The Celebration of the Corpus Christi Festival in York

[Beginnings: Pope Urban IV]

Seal of Guild of Corpus Christi

The religious festival of Corpus Christi, or the Blessed Sacrament, was instituted by Pope Urban IV, about the year 1263, and appointed to be held annually on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. The original form of its ceremonial was merely processional, and is supposed to have been an imitation of the solemn march of the Ark under the ancient Law, on certain extraordinary occasions. The learned and pious St. Thomas Aquinas was employed to draw up the holy office, the devotional object of which was "to beseech God that he would please to make all the congregation taste efficaciously the fruits of our Saviour's resurrection, of whose passion this sacrament was a commenoration."

At Rome the ceremonies of the day commenced with the celebration of High Mass. This was followed by a solemn procession, in which the Holy Father himself appeared, bearing in his own hands the pyx containing the sacred elements. The clergy, both secular and regular, the bishops and cardinals in their copes, with their mitres on their heads, and all the prelates, ambassadors, and nobles of the papal court joined in the procession, and were attended by the various orders of monks, the canons of collegiate churches, and the several officers of the ecclesiastical chancery, each of whom was required to carry in his hand a lighted torch. In other cities of Italy, the festival was observed with similar ceremonies, varying in degrees of pomp and splendour.

We possess no authentic information of the time when the observance of the festival was first introduced into England. The chronicle of Sprott, which notices its institution by Pope Urban IV, whose pontificate commenced in 1261, records "the confirmation of the festival of Corpus Christi" in the year 1318; and perhaps, during this interval, it was transplanted from Italy into other parts of the Christian world. The same uncertainty exists as to the time when the exhibition of pageant plays first became part of the ceremonies used in the celebration of the festival.

From an early period of the Christian era, the performance of plays on religious subjects was resorted to by the clergy and monastic orders, as a means of instructive recreation, but for many centuries they were not exhibited beyond the pale of the church or the cloister. As civilization advanced, the dramatic taste became more extensively diffused, and the laity were no longer content to have an amusement which afforded them so much delight doled out to them by the ecclesiastics. At length, plays were written in the vernacular tongue, and the people took the representation of them into their own hands.

In France, this movement of the popular mind was in progress during the twelfth, and fully developed in the thirteenth century. In the year 1313, Philip the Fair gave, in Paris, one of the most sumptuous fetes that had been seen for a long time in France. The King of England, Edward II. was invited expressly, and crossed the sea with his Queen Isabella, and a splendid train of nobility. The magnificence of the dresses, the variety of the entertainments, and the costliness of the banquets, could not be surpassed. During eight days the nobles and princes changed their dresses thrice every day; and the people on their part represented divers spectacles, at one time the glory of the blessed, at another the tortures of the damned. What the citizens of Paris were able to accomplish, the people of England would not be slow to imitate. In the reign of Edward II. was written the miracle-play of the "Harrowing of Hell," the earliest dramatic composition hitherto discovered in the English language. It seems therefore not improbable that the celebration of the Corpus Christi Festival on its first introduction into this country was accompanied by the exhibition of pageant plays produced by the several companies into which the tradesmen and artisans of cities and towns were then incorporated. "Throughout the world," it has been observed, "in India as at Athens, the great religious festivals were the periods at which dramatic representation were exhibited."

[Beginnings: York]

The records of the corporation of York contain no notices relating to the Corpus Christi Festival of an earlier date than towards the close of the fourteenth century; but the proceedings of that time have reference to a more remote period when the celebration of the festival and the exhibition of pageants as part of its ceremonial, were in existence. Indeed, they were then spoken of as matters of antiquity. The first entry which occurs in the York records is of the reign of Richard II. On the 8th of May, 1388, "William de Selby, then mayor, delivered to Stephen de Yolton, 100 shillings, which Master Thomas de Bukton had given for furnishing four torches to be burnt in the procession on the feast of Corpus Christi." In the year 1394, an order was made by the mayor, bailiffs, worshipful men, citizens, and commonalty assembled in the guildhall, "that all the pageants of Corpus Christi should play in the places antiently appointed, and no elsewhere, viz. as it was proclaimed by the mayor and bailiffs and their officers, and if any pageant did the contrary, the artificers of that pageant should pay a fine of vjs. viijd. to the use of the city." In the year 1397 King Richard II, was in York at the festival, and a more convincing proof cannot be adduced of the celebrity which the city pageants had then attained, than the circumstance of a monarch, so distinguished for his love of splendour and show, having thought them worthy of his attention. The corporation took great pains to render the exhibition acceptable to the royal visitor. Barriers were erected for the King's accommodation; the pageant was repaired and newly painted; four new scenes and a new banner were provided; the players and the city minstrels were paid additional rewards; and the minstrels of the King and his suite, who probably took part in the performances, received a liberal gratuity.

[Twelve Stations]

In the year 1399, the commons of the city complained to the council that the play and pageants of Corpus Christi day, which put them to great cost and expense, were not played as they ought to be, because they were exhibited in too many places, to the great loss and annoyance of the citizens, and of the strangers repairing to the city on that day; and an order was therefore made, that these pageants, which were maintained by the commons and artificers of the city in honour and reverence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the honour and profit of the city, should be played in none other than these twelve places, viz.

1. At the gates of the priory of the Holy Trinity in Micklegate.

2. At the door of Robert Harpham.

3. At the door of John de Gyseburn.

4. At Skeldergate end of Northstreet end.

5. At the end of Conyngstreet towards the Castlegate.

6. At the end of Jubbergate.

7. At the door of Henry Wyman in Conyngstreet.

8. At the end of Conyngstreet near the Common Hall.

9. At the door of Adam Del Brigg.

10. At the gates of the Minster of the blessed Peter.

11. At the end of Gyrdlergate in Petergate.

12. Upon the Pavement.

It was at the same time ordered that the banner of the play, with the city arms, should be delivered by the mayor on the vigil of the feast to be borne in those places where the pageants were played, and should on the morrow of the feast be restored to the chamber by the hands of the mayor and chamberlains, there to be kept till the following year.

In the same year an order was made by the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of the city, with the consent of the commonalty assembled in the Guildhall, that all such persons as had liveries of summer garments of the worshipful men of the city should go with the mayor and worshipful men, on the feast of Corpus Christi, in procession to the church of St. Peter and the hospital of St. Leonard, and that they should have their torches borne and lighted before the procession every year, under a penalty of vjs. viijd. for default.

[Pageants in Corpus Christi Play]

In the year 1415 a document was entered upon the records of the corporation, styled "Ordo paginarum ludi Corporis Christi," which contains a list of all the pageants then comprised in the York Corpus Christi play, with a short description of the characters engaged and the action represented in each of them, and the names of the several crafts or trade-companies by whom they were produced and maintained. To this record we are indebted for much of the information we possess respecting the York pageants. A translation of it is printed in Eboracum, and has been transferred from thence to the pages of several modern works; and therefore to introduce it here might be deemed unnecesary. But the following more concise list, which is of a few years' later date, and gives merely the titles of the pageants and the names of the companies to whom they belonged, may not be uninteresting:

From the extraordinary number of pageants comprised in this list, it may be conjectured that all of them were not speaking dramas. The time appropriated to the exhibition did not exceed the day of the festival; and even the long duration of a midsummer day, "from morn to dewy eve," would not have sufficed for the performance of so numerous a series of separate pageants, had every one been accompanied with dialogue. Perhaps some of them were little more than short pantomimes or tableaux vivans, or what Dr. Percy describes, "a kind of dumb shows intermingled with a few short speeches." It is very evident, however, that long before the close of the fifteenth century, many of the pageants were represented with dramatic dialogue and action, in which professional, or at least practised players took the prinicpal parts. The proclamation published in the city on the vigil of the feast enjoined "all manner of craftsmen to bringe furthe ther pageantes in order and course, by good players well arayed and openly spekyng;" and required "every player that should play, to be redy in his pageant at convenyant time, that is to say, at the mydhoure betwix iiijth and vth of the cloke in the mornyng, and then all other pageants fast folowing, ilkon after other as the course is, without tarieng." Additional light is thrown upon this fact by an order, which was made in the year 1476, that "yerely in the tyme of Lentyn there shall be called afore the Maire for the tyme beyng, four of the moste conyng, discrete and able plaiers within this city, to serche, here, and examen all the plaiers, plaies, and pagents, thrughoute all the artificers belonging to Cropus Xpi plaie; and all such as thay shall fynde sufficiant in personne and conyng to the honour of the city, and the worship of the craftes, for to admitte, and all other insufficiant persones either in conyng, voice, or personne, to discharge, amove, and avoide. And that no plaier that shall plaie in the Corpus Xpi plaie be conducte and retayned to plaie but twise on the day of the saide playe, and that he or thay so plaieng, plaie not over twise the said day, upon payne of xls to forfet unto the chambre as often times as he or thay shall be founden defaultre in the same."

[A Single Text]

It unfortunately happens that only a single drama of the York series has escaped destruction. The "Excerpta Antiqua" of Mr. Croft contains "A pageant Play," which he professes to have copied from an original MS amongst the archives at Guildhall, and describes as "the sixth part of the pageant acted by Scriveners, Limners, Questers, and Dubbers." The subject is the same as that of the Scriveners' pageant in the preceding list, which is called "Apparicio Christi Thome Apostolo et aliis." All the known collections contain plays into which the subject of the incredulity of St. Thomas is introduced, but the drama printed by Mr. Croft differs from them materially both in language and construction, and affords reasonable ground for believing that the York pageant plays were original compositions which the crafts had obtained for their own exclusive use. We must therefore feel grateful to Mr. Croft for having rescued from oblivion this one specimen of a series of religious mysteries of an early date, the rest of which are now, in all probability, irrecoverably lost. A reverend critic has passed a sweeping sentence of condemnation on the whole mass miracle-plays. "In them," he says, "we have the most disgusting ribaldry joined with the deepest pathos; the most revolting blasphemy in connection with the most sacred mysteries of our religion." But this judgment is by no means applicable to the surviving drama of the York series. If it contain but a slender portion of poetic beauty, we shall search in vain for a single passage of either ribaldry or blasphemy. The solemn and touching incident which it represents is treated with a sober devotional feeling, and, as Mr. Collier observes, "it is conducted very scripturally."

[Moving Stages]

Of the mechanical contrivances used for the exhibition of the pageants and their transportation from place to place, the corporation records furnish very slight notices. The artificiers of York, doubtless, resorted to means and appliances similar to those adopted in other towns, which may be described with sufficient exactness from the accounts transmitted to us of the machines used at Chester and Coventry.

The theatres on which the pageants were exhibited, were large and high scaffolds placed upon wheels, so that they might be drawn from place to place. The scaffold was divided into two rooms or stages, one above the other, the higher one being open at the top. In the lower room the performers apparelled themselves, and on the higher stage they played. Hangings of tapestry or cloth were put round the lower part of the vehicle, to conceal from the eyes of the spectators the actors whilst they were dressing, as well as the machinery underneath the stage of action.

It is curious to observe how closely this description of the means used for the entertainment of the unenlightened populace of a barbarous age resembles that of the pageants exhibited for the gratification of the polished citizens of imperial Rome. The pegma or pageant used in the Roman amphitheatre was an edifice of wood consisting of two or more stages. It was supported upon wheels, so as to be drawn into the circus glittering with silver and a profusion of ornament. Gladiators fought, and musicians and other performers were carried upon them. When Vespasian and Titus celebrated their triumphs over the Jews, the procession included pageants of extraordiinary magnitude and splendour, consisting of three or four stages, one above another, hung with rich tapestry and inlaid with ivory and gold. By the aid of various contrivances, they represented battles and their numerous incidents, and the attack and defence of the cities of Judea.

[Economy and Order]

A short time after the compilation of the Ordo Paginarum, a change was made in the regulations of the annual exhibition of the pageants, which is indicative of their increasing favour with the populace. In 1417, the council rescinded the order made in the 22nd year of Richard II. by which twelve places only were appointed for the exhibition of the pageants in the Corpus Christi procession, and determined that "it was inconvenient, and contrary to the profit of the city, that the play should be played every year in the same certain places, and no others." It was therefore ordered "that those persons shold be allowed to have the play before their houses who would pay the highest price for the privilege, but that no favour should be shewn, the public advantage of the whole community being only considered." By thus removing a judicious restriction, it is highly probable that encouragement was given to the irregularities which at this period had become prevalent in the city during the celebration of the festival, and a few years afterwards were so gross as to call for ecclesiastical interference and censure.

That the peaceful proceedings of the day were sometimes interrupted by serious outrages, is evinced by the terms of the proclamation which was made by the city authorities on the previous evening:-- "We comand of the Kinges behalve, and the maiers, and the shirefs of this citee, that no man go armed in this citee with swerdes, ne with Carlill axes, ne none othir defences, in disturbaunce of the Kynges pees, and the play, or hinderyng of the procession of corpore xpi; and that thai leve thare harnes in thare innes, saufand knyghtes and sowyers of wirship that awe have swerdes borne eftir thame, of payne of forfaiture of thaire wapen, and imprisonment of thaire bodys." But the height to which these disorders had risen in the early part of the fifteenth century, is more plainly stated in the preamble of an ordinance adopted by the city council at the commencement of the reign of Henry VI. which was designed to repress the evils complained of, by introducing an important change in the original mode of celebrating the festival. It tells us that a certain very religious person, one William Melton, a brother of the order of Friars Minors, professor of holy pageantry, and a most famous preacher of the word of God, coming to the city, had in several sermons recommended the Corpus Xpi play to the people, affirming that it was good in itself and highly praiseworthy; yet he said that the citizens and others, strangers visiting the city at the festival not for play alone, joined in revellings, drunkenness, clamour, singing, and other improprieties, little regarding the divine offices of the day; and it was to be lamented that they consequently lost the benefit of the indulgences graciously conceded by Pope Urban IV. to those who duly attended the religious services appointed by the canons; and therefore to the said Friar William it seemed profitable, and to this he persuaded the people of the city, that the play should be on one day and the procession on another, so that the people might attend divine service at the churches and receive the benefit of the promised indulgences. The city council, influenced by the exhortations and wholesome advice for Friar Melton, obtained the full assent of the citizens to an ordinance, that from thenceforth the solumn play of Corpus Xpi should be played every year on Wednesday the vigil of the feast, and that the procession should be always solemnly made on the day of the festival itself, so that all the people then in the city might have leisure to attend devoutly at the mattins, mass, vespers, and other hours of the feast, and partake of the indulgences granted in that behalf.

Subsequent minutes show that the citizens complied with the order so far as to have the play on one day and the procession on another, thus securing for themselves two holidays instead of one; but they still persisted in exhibiting their pageants on the day of the festival, and the clergy were content to take the morrow for the procession.

It was not many years prior to the adoption of the regulations recommended by Friar Melton, that the religious fraternity or guild of Corpus Christi was founded in York; and it may be reasonably conjectured, that the profane irregularities by which the celebration of the festival was disgraced, had stimulated the ecclesiastics to form a permanent instituton to provide for and enforce the decorous observance of the religious services and ceremonies of the day. But it does not appear that any intention existed on the part of the clergy to intefere with or prevent the exhibition of the pageants. On the contrary, the separation of the play from the procession, would enable the guild to regulate the latter, without intrenching upon the privilege so long enjoyed by the crafts, of having the entire and exclusive management of their own pageants.

[The Corpus Christi Guild]

The Corpus Christi Guild, the formation of which was commenced in the year 1408, did not obtain a royal grant of incorporation until the latter part of the reign of Henry VI. The fraternity was then established under the government of a master and six keepers, who were chosen from the parochial clergy of the city annually on the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi, and they were empowered from time to time to admit to be brethren and sisters of the society, persons who from devotional feelings were inclined to become members. The first appointment of a master and keepers, under the provisons of the charter, was made in the year 1459; and the statutes of the guild were finally approved by the Archbishop of York in 1477. Where the guild had originally its "local habitation" does not appear; but in the year 1478, the master and wardens of the ancient hospital of Saint Thomas or Canterbury, without Micklegate Bar, and the brethern and sisters of the same hospital, transferred their house and possessions to the new foundation of the Corpus Christi Guild, and from that time the hospital and guild were united, and governed by the same master and keepers.

The Corpus Christi Cuild was especially dedicated "to the praise and honour of the most sacred body of our Lord Jesus Christ," and its members "were bound to keep a solempne procession, the sacrament being in a shryne borne in the same through the city yerely the Fryday after Corpus Christi day, and the day after to have a solempne mass and dirige."

During its comparatively short existence, the guild appears to have been in general estimation; and persons of the highest rank, both ecclesiastical and secular, were inrolled among its members. That any detailed account of the annual procession should have been brought down to us, was scarcely to be expected; but there is sufficient evidence to show that, whilst under the management of the guild, it was conducted with all the pomp and splendour which the church was then capable of imparting to the solemnities and ceremonies of her ordinances.

[Procession]

On the morrow of Corpus Christi day, the persons who were to join in the procession assembled at the great gates of the Priory of the Holy Trinity in Micklegate. The parochial clergy of the city in their surplices walked first. The Master of the Guild, invested with a silken cope, appeared as "presidens principalis." He was supported on either side by one of the clergy who had previously filled the same office, and was attended by the six keepers of the guild, with silk stoles about their necks, and white wands in their hands. The costly shrine of silver, gilt and decorated with a profusion of jewels, inclosing a vase or beryl in which the sacred elements were depositied, was borne in the midst by the chaplains of the guild. It was the duty of two of the keepers of the guild to attend diligently upon the shrine, whilst the others took care that strict order and decorum were observed. Singers attended to chaunt the proper services of the day, in which such of the clergy as were able to sing, were required to join; and the procession was accompanied with the usual display of crosses, tapers, banners, and torches. After the ecclesiastics came the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and other members of the corporation in their robes of ceremony, attended by the city officers and other persons bearing their appropriate number of lighted torches, and followed by the officers and members of the numerous crafts or trade companies of the city with their banners and torches, taking their places according to a prescribed order of precedence. In the streets through which the procession passed, a prodigious crows of the populace was assembled; the fronts of the houses were decorated with tapestry and other hangings, and their entrances strewed with rushes and flowers. From the priory gates they took their course to the cathedral, where a sermon was preached in the chapter house. Thence they went to the Hospital of St. Leonard, where the Holy Sacrament was left.

[Shrine]

The shrine, which was doubtless the most prominent and attractive object in the procession, was presented to the guild in the year 1449, by Thomas Spofford, Bishop of Hereford; and in every succeeding year the donations and bequests of pious members of the fraternity added to the number and beauty of its decorations.

The following minute description of it has been preserved:

"The shryne is all gilte, havyng six ymages gylded, with an ymage of the birthe of our Lord of mother of perle sylver and gylt, and thirty-three small ymages ennamyled stondyng aboute the same, and a tablett of golde; two golde ryngs, one with a safure, and the other with a perle, and eight other litle ymages and a grete tablett of gold havyng in yt the ymage of our Lady of mother of perle, which shryne conteyneth in lenght three quarters of a yerd and a nayle, and in brede a quarter and half and more, and in height half a yard and over, besides the steple stondyng upon the same; the said steple havyng a wether cokke theruppon all gylte, and a ryall of golde, four old nobles and two gylted groots hangyng upon the said steple, and also beyng within the same steple a berall whereyn the sacrement is borne, havyng in the said berall two ymages or angells of sylver and gylt, berying up the said sacrament, the foote and coveryng of which said berall is sylver and gylte."

[Resolving a Controversy]

From the frequent repetition of orders requiring aldermen and other members of the council to cause their torches to be borne in the procession either by themselves or their servants "to the praise of God and the honour of the city," and imposing heavy penalties for neglect, it might be supposed that the higher classes of citizens were indifferent to the performance of this duty, and that the practice was from time to time in danger of falling into disuse. It is apparent, however, that the crafts continued to be very tenacious of their rights, and very jealous of any infringement of them. A remarkable instance of this feeling occurred in the reign of Henry VII., when a dispute on a point of etiquette, which had existed for several years, at length became so serious as to threaten disastrous consequences. The contending parties were the Company of Weavers and the Company of Cordwainers; and the important question to be decided was, whether the weavers or the cordwainers were entitled to walk on the right hand in the Corpus Christi procession. The quarrel commenced prior to the assession of Henry VII. and was occasioned by an order of the council requiring the cordainers, with their fourteen torches, to go on the weavers' left hand. The cordwainers regarded this as a dishonorable position, and were so indignant at the preference shown to the weavers, that, rather than comply with the order, they refused for several years to take any part at all in the procession. To prevent the ill effects of a bad example, the authorities, both municipal and ecclesiastical, resolved to bring the offending artizans to a proper sense of their duty. On the morrow of Corpus Christi day, 1490, the cordwainers had again been "rebell and disobeaunt," in that they would not bear their torches in the procession; and on the 14th of July following, the council assembled in solemn deliberation, in which they were assisted by "Maister Tresorer of the Cathedral Church of York," and fully determined that the penalty of l10 incurred by the cordwainers for their offence, should be paid, "and all such other punyshment of person of the said cordwainers for non-payment of the same, should be as provided." And they further agreed that writing should be made unto the King's grace, the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Derby, and others as it should be thought necessary, touching the disobedience of the cordwainers and their riotous dealings. This proceeding seems only to have excited the craft to further resistance, in which they were encouraged by a factious party in the city. A few days afterwards it was reported to the council that Sir Thomas Brigthorpe, a priest, was overheard by another priest to say, that "there shold be two hundred men that were no shomakers, to tak the part of shomakers, and thai myght gett a furiouse man to set thame upon wark," and that the said shomakers "wold spend large money or the Maior and his brethern shold opteigne against thame." Another person heard the same Sir Thomas say, "that there wold be three or four hundred men not being sowtors, that wold name thame self sowtors and tak the part with the sowtors, and if thai myght get a capitan to set thame apon werk, they shold strike their adversaries down."

The council seem not to have followed up their threat of punishment with any active measures, but in the early part of the following year their application to higher authority produced the following letter:

"By the King."

"Trusty and wellbeloved, we grete you wele; and for asmoche as we bee enformed that grete divisions, discords and debates depend, and of long tyme passed have doon, betwix the artificers of wevers and cordevers reseant and dwelling within our citie ther for their going with torches in procession, whereby oftentymes thynges have been like to be attempted to the perversion and breche of our peas and inquietacion of our subgiettes of our said citie; We therefor entending good and peasiable rule to be observed and kept ther without any thing to be meoved to the contrarie, wol and desire you that calling before you th' artificers of both craftes ye will have this matier in good and deliberate examynacion, and therupon ordre and surely esablishe such a direction therin according to the olde usages accountomed there, as may be for the fynall appeasing of the said debates, without any further trouble or demaunde to be made in that behalf, and that this passe you not undirected, as we trust you, and as we have no cause t'arrecte or ascribe any default unto you hereafter.

Yeven under our signet at our palois of Westminster the xixth day of Fevrier."

Probably the King's interference had a salutary effect on the refractory craftsmen, as the minutes of this year contain no notice of any breach of the order. But their good behaviour was not of long continuance. On the first of June, 1492, the council deemed it necessary to re-enact their antient ordinances, by which the members of the corporation, and every gild, fraternity, art and occupation, were required to bear their accustomed number of torches in the procession under the penalties formerly imposed; and they again determined that the cordwainers should walk on the left hand of the weavers. Again the cordwainers were disobeident; and on the 28th of June the council ordered that "all such forfetts as be forfett for beryng of torches the morn after Corpus Xpi day last past, accordyng to old ordinaunces theruppon provided, shuld be leveed and rased withoute pardon, that is to say, of Roger Appulby, one of the xxiiij^ti, of William Barker, merchaunt, another of the xxiij^ti, xl^s; and of the artificiers of Cordwaners x^li, for nown-beryng of their torches, accordyng to diverse old ordinaunces."

Having thus asserted their authority, the council showed a disposition to conciliate the parties, and a few days afterwards they recommended the cordwainers to go to the weavers, "to th'entent that a lovyng communication betwix theym might be had, and uppon such communication had, if the said occupations could be agreed of the premisses, then thay to cume to-fore the maire and his counseil, and gif a awnswere of the said communication wheder thei be agreid or noo, and if thai cannott be agreable emonst tham-selffe, than the maire and the councel for to tak such order betwix thame as tham should be most exspedient in that behalve." After several months had passed, the cordwainers submitted, and the searchers with some of the princial members of the craft appeared personally in the council chamber, and "ther laye down in a purse ensealed x^li, whiche they had forfet for nown-beryng of theyr torches the morn after Corpus Xpi day last past, puttyng the said x^li in the will and discretions of the counseill, beseechyng my lord the maier to be theyr good and tendre lord, and al my maisters the aldermen and other of the counseill, good and tendre maisters, and not to take al that mony of theym, haveing in theyr discret and tendre considertion that the cause of their non-beryng was only in John Crak and John Smth, two of ther serssors, and not the defiant of the hole crafft, as tehy had shewed diverse and many tymes hertofore."

Thus the matter rested until the approach of the festival in the ensuring year, when this long pending controversy was finally terminated. The minute of the council, in which the circumstances attending this event are recorded, is drawn up with much minuteness of detail, and presents so curious an illustration of the manners and language of the times, that it cannot fail to be read with interest:--

"Assembled in the counseil chambre within the comon Hall, it was shewed by the mouth of my Lord the Maier, howe that the reverent fader in God, William Syvowes, Abbot of Seynt Mary Abbey, the nyght last to-fore past, send unto my said Lord the Maier a gentilman of the said Abbots, called Thomas Lovell, and shewed unto the Maire that this present day at nine of the cloke afore none, the said Abbot and Richard Chomley wold come unto the Freers Austyns, desiryng the Maier his brether and other of the common counseil to mette theym there, to the intent that the same Abbot and Richard Chomley, accordyng to the Kynges wrytting, myght take a loufyng concord in the matier of variaunce betwysx the craftsmen of the wevers within this citie on the one partie, and the cordweners of the same citie on the other partie; Afte whiche message shewed, my said Lord the Maier, and al the said presentes, furthwith went on to the Freers Asutyns, and there at the north end of the kyrk ther, met the said right reverent fader in God and Richard Chomley, and so togerder went into a place of Freers William Bewyk at the said north end; and the said Abbot shewed and opynly red the Kynges letters mysyve, in which emong other thyngs it was conteyned, that the said Aboot, Richard Clyfford, and Richard Chomley, call to-fore theym the parties to-foresaid, and to here and examyn the causes and travers emong the same parties, and over that to determyn and fynysche the said travers and variaunces, by virtue of which lettrre the said Abbot and Richard Chomely thought they should determyn the said causes without advice of any other; Whereunto my Lord the Maier answered and said how that the Kinges noble progenitors of theyr letter patents unto the maier, shireffs, aldermen, and other of the common counseil of this citie fful power to make ordinaunces and other establishments for the publike well of this citie and co-citicens of the same; and ferthermore to here and determyne all manner causes, quarels, controversies, debates and demaundes emergyng and surdaunt emong any persons cociticins within the said citie, or elles before the justices of assises, and byfore none other; All whiche graunts, liberties, and privilegies our sovereigne lord the Kyng that nowe is, of his most tendre grace, hath confirmed and ratified, ffor whiche consideration my said Lord Maier, his brether, shireffs, and al other the comon counseil of this citie wold not in any wise consent that the said Abbot and Richard Chomely, or any other foreyner, shuld by coloure or virtue of any wryttyng from the Kynges grace or from any other, entermett theym of any cause, matier or action surdaunt or moved betwix any of the citicins of this citie which in any wise shuld sound unto the breche of the fraunchesies and liberties of the same; Whereto the said Abbot and Richard Chomley answered, and instantly required and prayed my said Lord the Maier and al the said presence, that insomych as the Kynges Highnes hath writtyn unto theym commaundyng theym by the same wrytyng, in avoidyng his gret displeassur, to appeasce the abovesaid variaunce, that it wold please my Lord the Maior and the said presence that they myght somthyng do terein that shuld please the Kinges good grace in the premyses; and over that the said reverent fader in God, the Abbot, seyd and to-fore al the said presence opynly by his own mowth shewed, that rather or he shuld do or consent to any maner thyng tha wer to the breche of the liberties and fraunchises, or in-to prejudice of any ordinaunces of this citie, he wer lever to take a thousand pounds of the tresory of his monastery and cast down the water of Ouse, hertely praying and in al curtase wise requireng that my Lord Maior and the said presence wold be of that will and mynd to suffre hym and the seid Richard Chomley to have a communicaiton betwix the said crafftes; and they trust to God to take suche direction in the said mater of variaunce as shal stand with the mynds and pleasor of the Maior and the said presence; After whiche request and instant desire, my Lord Maior, by thassent of the said presence, graunted unto the said Abbot and Richard Chomley, they shuld drawe a pampire of theyr mindes, and to lett my Lord Maior and the counseil have a sight thereof, and therupon to giff answer agayn; Wherupon the said Abbot and Richard Chomley drew a paupir of theyr mindes, and send it to my Lord Maior and common counseill, which was overseen and ripely examyned by the same; and in so mych as it was thought ther was nothyng comprised within the same that was in prejudice and breche of any ordinaunce or liberty of this citie, it was agreed that the said Abbot, the Satterday next ensuyng, whiche was the xj^th day of May, if it so wald please hym, come in to the counseil chambre upon Ousebrigge, and there by thassent of al the common counseil of the city, to deliver unto the crafts of wevers and cordweners, two paupirs of award for going in procession yerly herafter with theyr torches the morn next after Corpus Xpi day, which paupir of award was eftsones opynly rede tofore the seid presence the seid xjth day of May, and by the said Maior and common counseil affermed and established fermely hereafter to be observed and keped."

As might be expected, the award, which is dated "Wednesday next after the fest of Seint John Beverlay, vist . the eight day of May, 1493," and subscribed "Willm Abbot of York," supported the ancient order of the council and adjudged the craft of cordwayners, " when the procession were solumpnely done the morowe next after Corpus Xpi day, to bere their torches honestly made and lighted with the craft of the weavers and going of the weavers' left handes, as had been there afore acustomed."

[Corpus Christi Guild Play]

Though the Corpus Christi guild was not permitted to interfere with the crafts in the management of their pageants, the fraternity had a play of its own, in the representation of which its members were engaged on certain occasions. William Revetor, a chantry priest of the chapel of Saint William on Ousebridge, bequeathed a mystery or religious drama, called the Credo play, to the Corpus Christi guild of York, on condition that this "incomparable play" should be publicly performed every tenth year in various parts of the city to suitable audiences for their spiritual benefit; the inhabitants of the places in which it was played bearing the expenses attending the performance. The date of the bequest is not stated; but it is noticed in the corporation minutes, that in the year 1455 the original manuscript of the Credo play had become worn and imperfect, and the master and keepers of the guild had got it transcribed; and the new copy, in which a memorandum was entered of the bequest, and the condition that accompanied it, was on 23rd of May, 1495, produced to the council assembled in their council chamber on Ousebridge, and in their presence the master and keepers undertook to comply with the injunctions of the testator by playing the Credo play that year and every tenth year successively. At the expiration of each decennial interval, from that time to the period of its dissolution, the guild was called upon by the council to fulfil the promise thus formally given. In 1505 the Credo play was ordered to be played before the feast of Lammas. In 1525, the Sunday before Lammas was appointed for the performance, which took place in the Common Hall. In 1535 the exhibition of the Corpus Christi play was suspended, because it was the year for the performance of the Credo play, which was played on Lammas Day in the Common Hall; and, as the Corpus Christi play was spared this, the city's use one half of the pageant silver, or money that was collected for defraying the expenses of their pageants. In 1545 the council agreed that the Lord Mayor should "call before hym the master of Corpus Christi gyld, and take an order as touchyng playng of the Creyde play as he should thynk good for the mooste proffett and advantage of the citie." But the crafts were not willing this year to forego the exhibition of their pageants.

[Guild Dissolved]

During all this period the master and keepers of the guild regularly made their annual procession on the morrow of the festival; and numerous orders were adopted from time to time by the council for enforcing the bearing of torches by different members of the corporation and the crafts. Little did the council anticipate the change which was then at hand, when in the year 1544 they ordered that, "for the honour of God and worship of the citie, the master of Corpus-crysty gild, and the priests beyng the same gild, with all other priests that goyth in procession uppon Fryday the morro after Corpus-crysty day, shall goo in the sayd procession in coopes of the best that can be gottyn within the said citie." Before the close of the ensuing year, the act of parliament was passed by which the possessions of every religious guild and fraternity in the kingdom, and of all chantries and other pious foundations of that description, were placed at the disposal of the Crown; and in May 1546, a survey and valuation was made by the Archbishop of York and other commissonaries acting under royal authority, preparatory to the confiscation of the gold, silver, jewels, and other property belonging to the Corpus Christi guild of York. It did not, however, fall immediately under the destructive operation of the act. At the return of  the festival in the first year of Edward VI. the guild was still in existence, and once more kept its annual procession, in which the gorgeous shrine which had been borne so many years in solemn pomp through the streets of the city, was for the last time exhibited to the devout admiration of the people. But neither the holy purposes to which it was dedicated, nor the beauty of its jewels and its images, could longer save it from the hands of the spoiler. In the first parliament of the youthful monarch, which was held in November 1547, such of the chantries and other religious foundations as had escaped the rapacious grasp of his predecessor, were given up to the king; and thus the doom of the York Corpus Christi guild was finally sealed.

[Craft Guilds Continue Pageants]

None of these events had the effect of preventing the customary celebration of the festival by the crafts. The performance of the Corpus Christi play, which had been continued regularly during the reign of Henry VIII., with the single exception already noticed, experienced no interruption on the accession of Edward VI. A slight indication of the change of public feeling then in progress may be traced in the minute of the council in 1548, which contains the usual order for the Corpus Christi play, "certen pagyauntes excepte, that is to say, the deyng of our lady, the assumption of our lady, and the coronacion of our lady." In 1550 and 1552 the performance of the play was suspended in consideration of the plague that was then raging. In the latter year one half of the pageant silver was agreed to be disposed of, at the Lord Mayro's discretion, for the benefit of the people "visited with the sykenesse which is nowe dangerouse in the citie."

During the short reign of Queen Mary, not only were the Corpus Christi pageants exhibited in all their pristine splendour, but the procession on the morrow of the festival was resumed, and other religious processions took place, which had not been previously noticed, though they are described as ancient customs. In February 1554 the council agreed that "Corpus Xpi playe shall (God willyng) be played this yere, and billets to be made forth as hath been accustomed, and that thoes pagieuntes tharof that were last forth shall be played ageyne as before tyme they were; and also that the xij and xxiiij^or, and all other occupacions accoustomed to have torches shall have warnyng to prepare every man for their torches ageynst the sayd Corpus Xpi day." On the 20th of April it was agree that, "accordyng to the ancient custome of the citie, the solumpne procession (with bryngyng forth of Saynt George, a messe, and a sermon) shalbe had on Saynt George day, and a messe with a sermon to be done at Saynt George chapell, and also Seynt George that day to be brought forth and ryde as hath been accustomed, at the chambre cost." At the same time it was determined that "procession shalbe also had on Wytson Tewysday, and provision to be made by the brigmaisters in the chamber upon Ousebrig for my lord maior, his brederne and maisters of the sherifs, the lady maioresse, with ladies and others, accordyng to the old laudable custome, at the charge of the chambre;" and further, that "procession on the morne after Corpus Xpi day shalbe lykewise made with torches and other solempynyties accordyng to the olde usage." The people returned with renewed eagerness to the enjoyment of their ancient diversions and ceremonies. The "leases for Corpuscrysty play" show a considerable increase in the number of places assigned for the performance this year; and the three following years witnessed a repetition of the same festivities. In March 1558 "the play of Corpus Xpi opon good and reasonable considerations was thoght best to be spared and leaft of playng, and tyme instant beyng both troublouse with warres, and also contagious with sykeness." A month later the aspect of affairs had brightened, and the council ordered that "John Branthwate, Master of Saint Anthony's, and his kepers, shall forthwith provyd for the playing of one play callyd Pater Noster play this yere, and that the furst bayn or messynger shall ryde in dyvers streetes within this citie appon Saint Geore day next, and the other messynger to ryde in like manner uppon Whitson Monday, to thentent that the contry may have knowledge that the head play shall be playd upon Corpus Xpi day next." This order was duly complied with. The Pater Noster play was performed on the festival of Corpus Christi in lieu of the pageants, and considerable expense was incurred in its production.

[Coming to an End]

In November following Queen Mary died. The gradual diffusion and final establishment of the principles of the Reformation during the reign of her successor, worked at length the discontinuance of the Corpus Christi pageants. That an immediate change was occasioned by the accesion of Elizabeth is apparent in the non-observance of the festival during the first two years of her reign; and from thenceforward there was obviously a disinclination on the part of the civic authorities to encourage the popular celebration of the festival, though they were constrained occasionally to comply with the wishes of the citizens. In 1562 the council attempted to defer the playing of Corpus Christi play until the feast of St. Barnabas; but the commons did not consent, and it was played on the proper day in both that and the ensuing year. In 1564 and the two following years, war and sickness caused the observance of the festival to be suspended. In 1567 the usual exhibition was resumed; and the ensuing year presents the first example of the interference of ecclesiastical authority since the days of Friar Melton. On the 13th of February, 1568, the council ordered that "insteade of Corpus Christi play this yere the Crede playe shalbe played, and the same to be provided for and brought forth by the oversyght and ordre of the chamberlaynes: and first the original or regestre of the sayd Crede play to be goten of the mastre and bretherin of St. Thomas Hospitall, whoo have the custody thereof; and after expert and mete players found owte for the conyng handlyng of the sayd playe, than every of theym to have their parts fair wrytten and delyvered theym soo that they may have leysure to kune every one his part; and the sayd chambrelaynes further to see all maner the pageants, playeng geare, and necessaries to be provided and in readyness, and as occasion shall requyre to aske advise and syde about the same." The book of the play was accordingly procured from the master and brethern of St. Thomas's Hospital; but doubts began now to be entertained as to the suitableness of the old religious dramas for public representation, and the council directed that the Creed play should be sent to Dr. Hutton, the Dean of York, for his advice upon it. The following letter conveyed the Dean's opinion:--

"Sal. in Christo. My most humble dewtie vounced. I have perused the bokes that your lordshipp with your brethren sent me, and as I finde manie thinges that I muche like because of th'antiquities, so see I manie thinges that I can not allowe because they be disagreinge from the senceritie of the gospell, the which thinges, yf they shuld either be altogether cancelled or altered into other matters, the whole drift of the play shuld be altered, and therefore I dare not put my pen unto it, because I want both skill and leasure to amende it, thoghe in good wil I assure you yf I were worthie to geve your lordshipp and your right worshipfull brethren consell, suerlie mine advise shuld be that it shuld not be plaid, ffor thoghe it was plawsible to yeares agoe, and wold now also of the ignorant sort be well liked, yet now in this happie time of the gospell, I knowe that the learned will mislike it, and how the state will beare with it, I know not. Thus beinge bold to utter mine opinion unto your lordshippe, I committ you and your brethren to the tuiton of God's spirit. From Thorneton the 27th of Marche, 1568.

Your Lordshipps in Christ to comaunde,

Matth. Hutton.

To the right honorable my Lorde Mayor of York and the right worshipfull his brethren, geve this."

On the Dean's letter being read to the council, they resolved "to have no play this yere, and the booke of the Creyde play to be delyveryd in agayn." This determination was not satisfactory to the citizens, and when the council were assembled, towards the latter end of April, the Lord Mayor "declaryd that dyverse commoners of the citie were muche desyreous to have Corpuscrysty play this yere." The meeting, however, "wold not agree but that the booke therof shuld be perused and otherwise amended before it were playd," and the festival seems to have passed without any performance. But in the following year (1569), the general wish prevailed, and Corpus Christi play was ordered to be played "on Tewesday in Witsone week." Preparations were made with more that usual alacreity, and, by a special order, fourteen places were appointed for hearing the play.

During the winter of 1569 a gloom was spread over the northern part of the kingdom by the rebellion of the Earls of Westmorland and Northumberland. Their avowed object was to restore the ancient faith; and though the attempt proved to be a signal failure, it would tend to bring into greater disfavour any exhibitions or ceremonies which might be regarded as "remanents of the old religion." For two years after this outbreak, no order was made for the observance of the festival; but in April 1572 the cloud had dispersed, and the council ageed that "my Lord Mayor shall send for the maister of Saint Anthony's, and he to bryng with hym the booke of the play called the Pater Noster play, that the same may be perused, amended and corrected, and that my Lord Mayor shall certifie to theis presens at their next assemblee here of his pleasure to be takne therein." The Lord Mayor's pleasure may be inferred from the directions given by the council on 14th of May, "that the Pater Noster play shalbe played this yere on the Thursday next after Trynitie Sonday next comyng." To add to the splendour of the pageant the sheriffs were ordered "to ryde with harnessed men accordyng to the ancient custome, and every alderman to fynde sex men, wherof iiij to be in white armour, and ij in coates of plate, and every of the xxiiij^or to fynd iiij men, wherof ij to be in white armour, and ij with calevers, towerds and the said rydyng." These proceedings appear to have attracted the attention of persons high in authority. On the 30th of July, the Lord Mayor declared to the council that "my Lord Archbishop of York requested to have a copie of the bookes of the Pater Noster play, wherupon it was agreed that his Grace shall have a trewe copie of all the said bookes even as they weare played this yere," but "first the book shalbe caried to my Lord Archebisshop and Mr. Deane to correct, if that my Lord Archebisshop doo well like theron." This condition probably rendered the order ineffective, as no further directions were given. In the following year the people made one more effort to accomplish the revival of the Corpus Christi pageants. At the annual election of mayor on the feast of St. Blaze, 1580, "the commons did earnestly request of my Lord Mayor and others the worshipful assemblee that Corpus Xpi play might be played this yere." To this appeal the Lord Mayor coldly answered, "that he and his brethren would consider of their request." This was a last attempt. From hencefort all notices of the Corpus Christi play, as well as of the Credo and Pater Noster plays, disappear from the minutes.

As the Corpus Christi pageants were gradually discontinued, other spectacles and diversions were provided for the entertainment of the citizens. In May 1581 the council agreed that "everie alderman on Mydsomer evan next shall furnishe three able men furnished in armor, and evrie one of the xxiiij^ths two able men furnished, to attend upon Mr. Sheriffes on Midsomer even next; and this ordynaunce to continue for ever if it be not altered." The amusements of Midsummer Eve seems to have acquired more importance than those of any other festival of the year. Besides the show of armour in the early part of the day, a play was occasionally performed, in which the machines of the crafts, now no longer required for their pageants, were sometimes brought into use. In June 1584 a bill or supplication was exhibited to the council by "one John Grafton, Scholemaister, wherby he desired, that for the furtherance of Midsomer shewe, he might be licensed to set forth certane compiled speeches, and also to have one pageant farme for that purpose, which speeches and matter were referred, first to

Mr. Sheriffes to se and peruse, and if upon triall and therof, the said sheriffs did thinke the same matter to be worthie the publishings, then the said Grafton to proceed according to his request, or els not." The sherifs having approved of the schoolmasters compilation, it was ordered that "the shewe shall begynne betwene iijor and fyve of the clocke on Midsomer even next, and to be endid by xj of the clocke, and than the play to begynne at one of the clocks at afternoon," and places were appointed "to heare the plays as followeth, viz. first place at Mr. Harryson, alderman, doore; second place at Connestreet end; iij^d place at my lord maier's doore; the iiij^th place at the common hall yates; the vth place at the mynster gates; the vj^th place at Goodromegate head; the vij^th place at Mr. Alderman Beckwith doore; and the viij^th and last place at the bull rynge upon the payvement."

On the same festival in the following year, Grafton's play was repeated, and the crafts of skinners, cooks, tailors, innholders, bakers, and dyers, allowed him the use of their pageant frames for the representation. About this period notices appear of plays having been performed in the common hall several times during the year by itinerant companies of players, some belonging to the queen, and others in the service of various noblemen. The divesion of bear-baiting was occasionally authorized by the lord mayor and his council, who countenanced the cruel sport by their presence.

But none of these entertainments appear to have afforded the same gratification, or to have been undertaken with the same alacrity, as the Corpus Christi pageants for which they were substituted. A degree of coercion was sometimes necessary to induce the citizens to take their allotted parts in the processions. A few days after the usual show on Midsummer eve 1584, "Robert Pacock, merchant, beyng one of the persons whiche made default at the said shewe, personally appered before the council, and was fyned by theym therfor vj^s. viij^d. which he payd, and had iij^s. iiij^d. therof gyven hym ageyne; and than the said Robert spake and sayed openly before and to the council theis unfittyng and unsemely wordes, or the like in effecte, viz. 'I have boght a halbert which cose me xx^s. and it is so moche dearer by this iij^s. iiij^d. whiche I have now payed, and I will sell it and never come at that shewe whilk I lyve; fyne me xx^li. and ye will;" whereupon it was agreed by the council that the said Robert Pacock should pay xx^s. for a fine forthwith, without mitigation or forgiveness, or else be immeidately committed to ward, there to remain for the space of two months for his said offence.

It was, unquestionably, with the utmost reluctance, and after a protracted struggle, that the citizens of York were ultimately constrained to relinquish the celebration of the Corpus Christi festival, which during nearly three centuries they had regarded as the great holiday of the year,--the day on which their "pageants of delight were played." Its annual return was hailed with anticipation of unbounded pleasure; every tradesman and artisan, however humble his rank or occupation, felt a personal interest in the management and success of the pageant of his craft; and the events of the day were interwoven with all his more joyous recollections and associations. But the time had at length arrived when these representations, in which the most sacred topics were treated with unbecoming familiarity, were no longer necessary as vehicles of instruction, and had become justly offensive to the taste and feelings of the more enlightened classes of the community. In the most palmy days of their popularity, miracle plays did not escape severe censure. Perhaps their best defence is that offered by an eminent writer of modern times, who had concluded his account of the dramatic mysteries of the fifteenth century with these words: "It is certain that they had their use not only in teaching the great truths of scripture to men who could not read the bible, but in abolishing the barbarous attachment to military games and the bloody contentions of the tournament which had so long prevailed as the sole species of popular amusement. Rude and even ridiculous as they were, they softened the manners of the people, by diverting the public attention to spectacles in which the mind was concerned, and by creating a regard for other arts than those of bodily strength and savage valour."