- Introduction
Learn- Try It
- Task
Learn
Medieval Life
When the Roman Empire fell, there was no strong governing power to rule and provide order to the people. The Catholic Church filled the void to establish order and rule and in return, it became the most dominant institution in medieval life.
“Genserich's Invasion Of Rome” by Karl Bryullov (1833 – 1835) depicts of a sacking of Rome in 455. Image is in the public domain. See larger version at Tretyakov Gallery.
The Catholic Church had a great problem throughout Europe: the Bibles and sermons were in Latin, which was a language that the common people couldn’t read or understand.
How did the church teach its followers? The answer is theatre!
Mystery and Miracle Plays
Because so few in the general public could read the scriptures, the church began to use plays as a way to communicate biblical stories in a clear and powerful way. For much of the Middle Ages, these plays told stories from the Bible. These plays are referred to as mystery plays because they focused on the mysteries of the Bible and God’s power. A slight variation to mystery plays is the miracle play which focuses on the miracles of the Bible and of the Catholic saints.
Many stories were performed one after the other in what became known as cycles. These cycles could last as long as four days for the complete cycle to be performed.
One of the most famous cycles is the Wakefield Cycle which was staged in Wakefield, England and consisted of 32 plays. The thirteenth play in the Wakefield Cycle was called The Second Shepherds Play; it is considered one of the best cycle plays of the Middle Ages and is still performed today in some theaters.
This print from a 1825 engraving shows a typical mystery play performed on a pageant wagon in the 1400s. It was based on contemporary written reports and is titled “Representation of a Pageant Vehicle at the time of Performance.” Image is in the public domain. See full version here.
Staging of these plays was very creative. Instead of having great theaters like during the Roman Empire, the church utilized pageant wagons, which are moveable stages or wagons used to accommodate cycles, similar to a modern-day parade float. When one play was finished, horses would pull the pageant wagon away and another wagon for the next play would be brought in. These wagons would also go to different parts of the city or village to perform for additional groups of people. Therefore, the cycle would be performed for different neighborhoods, reaching as many people as possible.
Morality Play
Before the end of the Middle Ages, a new type of play became prevalent in the church. It was the morality play. With these plays, the church attempted to teach a moral lesson to the audience. Usually, the main character would be tempted by one of the seven cardinal sins also called the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride but would remain virtuous to biblical teachings.
These plays were staged differently and were located in or around the church itself. Several small huts or houses called mansions would be on the stage visible to the audience. Each mansion would face a common performance area called the platea. The audience knew that the scene was changing based off which mansion the actors came from.
Published in 1577, this frontispiece of The Passion and Resurrection of the Savior is a painting of the stage design for the play. It was painted by Hubert Cailleau and depicts mansions representing different locations in the play, including Limbo/Purgatory, Hell, the Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, and Heaven, among others. This is the most detailed surviving example of stage design involving mansions. Image is in the public domain. See larger version at the National Library of France.
Everyman
The most famous morality play is Everyman. As was more common in those days, we don’t actually know who wrote it. Scholars believe several versions of this play were performed from the late 1400s into the early 1500s. Everyman was published several times by two different publishers in the 1500s.
In this morality play, the main character is called Everyman, and he represents humanity. Everyman is tempted by the 7 deadly sins, resists, and earns salvation.
Watch the video Medieval: Everyman (08:15), paying attention to the different characters representing the sins tempt Everyman. PBS login information.
The woodcut frontispiece an illustration facing the title page of a book from a printing of Everyman c. 1530, published by John Skot. Image is in the public domain.
