possessed of an intelligence superior to 79 that of other animals." Here the emphasis is of a more

secular nature. Christian religious renditions of the

motif emphasize a defense against evil or sin, and a gentle 8 0 wisdom. By depicting Christ's resurrection as destroying

"bellis" or war, the Bristol pageant's version explicitly

adds the concept of Christian renewal to the qualities of wisdom and strength.

The Bristol festivities ended on the following Thursday which was the feast of Corpus Christi, when the king "went in procession to the great green where he was met by the proces­ sions from the town, presumably with appropriate ecclesias­ tical pomp. A pulpit was set up in the middle of the green 81 and the Bishop of Worcester preached. A central pulpit in an outdoor location differs very little from the central castle in The Castle of Perseverance, the central castle, building and rock in the Digby Mary Magdalen, and the pulpit

79 . D'Arcy Westworth Thompson, trans., Historia Animalium, Volume IV, the Works of Aristotle, ed. by J.A. Smith and W. Ross (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1910)/ Book IX, 46; 630b. See Wickham, Early English Stages, I, pp. 19-38, and plate VI, no. 8 between pp. 400 and 401, which is a photograph of a tapestry showing the elephant supporting a castle filled with women, while knights compete for the ladies' favor.

8 0 See William S. Hecksher, "Bernini's Elephant and Obelisk," The Art Bulletin, 29 (1947), pp. 159-160, 161, 171, where he states that the elephant is associated with victory in death, with Julius Caesar, with the Christian sol­ dier and as an allegory of chastity, strength and understanding. 81 Meagher, "The First Progress of Henry VII," Ren. D,, N.S.I, p. 71. 85.

in The Satire of the Three Estates by David Lindsay.

Meagher’s guess is that the sermon was probably about the papal bull which fully affirmed Henry's right to rule, a major theme of the pageants.

Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth of York seemed to strengthen the feeling of the authorities and the common people that a unified peaceful rule within England had ar­ rived. In 1497, when Arthur, Henry's son, was betrothed to

Katharine, and then in 1499 married to her by proxy, the wedding must have appeared to have achieved an even greater harmony within the larger European community. In 1501, the marriage of Katharine to Arthur was celebrated in London by civic presentations, which Anglo says, "achieve a unity rare 8 2 in medieval pageantry.”

At the London Bridge, standing on the draw-bridge were two persons representing Saint Katharine and who gave speeches, emphasizing the major theme of the pageantry as "honour temporall" in Katharine's marriage to

Arthur. She was directed by the two saints to the next pageant, a castle, with a Captain called Policy. Grace-

Church Street, at the conduit "where as the water runneth in the channel," was the specific location. Anglo describes it, drawing on The Antiquarian Repertory:

8 2Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, p. 58. 86.

The foundation of this display piece was of stone to the height of some three to four feet, and was so fashioned that the water might not be interrupted in its normal course. This base supported a castle of timber covered with canvas painted to resemble free­ stone and white lime, so that the 'semys of the stones were perceyved like as mortur on sement had ben betwene.' The walls were embattled, crenellated, and decorated with various badges and emblems, such as a union rose surmounted by a golden crown, three blue garters with their motto or posy, a fleur-de- lis of gold, and a golden surmounted by a crown. In addition to these there were white harts and elegant peacocks and, set upon a blue ground, clouds shot through with golden beams. Above this ornate first was reared a mighty gate, a man's height from the ground 'with foldyng leves, full of great barris of iron, with many naylys affixed', reinforced by a portcullis in every joint of which was displayed a red rose. Over this, a shield bearing the royal arras was supported by a red dragon and white greyhound and was flanked on either side, at a distance of some three feet, by a great red rose 'of half a yard brede'. Within this gateway stood Policy attired as a knight in full armour, ready to deliver his speech of welcome to Katharine of Aragon, while above him soared the main tower from the angles of which projected turrets, pinnacles, and vanes garnished with the royal badges. This magnificence was surmounted by another anti- climactic doorway sheltering Noblesse and Virtue, . and yet another, though smaller, tower rose up above the entire structure; 'ledid and goodly payntid, as was III square, and had goyng up IIII sides Or parties like ragge and flyntstones wyth holow crosis, wyndows and gunholes, and on the toppys great fanys with the King's armys; on the highest of all the hole pagent a rede dredfull dragon, holdyng a staff of iron, and on the staf a great crown of gold.' On either side of this bristling castle was a wing, consisting of a battlement over a portcullis, beneath which ran the horse-ways and passages for pedestrians.83

This castle is a figurative residence of the royal

family, with emblematic coats of arms, decorations, and the

8 3 Ting lo , Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, pp. 64-65; F. Grose, comp., The Antiquarian Repertory, 3 volumes (London: Edward Jeffrey, 1808), II, pp. 263-266. 87.

figurative home of various personified virtues such as

Policy, Noblesse and Virtue. As mentioned, the picture of

a castle was part of the coat of arms of Castile. In this

presentation to Katharine there were three towers character­

istic of the Castile coat of arms. Apparently, as the

Princess Katharine and her entourage approached, the gates

and opened, because Policy expressed surprise until he saw,

The bright sterre of Spayne, Hesperus on them the gates shone/ Whoes goodly beames hath persed mightily/ Thorough this castell to bring this good lady,/ Whoes prosperous comyng shall right joyefull be,/ Bothe unto nobles, vertu, and unto me. *3

Policy then directed the Princess to "pursue" Noblesse and

Virtue. Noblesse, a knight, explained that since Katharine had entered the gates of Policy and approached Noblesse, she would be "led" to Virtue, who is inseparable from Noblesse 8 5 and Policy. Virtue, a bishop, affirmed the union with

Noblesse, praised Arthur's disposition, then foretold that

84 Grose, The Antiquarian Repertory, II, p. 264. 85 See Horstmann, Minor Poems of the Vernon MS, p. 367, where Peace says to the Father in the poem, Chateau d1amour: Offe us foure, ffafer, I 'chul telle the Hou me thinkep hit ouzte to be. Whon ffoure beth togedere I-sent To don an evene Iuggement, And schul thorw skil alle and some Ziven and demen evene dome, Ther ne ouzte no dom forth gon Er then be foure ben aton. and The Castle of Perseverance, ed. by Mark Eccles, lines 3563-3569, where the same idea of spiritual integrity is achieved by necessary balance. 88.

not only shall an angel soon tell Katharine "of these matiers," but so shall a kynnesman, King Alfons." King

Alphonse the Xth, of Castile, was called Sapiens and

Astrologus, as a tribute to his learning, especially in astrology, before he died in 1284. Sure enough, the angel of marriage, , and King Alphonse were at the next presentation, a temple constructed at Cornhill. Raphael spoke of angels as ministers of God's Providences, and

Alphonse emphasized the meaning of "certayn constellations" that favored this marriage. , who was with them, em­ phasized God's power lying beyond the celestial. These ideas were then synthesized by Boethius, a fourth character in this presentation, who said,

Wherefor of reason we thre accorde certayn,/ Astronomer, Philosopher, and Devyne/ You to be joyned, and so we all determyne.87

The temple containing the angel, king, philosopher and. prophet emphasized the idea of knowledge with its appropriate architectural representation by suggesting the temple of wisdom or the court of sapience.

The following week saw a tournament where the Duke of

Buckingham satin a pavilion with " & pynacles," and where a pageant set on wheels with a castle containing eight

8 6 Grose, The Antiquarian Repertory, II, p. 266.

8 7 Grose, The Antiquarian Repertory, II, p. 272. 89.

disguised ladies, with four towers in which children sang,

was pulled into the room. The castle was besieged by eight 88 knights who compelled the ladies to surrender and dance.

Another display, as part of the festivities of the tourna­

ment, was the pageant of "a tower or tabernacle of two

storeys —in the lower were eight lords and in the upper

were eight ladies," set on wheels. Like later masques, all

of these seemed to be artifices designed specifically to

lead into a dance.

The one characteristic that prevails most strongly in

the pageantry of Katharine's entry into London is the em­

phasis on order in and beyond the universe, from angels to

beasts, from Boethius to the Godhead, from the unity of

Policy, Honour, and virtue to the seven virtues supporting

Honor and the king and queen of England. Such a myth of

order was strengthened by the nominal return of a glorious past in the person of the male heir, Arthur, to a peaceful,

unified England and a potentially harmonious Eur.ope. A

symbolic summary of this atmosphere was the heraldic device of the castle —part of Edward I*s coat of arms from his marriage to Eleanor of Castile— which had been "borne" by

8 8Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, p. 102.

8 9Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, p. 102. 90.

John of Gaunt, and now was carried by Katharine of Aragon, 90 wife of Arthur, and later of Henry VIII.

The desire for a unified Christendom that was a theme of Katharine's entry was still alive in the next selected royal entry in honor of Emperor Charles V to London in 1522.

This visit was considered as important as a coronation and

Charles was met before he entered the city by royal and civic dignitaries, including . 91 The first presentation at the gate of London Bridge was of two giants, Hercules and

Samson, who were labelled with verses, given here as trans­ lated from Latin by the describer: "God graunte that Charlys and Henry may lyve and prosper whiche be bothe defenders, that is to say Henry defender of the feyth, Charlys defender 92 of the churche." The next presentation empha.sized the martial power and control over the respective knightly or­ ders, the Toison d'Or of France and the Knights of the Garter of England, and alluded to Jason and Medea and the golden fleece. Following this tribute was a presentation praising

Charles' ancestor, . A subsequent presentation

90 John W. Papworth, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, ed. by Alfred W. Morant (1874; rpt. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1965), pp. 364-365.

91Withington, in English Pageantry, I, quotes from Corpus Christi (Cantab.) MS, 298 (no. 8), pp. 132. 92 Withington, English Pageantry, I, pp. 176ff. The author of the second pageant with classical allusions for the first time was probably Lyly. 91.

traced the genealogy of both emperor and king, which in­ cluded John of Gaunt. Finally, at the conduit in Cornhill,

... a mock castle straddled the street, two gateways were provided at each side of the road and above these were two arches with towers 'set with vanes and scutions of the armes of the Emperor and the king' ... one tower being filled with trumpeters, and the other with shawms and sackbuts, all playing continuously. Between the towers was a palace in which King Arthur sat at the Round Table, attended by 'all the noble prynces thatt were wunder his obeisaunce' including the kings of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, all bearing shields of arms. Arthur, clad in full armour, wore a crown imperial, and clasped a sword in his hand. It had been intended that he should present the sword to Henry and welcome Charles V. with a speech, but neither of the accounts mentions the donation of the sword.

Both Anglo and Jean Robertson conclude that this presenta­ tion was a "counterpoise to that of Charlemagne" (the . 94 third). The king of England was also in command of an empire, just as Charles was in charge of an empire passed down by his ancestor, Charlemagne. In any case, the castle serves as an ancestral setting for the royal line of England, and mixes history with romance, embellishing and reinforcing a national myth. Here, the castle houses and, consequently, 95 protects the royal heritage of England.

93 Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, p. 195

94 Anglo, Spectacle,..and...Tudor Poli. cy, p. 195.

95 See m Sydney Anglo, "The Evolution of.the Early Tudor Disguising, Pageant, and Mask" Renaissance Drama, New Series I (1968), the description of the schatew vert castle pageant that resembles the romantic castle of ladies, as­ saulted by the men, which ends in a dance. This presenta­ tion was for Charles V, too, given by Wolsey. 92.

The following presentation to Charles V is a creation

by John Rastell at the Little Conduit:

... there dyd stand a pageaunte off an ylonde betokenying the lie offe englonde compassede all abowte with water made in a silver and byce lyke to waves off the see and rockys ionyng. ... thereto watelde (wattled) abowte with roddis off silver and gold and wythyn them champion contrey mountayns and wooddys where were dyvers bestes goyng abowte the mountayns by vyces ...96

This isle of "englonde" bears a slight resemblance to the

Garden of Eden in the pageant at Bruges which celebrated

Margaret's marriage to the Duke of Burgundy. The water

"compassede" about the "watelde" stones resembled the outer

wall and moat of a castle's . Inside the "ylonde"

were flowers, fish and birds which moved with the "bestes"

when the emperor drew close. But the important fact is that

this fortified paradise is compared to England. The compari­

son of England to a castle bailey was intended to emphasize

its impregnable position as an island fortress. The same

quality shared by a castle and a woman, frequently like the

Virgin Mother, exists in the comparison between the castle

and England. Within the bailey of England as a castle,

From the Corpus Christi (Cantab. MS., 298, no. 8) in Anglo, Spectacle... and... Tudor Policy, p. 197, and Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 177. 93.

Also ther were ij goodly ymages one in a castell lyke to the emperor in visage, and the other in an herbar wyth rosys like to the kynges grace with ij swerdys naked in ther handys. Which castell, garden, and the ymages did Ryse by a Vyce. The ymages dyd beholde eche other, and then cast away ther swerdys by a vyce, and with another vyce ioyned eche to other and embrasede eche other in tokennyng off love and pease, which don an ymage off the father off hevyn all in burynd golde dyd disclose and appere and move in the; topp off the pageant wyth thus scripture wrytyn abowte hym — Beati pacifici qui filij dei vocubunter.97

The theme of peace and harmony that was noted in the entry

of Katharine was more explicit here. The fortress of Eng­

land encloses a natural paradise as well as a castle which

protects the emperor.

The next pageant celebrates the coronation of Anne

Boleyn, and it is characterized by one critic as a celebra- 9 8 tion of the "'Revolt from the Papacy...'." The pageantry

attempts to provide an auspicious approval of the marriage

using the clergy as escort, presentations which expressed

the hope for a male heir. An indication that the Renaissance was also giving birth to desirable fruit is the greater use

of classical allusions. Apollo, the muses, Virgil, the

Three Graces, Juno, Pallas, Venus, Mercury and Paris are all 99 central characters in the presentations.

97Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, p. 197 and Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 177. Q O Withington quotes Arber, editor of An English Garner (1877-96). "withington, English Pageantry, I, pp. 182-183. 94.

The second of the three main presentations is the only-

one which was concerned with traditional Christian myth.

There was mention of a castle only in Wynkyn de Worde's

pamphlet as quoted in Arber's An English Garner. But in the

Antiquarian Repertory reference is made to a tippe, which

is a cupola or dome, and which later editors considered a

heavenly roof, with a sky and the celestial order painted on

it. Since the Wynkyn de Worde source is a contemporary

description, and since it is not contradicted by others, the

assumption is that the presentation was a castle with a heavenly roof, like a dome or cupola.100 Anglo, using both

sources, describes and comments on the pageant:

It was made like a castle with a heavenly roof, and included a pageant representation of Anne Boleyn's badge. On a little green mount there grew a golden root, 'environed with red roses and white.' From the heaven descended, first a white falcon, which settled on the plant, then, immediately afterwards —to the sounds of 'goodly armony'— an angel who set a crown upon the falcon's head. This scene represented Anne Boleyn's marriage with Henry VIII, and her imminent coronation. Also in this pageant, presumably beneath the mechanical badge, was a representation of St. Anne and her progeny, the three Marys —the Virgin, mother of Christ; • Mary Salome, wife of Zebedee; and Mary Cleophe with her husband Alphee [sic]— together with the children of Mary Cleophe and of Mary Salome. The impact of this pageant is ... explained by Hall, who writes that, when Anne drew near, a

°See Anglo's "The Evolution of the Early Tudor...Mask" in Ren• D•> N.S.I., pp. 37-38, where such a heavenly roof was used in royal entertainments in 1520 and 1527, and in public theatres later. 95.

child 'made a goodly Oracion to the quene, of the fruitfulness of saint Anne, and of her generacion, trustyng that like fruite should come of her'.^-^-*-

The Saint Anne in this pageant is the mother of Mary, the mother of Christ, and Mary Salome, the mother of St. James and St. John. Mary, wife of Cleophas, mentioned in John

19:25, "has also been identified as the sister of the Virgin 102 Mary because of the ambiguity of that passage." Udall wrote the verses to this pageant, and it was her child that delivered Udall's verses. Incidentally, Cleophas was one of the two disciples who was visited on the road to the castle 103 of Emmaus by Christ after His resurrection.

The emphasis of the implied comparison between St. Anne and Anne Boleyn is that an heir was needed. As dramatized in the Ludus Coventriae, the birth of an heir to David came late in the life of St. Anne, but it made possible, through the Virgin Mother Mary, the birth of Christ. The later children were the result of later marriages of St. Anne; thus

Cleophas is the issue of another union of St. Anne. The hope was that the presentation would justify Henry's union

8 ■'"Anglo, Spectacle. . .and. . .Tudor Policy, p. 253.

102 Anglo, Spectacle... and... Tudor Policy, p. 253n. 2. 103Luke, 24:13-35. Smith, York Plays, pp. 201-218. 96.

with Anne Boleyn in order to obtain a male heir.^04

The pageantry and court celebrations of Edward VI re­ turn to the past.IO3 as an example, in his entry into

London Edward VI is greeted by a presentation at the little conduit,

... and at the top was a tower, with the waits playing upon it; and an old man, representing Edward the , sat crowned and sceptred on a throne. A lion of gold lay before him, "which moved his Head by Vices." On a stage at the foot of the conduit sat St. George in full armor on horseback; a page carried his spear and shield; and a fair maiden held a lamb "in a strong."106

The mixture of history and romance was the direction pageant­ ry had been taking with the 1501 and the 1522 royal entries, but the careful thematic unity is missing here. Court celebrations concerned with the castle motif were war exer­ cises, not the usual courtly storming as a prelude to dance.

Edward VI describes one of these "war games" which took place in 1550. It was performed on the water, where a castle

There is irony here; the hoped-for heir was the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth. Another tower-castle in Fleet Street contained the four cardinal virtues, according to The Antiquarian Reper­ tory, II, p. 238. In this royal entry, Anne passes through St. Paul's from one pageant to another, apparently without stopping for any formalities, according to The Antiquarian Repertory, II, p. 238. 105gee Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, pp. 285 ff, where Lydgate's pageant honoring the return of the young Henry VI from France is shown to be the basis of Edward's coronation entry. 10 6 Withington, English Pageantry, I, p. 186. 97.

was built on a barge and guarded by a galley ship. The castle, containing a "Captain Winter," was assaulted unsuc­ cessfully with guns and squibs until the Admiral, the host of the presentation, attacked in three ships and won the castle, taking the Captain captive. 107

This return to the past was not entirely practical or superficial in Edward's reign concerning the castle motif; at Christmas in 1547, a celebration called 'The Tower of 108 Babylon' was presented. The Tower and city of Babylon became Protestant symbols of Roman Catholicism, or those na­ tions which acted on behalf of the Papacy against Protes­ tantism.

When Roman Catholicism returned to England in the per­ son of Queen Mary and her husband King Philip of Spain, the castle setting was used again in one of the presenta­ tions in the pageantry of the royal entry. In a castle decorated with coats of arms, ... was a Quene & a king representing their hignes, having off their right side Iusticia with a swerde in her hande, and Equitas with a payre of ballaunce. And of theyr left side Veritas wyth a boke in her hande, whereon was

1 Q7 Anglo, Spectacle...and...Tudor Policy, p. 300.

10 8Anglo, Spectacle... and...Tudor Policy, p. 301. See also Chambers for Edward's view of Babylon in The Medieval Stage, II, pp. 218, 222. Edward wrote a comedy called De Meretrice Babylonica. 98.

written Verbum Dei, & Misericordia with a hearte of gold. Where also from the heighth of the pageant descended one which signified Sapientia with a crowne in eche of her handes, whereof the one she put the head on her that presented the quene, and the other on the head of him that presented the king. ^-09

Verses in Latin and English were spoken at this presenta­

tion by one of the participants:

When that a man is jentle, just and true, With vertuous giftes fulfilled plenteously, If Wisdome then him with hir crowne endue, He governe shal the whole world prosperously And sith we know thee, Philip, to be such, While thou shall reigne we thinke us happy much.

This rendition alludes to the traditional arrangement

of the castle in which God, the King, is surrounded by Jus­ tice, Truth, Pity and Mercy.111 The arrangement in the

Philip and Mary presentation differs in its omission of

Peace and its heavy emphasis on Justice. This is important

because in the past Peace played, with Mercy, the emphatic

and pivotal role. Without peace there was no heaven, and

God reconciled the four virtues using the criteria of Peace.

The absence of Peace and the emphasis on Justice imply an

109 Withington, in English Pageantry, I, p. 190, notes that this description by John Elder, an eyewitness, is not the only account of the entry of Philip. Foxe does not de­ scribe this presentation in his Actes and Monumentes, VI, pp. 557f. 110Ang1o, Spectacle ... and... Tudor Policy, p. 337.

111See "The Castel of Love" in Horstmann, The Minor Poems of the Vernon MS, I, pp. 363-406, the episode of the Four Daughters of God. 9,9.

attitude of severity that marked the short reign of Mary.

However, what is of greater importance for the purposes of

this study is the characterization of Wisdom in the above

quotation. Wisdom is personified as a female and the impli­

cation is that Philip was gaining the crown through Mary.

Thus the personification is more specific by implication,

making Mary, the Queen of England, the personification of

wisdom.

This review of the architectural metaphor or setting

in tournaments, art which alludes to tournaments, and civic

pageantry has described frequent references to symbolic

buildings, primarily castles, but also temples. The castle

version occurs most frequently and is usually associated with women, either specific historical or religious figures or personified virtues or qualities. Together with these per­

sonifications, the architectural metaphors and settings pro­ vide protection, nourishment (figurative or literal), gui­ dance, solace and glory to the king or knight who occupies,

seeks or journeys to the edifice. It is quite clear that the audience, many of whom were instrumental in the construc­ tion of the architectural elements, knew and understood the meaning of the architectural metaphors and settings. Further­ more, this review shows a repetition that implies a tradi­ tion of using the architectural metaphors and settings in a dramatic presentation. 100.

RELATIONSHIP OF ARCHITECTURE TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER IN ART AND DRAMA

As in most medieval art and literature, the literal and symbolic representation of the Virgin Mother in drama was significant. This chapter examines that important representation of Mary in drama as it is expressed or im­ plied in the staging, thematic patterns, and specific literal and symbolic roles of plays and presentations which preceded or were contemporary with The Castle of Perseverance.

These plays and presentations from Anglo-Norman drama, Latin liturgical celebrations, fifteenth century poetry, and the

N-Town or Ludus Coventriae cycle refer to architecture which symbolizes or is associated with the Virgin, providing a basis for analyzing and interpreting architectural metaphor and setting in The Castle of Perseverance and the Digby Mary

Magdalen.

A common convention in medieval forms was the symbolic arrangement and rendition of special objects and persons of Christian belief so as to center the viewer’s focus on the central scene. This was a function of the castle in visual art, beginning in Egypt and continuing through the Gothic period. For example, George Kernodle, in his book on the influence of art on drama, notes that the castle was used as a background for the "adoration scene ... with separate towers backing the cloth-draped thrones of

Herod and Mary," or an "Evangelist or a Saint would sit or write in a niche framed by one or two towers," or the 101.

"Nativity became a castle scene when the walls of the city

of Bethlehem were so flattened that the city towers at the

sides filled the height of the scene and the distant walls became a framing arch between the towers."1 2According to

Kernodle, such artistic renderings, combined with forms of

street theatre, contributed to the development of European

renaissance theatre by providing settings symbolic of

places such a Jerusalem or heaven.

Referring to early liturgical drama, Mary H. Marshall

noted that it was "filled with symbolism, partly of a direct

iconic sort.... In a sense ... all dramas and all rituals are symbolic of human activity in a fundamental iconic 2 way...." Marshall goes on to indicate that the

...characteristic dramatic convention of the liturgical plays is a symbolic use of place and space and movement within the church. In many an Easter play the altar■— itself in some sense a tomb with its relics -- stands for the sepulchre of Christ. Or the sepulchre may be represented especially constructed or adapted for Easter observances — a canopied niche in the wall, or an ark or chest, or a structure large enough to shelter an angel, sometimes large enough for the Marys and two apostles to enter. Christmas angels may sing from high up in the roof. The castle of Emmaus, with a practicable table set with bread and wine, the Christmas manger, the throne of Herod, set up

1George Kernodle, From Art to Theatre (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944), p. 36. 2Mary H. Marshall, "Aesthetic Values of the Liturgi­ cal Drama," English Institute Essays, 1950 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1951), pp. 89-115, reprinted in Taylor and Alan H. Nelson, ed. Medieval English Drama (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972), p. 36. 102.

in the nave or at one of the doors or at the entrance to the choir or any convenient place, all have the elementary iconic quality natural to art, dramatic art in particular in any age.

An example of dramatic art which uses common archi­

tectural areas such as a choir, or a porch and steps to

symbolize biblical locations is the Anglo-Norman Jeu d'Adam,

Mystere d'Adam, or Ordo Representationis Adae. The play was written in the 12th century, approximately 1150-1180, in

the vernacular with Latin stage directions. Because both

theme and staging resemble those in The Castle of Persever­ ance as well as other morality and mystery plays, Jeu d1 Adam has special value in the study of religious drama related to architecture and the Virgin.

The action of the play is divided into three parts, the last of which is not complete. The first part tells the story of Adam and Eve; the second depicts the murder of Abel; the third is a procession of prophets. Each parts looks for­ ward to the coming of Christ. The central idea in all three parts is that the effect of the faults of Adam and Eve and the later death of Abel (which is a préfiguration of Christ's death) will be removed by the Redemption, as Adam and Eve 4 had hoped :

o Marshall, "Aesthetic Values of the Liturgical Drama," ’p. 36. ^Robert Bossuat, Louis Pichard, Guy Raynaud de Lage, eds., Dictionnaire des Lettres Françaises, Le Moyen Age (Paris: Librairie Artheme Fayard, 1964), p. 26, and C.H. Conrad Wright, A History of French Literature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1912), pp. 72, 73. 103.

The play of Adam, which links together 'scenes' of the Fall, and of and Abel, with brief appearances of the prophets of Christ, has been considered a prototype of the Old Testament play- cycles in fourteenth-century England and France. Whether or not one accepts this teleological view, it is certain that the same 'figurai' principle of structure is at work in Adam and in the later play-cycles. The events dramatized are chosen for their traditional significance in worship and iconography as préfigurations of the New Testament particularly of Christ's Passion and Resurrection. In the drama, as in medieval theology and art, the Fall is seen as a necessary prelude to the Redemp­ tion and as an implicit reminder of it. The Adatn of our play puts to flight with words that echo those of Christ: 'Fui tei de ci! Tu es Sathan.' (Adam 196) Later in the play he hints at his own deliverance from hell by the Son of Mary (381-2). Satan's temptation of Eve with the title 'queen of heaven,' which the audience would immediately recognize as appropriate to the Virgin Mary shows the same habit of mind and dramatic method.5

Both Grace Frank and Hardin Craig agree that the play re­ sembles the sequence of selected events and the foreshadow- g ing elements of the later mystery cycles.

The first part of the Play of Adam was presented on the church porch or steps and upon an elevated structure, which appears to be surrounded by trees:

The play seems to have been intended for per­ formance outdoors, against either the West door or the side porch of a church. This is the ideal setting. When God is not playing he retires

5 Richard Axton and John Stevens, trans., Medieval French Plays (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1971), Introduction, p. xiv.

Grace Frank, The Medieval French Drama (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954), pp. 74-84, and Hardin Craig, English Religious Drama of the Middle Ages (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955), pp. 64-69, 97-99, 125. 104.

into the church (between lines 112 and 387). The choir may stand inside the church or porch. If the door or porch stands above the church­ yard and has a conveniently broad surround this will serve well for the 'fairly high place' of Paradise. Otherwise, Paradise should be set up on a raised stage. The open ground between Paradise and the audience is called platea (the 'place'); it represents Earth; to one side of it and close to the audience is the 'house' for Hell.7

In this plan, God's residence is the church from which heavenly proclamations in song come, sung by the choir.

Paradise is set above the other stations because it is closer to God; Earth is on the level of the audience, with

Hell closer to them. The devils also were able to go easily among the audience from this point. Adam and Eve play on the Paradise level until their exile to Earth. Cain and

Abel play at this level. At the end of the first two parts,

Adam, Eve, are dragged off to Hell. The prophets, it is assumed, were also led to hell by the devils.

The Jeu d'Adam also emphasizes an idea found in the civic pageants and cycle plays: specifically, the idea of Mary as the new Eve. We noted that the Jeu d'Adam was performed outside the church on the porch steps using a raised struc­ ture that represented Eden. Similarly, in The Castle of

Perseverance, a raised structure is also used in the center of an arena staging. The Jeu d'Adam structure included pastoral elements in the opening stage directions and

7 - Axton and Stevens, Medieval French Plays, p. 5. 105.

description :

Paradise shall be set up in a fairly high placé; curtains and silk cloths shall be hung around it, at such a height that the persons who shall be in Paradise can be seen from the shoulders up­ wards. Fragrant flowers and leaves shall be planted there; there shall also be various trees with fruit hanging on them....8

Since the Jeu d’- Adam was written in the% latter part of the twelfth century, the Anglo-Norman play provides a precedent for scaffold staging outside a church. Two hundred years later another play used a scaffold staging inside a church; the Presentation play of Philippe de Mezieres. Thus, staging was quite sophisticated 200 years before Persever­ ance or the N-Town plays. Both the Jeu d'Adam and the

Presentation also emphasize the importance of the Virgin

Mother in the Christian plan of redemption.

In both the Jeu d'Adam and the Presentation play, the scaffold was located off to the side and not in the center.

Jeu d'Adam was played outside; the Presentation took place inside the church. Nevertheless, in both plays, the place of the higher or elevated structure for paradise and that for Mary were in a prominent position; the first next to the figurative paradise and the second next to the altar in the sanctuary where women were ordinarily forbidden. The struc­ ture which was to symbolize paradise in the Jeu d'Adam was decorated with flowers, leaves, and fruits. The Presentation *

o Axton and Stevens, Medieval French Plays, p. 7. 106.

play's structure, which measured 6-8 feet high and six feet wide, was decorated with tapestry. These two structures, their locations, and approximate size are precedents, if not models, for the structure in The Castle of Perseverance.

That structures like these were used in England is seen clearly in Southern's The -in-the Round.

Alan Nelson has also described similar structures used in

Beverly in the early fifteenth century. They were set up around a playing area reserved for the prominent citizen- spectators and were, in fact, called "castles," and were decorated with tapestries.

Another element of the staging of the Jeu d'Adam which that play shares with Perseverance is the location of heaven, hell, paradise and earth. Heaven is the church, paradise is nearest to the church on the upper steps, earth is on the lowest level of the steps, or the area directly in front of the steps, and hell — or rather limbo, since Christ will harrow hell — is located to one side of the playing area, or platea. Though semi-circular in their arrangement on the stage, the locations in the Jeu d'Adam are for a par­ ticular symbolic purpose, each with its appropriate charac­ ters. After Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden, they are driven out into the platea in the midst of the audience.9 The location of paradise was at the west end

9Southern, Theatre-in-the-Round (1957 Ed.), Appendix. 107.

of the church with paradise nearest to the church. Since we know that most churches were built with the altar in the east and the main entrance in the west, the symbolic ar­ rangement of limbo was in the north, also where the Devil resided in Perseverance. In addition, the devils were close to the audience, able to roam through the crowd. This symbolic arrangement of places, as well as the very presence of symbolic places, suggests the similar circular arrange­ ment and specified locations in The Castle of Perseverance.

It should also be emphasized that the structures in the

Jeu d'Adam and the Mezieres Presentation, which resemble the castle in The Castle of Perseverance, are symbolic of paradise in the first play and Mary's being raised to heaven in the second. The three share a sacred quality.

Another element shared by the Jeu d'Adam and The Castle of Perseverance is the central idea. In Adam, Adam and Eve begin in innocence, fall into the sin of disobedience, are driven from the garden to suffer pain and mortality though they are repentant, and are taken off to hell by the devils.

They are not saved in the play because, of course, Christ has yet to be born. But there is hope, as Adam says,

Into hell I must be hurled. In hell shall be my dwelling-place Until He come who shall me save. (11. 332-334)

No one will ever send me aid, Except the son of Blessed Mary.. (11. 381, 382)

10Axton and Stevens, Medieval French Plays, pp. 24-26. 108.

The last two lines come from Adam’s speech rebuking Eve for

leading him into this sin. Obviously, the dramatist is not

just concerned with realism, but also with a message that reminds the audience that redemption came with God and

through a woman, Mary. The author is tempering Adam's con­ demnation of Eve, as representing all women, with the re­ minder of the new Eve, Mary. Symbolically, God also pro­ mises a new woman when he condemns Satan, paraphrasing

Genesis, 3:15:

Women will hate you to the core --

A mighty Root from her shall rise To shatter all your energies.H (11. 479, 489, 490)

The root is the Jesse root, often pictured with the Virgin

Mother of Christ. Using prophecy, then, a pattern of life from innocence, to life-in-sin, to repentance, to salvation is fulfilled in this play as it was in the morality play which dramatized the salvation of Mankind.

The second part of the Jeu d’Adam tells the story of

Cain and Abel. The pattern of the earlier part is followed again, as they live in a peaceful innocence, cultivating the earth, until Abel suggests a sacrifice to God. Annoyed,

Cain offers to comply and the two move to the center of the playing area where Cain mimes his sacrifice and envy. Cain then suggests a walk around their property and, of course, lures Abel to a "distant place" to kill him. God appears

l^Axton and Stevens, Medieval French Plays, p. 30. 109.

and sentences Cain not to death, but to a life of suffering in guilt and sorrow. Nevertheless, both are led to hell by the devils.

The Cain and Abel sequence does not explicitly promise redemption, but it is followed by the third and last uncom­ pleted section, a procession of the prophets. This section does promise help ¿rom God through the words of the prophets.

Three of these prophecies are of interest here, because they allude to the Virgin Mother. The first is from Abraham:

He will hold open the gates in his hands. And their castles; there will be no serf. Such a man will issue from my seed, Who will commute our sentence of damnation, And by whom the world will be ransomed Adam will be delivered of his pain.12

The second comes from Aaron in a bishop's garments carrying a staff or rod of flowers:

This the branch bearing the flower Which gives the perfume of salvation. The sweet fruit of this branch Will expiate the sorrow of our death

This rod, implanted, Can blossom and bear fruit Such a rod will come from my lineage Who will be Satan's nemesis... 13 Who will release Adam from prison.

The third, Isaiah, prophesies

That a virgin shall conceive And as a virgin shall bear a son. He will have the name Emmanuel.

1 2 Bevington, Medieval Drama, p. 114.

13 Bevington, Medieval Drama, p. 114. 110.

Saint Gabriel will be the messenger. The maid will be the Virgin Mary; Thus she will carry the fruit of life, Jesus, our saviour, Who will recover Adam from his great sorrow And put him again in paradise.14

Though the prophets were pious and obedient to God, they

too were carried off to Hell to await the release by Christ.

But it is emphasized in the prophecies that Mary, the Mother

of God, participated in that release. The Prophets play in

the Hegge cycle differs only slightly from the procedure and

language of this part of the Jeu d'Adam. In short, the

prophets' procession here emphasizes the hope that redemp­

tion and salvation were to come, even though that was not

dramatized; thus, the pattern of innocence, sin, repentance,

and salvation is completed by the prophecies, and is the

underlying and central idea in this play as it is in The

Castle of Perseverance. That pattern in the Jeu d'Adam is

reinforced by the recurring reference to Mary as a part of

the redemptive process. As noted, she was the new Eve, a

new mother of the race of men, and also a protective queen, guarding the hope of man, Christ, from the evils of the world. She is not dramatized as doing this in Jeu d'Adam, yet she is prophetically heralded. She seems to be outside the focus of the play, until we realize that the dramatist intends to counter worldly doubt with the prophecies. The

14Bevington, Medieval Drama, p. 121. 111.

author is quite sure that the audience is aware of Christ's factual existence, but wishes to emphasize that His birth fulfilled prophecies in a unique way, i.e., in His being born of a virgin. Thus, The Castle of Perseverance is par­ allel in plot, staging, and purpose with the Jeu d'Adam.

Another play which suggests a pattern, a staging prac­ tice, and possibly a meaning similar to those of The Castle of Perseverance is a French miracle play of the Virgin, called the Miracle de Theophile, written by Rutebeuf, a thirteenth century poet. The story repeats the pattern of innocence, sin, suffering, and repentance, followed by sal- ♦ vation. In Sicily, a vicar named Theophilus was a promising and efficient priest, who, when his bishop died, was expected by all to succeed his superior. Instead, Theophilus chose not to take the office, but when another was made bishop, that man dismissed Theophilus. Soon after, an angry The­ ophilus made a pact with the devil, renouncing Christ, and through Satan's efforts was restored to his former post.

However, Theophilus soon became remorseful, went to the chapel of the Virgin (separate location on the stage), and prayed to a statue of Mary for help. Appearing to him in a vision, she restored him to "her favor and to the grace of her Son." Then Theophilus confessed all to the bishop,

15 Granger Ryan and Helmut Ripperger, trans. The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine (New York: Arno Press, 1969), p. 529. 112.

ending the play. The Golden Legend adds that he died three

days later. The pattern from innocence to salvation in

both the play and the legend, and the spiritual rescue by

Mary were conventional elements of the miracle plays, and

follow roughly that pattern and rescue of mankind found in

Duk Moraud, The Pride of Life, The Castle of Perseverance,

The Pelerinage de la humaine (translated by Lydgate), as well as other morality plays. . '

The staging of the Miracle de Théophile is described by Axton and Stevens:

Simultaneous staging is appropriate and was probably intended. Supposing that each of the main characters has a ’house,’ then five of these are necessary: Theophile’s is cen­ tral; to the audience's left of him are the Bishop's palace and Our Lady’s Chapel; to the right, Salatin’s ’house’ and Hell’s Mouth, This arrangement, either in a straight line or an arc, has the advantage of symmetry and readily visualizes an opposition of good and evil forces in their struggle for Theophile’s soul. The 'houses’ may simply be doorways distinguished by their shape and the ornament of their portals; thus Salatin’s could have a gilded oriental dome.16

The locational staging, with a residence or ’house' for each of the characters is similar to the arrangement in The

Castle of Perseverance. One of those places, the Chapel of

Axton and Stevens, Medieval French Plays, p. 108. See also Nigel Wilkins, Two Miracles (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1972), pp. 6-9, for diagrams of the staging of two other miracle plays, which resemble Le Miracle de Theophile and which indicate the use of a castle, as one 'house,' and a central pulpit in the play. 113.

Our Lady, also suggests a oossible symbolic meaning for the castle in the later English morality play. These specified locations also remind one of the tabernacles, temples and towers using identifiable parts similar to Salatin's "gilded 17 oriental dome," for the whole. Also, clues to the cos- ; turning of characters in this play can be obtained from a thirteenth century stained glass window at the Lincoln cathe­ dral depicting the legend: "Four scenes from the legend are 18 shown, in two circular medallions." Whether the window version came before or after the play, the fact is that by the thirteenth century the transfer of conventions from one artistic form to another had been made in an English cathe­ dral showing a familiarity with the legend and the pattern in it. Of this pattern in the Miracle de Theophile, Hardin

Craig says that it "furnishes the pattern that was followed with such extraordinary activity in the fourteenth century 19 in France." He adds that miracle plays became very popular elsewhere, but in England, on "the basis of English plays and references to plays one would be disposed to think that the fifteenth century was the period of the greatest

17Axton and Stevens, Medieval French Plays, p. 168. See chanter three of this study. 13In Axton and Stevens, Medieval French Plays, pp. 168, 169, the authors quote M.D- Anderson, Drama and Imagery in English Medieval Churches (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963) . "‘■'"Craig, English Religious Drama, pp. 322, 323. 114.

exploitation of the miracle play...." 20 Although there is

no centrally located house within a circular arrangement as

in Perseverance, the climactic situation beginning and oc­

curring in Our Lady's Chapel is similar to that in Persever­

ance . There Mankind was safeguarded by the virtues after

Penance and Shrift had shriven him. In the French play,

the Virgin is an active character, in fact, a dea ex machina.

In addition, her action in the play is perhaps governed more by adherence to the same Genesis passage that we noted in

Jeu d'Adam than by any originality in storytelling: Mary challenges the Devil to a fight, knocks him down with a cross, and then tramples on him, acting out, almost to the

letter, the biblical passage. The point is that the mani­ festation of Mary's power is more concretely dramatized here in Theophile, but not too differently from the symbolic ac­ tion of the virtues and the castle in The Castle of Persever­ ance .

There are other parallels with the English play. If the castle is likened to Our Lady's Chapel, it explains more about Mankind's situation. Theophile had originally been devoted to the Virgin, and thus, it is safe to say, would have spent much time in the chapel. In Perseverance, Man­ kind's first entrance is from the central scaffold, where he notes that all he has is a chrism, meaning the water of

2 0 Craig, English Religious Drama, pp. 323, 324. 115.

baptism. That Mankind had all that the church could offer, yet still fell into sin is the same as Theophile’s initial devotion and later fall into sin. To note the fact that

Perseverance dramatizes a second fall is only to recognize that the scope of the English moral play is larger than that of the French miracle. This is not to say that mira­ cle plays are the origins of moral plays, but only to ex­ plain a pattern that is similar to both plays. This pat­ tern underlies many significant Christian forms of ex­ pression in the medieval and renaissance periods. Another pattern common to Theophile and Perseverance is the rescue of Theophile by the Virgin and the protection of Mankind in the central scaffold, both occurring within the similar pattern of innocence, sin, suffering and salvation. The action of Mary was typical of the miracles de Notre Dame.

The manner of expression may have differed, but the pattern and saving action of Mary did not. 21 Thus, there was a precedent in drama in the pattern of the plot, a precedent in the means of resolving the spiritual conflict within the pattern, and a precedent in the staging of that pattern and resolution later occurring in The Castle of Perseverance.

Related to the drama in miracle plays was the proces­ sional carrying of religious sculpture. Such was the use

21M.D. Anderson, Drama and Imagery In English Medieval Churches (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963), p. 187. 116.

of the Romanesque sculpture of the Madonna and Child, known

as the "Madonna in Majesty," or sedes sapientiae. Found in

parts of France, from the tenth through the fourteenth cen­

tury, the statue was hollow, made of wood, adorned outside

with jewels, gold, or lace, and borne on a litter in a pro- 22 cession which was part of the liturgy. The statue is

one-half to three-quarters life-size, with the Madonna

seated on a throne and the Christ child seated in her lap,

holding in His left hand a book. His right hand appears to

be in the middle of the benediction motion, tracing an

imaginary cross in front of Him.

The primary meaning of the statue is that of the sedes

sapientiae, the seat or throne of wisdom. Mary, as the mother of Christ, is the throne for Christ, and is symbolic 23 of the Church into which Christ brought his spirit. The throne of wisdom also alludes iconographically to the throne of Solomon, which is considered a préfiguration of Christ’s kingship. The meaning of wisdom and the religious connota­ tions of the throne continued into the middle ages signifying that the origin of the secular king's wisdom was received through Solomon and Christ from God. Thus, the idea of wisdom in governing was attached to the concept of mediation.

22Ilene H. Forsyth, The Throne of Wisdom (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972), pp. 1-7. 23Forsyth, Throne of Wisdom, pp. 86-90. See Louis Bouyer, The Seat of Wisdom, p. 46 ff. 117.

Wisdom and mediation are also signified in the "Madonna

in Majesty" statue through the chair that the Virgin Mother

is placed on. Depending on the particular version, the

throne rests on four to seven legs in either a circular or

a four-cornered arrangement. The legs are carved to re­

semble columns or pillars. Bordering the seat above the

legs is another set of columns or an arcade-like structure

which served as an arm- and back-rest. The arrangement and

structure of the throne is unmistakably designed to be a replica of a tower.24

In the liturgical ceremony, this sedes sapientiae statue

was carried on a platform in a procession and placed in a

prominent position in the church, sometimes on a jasper ped­

estal in back of the main altar. This use of the statue is

supported by texts of plays celebrating the Epiphany, a

ritual which included the adoration of the Magi, from approx- 25 imately the tenth century through the fourteenth century.

The drama also included a procession and prominent display

of the Virgin .Mother and child, and the adoration of them

by the Magi with gifts and bowing. The three-dimensional

quality of the statue, combined with the dramatic action of * 25

2 4 See the Lydgate pageantry of 1432. 25Forsyth, Throne of Wisdom, pp. 49-60 and Karl Young, The Drama of the~Medieval Church, 2 volumes (Oxford: Oxford at Clarendon Press, 1933.) ii, pp. 29-101, particularly pp. 37-42. See also H. Craig, English Religious Drama, pp. 51- 58 on the Officium Stellae. 118.

the priests who characterized the three kings and the

structure of the throne, emphasize the association of Mary 2 6 with the temple, wisdom and the genealogy of Christ.

Generally speaking, the interest in the Virgin Mother in Europe grew as men returned from the . Such re­ newed devotion to Christian beliefs was also the concern of an author mentioned before, Philippe de Mezieres, a com­ batant in the Crusades, diplomat and writer, who later re- 27 tired to monastic life. His play, The Figurative Repre­ sentation of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the

Temple, dramatizing the presentation of the Virgin Mary in the temple was part of his efforts to renew public devotion for Christian theology. The interest of this study empha­ sizes the value of the staging in the play as found in let­ ters, speeches and directions. The Presentation may have been produced in 1372 for a papal audience in Avignon, but

2 6 The statue was hollow according to Forsyth. A panel was set in the back of the statue which could be opened or shut with little effort if it was not sealed. Though For­ syth does not mention it in her study, the possibility ex­ ists 'that the statue at rest in the church could have func­ tioned as a tabernacle for the Eucharistic host, if the hollow space was large enough and accessible. This possible use is supported by the place the statue occupied, that is, on a pedestal near the altar, a location that ordinary taber­ nacles had. It was also a common belief in medieval and Renaissance art that the Christ Child was born by way of Mary's back, allowing for the Virgin birth. 27 Philippe de Mezieres, The Figurati. ve Representation of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple, trans, and ed.' Robert S. Haller (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1971), pp. xi-xvi of the introduction by M. Catherine Rupp, O.S.M. 119.

28 is more certainly believed to have been presented in 1385.

The play is interesting because its staging is similar to

that of The Castle of Perseverance, as Grace Frank describes

One stage (edificium de lignis, seu stacio; also called solarium) was to be erected between the great west portal and the entrance to the choir, though a little nearer the choir, located so that it might be clearly visible from all parts of the church. It was to stand 6 feet high, to be 10 feet from north to south, and 8 feet from east to west; it was to be reached by stairways on the west and east, and these stairways, 3 feet wide, were to be closed by wooden boards so that none but the actors could use them. A. railing 2 feet high surrounded the platform in order that it would appear more suitable for the performance and also to prevent the performers from falling off.29

This platform was covered with tapestries and other decora­ tive cloths (banners?). The ceremony itself began with a procession of the clergy and actors from east to west, with the actors then stepping up to the stage. The dramatic part of the ceremony which illustrated the story of Mary entering the temple took place on the stage. As Mary left this stage

2 8 Grace Frank, The Medieval French Drama (Oxford Uni­ versity Press), pp. 64-73. See Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church, II, pp. 225-245 for the test also. In Taylor and Nelson's Medieval English Drama, Laura Hibbard Loomis writes in "Secular Dramatics in Royal Palace, Paris, 1378, 1389, and Chaucer's Tregetours," (pp. 98-115) particu­ larly pp. 104-107 about Mezieres' influence on the court. Mezieres was an example of militant devotion to Christian values in a time of chaos among the leaders of the Christian world. 2 9 Frank, Medieval French Drama, pp. 71, 72. 120.

to approach the altar, she was escorted by soldiers armed

with spears, and angels armed with staves. When "presented"

to the bishop, Mary was surrounded by a circle of soldiers

with spears, who remained far enough apart from each other

to allow the people in the church to see her. After the

presentation ceremony, Mary was escorted to another smaller

"stage" located between the altar (east) and the choir

stalls (north):

This second stage was to be placed against a wall or pillar in loco eminenti (cf. the location of terrestrial paradise in the Mystere d'Adam) at a height of 7 or 8 feet. It was to be 6 feet square, surrounded by a light wooden railing a foot high.30

The angels, Gabriel and Raphael, accompanied Mary to this second stage, which resembled a tower covered with a tapes­ try. 31 As they stood guard, she released a dove from her position in the tower, remaining there through the mass that followed. Then, she was carried by men or horse to a se­ lected house in the city, where she feasted; after which, by litter or horse, she traveled through the city in procession.

3°Frank, Medieval French Drama, p. 72. 31 Prior to her ascent of this structure, she is called by God the Father in the person of the priest: Come my Beloved, come my Dove, because there is no spot on you. Come from Lebanon, my Chosen from Eternity, that I might accept you as Bride for my beloved Son. The words imply that Mary’s ascent is symbolic of a rising closeness to God. See Mezieres, Presentation, trans, by Robert Haller, pp. 12, 27. 121.

This play resembles Perseverance in the use of the tower­

like stage in loco eminenti (though not centrally located),

in the processional elements which occur at the beginning,

middle and end of the ceremony and mass, in the angelic

escort, in the guarding of Mary at the time of the presenta­

tion, and in its over-all purpose of dramatizing religious 32 matter. The processional actions also bear a resemblance

to -- if they are not a derivation of -- the royal entries

that passed through the city streets.

Perhaps more important for our purposes is the meaning of certain segments of the Mezieres play of the presenta­

tion of Mary in the temple. When Mary enters the church and is seated on the larger first platform, nine angels step up individually to praise her, and then leave. In the words of these angels, Mary is called the ark, vessel, bride, 33 mother, temple, and edifice of God. She is identified as the "Mediatrix of Divine Justice...in whom the mercy of God will be shown.... To whom will be given the price of human

32 See Southern, Medieval Theatre-in-the-Round, pp. 14 5- 218; Craig, English Religious Drama of the Middle Ages, pp. 116-121 for diagrams of staging resurrection plays, passion plays, the Digby Mary Magdalen and The Castle of Perseverance. See Craig also for his remarks on Mezieres' play, pp. 78-80 and 250. See also Arnold Williams, The Drama of Medieval England (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press,1961), pp. 34-37, for his description of the liturgical drama per­ formed in the church. 3 3 Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, pp. 20, 21. 122.

34 redemption...." Two other characters in the play sit op­

posite Mary on this platform representing the Old and the

New Church, labelled respectively, Synagoga and Ecclesia.

After the angels, Anna and Joachim have paid homage to

Mary, Ecclesia stands, sings praise of herself and Mary.

She then points to herself (Ecclesia) with a global ball

symbolic of Christian domination in the world, and says,

Behold the New Mother with breasts full not of law but grace, not fear but love, not servitude but liberty, because behold this Virgin (pointing to Mary) who will conceive and bear a son who will make his people safe from their sins.35

The symbolic effect of Ecclesia's praise of Mary and her­

self is that they are considered one and the same. Mary was

symbolic of the maternal care that the Church had for its 3 6 members, since she was the mother of Christ. Following

Ecclesia's song, Synagoga was expelled from the church by

Gabriel and Raphael. Then Mary proceeded to the second platform. In the Presentation, a group of angels helped to escort Mary to that platform. As Mary is about to be pre­ sented to the bishop, each of the nine angels stepped to a designated point and sang a verse of praise about Mary.

34 Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, p. 23.

3 5Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, p. 23.

3 6 Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, in the intro­ duction by Rupp, pp. xxi, xxxi, xxvii: "St. Ambrose was one of the.first to teach that Mary is a figure of the Church" (Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, bk. 2, P.L., 11: 1555). 123.

Then they formed a passage toward the bishop for Mary to

walk in. When Mary arrived at the appropriate point in

front of the bishop,

...those able-bodied men who carry the spears in two rows will form in front of the altar a large enclosure of their spears, in which enclosure Mary and her companions will be without pressure... and the Presentation of Mary will...be seen by all....37

The pressure would presumably come from an audience intent

upon seeing the presentation.

The "enclosure" in this play resembles Southern's de­

scription of the likely arrangement of the Virtues in Per­

severance :

...here the Seven Virtues are in circle, round the tower, facing outward and Mankind goes to each in turn.38

At first, Mankind is outside the circle of Virtues who,

Southern speculates, may have come from inside the top part

of the tower and descended to the ground by ladder. Another

corresponding link between the Presentation and Perseverance

is that the angels' individually praised Mary in the

Presentation in the same way that the individual virtues welcomed Mankind into the castle. The French play has the

angels singing the praises before Mary enters the enclosure,

just as the virtues in Perseverance, according to Southern,

speak first and then allow Mankind into their midst.

3 7 -Mezieres, Presentation, Trans. Haller, p. 26. "southern, p. 187. 124.

Southern speculates that the circle of virtues closed tighter as the vices were being alerted by Backbiter; and 39 then, the virtues climbed into "the body of the tower...."

Similarly, the angels of the Presentation formed an aisle for Mary to ascend the higher, more prominent structure after the presentation to the bishop had been made. As can be seen, the procedure of the Presentation play of Mezieres offers a model and a precedent for the corresponding invest­ ment of Mankind into the castle of Perseverance.

Mezieres also commented on his play, expressing beliefs pertinent to the study of the Virgin. He called Mary the

"Empress of Empyrean Heaven" and "the Anchor of my hope" at the end of the play.*40 In a letter accompanying the text of the play, Mezieres spelled out in more impassioned words his view of the world and Mary's role in it "in order to evade through Mary the judge's sentence of high wrath, and to ar- 41 . • rive at life eternal...." Mezieres went on to explain that the world's calamities are punishments visited upon man by God, and that St. Bernard's words can be repeated:

Vice has conquered wisdom, everywhere the horn of the impious is overflowing, the zeal for justice has been disarmed, and there is no one who, I do not say is willing,

30Southern, p. 192.

40Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, p. 29.

4^Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, p. 51. 125.

but is able, to do good; ...if only justice were sufficient for the defense of itself.42

The desperation in the world cannot be alleviated by prayers to God, the Redeemer, because he "does not melt," according to Mezieres:

There is nothing which will avail. Except that, in the midst of so many processes, scourges, and perils, we may hurry surely to the port of safe­ ty, that is, to the advocate of sinners, the Mediatrix of God and man, the Queen of mercy and the Mother of God; we may have recourse to the inviolate Christbearing Virgin Mary, crying out new praises so that she will out of pity throw open her breast to us, and, raised to greater devotion in the enumeration of her delights through the praise of her Presentation, will deign to intercede for our misery before that blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus, her only begotten son, appeasing him more than usual; we may, with her assistance and protection, be delivered from evil, be led back to the right path, and, with nothing to fear from the hands , of our enemies, serve Him from this time forth in sanctity and justice all our days.43

This picture of the Virgin Mother described by Mezieres dif­ fers little from conventional renderings of the Virgin in painting and sculpture. Mezieres combined the Virgin Mother as Mediatrix, with the Virgin of mercy, with the Mother of the Virgin Birth. Mezieres alludes also to a conventional form of expression of the Virgin which was later rendered in the fifteenth century by, among others, Foucquet: The

42Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, pp. 51-52. Mezieres is quoting St. Bernard, P.L., 182: 418. ^Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, p. 52. 126.

Virgin Mother who "throws open her breast to us." In addi­ tion, allusions to prayers are contained in his words,

"blessed fruit of her womb (Ave Maria), "Jesus her only- begotten son" (the Creed), and "delivered from evil" (the

Lord's Prayer). All of these references point to the use of conventional expressions, which were used more dramatical­ ly in the fifteenth century in painting and architecture.

Sr. Catherine Rupp, whose introduction to this edition of the play is an interpretation of it, says,

The central concern of the play is man's coming to God. It sets forth the way in which Mary, the individual soul or the Church, moves from one state to another state, from the unconsecrated to the consecrated, from the active to the con­ templative, from the material to the spiritual. It exhibits a spiritual journey through this early existence to the heavenly homeland: For Ecclesia, the Church, it is a journey from the Synagogue to Christianity to the heavenly king­ dom; for Mary, it is the voyage from the Old Law to the New Law to the eternal nuptials; and for the individual soul it is the pilgrimage from Babylon to the heavenly Jerusalem and eternity with the Beloved.33

The Presentation play of Mezieres was apparently an in­ fluence or source for a group of plays about the Virgin

Mother in the N-Town cycle. Hardin Craig, in English Re­ ligious Drama of the Middle Ages, states that "the simple office of de Mezieres...was... expanded into several 4 5 plays...." These plays were the St. Anne's day plays,

x 44Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, introduction, p. xliii. 45Craig, pp. 78-80. 127.

which were later part of the N-Town cycle. One of these plays was Mary in the Temple, which Craig says was based di­ rectly on the Presentation play of Mezieres, and is the chief play of the St. Anne's day group. Other plays in the

St. Anne's day group, according to Craig, were: The Barren­ ness of Anna, Mary in the Temple, Mary's Betrothal, Joseph and the Midwives and the Trial of Joseph and Mary. 46 But this list does not include all of the plays about the Virgin which were regularly played in the N-Town or Hegge cycle.

Craig considers the following plays as integral to the

N-Town cycle from its beginnings, based on their being listed in the banns: the Annunciation, the Visit to Eliza­ beth , Joseph's Trouble about Mary, part of Joseph and the 47 . . Midwives, the Shepherds, and the Magi. In addition, there was a special play, the Assumption and Coronation of the

Virgin, added later to the cycle or played alone on the appropriate religious feast day, August 15, to be described in detail later in this chapter. Thus, the Hegge or N-Town cycle included a great deal, of material devoted to the

Virgin Mother of Christ, which according to Craig, was based on the Mezieres play.486 47

46Craig, p. 79.

47Craig, p. 80.

4 ft Craig also notes that sources ; r ether Hegge plays are found in French drama, art, windows. painting, and New Testament Apocrypha. 128.

Many of those plays in the N-Town cycle, whether based on the Presentation of Mezieres or not, were known as the

Mother of Mercy plays. After the Prophets play, also known as the Jesse play, the cycle continued with the conception of Mary in the play called the Barrenness of Anna, which opened with a speech by a character called Contemplatio, who looked ahead to several other plays, by saying,

This matter here made is of the Mother of Mercy How by Joachim and Anne was her conception; Sithe offered into the Temple - compiled briefly - then married to Joseph, and, so following, the salutation, Meeting with Elizabeth and therewith a conclusion, In a few wordes talked, that it should not be tedious To be learned nor to lewed, nor to no man of reason This is the process. Now preserve you, Jesus!49

After a portrayal of the childless couple, Anne and Joachim, an angel descended and sang,

And as she shall be born of a barreny body So of her shall be born without nature Jesus.

"Without nature" means the virgin birth. Then following

Mary's birth and presentation, Contemplatio asked the audi­ ence to be patient,

And in short space The Parliament of Heaven soon you shall see And how Godes son come man shall be, And how the salutation after shall be By Godes holy grace.51

4°r.t. Davies, ed., The Corpus Christi Play of the English Middle Ages (London: Faber and Faber, 1972), p. 120.

5 0 Davies, p. 121. r* i JiDavies, p. 121. 129.

Thus, the plays to be included under the title of the Mother of Mercy are the Barrenness of Anna, the Parliament of

Heaven, the Annunciation, Joseph's Trouble about Mary, the

Visit to Elizabeth, or as it is called by Contemplatio, the

Salutation. The name, Mother of Mercy, appears to come from the pleas for mercy by the Four Daughters of God in the

Parliament of Heaven play. No sooner is the decision made in the Parliament of Heaven to send a redeemer by means of

Mary, than the angel Gabriel is sent to Mary, which is the beginning of the Annunciation play. The two plays are actu­ ally one, and the Annunciation play is also included as part of the Mother of Mercy plays. It is in the Annunciation play that the Ave Maria is shown being created. The latter part of that prayer and song was completed by Elizabeth in the Salutation, and then the play ended with the words of

Contemplatio to the audience:

Now most meekly we thank you of your patience, And beseech you of your good supportation. If her has been said or done any inconvenience We assign it to your good deliberation, Beseeching to Christes precious Passion Conserve and reward your hither coming. With 'Ave' we begun and 'Ave' is our conclusion: 'Ave Regina caelorum' to our Lady we sing.52

Davies notes that Contemplatio began these plays with praise for Mary (Ave Maria) and that Contemplatio is now closing

52 Davies, p. 147. 130.

them with praise for her as the queen of heaven (Ave Regina 53 caelorum). The closing remarks also indicate a dividing point, ending the group called the Mother of Mercy plays, as God the Father's words ended The Castle of Perseverance.

Thus endyth oure gamys To save zou fro synnynge Evyr at the begynnynge Thynke on zoure last endynge! Te Deum LaudamusI 54

Here, the hymn, of course, praises God, but the similarity in the use of a summary in cyclic terms, followed by a reference to a popular hymn of praise between the N-Town plays and The Castle of Perseverance show a sharing of tech­ nique. The Mother of Mercy plays are also related to Per­ severance in the use of central or semi-circular staging, and the central theme of the merciful Mother as a figure of salvation for sinners.

In the Towneley as well as the N-Town cycle plays, the topic and character of Mary occupied more time and space than all of the Old Testament, and she was the second lead­ ing character to Christ. The Ludus Coventriae offered the most complete portrayal of the Virgin Mother. In this cycle, which includes both St. Anne's Day and Mother of Mercy groups, the plays which are associated with the Virgin Mother were

The Prophets, Conception of Mary (or The Barrenness of Anna), * 54

53Davies, n. 32, p. 451. 54 Eccles, The Macro Plays, p. 111. 131.

Mary in the. Temple, The Betrothal of Mary, The Parliament

of Heaven and The Salutation and Conception, Joseph's Re­

turn , The Visit to Elizabeth, Prologue of Summoner, The

Trial of Joseph and Mary, The Birth of Christ, The Adora­

tion of the Shepherds, The Adoration of the Magi, The Puri­

fication, The Resurrection and Appearance to the Virgin, 55 and The Assumption of the Virgin.

Though The Prophets does not include Mary as a dramatic

character, she is a central figure through the speeches of

the characters. The action and dialogue consisted merely of actors identifying, themselves as prophets from the Old

Testament, each quoting or paraphrasing the bible. Isaiah

spoke first:

I am the prophète callyd Isaye Replett with godys grett invluens and sey pleynly be spyryte of phrophecie that a clene mayde through mehe obedyens Shall bere a child which xall do resystens Ageyn foule Zabulon the debyl of helle mannys soule ageyn hym to defens Opyn in the felde the fend he xal felle,C

Then "Radix Jesse" followed:

Egredictus virgo de radice jesse Et flos de radice eius ascendet A blyssyd braunch xal sprynge of me That xal be swettere than bawmys breth

55K.S. Block, ed., Ludus Coventriae, Early English Text Society. (1922; rpt. London: Oxford University Press, 1960), pp. vii-viii. c r Block, Ludus Coventriae, pp - 57-38 132.

Out of that braunch in nazareth a floure xal blome of me jesse rote The which by grace xal dystroye deth and brynge mankende to blysse most sote.

David was next, and noted that he was from "jesse rote ... by naturall successyon" and that as God promised, fruit would come from "a clene mayde modyr" who shall be "ageyns the devellys fals illusyon/ with regall power to make man fre." After recited his piece, Solomon spoke:

I am Solomon the secunde kynge And that wurthy temple for sothe made I which that is fygure of that made zynge that xal be modyr of grett messy.58

Twenty-two more prophecies followed, and then a genealogi­ cal table was given which traced Joachim and Anna's lineage from their parents to their daughters and sons-in-law.59

The prophets also gave various roles to the Virgin

Mother in their predictions. As mentioned in the speeches of Isaiah, Jesse, David and Solomon, Mary was part of the royal and priestly line of Jesse, a virgin, and a temple prefigured by that edifice of Solomon.00 The kings and prophets that follow also assigned roles to the Virgin Mother: she was one who will "trede down foule sathanas," a counter-

57 Block, Ludus Coventriae, PP- 58-59.

°°Block, Ludus Coventriae, PP • 58-59. 59 °yBlock, Ludus Coventriae, PP- 59-62. °°Robert A. Brawer, "The Form and Function of the Prophetic Procession in the Middle English Cycle Play," Annuale Medievale, 13 (1972), pp. 88-123. 133.

part to Eve, a source of joy to mankind, a tree whose fruit

will frighten the fiends of hell, the bearer of Emmanuel, a

maid who will bear a messiah, a maid of meekness who shall

bring mercy, a maid whose progeny the wealth of these kings

shall dress, and a maiden whose child will be a prince of peace.61 Implicit in most of these characterizations was

the mediating quality of Mary. This was appropriate to the

position which The Prophets play (or procession) occupied

in the cycle. It ends the Old Testament sequence and forms

a transition to the New Testament matter. 6 2 Mary, as the

Virgin Mother, was the culmination of the prophecies which

sprang up from the past. More important, she was the temple

into which the Holy Spirit would pour His life, conceiving

her child, Christ.

This sheltering and protecting quality was also empha­

sized in the description of the castle in the Sawley Monk's

translation of Chateau d*amour by Robert Grosseteste, men­

tioned in chapter one:

For this is the ladi so gent & fre That God seide of to the Neddre of the tre, That ther scholde comen a wommon blythe That scholde at his thouste to-dryue.

63Block, Ludus Coventriae, pp. 59-62. 6 7 See Craig, English Religious Drama, pp. 239-249 for his explanation of the growth of the structure of the cycle based on the watermarks, handwriting, the proclamation at the beginning of the play, and metrical variances. The Pro- phets appears to be one of the original Corpus Christi plays, 134.

I - blessed be this Buyrde of prys, That over all thure I - blessed is, That so feir was and good so sone That of hir bodi Gode made his trone To his owne gistenynge, And nom flesch & blod of hire, to bringe His folk out of prisoun; That was vre Garysoun. 63

Similar to the Prophets play of the Ludus Coventriae, the

Sawley monk's version answered the question, "What betokenes

this castil?," with

This castil of solas & of socour ^4 Is hir blissed body that bar oure saveour.

The comparisons of Mary with the castle or the temple in the

Sawley monk's version of the Chateau d'amour and the Prophet's

indicate a similarity in emphasizing her mediating function and protective role in Christian mythology.

The plays that followed in the Ludus Coventriae note those same qualities about Mary, repeating by word and ac­ tion the words of the prophets. Beginning with the Con­ ception of Mary, the cycle shows an angel visiting Joachim, the father, promising a daughter, who as a virgin will bear

Jesus, "That xal be savyour. unto all mankende/ In token whan thou come . to Jherusalem to the gylden gate/ thou

6 3 Horstmann, Minor Poems of the Vernon MS, p. 377. 64Hupe, "Chateau d'Amour.... Ms. Egerton Collection 927," Anglia (1892), p. 436. "see Bouyer, Seat of Wisdom, pp. 158-174, and Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity^ pp. 102 and 110. 135.

xalt mete anne thi wyff . have this in the mende/ . . . "

(11. 172-174).

Then, in the play, Mary in the Temple, the angel brought a gold cup full of manna for Mary (at 1. 227). He

spelled out an anagram, MARIA, enumerating her qualities of mercy, meekness, averting of anguish, queenliness, inno­ cence, and advocacy (11. 245-249). In the Betrothal of

Mary, Mary married Joseph, whose staff or "zardys," (mean­ ing rod) bore flowers (11. 263-299), an indication of her relationship to the tree of Jesse. In the Salutation and

Conception, or Parliament of Heaven, the cry for relief and mercy from Contemplado was answered by God, after which

Justicia, Veritas, Misericordia, and Pax debated the merits of saving mankind. This is a version of the debate of the

Four Daughters of God. "Wysdam” was said to rule over them all (11. 124, 134) and was also a part of the Son of God

(11. 173-176). When the Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary, he greeted her with the "Ave Maria" and referred to her as the

Eva become Ave (1. 219). She was also called the lantern of light (1. 292), and after the Trinity had descended with three "bemys of light," one from Father to Son, the next

Son to "holy gost," and the third from "holy gost ... to our lady," Gabriel praised her as "troné of the trinyte," meekest maid, mother of Jesus, queen of heaven, lady of earth, and empress over hell (11. 333-335). In Joseph's Return,

Joseph arrived and noted her unusual brightness (11. 15-16). 136.

Joseph, hearing Mary's incredible story, doubted the exis­

tence of the angel, saying it was some boy "that clothyd

was clene and gay" (11. 76, 77). The angel Gabriel came

after a petition from Mary to dispel Joseph's doubt. The

next play, The Visit to Elizabeth, showed Elizabeth greeting

Mary with reference to the Ave Maria knowing that she was

the mother of God, saying "blyssyd be thou A-mong all women./

And blyssyd be the frute of thi wombe ..." (11. 58-59).

Elizabeth also called her, "trone and tabernakyl of the hyz

trinite" (1. 1116), and Contemplacio, noting that the "Ave

Maria" was completed at this visit, praised her with "Ave

regina celorum...." (1. 36).

The Trial of Joseph and Mary opened with a prologue of

the summoner to a court, and after the detractors, one of

whom is "bakbytere," accused Joseph and Mary of violating

her vow of virginity, the couple had to undergo a test. They

had to drink a poisonous substance and walk around the altar.

Joseph passed it and then Mary passed it, referring to her­

self as God's mother and tabernacle (11. 306-307). In the

Birth of Christ, when Mary gave birth and Joseph brought back

two midwives, a blinding light frightened the women and they did not aid her (11. 161-166). Later, after the midwives verified her virginity and the birth of Christ, Joseph praised Mary saying that this birth was a victory over her enemies (11. 319-320). In The Adoration of the Shepherds,

Christ was hailed as a flower, implying that Mary was the 137.

branch of the tree of Jesse. The Adoration of the Magi is the story of the kings who came to worship Christ, implying the resurgence of the line of kings and priests from David.

In the play, The Purification, Mary was praised equally with Christ in the greeting by Anna and (11. 122-126).

Earlier prophecies are reinforced by the repeated al­ lusions within the later plays to the Virgin Mother as throne, the tree of Jesse, to the shepherds in The Conception foretelling those actions in The Adoration, and the "Ave

Maria" in The Annunciation and The Visitation. The emphasis is on a cyclic history in which the sequence of temporal events fulfills the spiritual prophecies. Mary's stature as a Christian hero rises within such a scheme, so that she is praised for her victory in The Purification. The signifi­ cance of the doubting midwives in The Birth of Christ becomes much more important when this growth of Mary as a Christian hero is noted. It also shows that the playwright was mani­ pulating events for the very purpose of elevating the stature of the Virgin Mother.00

6 ft For commentary and speculation on the staging and dramatic value see Craig, English Religious Drama, pp. 249, 252, 269-280; Rosemary Woolf, The English Mystery Plays (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), pp. 157- 200 on Prophets to Purification; pp. 286-290 on the Assump- tion; Eleanor Prosser, Drama and Religion in the English Mystery Plays, (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1961), pp. 96-102, 43-64, 182-192, 201-205. Craig's intention is to link the Hegge plays with Lincoln using the Virgin plays as typical of that city's interest in the cele­ bration of her in art. Woolf's book is a thorough review of 138.

The last play in the Ludus Coventriae, or Hegge cycle,

or N-Town cycle, is The Assumption of the Virgin (pp. 354-

373). Although this form of the play is considered a later

one than the "heart" of the cycle, a version is believed to 67 have been staged earlier. Because the play continues and

develops the themes and roles given to the Virgin Mother in

The Prophets, the Assumption play is a suitable ending to

the St. Anne's day plays and the cycle.

This play is introduced by a doctor who explained that

Mary was now sixty years old "as scripture dothe specifye/

legenda sanctorum autorysyth this trewely" (1. 12-13). He

the plays and their sources, with evidence from iconograph- ical traditions in the visual arts. But her emphasis on sources and on poetic merit prevents her from seeing an author’s problem of choice in dramatizing a given episode. This is not so with Eleanor Prosser. Her view shows that the choice for the author was not one of which source, but what the audience could be given in the limited space and time. 6 7 Cf. Young, Drama of the Medieval Church, ii, pp. 255- 257. "In comparison with the dramatization of other events in the life of the Virgin Mary, the ceremonies of this kind provided for the feast of the assumption, on August 15th, were limited in scope, and have left only meagre records. In view of the fact that this feast and its procession were es­ tablished in Rome as early as the eighth century, and that the legends of the Assumption were widely distributed in the West throughout the Middle Ages, the relative absence of dramatic celebration is not easily explained," p. 255. It is in England, if the Reformation zeal chose to confiscate, especially from the monasteries, writings of a Papist nature. The Virgin Mother was considered by many reformers to be an example of cultism and extraneous liturgical material typical of the corruption of the Roman . Even the cir­ cumstances of Henry VIII's marital experiences would seem in conflict with the belief in the Virgin Mother, and a possible motive for discretionary censorship. See also Gardiner, Mysteries End, for absence of literature about the Virgin, pp. 54, 61, 68n., 72, 105n., and 111. 139.

noted that the twelve years after her Son's death were spent by Mary visiting the places that Christ—while alive-- had dwelled in, and praying in the temple, implying a kind of pilgrimage. After the doctor's speech, a soldier called for quiet from the audience. Then, Episcopus legls, a non-

Christian leader, plotted with three of his soldiers to burn the body of the Virgin Mother when she died. After receiving this order, the soldiers commended their leader’s "wysdom."

The next scene opens with "hie est maria in templo orans et dicens" for stage directions (p. 375, after 1. 67).

The directions indicate a new scene, but not an entrance

("hie est ..."). The play was, perhaps, performed in the cathedral nave where certain stations were given to certain characters or groups of characters.68

In this second scene, the Virgin Mother's opening speech began, "0 hye wysdam ...," picking up the word used in the previous scene and raising its level of importance, since she added that "Wysdam" was her son. Wisdom, in the name of Sapientia, was Christ who answered, "My suete moderis...." He then gave a palm from paradise to an angel to be delivered to Mary. The angel did so (hie discendet ... after 1. 90), and greeted Mary with, "Heyl excellent prynces.

Mary most pure/ Heyl radiant sterre. The sunne is not so

68See Young, Drama of the Medieval Church, pp. 256-257. 140.

bryth/ Heyl moder of mercy and mayde most pure/ ..."

(11. 91-93), alluding to the "Ave Maria" of the Annuncia­

tion and the Visitation. The angel told her she would as­

cend in three days after "expirand" (1. 103), and her "sete

ryall" was ready in heaven (1. 113). The angel then rose

and left (hic ascendit angelus) (After 1. 139).

In the next scene, Mary directed her two virgin ser­

vants to watch over her. The second promised to do so un­

til Mary "passes to that hye toure" (1. 156). As Mary pre­

pared for the "Jurne," and wished that God "my brether" were

with her, St. appears (hic subito ap-

paret ... ante portam Marie). John hailed Mary as "moder

... mayden perpetuall" (1. 170). Mary then told John of

the plot to burn her body after death and asked for his help

in guarding her. At this point, the apostles appeared,

"congregentur ante portum mirâtes" (after 1. 205). They,

too, have come "subito." We know they were to be here be­ cause Mary asked for them when the angel delivered the palm leaf. But their sudden appearance would probably not be startling to the medieval audience of the time, because it was probably accomplished in the same manner as the appear­ ance of the Old Testament prophets in the royal entry for

6 9 Henry VII, or as in the Jeu d'Adam. Peter and Paul "heyl"

60See Meagher, "The First Progress of Henry VII," Renaissance Drama, N.S.I., p. 26 f., "The appearance was probably by ... the movement of a curtain," and the earlier part of this chapter. 141.

Mary (11. 248, 250), and after they learn of Mary's im­

pending death and resurrection, she lay down on her bed.

Peter then orders all to keep vigil with candles. The di­

rection and scene suggest the "agony in the garden" before

Christ's trial and death, because the gathering of the

apostles, the vigil through the night, the threat from

Episcopus legis and his soldiers, and the later assumption

of Mary recall Christ's vigil the night before his death,

the lapse of the apostles in their vigil, the threat of ar­

rest and the later ascension of Christ.

The Lord appeared (hie dissendet dominus cum omni celes-

ti curia et dicet) (after 1. 283). The stage direction, hie

cantabunt organa, which occurred after Christ spoke has been

interpreted as implying a church nave production because an

organ is playing. No doubt, the interpretation of organa

depended on emendations, but cantabunt is plural and might

as easily have meant many musicians were performing. Christ

(Dominus) then said, "Veni tu electa mea et ponam in te thronum meum/ quia concupiuit rex speciem tuam." Further on, after Mary replied and the Apostles responded, Dominus urged, "Venie de libano spousa mea veni Coronaberis" (1. 298).

Following the end of Dominus' speech are the stage directions

"hie exiet anima marie de corpore in sinu dei" (after 1. 301).

Christ's exhortations seem to go beyond the narration of the last stage direction. The medieval artist would either use a symbolic representation, or be realistically obvious. As 142.

seen in the civic pageantry, wafers or coins were used. So

were birds. In this case, it would not be inappropriate if

a real or counterfeit dove were used to signify the soul of

Mary.

When Dominus then ascended, the chorus martyrum (the

apostles) asked,

Que est ista que assendit de deserto deliciis ^g affluens innixa super dilectum suum (11. 315-316).

The Ordo angelorum replies:

Ista est speciosa inter filias Jerusalem sicut vidistis earn/ plenam caritate et dilectione sic que in celum gaudeus suscipitur/ et a dextris filii in trono glorie collocatur (11. 317-319)./! '

The existence of both chorus martyrum and Ordo

angelorum gives an idea of the size and manner of the pro­ duction. The names imply a nave location, but the possibility of an external street or square setting, such as those in civic pageantry, is not eliminated.

After the virgins washed the body of Mary with a sym­ bolic kiss, the Apostles took it up, and as they carried it,

Peter recited, "Exiit israel de egipto. domus jacob de populo barbaro. Alleluia" (1. 341). The Apostles' response was "Ffacta est iudea sanctificacio eius israel potestas eius. Alleluia" (1. 342). The angels "in celo" took this dialogue up and sang. This is another indication of a church

7 0 .Block, Ludus Coventriae, p. 336.

71 Block, Ludus Coventriae, p. 366. 143.

nave ceremony rather than an outdoor setting found in civic pageantry but the possibility of the street setting is not negated by the necessity for a choir's location in an up­ per level of the church ("in celo"), nor by the reverence of ceremony implied in the dramatic context.

The dramatic idealism of song met temporal realism when

Episcopus legis, the military leader, hearing the procession of apostles and virgins singing, ordered his trembling aides to confiscate Mary's body and burn it. They boastfully promised to do so, and "hie discendunt princepes cum suis ministris ut feroci percucientes petras cum eorum capitibus"

(after 1. 381). Two of the soldiers were frightened, but the Primus princeps, undaunted, met his own persecution: hie saltat insanus ad sic feretrum Mariae et pendet per manus. This was the same soldier that helped Peter out when he was accused by the servant girl. Now, in the throes of madness, he asked for help from Peter, who told him to be­ lieve in Christ, honor the Virgin, take the heavenly palm branch which Peter had been carrying and urge the Jews to believe in God. Meanwhile, the funeral train continued to­ ward the sepulchre. Primus princeps, with a touch of the palm branch drove out his own madness and that of the secundus princeps, after he promised to believe in Christ.

But tercius princeps remained loyal to his episcopus and thought his comrades-in-arms in their newly expressed faith were possessed by a devil. He then called the devils up 144.

and they took the soldier-converts off to be burnt. The

logic of the scene, apparently, is that men will suffer

damnation, except for, and until, the intervention of God

and His mother. Their suffering was by fire, which was al­

so the means planned for the destruction of the body of

Mary. However, if her body were saved by her son, God,

then it would be certain that others could be saved by God, with the aid of the Virgin Mother. This is implied by the action which followed, and there appears to be no other reso­ lution of the fate of the credentes, one of whom had compas­ sion for Peter when the saint was accused. There seems to be no other way to explain why the devils come "to fettyn oure servauntis," those "harlotis," and "Drag we these harlotis in hye/ In to the pet of helle for to lye" (11. 449-461) at 72 the request of the unconverted tercius princeps.

As the devils chased their victims off, Dominus—Christ— spoke from his celestial location, in fitting dramatic con­ trast to the devils' actions in the street: "in to herthe now discendith wyth me/ to reyse the body of my moder ter- estyall" (11. 453-464). Accompanied by the "court celestyall,"

Dominus descended, while "al hefne makyth melode" (after 1.

467).

Dominus was greeted by Peter, John, and the ,

7 2 See Bouyer, in his chapter on the Assumption, where he says, "her Assumption is the pledge of the glory Christ will give to his Spouse (the members of the Church] as he has al­ ready given it to his Mother, " in The Seat of Wisdom, p. 202. 145.

Michael, who urged God to "reyse thou this body" (1. 475).

Dominus then returned the soul to Mary's body, saying,

arys now my dowe, my nehebour and my swete frende/ tabernacle of Joye, vessel of lyf, hevnely temple to reyn/ (11. 482-483).73

Dominus added that, since Mary was clean on earth, "of

alle synnes greyn" (1. 485), she would reign in heaven clean­

est in mind. After Dominus directed her to "assende," he

said there was joy in heaven and on earth, "ffor god throw mary is mad mannys frend" (1. 493); Et.hie assendent in celum cantatibus organis. She was then crowned, "qen of hefne and moder of mercy" (1. 498) by Dominus, as the Archangel noted that "alle hefne makyth melody" (1. 500).

The Assumption play is a climax to the St. Anne's day plays and the Ludus Coventriae. The reverence for the figure of the Virgin Mother expressed in the repeated thematic references to her various roles first announced in the Pro­ phets play strengthened her dramatic presence in the medieval mind. The qualities of protection, mediation, wisdom, ad­ versity against the devil, victory over detractors, source of

7 3 Block, Ludus Coventriae, p. 372. See Craig, Engli■ sh Religious Drama, p. 275; Prosser, Drama and Religion in the English Mystery Plays, pp. 43-64. Young, in Drama of the Medieval Church, after quoting a ceremony, says that "... observance ... consists of an elaborate procession about the church, at the conclusion of which an effigy of the Virgin Mary, resting upon a platform (Madonna in Majesty?) in front of the choir is drawn up through an opening in the roof, to accompaniment of festal music," pp. 256-257. There is another possibility, and that can be inferred from Richard Il's royal entries in 1377 and 1392. In both cases, an angel by mechani­ cal means descends and ascends. This device seems probable when we are shown the assumption scene later in this play. 146.

light are effectively rendered in the metaphor of architec­ ture, which was already expressed in Grosseteste's Chateau d'amour and its English translations, and Mark Eccles has suggested that there are metric and dialectal similarities between the N-Town cycle and Perseverance. 74

David Bevington has emphasized the fact that, the locale of the East Midlands, in general, seems to be where most of the earliest extant drama originated, including The Pride of Life, Perseverance, the N-Town cycle, the Digby Mary

Magdalen and Conversion of St. Paul plays. However, the most important evidence for connecting the N-Town cycle with

Perseverance, lies in recent investigations into the struc­ ture and staging of the two. The general structural simi­ larities of both the N-Town cycle and Perseverance have been stated by Bevington:

The cosmic and panoramic structure of the earliest fully extant morality, Perseverance, resembles that of the mystery cycles and saints plays, and may well have owed its origin to similar conditions of per­ formance. ... The Digby Mary Magdalen, using a structure that may well have been common for ver­ nacular saints' plays surrounds Mary with a world of cosmic dimensions including the Seven Deadly Sins, the Bad Angel, the Good Angel ... and ... fabulous journeys ... This all-inclusive scope follows a structural progression, similar to that of the mystery cycles, from disobedience and fall to salvation. ... Perseverance illustrates a com­ parable structure in the early morality play ... analogous in scope to the entire divine history of the world. ... Characterization in the early morality is accordingly not so very different from 7

74See Eccles, The Macro Plays, introduction. Bevington, The Macro Plays, introduction. 147.

that of the cycle or saints' play. The protagonist Mankind in Perseverance is both an individual per­ son and the collective race of man. Like Adam or Mary Magdalen, he is a typical sinner restored by God's grace.75

These similarities in pattern we have also noted in relation

to earlier plays, but Bevington goes on to note the simi­

larity between the N-Town cycle and The Castle of Persever­ ance :

In staging we see perhaps the most graphic demonstration of the interpénétration of dramatic genres in the East Midlands. Perseverance is well known for its staging diagram of performance in the round, with the castle itself in the very center, with the five scaffolds on the perimeter of a large outer circle.... The Passion sequence of the N-Town cycle calls for a similar stage. Passion Play I requires a Jewish Council House or "oratory" in the midst of the platea, equipped with curtains whereby the Jewish elders can be suddenly revealed or concealed from view. Other stations are probably on the perimeter: heaven, hell, the house of Simon the Leper used for the Last Supper, scaffolds for the chief priests Caiaphas and Annas...... in Passion Play II, Christ is dragged from scaffold to scaffold... and is scourged and crucified in the midst of the spectators. Mary Magdalen too calls for an arena stage.7^ ’

Stanley Kahrl and Kenneth Cameron have also described the place-and-scaffold method of staging in the N-Town cycle and 77 its similarity to that of Perseverance. Reviewing the

75BDevington, p. ix.

76„Bevington, p. ix. 77"Staging the N-Town Cycle," Theatre Notebook 21 (1967), pp. 122-138; 152-165. 148.

staging of these N-Town plays, called the Mother of Mercy plays, we see that the Barrenness of Anna requires a descend­

ing angel, the Golden Gate of Jerusalem; that the Presenta­

tion of Mary in the Temple requires a platform at least like that which we noted earlier for Mezieres' play, or some dwelling resembling a temple which would also be used in the

Marriage of Mary and Joseph; a scaffold or platform raised above the ground to symbolize heaven where and when the

Parliament of Heaven was staged, and from which the angel

Gabriel descends for the Annunciation; a structure resembling a house for the play of Joseph's Trouble with Mary; a house for the visit to Elizabeth called the Salutation by Con­ templado.

When we compare the plays noted above with the civic pageantry described earlier in chapter three, we find similar if not the same actions in both. As early as 1377, and re­ peated in 1392 in Richard Il's pageant, an angel descended from a castle which contained four virgins. In the N-Town cycle, The Barrenness of Anna and the Annunciation call for a descending angel, and the Parliament of Heaven necessitated a place like heaven which had to be higher than ground level to allow an angel to descend after the heavenly debate. The

Assumption of Mary has indicated the presence of the descend­ ing angel. The houses that were set up for the Joseph's

Trouble about Mary, and the Salutation or Visitation could easily have been the "tabernacula" described in the civic 149.

pageants of 1415 greeting Henry V. It is clear that the

staging in the Hegge or N-Town cycle or any other cycle had

a secular counterpart in the staging of the civic pageantry.

What is of greater importance is that the staging in the

civic pageantry that used the castle had a connection con­

sistently with the Virgin Mother, either in the use of

common staging technique and machinery, or in the common

reference to biblical sources. For example, to refer again

to the 1377 pageant honoring Richard II, four virgins cast manna from their places in a castle to the king and queen below. The play of Mary in the Temple also called for manna for Mary, described as "food from heaven." The Digby Mary

Magdalen play explicitly described the same action 140 years later. As a counterpart to almost every action noted in the civic pageantry from 1377 to 1484 connected with an architectural form, particularly the castle, temple or tower, a similar action can be found in those religious and.cycle plays, consciously related in staging or concept to the

Virgin Mother.

Another example that appears to be more secular external­ ly is the pageantry written by John Lydgate for Henry VI.

The first presentation referring to architecture in this pageant was described as a tower containing Nature, Fortune, and Grace with seven virgins situated below on each side. In the Mezieres Presentation play, the author describes how the action shall proceed after Mary has been presented: 150.

Then Gabriel and Raphael will lead Mary between them [two lines of angels] to the platform built between the altar and the choir.... And the two virgins will also climb on to the platform with Mary, on which little platform no one will remain except Mary with the two virgins.... 78

In the play, Mary in the Temple, the N-Town version of the

Presentation, the same action occurs with the addition of an

angel who descends with a cup full of manna for Mary. In

that pageant of 1432 the same staging procedure, using a

tower, was employed in the next presentation: Dame Sapience

stood in a tower or "consistorie," with the seven "liberal

sciences" apparently standing in front of this tower-like

structure. 7 9 We have noted the customary link of Wisdom or

Sapience with Mary in medieval religious belief, but Lydgate himself expressed it zealously in his Life of Our Lady:

For alle the tresour of his sapience And alle the wisdome of hevene and erthe ther to And all the richnesse of spiritual science In her were shutte and closid eke also For she is the toure, withoute wordys mo and hous of ivor inwiche Salomon gg Shutte alle his tresour in his possession

These words are used by the poet after describing the Annunci­ ation in the poem.

70Haller, p. 27.

7 9 See Walter Schirmer's description on p. 142 in his book John Lydgate: A Study in the Culture of the XVth Century, trans. Ann E. Keep (Berkeley: University of California, 1961). q A Schirmer, n. 6 from Life of Oure Lady, chap. 19, st. 205. 151.

The last presentation that we noted in the civic pageant­

ry honoring Henry VI was a green jasper castle, with trees on

each side. One tree was the tree of Jesse, which as we ex­

plained, was the genealogical symbol of Christ's heritage

and often used as a symbol associated with Mary's giving

birth to Christ. But this castle takes on an added signifi­

cance from its material, green jasper; valuable as the "funde-

ment" or foundation of the city of Jerusalem described in

St. John's Revelation, 21:9-21 (See chapter three). There­

fore, the symbolic value of green jasper as the construction

material gives an added meaning to this castle in Lydgate's

pageant. The castle is not only symbolic of Henry's genea­

logy, but also is a place in which the future of England's

political and religious life rests. As a symbol of Jerusa­

lem in the context of 15th century civic pageantry, the

castle was also a metaphor of the state and the church, the

collective soul of the church, the mother of all members of

the nation and the church. Thus, the implied allusion to

Jerusalem by means of a reference to green jasper enhanced

the contemporary meaning of the castle with the Jesse tree.

Referring to the same theme in Lydgate's Life of Our Lady, we see another comparison of the castle with the Virgin

Mother:

She was the castelle eke of the cristalle walle That never man mygt yit unclose In wiche the kyng that made and causeth alle His dwellyng chefe by grace gan dispose And liche as dewe dissendity on the roose 152.

With silver droppis, and of the leves faire The fresshe beaute ne may nogt appeire.^l

This reference to the castle as a metaphor of the Virgin

Mother in Lydgate's writings emphasizes his concept that the castle and the Virgin were part of an integral symbolic cluster. By showing Lydgate's use of the castle metaphor in poetry and pageantry we can see that the public, expressed meaning was always related to the Virgin Mother. The pageantry has not referred to the Virgin Mother explicitly, but implied references in the staging and the biblical sources reveal the intention to make her presence known.

Lydgate's references to architecture and to the Jesse tree, however, also suggest more about the staging in civic pageantry, religious drama, and The Castle of Perseverance.

In this same civic pageant (1432) was a representation of

"an earthly paradise. Trees offer all manner of English and foreign fruit, and the conduit provides a choice of various kinds of wine, which are handed to the king by the virgins

Mercy, Virtue, and Compassion." This presentation was not described or referred to in chapter three, because it has no reference to architecture as a symbolic or meaningful part.

But it does refer to architecture in its staging and suggests a relationship with religious drama. This pageant was

O T Schirmer, p. 153, n. 6 and Life of Oure Lady.

8 2 Schirmer, p. 142. 153.

apparently constructed on a conduit or an aqueduct that ordinarily carried water. It was decorated with trees and fruit to look like a pastoral scene, recalling the setting in Jeu d1 Adam or that in the Creation and Fall of Man, the story of Adam and Eve. This staging is not to be confused with the one for heaven represented by the church building.

If we recall the explicit directions in the Jeu d’Adam, we cannot go far astray in imagining what this "civic" para­ dise, or that in the N-Town cycle were like. The descrip­ tion by Stanley Kahrl and Kenneth Cameron of the N-Town

Creation play best suggests the similarity among the three.

A Paradise. It is separated from Heaven ("Now come Fforth Adam to paradys/ther xalt thou have all maner thynge," fo. 12R). This Paradise location is elevated above the ground for "Diabolus" makes an important point in falling from it ("at thi byddyng ffowle I falle...I falle down here a ffowle freke." fo. 16R) . Adam and Eve are driven from it to an unlocalized "londe" ("But lete us walke forth in to the londe/ with ryth gret labour oure fode to fynde." fo. 17R). No new pageant is required for this, however, since this exit speech would effectively havegg carried Adam and Eve out of the playing area. The "earthly paradise" described above would suffice for the one in the pageantry in honor of Henry VI. But missing from the N-Town Creation and the Lydgate pageant is a suggestion of the way paradise was made to look like a pastoral heaven.

Such a paradise and its structure appear in greater

83Kahrl and Cameron, "Staging the N-Town Cycle," Theatre Notebook, 21 (1967), p. 153. 154.

detail in the Jeu d'Adam and the Presentation by Mezieres,

suggesting a similar structure for Perseverance. Both use

scaffolds, at least six feet high, covered with tapestry, in

a setting with more than one localized place. These are the

characteristics of The Castle of Perseverance staging. But

the three plays share more specific qualities. First, in

each play the location of the paradise or place of honor was,

if not central, then prominent. Jeu d*Adam's paradise was

on the front steps of the church, the symbol of heaven. The

higher platform (8 ft. high, 6 ft. wide) in the Presentation

of Mezieres was situated near the altar in the sanctuary of

the church. This was the platform that Mary ascended accom­

panied by two virgins. But, according to specific and de­

tailed directions by the author, the other platform placed

in the middle of the church in the midst of the lay audience was,

...a wooden edifice or platform about six feet high, in the form of a balcony, which platform will extend across the width of the church, that is going north and south, about ten feet, and east and west about eight feet in width; and opposite the middle of the platform toward the west doors there will be stairs from the pavement of the church to the platform, and similar stairs opposite the entrance to the choir, for descending from the platform in such a way that each stair will be about three feet long so as not to extend the platform very far; and these stairs, on either side, will be enclosed by boards or a wood railing so that no one will be able to climb them except in the order at the performance.

84 Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, p. 11. 155.

The upper level of this platform was surrounded with boards

two feet high in the "manner of a podium," and the "plat­ form, bench and seats should be covered with tapestry. "05

This platform, rather than the one in the "prominent place," was large enough to house eleven people at one time in the play. This size would certainly accommodate Mankind and the virtues in The Castle of Perseverance, and it generally fits' the dimensions called for by Southern in his reconstruction.

But on this platform there were no flowers or trees. The

Castle of Perseverance specifically requires flowers—roses— and they must not hinder the actors in their entrance or movement. If the roses were arranged in The Castle of Per­ severance as the flowers were on the platform in the Jeu d1Adam, then the roses would be present without any incon­ venience. In addition, if such a decorated platform were centrally located in Perseverance, its upper level enclosed by boards, its lower part covered by tapestry as the central platform in the Presentation, then such a structure would be a fitting symbol of the church or temple associated with the

. 86 Virgin.

8 5 Mezieres, Presentation, trans. Haller, p. 12. 8 6 See D.W. Robertson, Jr., A Preface to Chaucer (Prince­ ton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1962), for uses of architecture and draperies in paintings p. 216, the sym­ bolic use of decorations pp. 216, 217, the meaning of flowers pp. 96, 225, 226, the arrangement and "staging" in a painting of the Virgin, pp. 224-227, the influence of French art, p- 227, and the commonplace expression of the Virgin's mercy, p. 228. 156.

THE MEANING OF THE CENTRAL STRUCTURE OR CASTLE IN THE CASTLE OF PERSEVERANCE

This chapter describes the central architectural

structure, the castle, in The Castle of Perseverance by

applying the information of the previous four chapters and

analyzing the references in the play to architecture and the

Virgin Mother. The chapter shows that the play resembles miracle and cycle plays in its pattern, theme, and staging

technique, and that it resembles medieval painting in its

expression of both religious and secular versions through

architectural devices and a use of the Virgin Mary, All of

these similarities lead to the conclusion that the central

structure was intended to have a symbolic meaning which varied with the changing pattern of the play, but symbolized the temple and the church, especially as they were associated with Eve and the Virgin Mother.

Before interpretation can begin, it is necessary to have the basic staging arrangement of The Castle of Persever­ ance in mind. In his book, Medieval Theatre in the Round,

Richard Southern provides a diagram of the probable arrange­ ment of the staging showing that the entrance path crosses the bridge from the southwest, over the moat, and breaks through the circular mound inside the boundary of the moat.1

1Richard Southern, Medieval Theatre in the Round, p. 126. See also David Bevington, in The Macro Plays, on p. x, where he describes the staging as part of a tradi­ tion: "Perseverance, then, uses a panoramic stage common to 157.

Inside the mound, to the left of the entrance, is the World's

scaffold, a booth-like arrangement placed on the topmost

edge of the circumscribing mound. The booth is probably a

scaffold covered on the sides and back with cloth, and in

the front with a curtain that could be drawn open. The

size of the scaffolds may have varied, ranging from six to

ten or twelve feet wide and deep. The size was important,

because a scaffold might have to support in certain parts

of the play five to eight actors; therefore, it had to be

sturdy and large. The World's scaffold was placed at the

western point on the encompassing mound, and a path that

sloped with the grade of the mound led into a central cir­

cular playing area which was kept clear of spectators. This

area was known as the "place" or platea. In the middle of

the "place," on four legs stood the facsimile of a castle

tower. The drawing in the Macro manuscript shows it is

crenellated. The exact dimensions are not available from

the play. Beneath the castle's upper part lay a chest and

some cycles and saints' plays, which was derived from the multiple and processional staging of earlier liturgical drama as well as from chivalric tournaments, civic street oageants, royal entries, and courtly mummings or disguisings. ¿Referring to "castles" which were for spectators in the town of Beverley, Alan Nelson says that they were 'cov­ ered with colorful fabrics: in the 1441 ordinances of the Bowyers and Fletchers each guildman is ordered to appear ’with a fit bedcovering (cum cooperatura leci habili)' for the castle," in The Medieval English Stage, Corpus Christi Pageants and Plays (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1974), p. 89. 158.

a bed. The arrangement of these two items seemed to place the "copbord" or chest at the foot of the bed.3

To the right of the theatre's entrance, placed on the

circular mound as was World's scaffold, was the scaffold of

Flesh at the south. Looking to the left, the actors on

Flesh's scaffold could see first the entrance, then beyond

that, further to the left on the encircling mound, World's

scaffold. On the other side, to the right of Flesh's scaf­

fold at the eastern point on the compass of the circle, was

God's scaffold. Beyond God's platform was the scaffold of

Covetyse, placed at the northeastern point. Past Covetyse

was the Devil's scaffold, which was placed at the north point on the compass. The castle was in the middle, between

the opposites of the north (Devil) and the south (Flesh),

the east (God) and the west (World). Covetyse (northeast) was placed opposite the entrance (southwest).

The spectators sat in triangular shaped sections be­ tween each of the scaffolds and the paths leading from them to the central "place." There were "stytelers," who, as the play proceeded, would move the crowds, clearing paths and areas of playing. Such is the setting of the play ac­ cording to Richard Southern. His bases for such a theory is the diagram that accompanies the manuscript of the play,

3 See Alan Nelson, The Medieval English Stage, and later discussion for use of tapestry or curtains on the lower part of the tower-castle structure. 159.

the presence in Cornwall today of "rounds" in which reli­

gious drama was probably played, the implied and explicit

movement expressed in the stage directions, and the lines

of the play itself. Southern uses external evidence also,

particularly the Fouquet miniatures which described the play 4 of St. Apollonia.

The play itself opens with boasts from the World, the

Flesh and the Devil of their dominance over the affairs of men, and their intent "to distroy Mankende/ If that we may" 5 (11. 269, 70). Mankind then timidly appears from the base of the tower in the middle of the place on "This nyth... g of my modyr born" (1. 276). He walks feebly around, is accosted by the Good and Bad Angels, and then follows the

4 For the most thorough criticism of Southern's recon­ struction, see Natalie Crohn Schmitt, "Was There a Medieval Theatre in the Round? A Re-examination of the Evidence." (2 parts) Theatre Notebook, 23 (1969), 130-42; 24 (1970), 18-25. For a reply to Schmitt, see Richard Hosley, "Three Kinds of Outdoor Theatre Before Shakespeare." Theatre Sur­ vey, 11 (1971), 1-33. As with many other civic and religious celebrations, such as Mezieres' Presentation, children were used in order to indoctrinate them, among other didactic purposes of a dramatic presentation. See also David Bevington, From Mankind to Marlowe (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1968), pp. 101, 102; for performance at special time. 5j,W. Robinson, "Three Notes on the Medieval Theatre," Theatre Notebook, 16 (1962), 601-61; for a suggested entrance. °Mark Eccles, ed. The Macro Plays, Early English Text Society (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 11. All references are to this edition, unless noted otherwise. 160.

latter to the scaffold of World.

There he is clothed and invested with riches, sent to

Covetousness' scaffold to be surrounded by the other six deadly sins, who place Mankind on a mock throne in a.mock court and "... makyth Mankynde to ben a foole" (1. 1033).

His Good Angel calls for help, and Shrift and Penance enter the place, and walk toward Mankind on Covetousness* scaf­ fold in the northeast.

"Wyth poynt of penaunce" (1. 1377) , Penance pricks

Mankind, who swoons in a "...sete of sorwe..." (1. 1403).

Shrift then administers the sacrament of Penance ("I thee asoyle...") and sends Man "Into the Castel of Perseverance/

...That castel is a precyous place,/Ful of vertu and of grace" (11. 1549, 1555, 1556). There, according to Southern, man is ushered in and guarded by the six virtues of Charity,

Abstinence, Chastity ("Castitas"), Industry ("Solicitudo"),

Generosity ("Largitas"), and Meekness ("Humilitas").

The vices attack, but are all repelled by the roses of the virtues, except for Covetousness, who speaks directly to Mankind in friendly words, "We to schul togedyr pley"

(1. 2438) .

Mankind, now old and hoary, listens and follows the advice of Covetousness not to "...be pore and nedy in elde..." (1. 2529). The virtues unlike the Good Angel, see

Mankind as making a free, though mistaken choice, and not, therefore, a person to be mourned. 161.

Death enters, as Mankind, once again enfeoffed by

Covetousness, asks for "...castel wallys,/Stronge stedys

and styf in stallys./ Wyth hey holtys and hey hallys,/

Covetyse, thou muste me sese" (11^ 2748-2751). At this

point, according to Southern, Mankind is near the path

leading to World's scaffold, when Death overtakes him and

renders "... a rappe/ To thyne herte rote" (11. 2841, 2842).

Mankind manages to find his way back to the castle where he

is rebuked by World and robbed by Garcio, a henchman of

World, who ironically, as Mankind's "heir," calls himself

"I Wot Nevere Whoo." Mankind utters the words, "I putte

me in Goddys mercy" (11. 3007), and dies.

The soul of Mankind, Anima, immediately appears from

beneath the bed in the castle and engages in a one-sided

debate with Mankind's body: "Body, thou dedyst brew a byt-

tyr bale" (1. 3012). Anima prays for Mercy, "In helle on

hokys I schal honge,/ But mercy fro a welle sprynge"

(1. 3066, 3067). The Bad Angel then takes Anima to "my dongion" and "my neste" (11. 3100, 3103), "to deuelys delle/

I schal thee bere to helle" (11. 3125, 3126). Mercy begins the sequence of the play known as the de­ bate of the Four Daughters of God: Mercy, Justice, Truth and Peace. Mercy and Peace prevail, and God the Father or­ ders Mankind to be delivered and "Cum syt at my ryth honde"

(1. 2599). God ends the play with a sermon to the audience, and then says, 162.

Thus endyth oure gamys. To save you fro synnynge Evyr at the begynnynge Thynke on youre laste endynge! (11. 2645-2648)

These lines, imply that a journey or a pilgrimage takes place between the beginning and the end of man's life. The pil­ grimage is a central structural element of the play. ! The pilgrimage was important in much of the art and literature of the medieval and early renaissance periods:

The action of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales unfolds upon a local English pilgrimage route, one minor link in a chain of routes that carried the Wife of Bath three times to Jerusalem and the Knight once to St. James shrine in Spain. And Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene writes of a Red Cross Knight and a Palmer who wend their way through allegorical fairyland backgrounds that on occasion reflect Holy Land sites ? also depicted in Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered.

Pilgrimages through the Holy Land, and in or around Rome g were called journeys in a "Great" or "Holy Circle." These pilgrimages were often drawn and mapped by sketching the earth in a large circle. Dividing the circle on the map into quarters was a cross which symbolized Mare Internum— the Mediterranean Sea. Jerusalem was placed at the center g as a circular city. This circular representation of the world resembles the staging of Perseverance and the central

7 John G.;Demaray, The Invention of Dante's Commedia (New Haven: Y^le University Press, 1974), pp. 6, 7. 8 Demaray, pp. 11, 17. 9 ’ Demaray,,pp. 21, 22. 163.

location of Jerusalem resembles the central scaffold in the

play. Such maps were readily available to medieval authors

and pilgrims, illustrating the popular interest in the

pilgrimage.

A good example of this interest in the pilgrimage in

the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is the Pelerinage

de la vie humaine by DeGuileville which resembles the jour­

ney of Mankind in The Castle of Perseverance. Lydgate trans­

lated this long work in the fifteenth century and the number of manuscripts indicates a large audience.1° Indeed, Edgar

Schell argues convincingly that the pilgrimage motif is a

major, if not the primary, motif in Perseverance. In his

article, "On the Imitation of Life's Pilgrimage in The

Castle of Perseverance," Schell states that the play "does

not differ from DeGuileville's Pelerinage in the action which

it imitates, but only in the means through which it imitates that action.H Schell refers to Aristotle's description of plot to explain the many ways to connect events in a series

in works of literature:

Clearly, however, events appear necessary or probable only in a defining context; and in fortunate times events may cohere in necessary or probable patterns which are not determined

°See Derek Pearsall, John Lydgate (Charlottesville, Va.: The University Press of Virginia, 1970), p. 172, and Walter Schirmer, John Lydgate: A Study in the Culture of the XVth Century, trans. Ann E. Keep (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), pp. 120-26. 1;LJEGP, 67 (1968), p. 237. 164.

solely by reason or literal experience, but rather by a cultural unity manifested in myth or ritual. Such a defining mythic pattern was developed in the literature of life's pilgrimage, where events were so organized as to reveal the archetypal shape of Mankind's developing moral life in conformity with Christian doctrine.12

The pattern of life which Schell sees in the Pelerinage, and which takes its model from Christian sources and commentary such as those of , is manifested in three journeys: a temporal one from birth to death, a spiritual one from innocence to salvation, and a physical one through a symbolic landscape, giving form to the first 13 two. Through these journeys, the plot appears: During the first journey, the state of flawed Innocence, the pilgrim is, like Filius Regis, [a figure similar to the biblical Prodigal son from St. Bernard's Parables] "egens et insipiens." He wants to travel to the New Jerusalem but he casts off the armour with which Grace Dieu has clothed him because he believes that he can protect himself from life's dangers. At the crossroads of Idleness and Industry his essential weakness is revealed and he enters the second stage of his journey, his Fall from Innocence. Under the guidance of his Youth he passes beyond the hedge of penance and into a nightmarish land of sin, where he remains for some time living his Life in Sin. The monastic De Guileville conceives this third stage of man's spiritual journey as a series of assaults on the pilgrim. Venus and Gluttony tie him to the tail of a swine; Sloth binds him with her cords; he is harried by the hounds of Conspiracyon and beaten by Worldly Gladness. Finally, after a series of grotesque adventures, the pilgrim is driven to take refuge on a rock in the Sea of the

12Schell, p. 237.

13Schell, p. 239. 165.

World. And there, lost and frightened as Filius Regis is "trepides et pussilanimus in adversis," he prays to God to "brynge me through thy grete myghte,/Into the wey I may go ryghte." Immediately upon this evidence of his repentance Grace Dieu appears in the Ship of the Church to carry him off to the "Castle" of the , the monastic order to which DeGuileville himself belonged. Inside the Castle he is set to penitential disciplines, bound in the cords of Obedience, introduced to Charity and instructed by Lady Lesson. Like Filius Regis in the Castle of Sapience, he is .. there prepared to enter into the New Jerusalem.

The pattern of Innocence to Fall to Repentance to Salvation

encased in the form of a pilgrimage, Schell sees in other

literature, such as Reason and Sensuality, The Faerie

Queene, and King Hart. This same pattern and pilgrimage,

Schell concludes, is the model for the pattern and pilgrim­

age in The Castle of Perseverance, and like other medieval

and early renaissance literature, the pilgrimage travels 15 through a setting constructed as a moral landscape. In

this poem, also, Grace Dieu and Lady Lesson function like

the Virgin Mother in the castle, a spiritual location for

Sapience or Wisdom. Thus, the salvation of the pilgrim

in the pattern of innocence, sin, repentance and salvation

\ ______\ 14Schell, pp. 239-240. \ 15Schell, pp. 240-247.

16 Lydgate's translation of the Pelerinage is believed to have been made around 1410. The use of references re­ lated to The Castle of Perseverance can be found in his other'works. See Pearsall, John Lydgate, p. 172, and Schiriftr, John Lydgate: A Study in the Culture of the XVth Century, p. 150.

I 166.

occurs in a castle after the intercession of a female figure like Mary.

The pattern of innocence, temptation, repentance and

salvation is also followed in the banns, except for the

opening "declaration of war" against man and the debate of 17 the Four Daughters of God. In place of that ending in the

play, the banns suggest a rescue of Mankind by the Blessed

Virgin:

Whanne Manys spyryt is past, the Badde Aungyl fulfell Clemyth that for covetyse Mans sowle schuld ben hys, And for to bere it ful boystowsly wyth hym into hell. The Good Aungyl seyth nay, the spyryt schal to blys For at hys laste ende of mercy he gan spell, And therfore of mercy schal he nowth mysse And oure lofly Ladi if sche wyl for hym mell Be mercy and be menys in purgatory he it is, In ful byttyr place. The mowthys confession And hys hertys contricion Schal1 save Man fro dampnacion Be Goddys mercy and grace. (11. 118-130).

Though the statement is conditional in using "if" and "wyl,"

which was, perhaps, a discreet attempt to preserve dramatic

suspense until the play itself resolved the question of Man­

kind's fate, there is a clear reference to the intercession \ i p \ by the Virgin Mother.

\ Allusions to Mary occur more than once in the banns. V In the first stanza, God is said to be lord of "...mankynde

\\ 17 Eccles, Macro Plays, pp. xxv, and 3-7. \ 18 \ Eccles, Macro Plays, introduction and notes which refer to a version of the Virgin and the Four Daughters of God together written by St. .

1 167.

in mydylerd.../ And our lofly Lady, that lantern is of

lyth.,," (11. 4, 5), and in the last stanza, the speaker ' I says/ :>

Ze manly men of [Name of town] ther Crist save you all! He maynten zoure myrthys and hepe zou fro greve That born was of Mary myld in an ox stall (11. 146-148).

Such allusions suggest an important position for the Virgin

Mother, but do not specify what that was in the play. No

doubt> the vexillators were not going to give all away, but j they did owe an obligation to tell what the play was about generally or they might have suffered some kind of censure

from the local religious authorities. The suggestions in .

the banns are that the Virgin Mother was present in the play,

realistically or symbolically. It is important here to re­

member that the preceding chapters have described and ex-

plained several examples of the use of the Mother of Christ

in drama or dramatic presentations at the same approximate

time as The Castle of Perseverance. Those chapters have

noted the dramatic role of the Virgin as well as the use of

architectural metaphor and setting in plays, pageants, paint-

\ ing, sculpture, and literature symbolic of the Virgin in one X. capacity or another, or symbolic of a maternal being or

\ function. The same pattern and circumstances in those works

a\ ppear to exist in The Castl» e ...of P. ers' e!' ve1 r1 "ance. . In The Castle of Perseverance the overall pattern of

innocence, sin, repentance and salvation is enhanced by

another pattern: the part played by the virtues and vices, 168.

their fight for Mankind, and the relation of the vices and

virtues to the Virgin. The motif of the vices and virtues

begins at the height of Mankind's life in sin and ends

when Mankind returns to sin with Covetousness and then

dies. What happens in between is that Mankind is newly

invested with spiritual protection from the virtues within

the castle. Then he is attacked by six vices. After the

assault is rebuffed by the roses of the virtues, Covetous­

ness succeeds in luring Mankind away from the castle. The

virtues believe that Mankind's choice was freely made to

leave the castle and them, and have no pity for him when he

dies shortly after.

The sources of the vices and virtues in medieval art

and literature have been studied by Morton Bloomfield in

his book, The Seven Deadly Sins. He concludes that "the

seven cardinal sins did not occupy an important place in

medieval art. But a medieval list of sins is not necessarily

one of the seven deadly sins. Often what is meant by this

expression in medieval iconography is the list of vices

Prudentius opposed to the virtues." 19 Bloomfield goes on

to emphasize the influence of Prudentius on medieval art and

\ architecture, \ ■ \ Most, if not all, medieval representations of the \ virtues and vices grew out of the early illustra- \ tions of the manuscripts of Prudentius, which in turn rest on classical art. From illuminations,

___ \______\ 19Bloomfield, p. 101. 169.

representations of the -virtue struggle passed into other art media. Katzenellenbogen, as we have already noted, divides this psychomachia theme into two main groups—framed (or static) and dynamic. The most familiar method of representation was a triumph in which the virtues (usually women) trampled upon or beat their opposite vices, who groveled in the dust. This theme of trampling on an enemy goes back ultimately to the ancient East.20

Bloomfield's emphasis on Prudentius' influence should not obscure his other points. First, Bloomfield notes that there was a classical origin for the vices and virtues, just . . 21 as there was a classical origin for thè allegorical edifice.

Second, visual presentations of the psychomachia were the source of other artistic expressions. Third, there are two variations of the psychomachia, passive and dynamic. Fourth, the victory of the virtues was represented as a triumph, the Roman forerunner of medieval civic pageantry, and was expressed by women trampling the opposing vices. The im­ portance of this specific method is best emphasized by re­ calling the passage from Genesis referred to in the Jeu d'Adam:

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed. She shall crush thy head, and thou shall lie in wait for her heel.22

As mentioned, this passage was applied in most liturgical

2 0 Bloomfield, pp. 101, 102. Bloomfield does not elaborate. 21 Bloomfield, p. 133 and Cornelius, pp. 1-13.

22 Genesis, 3:15 in the Douav versi. on. 170.

and theological writings to the Virgin Mother, who was the

model and ancestor, figuratively, of the virtues in the 23 Psychomachia. However, Bloomfield does not ooint to a

direct source for the battle of the vices and virtues in

The Castle of Perseverance. He does say that the play is

characteristic of its period in emphasizing avarice over the

other vices, in using the proces de paradise or journey to

paradise theme—also characteristic of the period, and that

the symmetry of each virtue set against the appropriate vice

was the same as Rutebeuf's La Bataille, originating with 24 St. Gregory.

Though the symmetry and the pattern of the virtues and

vices sequence in Perseverance seem to have no directly

traceable source, according to Roberta Cornelius, the pattern of the motif in other works suggests the symbolic presence of a female figure very much like the Virgin:

To me, it seems not improbable that Grosseteste's allegory influenced The Castell [sic], but I doubt whether such an influence can be definitely established. Nor should I argue for a direct influence of the Psychomachia or of the Bernardian parables, but there is one feature, not hitherto pointed out, I think, as a common characteristic of the Psychomachia, the first Parable of Bernard, and the English morality; that is, double dramatic action. The Castell of Perseverance is really two plays, in one. The end of the first comes when

See Thomson, Prudentius I, p. 305, where Soberness urges her sisters on by recalling that they come from a "...long line of noble ancestors that stretches down to the mother -of God. ..." 24Bloomfield, pp. 95, 93, 375 n. 252, 134. 171.

after yielding to temptation and deserting the good angel, Mankind is won back in the Castle of Perseverance; of the second, when, the vices having recovered possession of him, his soul is saved through the intervention of Peace and Mercy, who plead before their Father against their sisters, Justice and Truth. A similar structure occurs in the poem of Prudentius. After the virtues have won in their conflict with the vices, there springs up another battle between Concord and Discord. Likewise, in the first of the "Parables of Bernard," the son of the great king becomes a prodigal, falls into the Castle of Sapience. Dramatically this is the end, but not so in fact. The Castle of Sapience is attacked, defended, and saved before the final happy end is reached.25

By calling attention to the similar pattern of The Castle of

Perseverance, the Psychomachia, and the "Parables" of Bernard,

Cornelius reinforces the suggestion that the castle has a

specific meaning. The castle was symbolic of a temple or

city in the Psychomachia and a castle of Sapience or wisdom

in Bernard's parable. As we have already pointed out, the

Virgin Mother was frequently symbolized by a temple, city,

castle, or house of wisdom in literature, art, and drama in

medieval times. A symbolic form is the only means in which

the Virgin Mother can be present in The Castle of Perseverance.

We have already noted that the pattern of earlier plays is

parallel with that of Perseverance. Perseverance appears to

follow the characteristics, patterns, and conventions of

literature, art, and drama which used the same devices, except

for the symbolic or actual presence of the Virgin. However,

Cornelius, p. 65. 172.

as noted, the banns called for the intercession of the

Virgin. A conventional and traditional symbol of the Virgin

in the literature of the fifteenth century was the castle.

Thus, the Virgin's presence associated with the castle in

the play falls within the limits of the literary conventions

of the period.

Just as the seven sins were passed on by the pictures

that illustrated the Psychomachia, so it is possible that

the form of the central structure of Perseverance as well as

the cycle plays was based on the illustrations of the life of Mary in the Meditations on the Life of Christ, by Bona- ventura. Several of these illustrations show Mary in or near a temple, a crenellated building, or with Joseph and the Christ child surrounded by city walls. Those pictures which illustrate the Presentation of Christ in the Temple are most interesting, because the structures which stand for the temple appear to be two, four, six, and seven-legged cano­ pies like those that covered medieval altars and sepulchres.

These structures have a gothic arch construction and are often flattened out with no attention to perspective and

2 6 Ira Ragusa, trans. Meditations on the Life of Christ (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), pp. 4-70. See Hope Traver, The Four Daughters of God, Bryn Mawr College Monographs Series, Volume 6, (Baltimore: Lord Baltimore Press, 1907), pp. 41-43, 49-69, 139, 140, for discussion of the Virgin's presence in medieval literature, and the similarity of the Meditations to the castle. See Eccles, Macro Plays for the influence of the Meditations on Perseverance, Intro­ duction . 173.

proportion, but serve to frame, enclose, and Drotect the

Virgin Mother and others. These structures represent either

the Jewish temple or the altar in the temple.

Two plays which included similar devices in their

staging are the Figurative Representation of the Presenta­

tion of the Virgin Mary in the Temple by Mezieres and the

Jeu d'Adam. Details in the Jeu d'Adam or the Presentation

of Mezieres do not contradict what has been learned about

the scaffold staging in the N-Town cycle and The Castle of

Perseverance, but add more information about the meaning of

the central scaffold in Perseverance. The structure of the

paradise of Adam and Eve in the Jeu d'Adam signified a state

of innocence, lost through Eve's attention to the serpent-

devil. As expressed by the prophets, the new Eve, Mary,

freed man from the jaws of hell by giving birth to Christ.

Therefore, she was literally and figuratively a Mother of

Mercy. As the Mother of Mercy, and as the one who was im­

maculately conceived, Mary was untainted by original sin,

and therefore preserved from temptation to sin. Mankind,

however, was not. His life's pilgrimage was beset by attacks

from the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. His only recourse was to be like Christ as the son of Mary, and seek refuge

in her example and protection. Since he was not a God-like

Christ, however, his motivation toward her mercy and her mediating capacity was all the more natural. With her pro­

tection and her guaranty of a life in heaven after, man 174.

would be preserved from the temptations of the World, the

Flesh and the Devil. The Mother of Mercy role given to the

Virgin Mother by legend as in the Golden Legend and by art

is well-known, but it also was rendered in a conventional

way. As we noted earlier, the Mother of Mercy role was

painted in the manner of a mother consoling, forgiving and

providing protection under a mantle in an English Carmelite

Missal of the late fourteenth century, and in an English

psalter of the same century. The Virgin of Mercy was con­

ventionally expressed in the following form:

In its essentials, it [the Virgin of Mercy] shows the Virgin standing, her arms outspread, holding out an ample cloak, as it were a tent, under which the diminutive figures of the supplicants are kneeling. She is usually crowned. The cloak was used as a symbol of protection in antiquity and is found in Byzantine and medieval art having the same meaning, perhaps worn by Christ or by saints. The theme became widespread in the West in the 13th cent, [sic] in the art of the monastic Orders [sic] who seem to have vied with one another for the honour of being the first to adopt it. It was also commonly commissioned by the lay charit­ able confraternities of the late Middle Ages whose patron was the Virgin of Mercy, and by individual donors as a thanksgiving for victory in war or for protection against the plague. ...occasionally the figure of Christ may be seen above holding arrows in his hand. This is true for the psalter version ...kneeling donor[s] may be...members of a monastic order,...or symbolic of mankind as a whole, men and women...... Renaissance artists sometimes ^7 show the cloak supported on each side by angels....

27 James Hall, Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols m Art (New York: MacMillan, 1952), pp. 325, 326. 175.

The Virgin's protective gesture with outspread arms, her

tent-like protection of repenting sinners, her crown similar

to the tower, perhaps crenellated in some versions (as most

crowns were), her intermediary status in relation to Christ,

and symbolic quality of the sinners as representing Mankind

closely resemble the function of the castle in Perseverance.

The structure as it resembles that arbored platform of

the Jeu d'Adam is symbolic of Eden,, suggesting the beginning

of Mankind with Eve. As we noted earlier, Mary was regarded

as the second Eve, the "Eve turned Ave," as it is expressed

in the Mother of Mercy section of the Ludus Coventriae or

N-Town cycle. Thus, as a symbol of Eve associated with Eden,

there is no conflict when repentant Mankind ascended the up­

per part of the structure which was crowned with the roses.

It is, perhaps, not just a descriptive metaphor that Southern

uses when he says that the castle-tower, judging from the 28 diagram, has a "waist."

In The Castle of Perseverance, the function of the cen­ tral castle appears to change from a safe, secure refuge from sin to a final resting place when Mankind crawls back and presumably dies in bed in the lower section of the castle.

The central structure equipped with curtains would also represent an Easter sepulchre, symbolic of Christ's burial place. In his article, "The Easter Sepulchrum in its relation

o q Southern, p. 78. 176.

to the Architecture of the High Altar," J.K. Bonnell de­ scribes the structure used in and out of church to dramatize and represent the sepulchre of Christ. Five different forms were used, but as Bonnell concludes, the most frequently used structure was the following:

The Easter Sepulchre...was characteristically a little structure comprising a canopy supported by pillars (usually four), and capable of being enclosed with curtains or rich hangings, within which was to be found'a low altar-like table to hold the coffer or sarcophagus. This structure might be wholly temporary, or might be built permanently over an actual tomb. In either case it was reminiscent, if not directly an imitation, of the early form of canopied altar.29

The structure described by Bonnell offers another model for the central structure in Perseverance when it later functions as a sepulchre for Mankind. Associated with such a struc­ ture is Christ's tomb and temporary burial place visited by the Three Maries. In Perseverance, the central structure serves as a temporary burial place for Mankind. Both the

Easter sepulchrum and central structure of Perseverance shelter the occupant in a symbolically maternal manner.

There are many references to the Virgin Mother in the play which begin in the banns. In addition to the reference noted by Bennett, there are three others in the banns which show relevance to the Virgin Mother. In line 5, a reference * 24

9J.K. Bonnell, "The Easter Sepulchrum in its Relation to the Architecture of the High Altar," PMLA 31, New Series 24 (1916), pp. 664-712. 177.

is made to "our lofly Lady, that lanterne is of lyth" in

conjunction with an introductory listing of where God lives,

where man exists, and where this play--these banns—were to

be presented. The listing is orderly and moves from the

remote and general to more specific descriptions. "Our

Lady" is placed in the middle with Mankind.

Later in the banns, reference is made to Mankind's birth as beginning a cycle: "Whou Mankynde into this werld born is ful bare/ And bare schal beryed be at hys last ende."

(11. 16, 17). The birth to death quality has been noted before, but here birth is emphasized in that cycle. This idea of birth as part of a cycle is reinforced by a refer­ ence to Christ's birth in a manger. The speaker wishes all his audience well, saying, "He maynten zoure myrthys and kepe zou fro greve/ That born was of Mary myld in an ox stall" (11. 146, 147). That Christ, the Savior of medieval man, came from humble origins and a virgin birth are the essential ideas behind both this reference and the earlier one made in the banns, implying a comparison with the life of every human being.

Another reference in the banns associates bliss with the castle (1. 60) and is related to the blys associated with heaven in the play. In many medieval works, the word frequently described the Virgin Mother, often playing on the word, blessed. The word, blessed, is used in the Ave Maria, the prayer and song based on the greeting to Mary by the 178.

angel, Gabriel, after he has said, "Hail! full of grace, the

Lord God is with thee...." The double meaning of blys and

blessed is intended in the Ave Maria, because, at that mo­

ment, when she became the Mother of God, it was both an

ecstatic fulfillment and an awesome honor. The prayer known

as the Magnificat, which is based on Mary's reply to Eliza­

beth found in Luke 1, 41-50, also uses a form of the word

blessed or blys.

And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; because he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid; for, behold, henceforth all genera­ tions schall call me blessed; because he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name; and his mercy is from generation _ to generation on those who fear him." (11. 46-50)J

Since the word blys is associated with joy and respect, it is not unusual to find it employed in descriptions of heaven in medieval literature. The Castle of Perseverance is no exception, and the word, blys, describing heavenly existence occurs in two speeches by God, the Father, in the closing scene of the play. Earlier references affirm these meanings of joy and honor. In the play itself, the first such refer­ ence occurs when Mankind is being ushered into the castle, and Meekness jubilantly exclaims,

Now blyssyd be Oure Lady, of heavene Emperes! Now is Mankynde fro foly falle And is in the Castel of Goodness.

3°The Douay Version of The Holy Bible (NewYork: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1950), p. 72 in the New Testament. 179.

He hauntyth now hevene halle That schal bryngyn him to hevene (11. 1706-1710).

The ideas of blys and heavene are linked in this speech and we are given to understand that Mankind is secure from evil as long as he stays in the hevene hall, the castle. This is not, however, an exaggerated claim by a biased , be­ cause Meekness in the speech just before, cautioned Mankind to "Cum in here at thynne owyn wylle" (1. 1694). Thus, the same guarantee that prevailed for repentant sinners in the miracle plays also works here: as long as the sinner is faithful to the principles of religious belief, he or she is safe from sin in a place of bliss which resembles heaven.

Often, such a place was provided by the Virgin Mother.

The ironic use of the word, blys, by Covetyse, after he has lured man away from the central castle does not dismiss the word's conventional meaning. Covetyse suggests a walk to his "castel cage," where he promises Mankind, "...I schal the blys..." (1. 2704). Covetyse, of course, will blys man- kynd with material objects and money, but the blys of

Covetyse is in effect the opposite of heavenly bliss.

There is a further use of irony with key words in the play. The ironic use of the words halle, bower and castle serves to remind the audience of The Castle of Perseverance of the conventional meanings of the words. After Mankind has abandoned the central castle to follow Covetyse, he asks for "...castel wallys..." and "...hey hallys..." (11. 2748- 180.

2750). Covetyse has already taken Mankind to my "...castel

cage/ In this boure I schal the blys" (11. 2703, 2704).

Earlier, Covetyse's location was described as a bower (11.

883, 1084, 1159), but the ironic use of bower also described

World's location (1. 1541, 3042). In each case, the places

are named ironically by the speaker, but the effect is that

these locations are mock substitutes for the real heaven and the central castle. For example, Gluttony suggests to

Mankind what his new home in Covetyse's scaffold should have

...spycys of good odoure To feffe and fede they fleschly floure And thanne mayst thou bultyn in thi boure And serdyn gay gerlys (11. 1157, 1159).

The "fleschly floure" of man's body associated with "boure" alludes to the flower of Luxuria in the Psychomachia, which momentarily rendered the virtues impotent.

The real "bowre of blys" (1. 1418) in the play, the genuine place of bliss on earth is the central castle, the place of the virtues. This is expressed when Mankind calls for his "...Saveour [to] brynge me to your boure of blys,"

(1. 1487, 1488) meaning the central castle. Furthermore, after Mankind has entered the central castle, Backbiter tell;

Flesh the news:

They let. Mankynd gon up hye Into zene castel at hys lykynge, Therin for to leue and dye, Wyth tho ladys to make endynge, Tho flourys fayre and fresche. (11. 1803-1807)

Here, the flowers in the castle are the virtues, although there is a slight ambiguity in the last phrase as to whether 181.

it refers to the ladies or not. However, assuming "flourys"

means the "ladys," notice that Mankind is up "hye" with the

"ladys-flourys." This quality of height is reinforced by a

reference to a "des"—a raised platform (11. 2467), in de­

scribing the castle as well as heaven (1. 3616). Thus, we

are sure that Mankind is on a raised platform with the

virtues; and with Backbiter's suggestion of flowers, it is

a true bower of bliss. Later in the play, flowers were used

successfully as weapons against the assault of six of the vices.

However, the most formidable defense against the vices was the castle itself. The castle was described as many

things, though "Perseverance" is the term given in the title 31 and on the diagram of the staging plan. The quality of perseverance was often associated with the various events in the Virgin Mother's life. First, Mary maintained a vigi­ lant virginity while residing in the temple. Second, she endured the skepticism of her pregnant state from even her own husband, Joseph, according to legend and drama. Third, the legitimacy of her pregnancy was tested formally in the temple when she and Joseph were required to drink poison, in the play The Trial of Mary and Joseph in the N-Town cycle.

31 Five references are made to the Castle of Perseverance: 11. 1550, 1596, 1705, 1808, 2534; four references are made to the Castle of Goodness: 11. 1708, 1757, 2019, 2355; two refer­ ences are made to the Castle of Vertu: 11. 2019, 1896. 182.

Fourth, Mary had to witness and endure the death of her son,

and was often pictured in the Pieta arrangement of Christ's

corpse laid in her lap. Thus, the Virgin Mother's life was often characterized by the virtue of perseverance.

The descriptive references to the central structure reveal a personifying intention that suggests a unique iden­ tity for the central scaffold when combined with the refer­ ences of bower, blys, and hall. This is best illustrated where the central castle of Perseverance was also called

the Castle of Goodness (1. 1708) ...a precyous place, Ful of vertu and grace (11. 1555-56) ... precyous port (1. 1567)32

Earlier chapters showed that goodness, virtue, grace and preciousness were conventional terms applied to the Virgin

Mother. The castle's meaning as symbolic of the church as­ sociated with the Mother is emphasized in the play by Man­ kind's first appearance, where he states,

After oure forme-faderys kende This nyth I was of my modyr born.. Fro my modyr I walke, I wende,....

I was born this nyth in blody ble....

32 Christ was often praised m similar terms, but He is not the referent according to any interpretation of the play, though there is no doubt that the salvation of Mankind is through the sacrifice of Christ. The reason is simply that Mankind on his pilgrimage is also symbolic of Christ. The interplay of the symbolic with the literal enhances the meaning of Christ's suffering and humiliation, and makes the life of Mankind seem more frivolous. To say that the castle was symbolic of Christ alone would be inconsistent with the purpose of the central structure throughout the play. 183.

A sely crysme myn hed hath cawth That I tok at myn crystenynge.

Of erthe I cam, I wot ryth wele, And as erthe I stande this sele (11. 275-298)

The lines tell us he was born in his father's image this night and. that he is walking away from his mother. All he has is the "crysme" which tells us that he has been baptized, and therefore implies that he is speaking figuratively.

Clearly, the place from which he walks is symbolic of the church; consequently, his words, "Fro my modyr I walke, I wende..." mean that he walks from the mother-church. The most common means of expressing the church as the mother was to identify it with the, Virgin Mother. Indeed, the Song of

Songs in the Bible is interpreted as an allegory of Christ the bridegroom wooing and loving his bride, the Church. St.

Bernard of Clairvaux, like most theologians, identified the bride as the Virgin. The two meanings, at different levels or perspectives, joined the church symbolized as a mother with the Virgin as a symbol of the church. Thus, Mankind's walk away from a figurative mother would not be eliminated if it was also a walk away from the structure symbolic of the temple or church.

When we return to the beginning of the play, Mankind's birth appears to be figurative, alluding to a maternal figure associated with the central structure. However, the meaning of the central structure must be distinguished at this time from the meaning later in the play when Mankind occupies the 184.

upper level with the virtues. At this point and up until

Mankind re-enters the castle, the meaning of the castle here

is one of a protective mother, much like the castles housing

symbols of royal genealogy in the civic pageantry. As noted

this use of the castle was derived from biblical references

to the genealogy of David, Mary and Christ. Since Mankind, according to the text and Southern's reconstruction ap­ peared directly from the central structure, and considering a stage platform like that of the Jeu d'Adam, decorated in tapestry and flowers, it seems probable that the structure functions as the Garden of Eden, associated with Eve, the mother of mankind. There is no further meaning, because

Mankind like Adam will leave the security of the castle- garden to pursue worldly pleasures. Thus, the central structure cannot be consistently associated with the Virgin

Mother from beginning to end. However, this change from

Eve to Mary was consistent with the cycles and literature that portrayed the Virgin Mother as "Eva" become "Ave," the one that rectified the sin of Eve. When Mankind returns to the central structure repentant of his sins, he is invested into the castle with the seven virtues, giving the castle a new meaning which it did not have before he and they entered it.

This new meaning is best exemplified by referring to

Mezieres' Figurative Representation of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple. In that dramatic ceremony, 185.

Mary is ushered into the higher tower-like structure by

angels and soldiers from her former position in the centrally

located larger platform in the center of the church. Her movement from a lower level to a higher one physically and symbolically is preceded by a scene in which Ecclesia asserts her union with the Virgin Mother pointing to herself as the

New Mother with breasts full not of law but grace, not fear but love, not servitude but liberty, because behold this Virgin (pointing to Mary) who will conceive and bear a son who will make his people safe from their sins.33

After Ecclesia's speech, Gabriel and Raphael quickly expel

Synagoga, the symbolic character of the old law, from the church in which the play was presented. In Perseverance,

Mankind's investment into the castle is an action which changes the castle symbolic of the old church or temple as­ sociated with Eve to the church of forgiveness associated with the Virgin Mary.

When Mankind leaves again, the central castle retains the same meaning, only to be defined by its symbolic function again when Mankind dies in it. At that point, the function of the "halle" of mercy (11. 1425-28) is the same as the church associated with the Virgin of Mercy, who protects sinners by covering them with her mantle. Though the soul

3 3 Haller, Presentation, p. 23. The words are based upon the prophecy in Isaias 7:14, "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son...." and Matthew 1:21, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." 186.

of Mankind is taken to limbo, according to Southern, and is restored to God by his Four Daughters, the central castle symbolic of the Virgin of Mercy has briefly played its figurative part, when Mankind is eventually saved. This sequence of meanings for the castle as symbolic of the church associated first with Eve and then with the Virgin of Mercy, is echoed in the play by Mercy when she pleads for Mankind to God by saying,

As thou descendyst from thi trone And lyth in a maydens wombe iwys, Incarnat was in blod and bone, Lat Mankynd cum to thi blys, As thou art Kynge of hevene! For werdly veynglory He hathe ben ful sory, Punchyd in purgatory For all the synnys sevene.

Ne had Adam synnyd here-before And thi hestys in paradys had offent. Neuere of thi modyr thou schuldyst a be bore, Fro hevene to erthe to have be sent. (11. 3331-3339; 3340-3343).

These words summarize the pattern of innocence, sin, repentance or suffering and salvation seen in the earlier

Anglo-Norman and English plays, and at the same time recall the interceding role of the Virgin Mother. The characteris­ tic place-and-scaffold staging of the cycle plays in this

East-Midlands area, the similarity with those uses of the castle in civic pageantry, point to a common staging tech­ nique. The similarity in theme, emphasis, and style between

Perseverance and contemporary works such as those of Lydgate shows a work which if symbolically referring to the church 187.

associated with Eve and Ilary, follows conventional meta­ phors of the period. The similarity in situation between the events and staging in Perseverance on the one hand, and contemporary interest in the Immaculate Conception and the

Virgin Mother on the other, point to the interpretation of the central structure as a symbol of the church associated with Eve at the birth of Mankind, and then a symbol of the church associated with Mary, the Mother of God, after Man­ kind enters the castle with the Virtues. Later, at the time of Mankind's death, the castle stands for the church associated with the Virgin of Mercy. 188.

ARCHITECTURAL METAPHOR AND SETTING RELATED TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER IN THE DIGBY MARY MAGDALEN

In the middle ages, Mary Magdalene was identified as the exemplary repentant sinner, and legend created a life story of evangelism and miracle-making for this contrite woman who had been seen merely as a fornicator in the Gos­ pel.3 Combining legend and history, the Digby Mary Magdalen is a drama which deliberately blends images of Venus with images of Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ. This blend is reflected in the use of the arena staging which appears to be borrowed from the sources of The Castle of Perseverance and the cycle plays. The Digby Mary Magdalen uses a central scaffold which changes in dramatic function as setting from castle to arbor to tomb to lodge to rock cell on a literal level. Symbolically, the central structure which initially stands for a temple and then becomes a symbol of the church.

Both the literal and symbolic meaning of the central struc­ ture appear to be related to the Virgin Mother.

This chapter analyzes the Digby play of Mary Magdalen, beginning with the background of the story and stressing the unity of the three different Marys in the New Testament. A description of two major sources, the Golden Legend, and

Myrc's Festial, and a brief listing of other sources reveal

3See Clifford Davidson, "The Digby Mary Magdalen and the Magdalen Cult of the Middle Ages," Annuale Medievale, 13 (1972), pp. 70-87 for a summary and review of the Magdalene myth. 189.

a frequent borrowing from dramatizations of Mary, the Virgin

Mother, in cycle plays, from The Castle of Perseverance,

and from Latin religious plays. A discussion of the major

scenes and the sources is followed by an explanation of re­

lated specific uses of typology, allusion and dramatic tech­

nique in the play. The conclusion of this discussion also

states the major themes of the play. The manifestation of

these themes in the staging of the Mary Magdalen play is

then described and explained. The discussion on staging

explains that the centrally located architectural setting

was a derivation of the Palace of Venus, the paradise scaf­

fold in the Jeu d'Adam, the temple and the sepulchre in the

cycle plays, and the central castle of Perseverance. The

symbolic meaning of the central structure is based on the

source of each scene and the context of that scene in the

play. The central structure changes in meaning, but sym­

bolically suggests a specific meaning, the temple, in

Christian history and doctrine. For example, one scene in the play shows Mary Magdalen

returning from her life of sin in Jerusalem to her castle

which is now described as an arbor. She wishes aloud that

lovers would visit her, but the only people who even come

near are Christ and Simon, the Pharisee, who do not stop,

but pass by on their way to Simon's house. Mary then falls

asleep in her arbor of bliss, and is visited by an angel who fills her mind and heart with remorse. In analyzing 190.

this scene, it must be noted first that the scene's struc­

ture is very similar to the N-Town cycle play of the Annun­

ciation , in which an angel descends from heaven to the

temple when Mary conceives Christ. Because the arbor of

the pagan sinner in Mary Magdalen is derived from the

structure representing the temple of the Annunciation, the

Digby scene suggests the same meaning as the place where

the Virgin was living when visited by the angel, Gabriel.

Thus, in the play Mary Magdalen the meaning of the central structure is suggested by the source, the Annunciation. The context too stresses the relationship to the Annunciation scene because the angel visits Mary Magdalen just after

Christ passes by. The reader or viewer is led to the analogy with the Virgin and the temple. The central archi­ tectural structure is suggestive of the temple then and even of the Virgin herself, because as chapter one pointed out the Virgin was often seen metaphorically as a temple in medi­ eval thought.

Though sources for the play are many, not all are known.

Generally, they are said to be saints' legends, Latin re­ ligious plays, the homiletic tradition, the cycle plays and

The Castle of Perseverance. But the'beginning of Mary's life in legend and play is based on a theological interpreta­ tion of the bible used in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen­ turies. Sister Mary Collins, in her dissertation, "The Al­ legorical Motifs in the Early English Moral Plays," explains: 191.

The theory of the unity of the Marys, the traditional identification of the Mary called Magdalene (Luke vii, 36-50 and Mark xvi, 9) with the Mary who stood beneath the cross of Christ (John xix, 25), and the one to whom the Risen Savior appeared (John xx, 1-18), and who announced to the disciples that "she had seen the Lord" (Matt, xxvii, 55), with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus (John xi, 1), who also had been the "mulierem peccatricem," "in civitate peccatrix," dates back to the early Fathers of the Church. Briefly stated, the Mary of the Passion and Resurrection, and „ Mary of Bethany were one and the same woman.

This Mary was associated with the seven deadly sins in the writings of Pope Gregory the Great (6th century) and St.

Bonaventure (13th century), two authorities on church doc­ trine. The motif became part of the legends of the saints 3 which later exemplified her as the "truly repentant sinner."

One such saint's legend which was popular in the mid­ dle ages and early renaissance was included in The Golden

Legend written by Jacobus Voragine in the thirteenth century, and translated by Caxton in the fifteenth century. In this group of stories, that of Mary Magdalen is the major source of the Digby play and a summary of this version also serves as a summary of the play.4

2 Sister Mary Emmanuel Collins, O.S.F., "The Allegorical Motifs in the Early English Moral Plays" Diss. Yale Univer­ sity, 1936; p. 150. See also John L. McKenzie, S.J., The Dictionary of the Bible (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1965), pp. 552, 553. □ Collins, p. 152. See also Bloomfield on references to Mary Magdalen and the seven deadly sins. 4Granger Ryan and Helmut Ripperger, trans., The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine (New York: Arno Press, 1969), pp. 355-364. 192.

The entry begins with a definition of her name, Mary,

as meaning both "bitter sea" and "light giver," meanings

that signify three themes in her life: penance, inward con­

templation and heavenly glory. Magdalen means, according

to the Legend, "remaining in guilt," "armed," and "magnifi­

cent." The first refers to her early life, the second re­

fers to her conversion in which she remained "unconquered"

by means of the armament of penance, and the third refers

to her "superabundance of grace" after her conversion.

These "definitions" are legends in themselves, but typically medieval.

After the names and their definitions, the legend pro­

vides information about Mary’s family and residence. Born

of Syrus and Eucharia, she inherited the fortress of Magdala,

while her brother Lazarus and sister Martha occupied places

in Jerusalem and Bethany. Martha remained in charge of the

property, while Mary sinned and Lazarus soldiered; then, af­

ter Christ's death, and their conversions, all three sold their worldly possessions and gave the money to the apostles.

The legend then identifies Mary as "the sinner" before

she met Christ at the home of Simon the Leper. When she

goes, there, "Thither she ran at once," where she washed

Christ's feet with her tears, wiped them dry with her hair and "annointed them with precious ointment" to ease "the 5 punishment of the warm climate." Simon, the Pharisee, was

5 Ryan and Ripperger, The Golden Legend, p. 357. 193.

shocked to see Christ accept the touch of an evil woman, but Christ reprimanded him for his pride. Christ then for­ gave Mary her sins and drove out the seven devils from her.

Christ later, it is said, defended her against a Pharisee,

Martha, and Judas. Also, according to this legend, He re­ stored Lazarus to life out of love for her, cured Martha's hemorrhaging, and allowed Martha's serving maid to "utter the memorable words: "'Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck!'" The legend adds that

Mary was present at Christ's death, stayed at his sepulchre, and was the first person to whom the resurrected Christ appeared.

Fourteen years later, according to the story, Mary and other disciples of Christ were forced to board a ship with­ out any rudder and were set adrift. Guided by God, however, they landed at Marseilles, a land of pagans, and took shelter "beneath the porch of a pagan temple." There, Mary immediately began to preach the Christian message, and in so doing somehow prevented the ruler of the city from walk­ ing to the temple and making a sacrifice to the pagan in order to obtain a child. Mary later appeared in a dream to the king and his wife, scolding them for not alleviating the suffering of Christians in Marseilles. After the king and queen gave them shelter and food, the ruler them pro­ mised to obey Mary if the faith that she preached would bring the royal couple a son. Shortly after, the queen was 194.

"with child," and the king, determined to find out more

about the religion of Mary, decided to go on a pilgrimage.

The queen refused to be left alone at home and both left

with a protective blessing from Mary.

On the storm-tossed sea, the queen gave birth to a

boy, but she appeared to have died. The seamen in the boat

did not want to risk having extra weight, and threatened

to throw the queen and the baby overboard, but the king pre­

vailed for a while until the ship came near a "hilly coast,"

where it was decided to place the child and mother. The

king carried them into a "sheltered part of the hill,"

placing the infant upon the "dead" mother's breast, cursing

Mary Magdalen for inspiring the voyage.

He arrived in Rome and met Peter who assured the king

that his wife and child were really just sleeping peacefully

on the island. Then Peter took the king to Jerusalem, in­

structing him in doctrine. Two years later, on his voyage

home, the king stopped at the island to look for his son

and wife, who had been protected miraculously by the spirit

of Mary Magdalen. In the meantime, the queen had had an

elaborate dream in which Mary Magdalen was her guide through

Jerusalem; thus, the royal mother had missed none of Peter's

teachings. Returning to Marseilles, the king ordered all pagan temples destroyed after he was baptized.

Mary, after converting many people, retired to a "moun­ tain cave" for thirty years. She lived only on "heavenly" 195.

food, and at every canonical hour she was raised to heaven

to hear the heavenly song. A hermit priest, living in a

cell "twelve stadia" away from Mary's "grotto," saw the

saint rising to heaven. He then ran to Mary, where she ex­

plained who she was. She ordered him to tell the Bishop

Maximinus to go to his "oratory" where the prelate could

view her being taken to heaven. On Easter Sunday, the

Bishop did as Mary requested, saw her rise "two cubits"

off the ground, and then, when she returned, gave her the

eucharist. Immediately, Mary died and her soul flew to heaven. Her body was so sanctified, according to the narra­ tor, that while it remained in the oratory for seven days, it gave off the odor of perfume. She was then buried.

However, another source, according to this legend, says that the priest found her in her cell, gave her communion at a nearby church, where she died at the altar.

Following this story of her life in The Golden Legend version, miracles which came from the veneration of Mary

Magdalen by repentant sinners are recounted. Included in this last part of the legend of Mary Magdalen is an allusion to the story of why Mary followed a life of sin. Apparently, her engagement and her marriage were interrupted by Christ in his ministry when he called John, the Evangelist, Mary's alleged bridegroom, to serve God, thereby preventing the union. However, the legend corrects this story in the same paragraph by saying that John's bride was actually another 196.

woman, who, it turns out, remained a virgin. With the ex­

ception of the first and last segments, The Golden Legend's

version of Magdalene's life is the general source for the

plot of the Digby Mary Magdalen, serving as a frame for

the various scenes in the play.

A second source for the story of Mary Magdalen appears

in the homiletic tradition. A part of that tradition was

Myrc's Festial which instructed priests about preaching. A

passage in Myrc's Festial, noted by G.R. Owst, reveals the

symbolic character of the castle of Magdalen. Owst summa­

rizes the passage in the following manner, referring to the

use of the castle as metaphor:

Myrc ... in a sermon in die Assumpcionis in his Festial tells how this Fortress of the Blessed Virgin had for its moat her Meekness filled with the water of Compassion. Its drawbridge is Discreet Obedience, its outer rampart Wedlock or Patience, its inner wall Virginity, its gate Faith with the tower of Charity above. The captain of this Castle is the Holy Ghost, and its soldiery the angels. It is significant, however, that Myrc here... branches off suddenly into a more general application of the simile. The Castle, viewed tropologically, becomes once more the residence of Mary and Martha, now treated as a symbol of Contemplative and Active Life re­ spectively. 6

In other works such as Grosseteste's Chateau d*Amour, the castle of the Blessed Virgin had that single identity, but

6 Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England, 2nd ed. (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1961) pp. 77, 78. 197.

Myrc's version splits its symbolic meaning. In addition to

being a symbol of the Virgin Mother, it becomes the castle

residence of the two symbolic figures of the Active and

Contemplative Life, Martha and Mary. In the Digby play of

Mary Magdalen, the central structure in the arena setting

as expressed and implied in the text is, on a literal level, a castle in which Mary Magdalen resided, but which is also associated with Mary the Virgin Mother. In providing a similar double meaning for its castle, Myrc's Festial is a source for the double meaning of the central castle in Mary Magdalen.

Mary inherited the castle from her father, Syrus. The family background appears to have been aristocratic and wealthy, and, according to one speculative biography, was a cosmopolitan mixture of Greek, Roman, and eastern pagan in- 7 fluences. The Golden Legend says her parents were of

"noble station... and... royal lineage." The education of such a person as Mary Magdalen was almost certain to have included readings in the Greek pagans with their emphasis on the values of harmony, beauty, and pleasure, as expressed, for example, in Plato's Symposium. But in the Judaism of the the Pharisees there was no room for the free and open appre­ ciation of pleasure, be it intellectual, artistic, or sexual.

Mary Magdalen's reputation as a sinner based upon her sexual

.7 Raymond-Leopold Bruckberger, Mary Magdalene, trans., H.L. Binsse (New York: Pantheone, 1953). 198.

activity was, therefore, viewed as a philosophical af-

frontery as well as an act typical of the pagan aristocrats.

Medieval writings portrayed her as so sensual that she

harbored devils or the seven deadly sins in her body. The

seven "peccatrices" are described in the Digby play as cor­

responding to the seven planets and seven metals, adding a materialistic superstitution from early pagan descriptions of the sins, and emphasizing the gentile background of Ma ry. 8

The background for the Digby play is found in its sources in earlier forms of drama. The following list briefly summarizes the dramatic sources for the Digby Mary

Magdalen. Such a listing is valuable in emphasizing the de­ pendence of this play on the techniques and meanings in other plays. In the left hand column is a list of plays which are sources of Mary Magdalen. In the right column are the locations by line number of the use of each source in Mary Magdalen.

The Annunciation 11. 572-64; 11. 1219-1265 The Assumption of Mary 11. 2141-2144.

Benediktbeuern Passion Play 11. 440-704; 11. 794-924; 11. 1219-1265.

The Castle of Perseverance 11. 1-265; 11. 305-563; 11. 572-614; 11. 705-721.

g Morton W. Bloomfield, The Seven Deadly Sins (1952; rpt. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1967), p. 234. 199.

The Creation of Adam and Eve 11.563-614.

The Fleury Playbook 11. 615-704; 11. 794-924.

The Harrowing of Hell 11. 722-747; 11. 963-992.

Mary in the Temple 11. 1990-2139.

The Nativity 11. 140-228.

The Passion I 11. 229-264; 11. 563-704; 11. 1249-1335. The Passion II , 11. 1-264; 11. 846-924; 11. 993-1132; 11. 1249-1335

The Play of Noah 11. 1395-1445; 11. 1716-181 11. 1863-1989. The Raising of Lazarus 11. 846-924.

The Slaughter of the Innocents 11. 140-228.

The Three Maries 11. 993-1132.

This list reveals at a glance that the Digby Mary Magdalen

is heavily dependent on other dramatic sources. The Golden

Legend provided the overall story and framework, while the dramatic sources provide the actual scenes. Also, the list indicates frequent references to scenes from cycle plays about Mary, the Virgin Mother. Finally, most of the source plays on the list indicate the use of arena staging.

An examination of the scenes and sources reveals more about structure, meaning and themes in the Digby Mary

9 David M. Bevington, ed. Medieval Drama (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975 and K.S. Block, ed. Ludus Coventriae. Early English Text Society. (1922; rpt. London: Oxford University Press, 1960). 200.

Magdalen. For example, in the first section the Emperor

Tiberius makes an entrance like the imposing, arrogant and

materialistic appearances of the World, the Devil, and the

Flesh in The Castle of Perseverance. The significance of

the Roman emperor's appearance is to illustrate and charac­

terize the adversary of the Christian spirit in the world.

The appearance of Syrus, the father of Mary Magdalen, in a

following scene is less arrogant yet boastful, as he asserts

his power and wealth over the audience:

Berdes in my bower so semely to sene, .n I commaund you at onys my hestes to hold (11. 51, 52;

Syrus and the Emperor represent the temporal wealth and power

of the world before and during Christ's existence. In addi­

tion, the emperor speaks as a god on earth: "All grace upon

erth from my goodness commith fro/ And that bringis all

pepell in blisse so." (11. 17, 18). Thus, the implication

is that Syrus is a part

one, as opposed, of course, to that of God the Father, Son

and the angels. But the play's structure as an ironic con­

trast also suggests the hierarchy and kingdom of heaven to a Christian audience.

Analogous to the cycle play versions of Herod and

Pilate in the Passion plays, the two scenes from 11. 140-264, setting the two leaders in their respective courts, show

^Quotations are from Bevington's Medieval Drama. 201.

similar boastful, arrogant characters. But these men, un­

like the emperor and Syrus, are portrayed as incompetent

from an indulgence in petty worldly concern and sin. Thus,

Herod argues about the truth of scripture and hopes to

exert his own power against the words of God, which all

other characters as well as the audience took for granted

as the truth (11. 140-228). His effort would seem insane

to them, and his utterances reflect an anger and impatience that resemble madness:

A, owt, owt! now am I grevyd all with the worst! Ye dastardes! ye dogges! The dilfe mote you draw! With felying flappes I bid yow to a fest. A swerd, a swerd! Thes e lordeynnes wer staw! (11. 186-189)

In the following scene, Pilate speaks directly to the audi­ ence about law. He sounds merciless and cunning; "...I spare for no pete" (1. 239) and "... I shall sett many a snare" (1. 257). The characterizations of Herod and Pilate are similar to those found in the cycle plays, especially in the Passion sequence, and in the following plays that de­ picted the prosecution of Christ.

As in the cycle plays and Perseverance, a messenger appears in Mary Magdalen (11. 229-264). In the Passion, the messenger links each of the main characters by going from one to the other, and saluting each with the word,

"Hail." The same greeting was used in The Castle of Perse­ verance , where, as noted earlier, it appeared to be a parody of the "Ave." As a literary convention, it was spoken to 202.

Mary the Mother of Christ by the angel in the Annunciation because she redeemed women from the sin of Eve. As Eve had been hailed and flattered by the fallen angel, Satan, so the Annunciation to Mary the Virgin Mother was a re­ deeming imitation by a holy angel of a similar dramatic action. Thus, the "Hail" used among the worldly powers in

Mary Magdalen may be intended as a parody of greetings fit only for Christ and God. The Emperor, Herod, and Pilate are, examples of earthly creatures blind to repentance, and therefore fitting contrasts to Mary Magdalene who was of their world, but left it for the Kingdom of Christ.

When Syrus died (11. 265-304) he had already willed his property to Mary Magdalen, Lazarus and Martha. Mary

Magdalen was given the castle. Despondent over the death of Syrus, Mary became the target of the World, the Flesh and the Devil. Each of them dominates his own separate scene (11. 305-439) in order to summon the seven deadly sins and to make plans for the conquest of Mary's soul. These scenes, with the manner and speeches of the characters closely resemble scenes in The Castle of Perseverance. In the siege of the Magdalen castle, the sins, according to the stage directions, wanted only to drive Mary out of the castle: "Here shal alle the seven Dedly Sinnes besege the castell till Mary agre to go to Jherusalem. Lechery shall entyr the castell with the Bad Angyl. . . . (after 1. 439). 203.

However, in Mary Magdalen, there is no set of virtues to retaliate, and when Lechery enters dressed as a waiting woman, she greets Mary with,

Heyl, lady most laudabyll of aliauns! Heyl, orient as the sonne in his reflexite! Myche pepul be comforted by your bening afiauns. Bryter than the bornyd is bemys of bewte, Most debonarius, with your aungelly delicite! (11. 440-444).

With the repetition of "Heyl" and the allusions to bright­ ness and graceful beauty, the audience is reminded ironical­ ly of both the Annunciation to Mary, Mother of Christ in the Ave Maria and the seduction of Eve, the first, and therefore genealogically, the royal mother of the human race in the

Garden of Eden. The central structure of Mary's castle, which is later described as an "erbyr," would remind the audience in even greater detail of the Old Testament fall, if that structure were decked with flowers and branches as in the Jeu d'Adam. It should also be noted in the discus­ sion of this episode, that Lechery was referred to as a flower by Flesh (1. 423). It is clear that she was to be identified with the Vice, Luxuria, from the Psychomachia of

Prudentius, who momentarily managed to impede the victory of the virtues by throwing flowers at them. Another liter­ ary commonplace, the allusions to light and brightness were common terms in courtly love poetry which were used later in verse praising the Virgin Mother. Since Mary Magdalen is a courtly figure, the castle is a residence and does not 204.

represent Mary's soul in a literal or figurative sense.

What the castle does represent is the paradise lost by Mary

when she goes to the tavern. That lost paradise can be

called innocence represented by an earthly bower, but the

action of the loss (11. 470-546) signifies Adam and Eve's loss of Eden and their exile.11

The scene in the tavern which follows is like one used

in homilies and moral plays, showing the sinner in the

"chapel of the devil." Similar ones appear notably in "The

Pardoner's Tale" and later in Henry IV by Shakespeare. In this scene, Mary Magdalen is seduced by a gallant, Curiosity, who stands for the sin of pride. Together, he and Mary leave ("avoid" according to the stage directions), and the

Bad Angel carries the news of Mary's downfall to his three rulers, Flesh, World, and Devil. The scene ends as Satan urges the Bad Angel to lead Mary into a life of lechery.

In this sequence of events, Mary no longer is an indi­ vidual, but signifies the universal man, each sinner. As noted before by Eleanor Prosser, Mary Magdalen was regarded as an figure in medieval drama. The structure of the scenes that seem to be borrowed from The Castle of Per­ severance (11. 1-469; 547-563) make the universality of Mary

11 See William Elton's "Paradise Lost and the Digby Mary Magdalen," Modern Language Quarterly, IX (1947), 412- 414, and William Empson's Milton's God (Norwalk, Conn.: New Directions Press, 1962), pp. 147-182 for the similarity among Eve, Magdalene, and medieval courtly queens. 205.

Magdalen's characterization clear. That quality was not

limited to sources like the cycle plays or The Castle of

Perseverance, but was also derived from earlier sources,

such as the Benediktbeuern Passion Play (11. 440-704; 794-

924). For example, in that Latin play, Mary was wooed

briefly by a gallant, Curiosity, fell asleep, and then re­

ceived a dream-message of remorse from an angel. Comment­

ing on Karl Young's view that the Mary Magdalen and Lazarus material in the Benediktbeuern play was extraneous, Michael

Rudick, in his article, "Theme, Structure, and Sacred Con­

text in the Benediktbeuern 'Passion' Play," states that, on the contrary, these episodes "... portray symbolically and in apprehensible detail the program of salvation and the alterations of the Christian soul implied by the brief open- ing scenes." 12 He adds that in the tradition of both liter­ ature and liturgy, Mary was regarded as "...a type of the church as a whole... symbolizing its faith and its recogni- tion of Christ's power to save." 13 Thus, a universal meaning was attached to dramatic expressions and characterizations of Mary Magdalene as early as the twelfth or thirteenth cen­ turies .

The two scenes from 11. 563-571 refer to Mary's arbor

32Speculum (April, 1974), pp. 277 ff. 13 Rudick, p. 281. He refers to Isidore of 's Allegoriae in universam sacram scripturam in PL, LXXXXIII, 128B and Bede's Homiliae III, liii in PL, XCIV, 390 D. 206.

which appears to be located in the playing area: "Mary shal

entyr the place alone.... Mary shal be in an erbyr...."

(after 1. 563). Bevington, in his edition of the play, sees the "...arbor in the place or center of the acting area...."1

As she rests there, Mary falls asleep after wishing aloud

for lovers. Then, while Simon prepares for the feast with

Christ, the Good Angel speaks a message to the sleeping Mary,

urging her to repent. Mary awakes and appears convinced

of the dream's message, speaking of a painful remorse. To

shed the remorse, Mary say, she "...shal pursue the Pro- phett..." who "...by the oile of mercy...shal me relyff."

(11. 610, 612).

The angel's message suggests two other messages given by angels to women in Christian literature: Satan's seduc­ tive message to Eve, and Gabriel's famous message to Mary, the Annunciation. As the play progresses, this comparison, especially to the Virgin Mary, is emphasized in the language, actions, symbolic meanings as well as the sources of scenes.

A source of the next two scenes near Mary's arbor was the Passion sequence from the cycles, which also included

Mary's first meeting with Christ. Following the Good

Angel's message, Christ and Simon "Leprous" enter the play­ ing area, pass by Mary's arbor, and enter Simon's house.

l 4 Bevington, Medieval Drama, p. 707. 207.

The irony of Mary's earlier longing for a worldly lover is

most striking as Christ passes by Mary's bower of earthly

bliss on his way to Simon's house. The irony is reinforced

when Mary begs forgiveness from Christ in the following

scene washing his feet with her tears and anointing him with oil. The telling of the parable that follows and

Christ's remission of Mary's sins lead to an added dramatic

effect of sending the seven devils from Simon's house to

Hell (1. 704). The scene appears to end with the Good

Angel rejoicing over Mary's conversion. Using the set­ ting as a summary, Mary's arbor stands as a contrast to

Simon's house in physical and spiritual terms, because it is the scene of a sinful past.

The scene which shows the devils in disarray, chaos and conflict, setting the house of hell on fire illustrates the effect of the loss of a potential convert, Mary Magda­ len (11. 722-747). It shows the result of Christ's for­ giving of sins, and also prefigures the true harrowing of hell by Christ when he dies for the sins of all men.

These same doctrinal ideas, Christ's ability to for­ give sins and His resurrection, are reinforced in the fol­ lowing sequence of scenes where Lazarus falls sick, dies, and then is revived by Christ who was persuaded by pleas

15 The scenes in this play are not numbered as such. The endings and beginnings depending on criteria may differ from one critic to the next. 208.

from Mary Magdalen and Martha (11. 748-924). By linking

Lazarus' resurrection with the conversion of Mary Magdalen,

the dramatist has suggested a parallel with Christ's death

and resurrection and His forgiveness of sins. Thus, a

fully developed Passion sequence depicting Christ's death

is not necessary to this play about Mary, because it is

implied in those actions which dramatize the conversion of

Mary together with the resurrection of Lazarus.

The scene following Christ's raising of Lazarus begins

what becomes the major plot for the rest of the play, by

dramatizing the appearance of the king and queen of Mar­

seilles on their dais-stage and bears a slight resemblance

to the opening scene of The Pride of Life (11. 925-962).

There, however, the king was in conflict with death, and

against the warnings of his wife. Here, the king praises

the beauty of his queen as "...berel brytest of bewte/

...ruby rody as the rose" (11. 957, 958). The boastfulness

is hollow because the couple have not been able to have children. As yet there is no plot conflict, but later the failure to have a child leads to a contest between pagan and Christian supernatural power. This scene also intro­ duces the king and queen in the new plot which dovetails with the main plot about Mary's life.

In the next scene (11. 963-992) ,■ Christ's harrowing of hell is described by a devil who speaks to the audience, implying, of course, Christ's death, descent into hell, and 209.

Ascension. The scene appears to have no sequential or

symbolic relation with the previous scene. As noted, the

harrowing of hell is suggested in this play by the devils'

destruction of their "house," (11. 723-747) after they were

driven from Mary by Christ’s forgiveness of her (11. 675-

691). Thus, the play shows where it has borrowed the

foreshadowing technique of the cycle plays which effective­

ly binds the play into a tight, unified work rather than a 16 sequence of events merely set in scenes.

The next scene (11. 1096-1132) owes more than its

technique to the cycle drama, because it is the sequence of events dramatizing the evidence of Christ's resurrection;

it is almost a copy of the Three Maries play. Briefly, the three Maries arrive at the tomb of Christ, are told hy angels that Christ is not there but will be in Galilee, and then they bring this message to the apostles, Peter and

Paul. Before meeting the apostles, however, Mary Magdalen remains by the tomb, is greeted by an angel, and then speaks with Jesus, at first mistaking him for a gardner.

Mary confesses this mistake, and He replies that,

10See Walter E. Meyers, A Figure Given: Typology in the Wakefield Plays (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, n.d.), Introduction, and pp. 57-177; James W. Earl, "Typolo­ gy and Iconographic Style in Early Medieval Hagiography," pp. 42-46; Walter E. Meyers, "Typology and the audience of the English Cycle Plays," Studies in the Literary Imagina­ tion (Typology and Medieval Literature is the topic for this volume), 8 (Spring 1975), pp. 42-46; 145-158. 210.

Mannys hartt is my gardin here. Therein I sow sedys of vertu all the yere; The fowle wedes and vicys, I reynd up by the rote. Whan that gardin is watteryd with teris dere, Than spring vertuus, and smelle full sote. (11. 1081-1085)

Mary Magdalen was both in the garden as a new Eve, and then,

using this last metaphor of Christ’s, was a garden herself,

her vices "...reyned up by the rote..." and her "vertuus"

springing up. It is fitting, within the context of the

foreshadowing of Christ's resurrection by the raising of

Lazarus, that Mary, as witness and believer in Christ's power to raise her brother, should be the first witness of

Christ's own resurrection. In any case, Christian tradi­ tion seems to place her in that revered position, and thus this play celebrates that tradition in detail. It should be emphasized that Mary Magdalen enjoyed this privilege even before Christ's own mother; thus, as a consequence, the importance of the theme of repentance is elevated in this play as in those plays from which it borrowed so much. The scene ends when Christ leaves Mary and she "joins the other

Marys" to say that Christ appeared to her. Shortly after,

Christ appears to all of them, blesses them, and then dis­ appears. They leave.

The remaining action in the play develops the story of

Mary's conversion of the king and queen of Marseilles on the one hand, and that of Herod and Pilate's response to Christ's resurrection, on the other. In the latter, the two leaders 211.

try to explain away the disappearance of Christ's body by

sending a message to the emperor saying that Christ's dis­

ciples stole the corpse. A question arises: Why does the

author place this story parallel with the conversion of

the king of Marseilles plot, which shows the king about to

engage in a pagan ritual to bring about the conception of.

a child? If Christ's life, death and resurrection can be

seen as a middle road between the impersonal, highly poli­

ticized Roman view for stabilizing life on the one hand, and

the comical, chaotic "mumbo-jumbo" of the pagan ritual in

savage Gaul on the other, then the arrangement of the scenes

seems appropriate. Christianity is the middle way, and the playwright has given the Christian audience the "true" story, Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene, before giving the Roman version of the public and political reaction to the disappearance of Christ's body. It appears that the playwright was not satisfied with simply a sequential ar­ rangement of the plot, but sought to create the comparison of worldly and spiritual views to enhance the Christian way of life. The theme of rebirth is suggested in the scenes, I but remains to be developed later. Finally, the two plots are juxtaposed, because, of course, they will be joined when Mary Magdalen, along with other Christians who were persecuted, is set adrift in a rudderless boat on the Medi­ terranean Sea to drown, but through faith in God, lands The following page(s) contain areas of light ink.

Best images possible. safely at Marseilles.

However, befoo' oie two stories unite into a single,

main plot, there os ms more scene of Mary with Christ (II.

1219-1265). She and a disciple enter; she preaches in a.

kind of recollection of recent past events., riting Christ's

innocence, death, resurrection after three days and the

resulting effect on all disciples to travel far and wide

spreading the word. Her speech ended, heaven then opens

up, according to the stage directions, and Christ appears.

His speech seems, at first, to be unconnected to the present action. If is a passionate, lyrical hymx ir praise of His

Mother, Mary:

0, the onclipsyd some, the tempyll cf Solomon! In the .none I restyd, that never chonggyd goodnesse; In the shep of Noee, fies of Judeon. She was my tapirnak..I i cf grett nobilinesse, She was the paleys of ?hebus brightnesse, She was the vesse.ll of pure clennesse Wher my Godhed gaff my manhood myth: My blissyd mother, of demure féminité, For mankind ~ ie feynedes defens, Quewne of ' .ma' that hevenly cete, Empresse of ..-I... make resistens. (11. 1349-1359)

The speech end" r* abrupt turn to Mary Magdalen:

Butt now rot I remembyr tha" tendr=e~e, With her- v ’ cast me to vie if => d’ 3" *5, 1367)

Christ ther j . to tell Mary or ss o'" . a and ronvert the km r~z- -'seilles- Rar ' ■ : r\ ■ much as me angel Gabra^ ed the choice . c e the

■?xher of God. . because "He . my person

ver divlles m By vertue of le thinge 213.

was wrowth:” (11. 1386-?"). In oth : words, Mar- having

been a part of a'nrir.'.c;.* .nas litera. , seen and felt Christ’s

power, and therefore - believe a'

How then are the - • n -ise of Mary, the Virgin Mother and

the message to Mary Xac-i?len related, and why are they cc - gether /n one scene? Nc doubt, the ho r intends to force both a contrast and a comparison of ;.s,. In order to

show that Mary, the Virg.tn Mother, wes ’’uneclipsed" by no c~.'-'.'r except Christ, ' n .uding Magda... . the author portrays

Chr '-t. as praising Ph- rot her as th- 7 * opens. When

C'"' orders Mar . yc ;.alen to jor.r ...y .0 Marseilles, her

•• ;iy indicates r fa-.?? based on evii.-n-e. Mary the Virgin's

"arrh in the mes '•'"=■ f^om Gabriel, in the unraveling of

Christ's life ant was without the benefit of substar-

1 ial personal evidence.. Implied is that Mary the Virgin

'•’other's ’'ank in the hierarchy remains next to Christ d^- cause of a stronger fa/th. Yet, there is a comparison //■ setting a sixlarity between the two Maries, because

Magdalen nor -/rty enjoys the sight of Christ i” '.e? .ar ?nt she is visit-; ■- src<.

-.-ween Mary Mao ' ’zn d '•.. . . .er in the

'..ay. The firsA * -?■ ■ .7 -.y ■ icurney to

' ne to see Peter. ' ‘ . 7 - ._sc w . though she

pregnant. On ths gives " -y boy, anr than

. • narently dies. The. . - *- force the '• t; leave the g-een 214.

and child on a barren island of rock, and then continue on

to Rome. The king meets Peter and they go to Jerusalem.

On his way back, the king stops at the island, discovers

the healthy mother and child, who were preserved from harm

by Mary Magdalen's intercession. When the family arrives

in Marseilles, the king and queen praise Mary Magdalen in scene 41 above:

Rex. Hey11 be thou, Mary! Our Lord is with thee, the helth of our sowlles and repast contem- platiff! Heyll, tabirnakill of the blissyd Trenite! Heyll, counfortabill sokore for man and wiff!

Regina. Heyll, thou chosyn and chast of women alone! It passith my wett to tell thy nobillness! Thou relevist me and my child on the rokke of ston, And also savyd us by the hye holinesse. (11. 1940-1947)

The "Ave Maria" is the source for the line that begins the

king's speech and certainly for the "Heyll" of both speakers.

The reference to the "tabernakill" was part of the praise

that Christ gave to His Mother earlier (11. 1349-1359).

Thus, the comparison between Mary Magdalen and the Virgin

Mother was made by using terms frequently praising only the

Virgin.

The second comparison between the two women occurs in the last scene in the play (11. 1990-2139). As also noted, it follows The Golden Legend as well as the play of the As­ sumption of Mary found in the cycle plays. Briefly, the story tells that Mary Magdalen went to live in the wilder­ 215.

ness for thirty years, living on heavenly food, as did Mary

the Virgin Mother while in the temple before her marriage to Joseph. In the Digby play, angels descended to feed

Mary, praising her with song. Then she was assumed into heaven temporarily:

Assumpta est maria in nubibus; celi gaudent, Angeli laudantes filium Dei; ... (after 1. 2031).

Mary is taken up in clouds; heaven rejoices, the angels praising the son of God. The scene is clearly borrowed from the play of the assumption of Mary.

She is then returned to the wilderness, hailed by a witnessing priest who had watched at a distance from his own chapel. The incident seems, at first, to follow the

Golden Legend, merely adding more story, or, perhaps, pro­ viding an "eyewitness" for propaganda purposes. But if examined closely, the words as well as the general plan of the scene appear to contrast ironically with the earlier scene in which Mary was seduced by the gallant, with the help of the Bad Angel and the handmaid, Lechery. For exam­ ple, the priest, unseen by Mary, first sees the raising and return of Magdalen, and wonders, in language reminis­ cent of courtly love:

O Lord of lorddes, what may this be?

...Lord Jhesu, for thy namys sevynne, As graunt me grace that person to se. (11. 2040, 2044, 2045).

His following actions in any other context would be suspect. 216

«The priest enters^." . .the tosL’idirnese et . " to ". . ,'spye Mary « íj :.n devoción r.**' and then greets vary in her verdant re­ treat with words customarily addressee to Mary, the Virgin Mother:

Heyl,. crea:ure, Cristes delecceon! Heyl, swetter than sugur or cypresse Mary is toy name, by angylles relación. Grett art thou with God for thy perfithnesse. (11. 2046-2049).

Mary replies, saying she has been living in this "selle" and raised to heaven three times each day. Then, 'carefully, she accepts the priest into her company:

But thou art wolcum onto my syth. If thou be cf good conversación, (11. 2061, 2062).

The welcome is guarded, even if just momentary, and it re­ calls —by. contrast— her lack of modesty in the earlier rendezvous with Curiosity, the caliant, in the tavern (11.

T9u-c46i, The priest then clarvr .es and identifies himself as a man cf God, asserting (at 'pre that he is helped by angels when he says mass, and a,r . „Ives only on "that holy laana" of thr ~marist. As rot--: ■h is mode of svs-scarce is peculiar rrl, co Mary the-«r ■ v ' ''„her m, her stay at the temple before if- ronceptior ' ■''hr-st. Thus, by con- cresting Mary v •^lulrii with iei c r “all and then com-

:»ring her tc .’fr ' the Virgin • .p- . - . n che author emphasizes dry’s change Pm a sinner life ’ " o a saint like the h.ryin Mother ,

in this last scene. Jesus ~r rr re that Mary Magda_rn 217.

shall have a "crown to bere" and be brought to "ever­

lasting salvation." He orders two angels to bring the

eucharistic wafer to the priest whom Mary has just met, who, in turn, will administer the sacrament of the eucha-

rist (Holy Communion) to Mary. The priest gives her the wafer, and as she praises God, she dies. She is then taken up into heaven, and the heavenly choir rejoices in song.

But there is an apparent inconsistency in the remainder of the play. The priest promises to "cure" Mary "from alle maner blame" (1. 2128), by burying Mary's body in "alle reverens and solemnite" (1. 2131). The promise does not appear to correspond with the action which was just described in the stage directions; that is, Mary's bodily ascent.

Mary's physical ascent, however, appears to be symbolic of her soul's ascent. The Golden Legend's version of Mary's soul entering heaven while her body remains on earth concurs with the interpretation that Mary's ascent in the play is symbolic. In fact, the Legend adds an interesting parallel, saying Mary's corpse left a perfumed odor in the oratory of the church after her burial, referring back to Mary's anointing of Christ at their first meeting. The raising up of Mary Magdalen was symbolic, though the theatrical tech­ nique appears to be the same as the Assumption of Mary, the

Mother of Christ.

Indeed, this discussion of the scenes in Mary Magdalen which borrow from other dramatic sources clarifies and 218.

emphasizes major themes in the play. First, the theme of repentance appears in the pattern of innocence, fall, suf­

fering and repentance noted in The Castle of Perseverance, also. Second is the theme of a cyclic order in historical events where one incident prefigures a later one. Para­ doxically, the reverse of préfiguration, reference or al­ lusion to past events or myths is just as important in re­ inforcing the theme of a cyclic historical pattern in the play. This technique of allusion leads to a third theme of the play: the characterization of Mary Magdalen as an

"Everyman" figure who acts first in an amoral, then in a moral way. Referring to Eve or the Virgin Mother by vari­ ous methods in describing or characterizing Magdalen, the playwright has universalized an individual saint's life in­ to a history of Christian man.

The themes of most plays are emphasized in the setting and staging. In its staging, Mary Magdalen has borrowed heavily from cycle plays, Perseverance and earlier drama.

The result of such borrowing in the Digby play is an empha­ sis on the meaning of the central piece of architecture in the play. The following discussion of staging describes and explains the central structure and its meaning. As noted, the sources used for this play were the cycle plays,

The Castle of Perseverance, the Benediktbeuern Passion Play, the Fleury Playbook, and the Golden Legend. Of these, the two most frequently used are the cycle plays and The Castle 219.

of Perseverance. Of those scenes which appear to be de­

rived from the cycle plays, the two types most frequently

used were from the Marian plays and the Passion plays. Of

the Marian group, the plays of the Nativity, the Annuncia­

tion , and the Assumption of Mary appear to be direct sources

for the Digby Mary Magdalen. From the Passion sequence,

the playwright used not only those elements of Christ's

story, but also the famous Three Maries scene, in which

Magdalene mistakes Christ for a gardener. The staging for

both the Marian and Passion plays, according to Stanley

Kahrl and Kenneth Cameron in their articles in Theatre Note­

book , was either semi-circular or fully in the round, simi­

lar to, or the same as Richard Southern described and recon- 17 structed for The Castle of Perseverance. The semi­

circular arrangement, or theatre with the audience on three

sides, was exemplified in the staging of the Jeu d'Adam, de­

scribed earlier. Kahrl and Cameron's example of such staging on the steps of the church is the Passion sequence, in which the central playing area in front of the steps was occupied by the council house of the Jewish elders. They describe this circular structure as "curtained" and able to "hold at least six people (in fact, ten, if the attendants of Annas

17 See also Richard Hosley's "Three Kinds of Outdoor Theatre Before Shakespeare," Theatre Survey, particularly 1-15, and notes 1, 12, the second of which states that Duk Moraud., The Pride of Life, and the N-Town cycle all used the place and scaffold method of staging. 220.

and Caiaphas accompanied them)...[and] shaped like a chapel 18 or shrine." Then the authors add the most important de­ tails:

The curtaining is possible only in a structure that is roofed or at least provided with over­ head supports, in which case it obviously must have been open to all sides so that its interior would be visible to the entire audience.19

Elsewhere, the authors also describe this central structure

as an "oratory," and as being located in the same "myd

place" as the central structure in The Castle of Persever­

ance . Similar to the council house described by Cameron

and Kahrl is the structure illustrated for the Mary Magdalen 2 o play by Victor Albright in his book The Shakesperian Stage.

In his version, Albright has an upper level which is crenel­

lated like a castle. However, since Albright does not pro­ vide a ladder, the upper level does not appear to be func­

tional, as in Perseverance. Nevertheless, both structures described above are round with a roof structure which could be an upper level supported by pillars while a lower level stage is set on a platform, about two feet off the ground.

Structures used in other plays of the N-Town cycle, in­ cluding the Marian plays, are listed by Cameron and Kahrl.

1 8 Cameron and Kahrl, TN, 21 (1967), p. 163. 19 Cameron and Kahrl, p. 163. 2 0 Victor Albright, The Shakesperian Stage, New Edition (New York: n.p., 1926) pp. 16, 17. - 221. I

Those plays about Mary in the list that are sources for

Digby Mary Magdalen indicate the frequent use of architec­ ture:

1. "The Conception" Anna and Joachim's house in Galilee; Yakar's temple in Jerusalem; Heaven (see fo. 40V, "the hefne syngyng"); Jerusalem1s Golden Gate.

2. "Mary in the Temple"; Isakar’s temple in Jerusalem; Joachim and Anna’s home in Galilee; Heaven.

3. "The Parliament of Heaven"; Heaven.

4. The Salutation and Conception (which continues directly from "The Parliament".

5. "The Visit to Elizabeth": Joseph and Mary's house; Zakary's house in Montana: possibly the Temple....

6. "The Trial of Joseph and Mary": The temple of Abiyachar.

7. The Nativity Plays: Cordwainers pageant of Bethlehem.

8. "The Purification": Symeon's house; Heaven; the temple in Jerusalem; Joseph and Mary's house. 23-

The most frequent references are to the temple and to houses where Mary enjoyed praise as the Mother of God. The authors add that the staging of these plays was probably arranged like that in the Digby Mary Magdalen- The temple of the

Marian group and the central council house of the Passion sequence function similarly in dramatic and religious terms, providing for a larger group of actors (six to ten) at one

^Cameron and Kahrl, TN, 21 (1967), p. 156. 222.

time in a central place of worship within the larger moral

universe.

The group which does not appear to require a centrally

located architectural structure, the Nativity plays, may

have followed precedents in artistic renderings of the

birth of Christ. One such precedent is found in the Medi­

tations on the Life of Christ by St. Bonaventure, where

narrative descriptions of the Nativity were accompanied by

drawings. The description implies the existence of a structure:

At midnight on Sunday, when the hour of birth came, the Virgin rose and stood erect against a column that was there. But Joseph remained seated, downcast perhaps because he could not prepare what was necessary. Then he rose and, taking some hay from the manger, placed it at the Lady's feet and turned away. Then the Son of the eternal God came out of the womb of the mother without a murmur or lesion, in a moment .... (Italics are mine.)22

As can be seen, the birth in one way or another was aided by the column which implies a more sophisticated structure than a stable. The editorial comment on the picture of this scene is that the column appeared in the Meditations 23 for the first time, but occurred more often in later art.

In fact, the illustrations of the story of Joseph and Mary

22 Ira Ragusa, trans, and Rosalie B. Green, ed., Meditations on the Life of Christ (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), pp.. 32, 33. 23 Ragusa and Green, Meditations, p. 410. 223.

in the Meditations are dominated with architectural settings of the city, temple or house. Thus, the Nativity in some art forms was set in a more formal structure.

The cycle plays seemed to follow suit in using the city, the temple, and the house as settings. Therefore, it is quite possible that the birth of Christ may have taken place in the cycle plays in or near the centrally located structure which had columns, as described by Cameron and

Kahrl. What would be needed in order to give the appearance of a stable or grotto would be hay and shrubs to indicate the rustic nature of the place, which gives it a likeness to paradise in the Jeu d'Adam.

The Passion sequence and the Marian plays of the N-Town cycle have been used to illustrate the frequent use of architectural settings that appear to have been used in the

Digby Mary Magdalen. Before turning to Mary Magdalen, how­ ever, there is one more play which appears to have been a source of some scenes in the Digby play. In Cameron and

Kahrl,'s article, they described the paradise in the N-Town cycle as a place separated from heaven and elevated above the ground. 24 This brief description resembles the paradise of the Jeu d'Adam, which also included flowers, foliage, tapestry and trees with fruits. According to Cameron and

Kahrl, the basic structure would not differ from what the

24Cameron and Kahrl, TN, 21 (1967), p. 153. 224.

council house or temple appeared to be, except in the natu­ ral and artistic decorations.

This same structure would appear to function in the

Mary Magdalen play in each of the varied meanings given to the centrally located structures in the cycle plays. As

Bevington observes:

The central area must find room, at various times, for Mary's arbor, Lazarus' tomb, Christ's tomb, Jerusalem, Mary's lodge or hut near Marseilles, a rock in mid-ocean, a mountain or cliff where the mariners land, Mary's wilder­ ness, a priest's cell, and a baptismal font.2^

Using the temple or council house structure found in the

N-Town cycle fitted out like a castle with a crenellated roof, the Mary Magdalen play would not have to resort to large scene changes in order to produce the desired meaning for the central area. Taking each function of the central structure or area as Bevington notes, the central structure in Mary Magdalen is first meant to be the castle of Syrus who wills it to Mary before he dies. Later, Lechery en­ ters it and persuades Mary to leave for Jerusalem. Exactly where Mary is located in the castle is not given in stage directions or lines, but if Mary were in the upper level it would suggest the secular Castle of Love when Lechery enters, say, by a ladder to the upper level. In any case, after

Mary leaves it and meets Curiosity in the tavern, she exits

2 5 Bevington, Medieval Drama, p. 689. 225.

with him to a place unspecified in the play's directions.

It might have been convenient to go down to the lower level

of the central structure. Later, however, Mary returns to

the central structure to what is now called an "erbyr."

It is obvious that the central structure takes on the mean­

ing of a "bower of bliss," or a facsimile of the palace of

Venus when Mary wishes for lovers. The characteristic which emphasizes this quality is the presence of flowers and foliage, symbolic also of the perfume and ointment as­ sociated with Mary; the elevated and decorated structure of the Jeu d'Adam seems appropriate.

After Mary's conversion, her brother Lazarus dies and is buried. But where? If the lower part of the structure were shut in by cloth or boards resembling or standing for rocks, then the staging would resemble a tomb or burial place closed by a rock. When Christ calls.Lazarus to come forth, He could ascend the upper part of the central struc­ ture by ladder, utter the appropriate words, and Lazarus would appear from one side of the lower part of the central structure. The structure could remain in the same condi­ tion when it is used to represent'Christ's tomb for the visit of.the Three Maries, because the garden-like qualities of the arbor used by Mary earlier would also be appropriate at this time, when Mary mistakes Christ for a gardener.

The emphasis is. on the symbolic redeeming of the garden of 226.

Adam and Eve. The next representation for the central area

is vaguely as a part of Jerusalem while Pilate and the

Emperor occupy the attention of the audience. Perhaps, the

castle-tomb-arbor could stand as mute testimony refuting

the views of Pilate and the Emperor.

The central area remains vacant until Mary has per­

suaded the king and queen of Marseilles to investigate

Christianity. Then the king and queen decide to travel to

Rome to inquire directly from Peter. On their way by ship,

the queen and her newborn child are left on an island which

is described as a rock. The queen is believed dead and the

child apparently cannot be fed by any other means than his

mother's breast. However, when the king meets Peter, the

saint assures him that the queen and child are alive and

safe. The fact that Peter, the metaphorical "rock" of the

church, says this, suggests that the centrally located rock

is a metaphor for the church. The fact that earlier it was

a castle, arbor, and tomb does not change or inhibit its

symbolic meaning, but adds to it, combining the several mean­

ings into a more complex, yet distinctive metaphor for the

church.

When the king landed at a mountain on his way to meet

Peter, it is quite possible that this too was part of the central structure, or a separate structure centrally located, or located near mid-point, but not exactly in the center.

If so, another side of the central structure as described for 227.

Christ's burial tomb was available, again, without destroy­

ing the previous meanings or confusing the audience as to

what meaning the central structure had. However, the moun­

tain’s closeness to Jerusalem makes more practical sense

for the king's journey by foot and for meeting the same sailors in Jerusalem on his return to the central rock and then to Marseilles. Dramatically, both actions would be managed more clearly, practically and efficiently if the mountain were located nearer or in Jerusalem on the peri­ phery of the arena.

The denouement of the play, if it may be so named, oc­ curs with Mary's retreat into the wilderness where she lives alone in a lodge or cell, except for a priest who has been living also in isolation, though at a distance from Mary's location. The central structure, representing the rocks, tomb and garden in earlier scenes would suffice to represent the wilderness and the cell or lodge of Mary.

Bevington refers to a baptismal font as being located in the central area for the baptism of the citizens of Mar­ seilles, but there seems to be no call for this in the stage directions or in the speeches, though the central structure could open up to that function on the lower level, if it were called for. Yet the very basis for the central struc­ ture could well have been a baptismal font, fountain or even a well as illustrated by settings used in the civic pageantry. 228.

In this brief survey of the central playing area and

the structures called for in that place in the Mary Magdalen

play, it is apparent that The Castle of Perseverance and the

cycle plays provided general, if not specific, models of

structures for the centrally located structure in Mary Mag­

dalen. The Marian plays indicated the presence of the tem­

ple and a house, either signifying Mary's cell near the

temple, or Joseph and Mary's house. The Passion plays used

the council house as a central structure, which differed

little from the central structure envisioned by Albright, or from the castle in The Castle of Perseverance. All these

structures resemble in miniature the description of the in­ ner temple of Solomon:

Two double doors led into the "holy of holies" or most holy place, where reposed the ark of the covenant. This was a cube 30 ft on a side, the difference between the height of the holy place and the most holy place is evident; it is more probable that the floor of the most holy place stood higher than the floor of the holy place than it is that the ceiling was lower. This room also was paneled with cedar with gold inlay. Two large cherubim of cedar stood over the ark, each 15 ft high with a 15 foot wingspread, so that they filled the room. The roof was probably made of beaten earth...; it was probably surrounded by a crenelated parapet, attested in other ancient Near Eastern buildings.26

John L. McKenzie, S.J.., Dictionary of the Bible (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company, 1965), p. 874. See also 1 Kings 5.1-18; 6.1-38; 7.13-50 and Ezekial 40.148.35 for detailed descriptions of the temple in the King James version and 2 Kings 7.2-29, 3 Kings 6.2-7.51’ Ezekial 40.1- 42.20 in the Douay version 229.

The angels, the upper crenellated roof, the equidistant

sides are strikingly similar to the central structure in the

cycle plays or The Castle of Perseverance.

But where did the foliage originate? William Neilson's

study of the court of love recalled the poetry of Ovid,

among many classical sources, to describe what appears to be one source for the round structure with pillars:

The Palace of the Sun was lofty with stately pillars, bright with sparkling gold, and carbuncle imitating flames; the highest tops of which polished ivory did cover.27

In The Parliament of Fouls, Chaucer is more elaborate in a description of the residence of Venus. The description is based on one from II Teseida in which there is a park or woods with several different kinds of trees, a garden on a river, many flowers, birds and beasts, a temple "upon pilers

...of jasper...," made of brass, inside of which in a dark 2 8 corner lay Venus on a bed of gold (11. 120-265).

Chaucer's description is neither original nor rare, but was derived from and contributed to a long tradition, as William

Allan Neilson has amply demonstrated in his study; the tem- 29 pie of love was a part of most medieval literature and art.

27 Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book II, 11, 1 ff. 2 8 F. N. Rob in s on, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 2 nd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1957), pp. 312-313.

2 9 See Neilson's reference to ivory caskets that carry a scene of the "Castle of Love," and combat using roses as weapons, pp. 137, 138. 230.

The symbolic meaning of the central structure of the

Mary Magdalen play appears to be a temple from pagan and

Jewish origins.. As noted in Chaucer, the temple or Palace

of Venus included trees and roses in its many versions in

literature, art, and pageantry. But in the transformation

to a Christian context what was the meaning of the trees

and flowers? As noted, one of the roles that Mary the

Virgin Mother had was one who flowered with the fruit of

the Jesse tree, the genealogical symbol of the line of

priests and kings descended from David and Solomon. The

Prophets play celebrates the Jesse tree image and its con­

nection with the Virgin. As noted, the play commonly called

The Prophets was called the Play of Jesse in the N-Town

cycle. The Jesse tree had a strong tradition in Christian

thought and art, and one of the manifestations of that tra­

dition was linked with the ladder of virtue. As Arthur

Watson explains in The Early Iconography of the Tree of

Jesse, the tree of Jesse and the ladder of Jacob as symbols

of the Virgin were combined in some works of art:

They both are figures which stand for the Virgin and they both represent passage between the earthly and the heavenly.30

The significance of this combination of the tree and the

ladder in this study of architectural metaphors and settings is that in the play Mary Magdalen, the central structure

30Watson (London: Oxford University Press, 1934), p. 52. 231.

stood for many things without sacrificing one meaning for

another. On a literal level, the central structure of Mary

Magdalen represents the Palace of Venus with all of its

accompanying elements of foliage, pillars, garden and forest,

though specifically it was the castle of Magdalen, the

arbor of Mary, the tomb of Lazarus and Christ, the island

rock, or the wilderness retreat. On a metaphorical level,

the structure becomes symbolic of the church and temple as­

sociated with the Virgin as a transformation of the castle

of love. This meaning is emphasized in the play when the

queen of Marseilles and her child remained safe on the is­

land-rock, as Peter, the "rock" of the church, had predicted.

The fact that the structure represented a Palace of Venus

was clarified earlier in the play when Mary Magdalen re­

turned to the arbor after her rendezvous with the gallant,

Curiosity, and longed for worldly lovers:

A, God be with my valentines, My bird sweting, my lovys so dere! For they be bote for a blossum of blisse. Me mervellith sore they be not here. But I woll restyn in this erbyre Amons these bamys precius of prysse, Till som lover wol apere 31 That me is wont to halse and kisse (11. 564-571).

. Mary's statement suited the resident of a castle or temple

of love. When Mary fell asleep at the end of this speech,

she was admonished by an angel, and it is the turning point

31 Bevington, Medieval Drama, p. 707. 232.

from a life of sensuality to one of the spirit. The cen­

tral structure of the Mary Magdalen play appears to be a

literal version of the temple of love, but a symbolic ver­

sion of the temple or church associated with the Virgin Mother.32

This study has come full circle. It began in the first

chapter with a study of the Palace or Temple of Venus, the

House of Fortune and the Castle of the Virgin. The simi­

larities among the three indicated a borrowing and exchange

among them, culminating in a set of architectural metaphors which gave praise to the Virgin Mother in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the second chapter, devotion to the Virgin was described and explained. Such devotion in art, literature, ritual and drama often used the architec­ tural metaphor as a description of the Virgin. In addition, though the architectural metaphor expressed a stable but passive nature in the Virgin, her role as an active inter­ cessor in two early English plays, Duk Moraud and The Pride

32 Evidence which suggests a theatre in the round in the city of Norwich is the information Alan Nelson culled from historical records of the town of the fifteenth century. It describes and explains that there was a place called "Magdalen fayre" which was an open field where many civic processions ultimately ended their journeys, though not their ceremonies. It was also used for wrestling, which suggests banks and scaffolds like those in The Castle of Perseverance. The eight acres was also the site of the chapel of Mary Mag­ dalen and a college located nearby was known as the "Communi­ ty of the College of the Blessed Mary in the Fields." The play is written in an East Midlands dialect, similar if not the same as Norwich. See Alan Nelson, The Medieval English Stage, pp. 126-128. 233.

of Life, indicated a powerful belief in the Virgin Mother, a belief that was expressed in conventional and predictable terms by the beginning of the fifteenth century. One of the conventions for describing and explaining the roles of the Virgin Mother was, of course, the architectural meta­ phor or the architectural setting.

Parallel with the use of the architectural metaphor and architectural settings in religious, artistic, and literary works was the use of the architectural setting in tournaments and civic pageantry. Here, it was noted, there were structures and settings specially constructed to hold individuals who then participated in ceremonies with the royalty who rode through the city. Often praise was demon­ strated by having an actor play an angel who would descend from a castle symbolic of heaven. The architecture in most of the examples cited (from 1377-1556) was symbolic of a heavenly castle or temple that housed heavenly figures or personifications of virtues. These structures symbolically protected and celebrated the royal line of descent. The most frequent inhabitants of these symbolic structures were female virgins and virtues. The use and descriptions of these secular or civic versions resemble the use and de­ scriptions of the structures used in religious drama of the same period. 234.

Images of the Virgin Mother and architecture were

often expressed together in art to frame a particular epi­

sode, to symbolize her relationship in the redemptive plan,

or to indicate her closeness to the temple, church, and

city of God, Jerusalem. The relationship of the Virgin

Mother to architecture was described in chapter four in the

sedes sapientiae, in the use of a paradise structure and a

church of Notre Dame in Anglo-Norman plays, in the ele­

vated structures of the Figurative Representation of Mary

in the Temple, and, finally, in the variety of temple,

tabernacle and council house structures in the N-Town cycle plays. Such structures were placed in central locations

in an arena setting or in a semi-circular arrangement like earlier miracle and saints plays.

The same central structure, the same arena staging was described vividly by Richard Southern for The Castle of

Perseverance. The staging technique, combined with essen­ tial elements and themes of the play point to a symbolic meaning for the central structure as the church, seen as a maternal figure, which in its varying roles is associated with Eve and then with Mary. This interpretation is based on the information explained in the earlier chapters, the function of the structure in the play and the references to the Virgin Mother in the banns and the play.

The same symbolic meaning of the central structure and the same associations with Mary seem to apply to the Digby 235.

play, Mary Magdalen. Deriving its pattern, dramatic stag­ ing technique, dialogue and plot from cycle plays, passion plays and Perseverance, Mary Magdalen uses a central scaf­ fold in its arena staging which changed its literal mean­ ing frequently, but symbolically referred to the temple or church associated first with Eve and then Mary. As shown, the temple was consistently a symbol of the Virgin in ritual, art, literature, pageantry and drama in the middle ages and the renaissance. At the same time, however, architectural references through metaphor or setting in

Mary Magdalen also evoked the idea of the Palace of Venus.

This play perfectly represents the way in which metaphorical images and meanings during the English Middle Ages combined and amplified themselves from both pagan and Christian traditions. 236.

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