Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Part 11

CHRISTMAS DRAMA

Origins of the Mediaeval Drama--Dramatic Tendencies in the Liturgy--Latin Liturgical Plays--The Drama becomes Laicized--Characteristics of the Popular Drama--The Nativity in the English Miracle Cycles--Christmas Mysteries in France--Later French Survivals of Christmas Drama--German Christmas Plays--Mediaeval Italian Plays and Pageants--Spanish Nativity Plays--Modern Survivals in Various Countries--The Star-singers, &c.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.

From Broadside No. 305 in the Collection of the Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House (by permission).

(Photo lent by Mr. F. Sidgwick, who has published the print on a modern Christmas broadside.)]

In this chapter the Christian side only of the Christmas drama will be treated. Much folk-drama of pagan origin has gathered round the festival, but this we shall study in our Second Part. Our subject here is the dramatic representation of the story of the Nativity and the events immediately connected with it. The Christmas drama has pa.s.sed through the same stages as the poetry of the Nativity. There is first a monastic and hieratic stage, when the drama is but an expansion of the liturgy, a piece of ceremonial performed by clerics with little attempt at verisimilitude and with Latin words drawn mainly from the Bible or the offices of the Church. Then, as the laity come to take a more personal interest in Christianity, we find fancy beginning to play around the subject, bringing out its human pathos and charm, until, after a transitional stage, the drama leaves the sanctuary, pa.s.ses from Latin to the vulgar tongue, is played by lay performers in the streets and squares of the city, and, while its framework remains religious, takes into itself episodes of a more or less secular character. The Latin liturgical plays are to the "miracles" and "mysteries" of the later Middle Ages as a Romanesque church, solemn, oppressive, hieratic, to 122 a Gothic cathedral, soaring, audacious, reflecting every phase of the popular life.

The mediaeval religious drama{1} was a natural development from the Catholic liturgy, not an imitation of cla.s.sical models. The cla.s.sical drama had expired at the break-up of the Roman Empire; its death was due largely, indeed, to the hostility of Christianity, but also to the rude indifference of the barbarian invaders. Whatever secular dramatic impulses remained in the Dark Ages showed themselves not in public and organized performances, but obscurely in the songs and mimicry of minstrels and in traditional folk-customs. Both of these cla.s.ses of practices were strongly opposed by the Church, because of their connection with heathenism and the licence towards which they tended. Yet the dramatic instinct could not be suppressed. The folk-drama in such forms as the Feast of Fools found its way, as we shall see, even into the sanctuary, and--most remarkable fact of all--the Church's own services took on more and more a dramatic character.

While the secular stage decayed, the Church was building up a stately system of ritual. It is needless to dwell upon the dramatic elements in Catholic wors.h.i.+p. The central act of Christian devotion, the Eucharist, is in its essence a drama, a representation of the death of the Redeemer and the partic.i.p.ation of the faithful in its benefits, and around this has gathered in the Ma.s.s a mult.i.tude of dramatic actions expressing different aspects of the Redemption. Nor, of course, is there merely symbolic _action_; the offices of the Church are in great part _dialogues_ between priest and people, or between two sets of singers. It was from this antiphonal song, this alternation of versicle and respond, that the religious drama of the Middle Ages took its rise. In the ninth century the "Antiphonarium" traditionally ascribed to Pope Gregory the Great had become insufficient for ambitious choirs, and the practice grew up of supplementing it by new melodies and words inserted at the beginning or end or even in the middle of the old antiphons. The new texts were called "tropes," and from the ninth to the thirteenth century many were written. An interesting Christmas 123 example is the following ninth-century trope ascribed to Tutilo of St. Gall:--

"Hodie cantandus est n.o.bis puer, quem gignebat ineffabiliter ante tempora pater, et eundem sub tempore generavit inclyta mater. (To-day must we sing of a Child, whom in unspeakable wise His Father begat before all times, and whom, within time, a glorious mother brought forth.)

Int[errogatio].

Quis est iste puer quem tam magnis praeconiis dignum vociferatis?

Dicite n.o.bis ut collaudatores esse possimus. (Who is this Child whom ye proclaim worthy of so great laudations? Tell us that we also may praise Him.)

Resp[onsio].

Hic enim est quem praesagus et electus symmista Dei ad terram venturum praevidens longe ante praenotavit, sicque praedixit. (This is He whose coming to earth the prophetic and chosen initiate into the mysteries of G.o.d foresaw and pointed out long before, and thus foretold.)"

Here followed at once the Introit for the third Ma.s.s of Christmas Day, "Puer natus est n.o.bis, et filius datus est n.o.bis, &c. (Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.)" The question and answer were no doubt sung by different choirs.{2}

One can well imagine that this might develop into a regular little drama.

As a matter of fact, however, it was from an Easter trope in the same ma.n.u.script, the "Quem quaeritis," a dialogue between the three Maries and the angel at the sepulchre, that the liturgical drama sprang. The trope became very popular, and was gradually elaborated into a short symbolic drama, and its popularity led to the composition of similar pieces for Christmas and Ascensiontide. Here is the Christmas trope from a St. Gall ma.n.u.script:--

"_On the Nativity of the Lord at Ma.s.s let there be ready two deacons having on dalmatics, behind the altar, saying_:

Quem quaeritis in praesepe, pastores, dicite? (Whom seek ye in the manger, say, ye shepherds?) 124

_Let two cantors in the choir answer_:

Salvatorem Christum Dominum, infantem pannis involutum, secundum sermonem angelic.u.m. (The Saviour, Christ the Lord, a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, according to the angelic word.)

_And the deacons_:

Adest hic parvulus c.u.m Maria, matre sua, de qua, vaticinando, Isaias Propheta: ecce virgo concipiet et pariet filium; et nuntiantes dicite quia natus est. (Present here is the little one with Mary, His Mother, of whom Isaiah the prophet foretold: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bring forth a son; and do ye say and announce that He is born.)

_Then let the cantor lift up his voice and say_:

Alleluia, alleluia, jam vere scimus Christum natum in terris, de quo canite, omnes, c.u.m Propheta dicentes: Puer natus est! (Alleluia, alleluia. Now we know indeed that Christ is born on earth, of whom sing ye all, saying with the Prophet: Unto us a child is born.)"{3}

The dramatic character of this is very marked. A comparison with later liturgical plays suggests that the two deacons in their broad vestments were meant to represent the midwives mentioned in the apocryphal Gospel of St. James, and the cantors the shepherds.

A development from this trope, apparently, was the "Office of the Shepherds," which probably took shape in the eleventh century, though it is first given in a Rouen ma.n.u.script of the thirteenth. It must have been an impressive ceremony as performed in the great cathedral, dimly lit with candles, and full of mysterious black recesses and hints of infinity. Behind the high altar a _praesepe_ or "crib" was prepared, with an image of the Virgin. After the "Te Deum" had been sung five canons or their vicars, clad in albs and amices, entered by the great door of the choir, and proceeded towards the apse. These were the shepherds. Suddenly from high above them came a clear boy's voice: "Fear not, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy," and the rest of the angelic message. The "mult.i.tude of the heavenly host" was represented by other boys stationed probably 125 in the triforium galleries, who broke out into the exultant "Gloria in excelsis." Singing a hymn, "Pax in terris nunciatur,"

the shepherds advanced towards the crib where two priests--the midwives--awaited them. These addressed to the shepherds the question "Whom seek ye in the manger?" and then came the rest of the "Quem quaeritis" which we already know, a hymn to the Virgin being sung while the shepherds adored the Infant. Ma.s.s followed immediately, the little drama being merely a prelude.{4}

More important than this Office of the Shepherds is an Epiphany play called by various names, "Stella," "Tres Reges," "Magi," or "Herodes,"

and found in different forms at Limoges, Rouen, Laon, Compiegne, Strasburg, Le Mans, Freising in Bavaria, and other places. Mr. E. K.

Chambers suggests that its kernel is a dramatized Offertory. It was a custom for Christian kings to present gold, frankincense, and myrrh at the Epiphany--the offering is still made by proxy at the Chapel Royal, St. James's--and Mr. Chambers takes "the play to have served as a subst.i.tute for this ceremony, when no king actually regnant was present."{5} Its most essential features were the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem to the Magi, and their offering of the mystic gifts. The star, bright with candles, hung from the roof of the church, and was sometimes made to move.

In the Rouen version of the play it is ordered that on the day of the Epiphany, Terce having been sung, three clerics, robed as kings, shall come from the east, north, and south, and meet before the altar, with their servants bearing the offerings of the Magi. The king from the east, pointing to the star with his stick, exclaims:--

"Stella fulgore nimio rutilat. (The star glows with exceeding brightness.)"

The second monarch answers:

"Quae regem regum natum demonstrat. (Which shows the birth of the King of Kings.)" 126

And the third:

"Quem venturum olim prophetiae signaverant. (To whose coming the prophecies of old had pointed.)"

Then the Magi kiss one another and together sing:

"Eamus ergo et inquiramus eum, offerentes ei munera: aurum, thus, et myrrham. (Let us therefore go and seek Him, offering unto Him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.)"

Antiphons are sung, a procession is formed, and the Magi go to a certain altar above which an image of the Virgin has been placed with a lighted star before it. Two priests in dalmatics--apparently the midwives--standing on either side of the altar, inquire who the Magi are, and receiving their answer, draw aside a curtain and bid them approach to wors.h.i.+p the Child, "for He is the redemption of the world." The three kings do adoration, and offer their gifts, each with a few pregnant words:--

"Suscipe, rex, aurum. (Receive, O King, gold.)"

"Tolle thus, tu vere Deus. (Accept incense, Thou very G.o.d.)"

"Myrrham, signum sepulturae. (Myrrh, the sign of burial.)"

The clergy and people then make their offerings, while the Magi fall asleep and are warned by an angel to return home another way. This they do symbolically by proceeding back to the choir by a side aisle.{6}

In its later forms the Epiphany play includes the appearance of Herod, who is destined to fill a very important place in the mediaeval drama.

Hamlet's saying "he out-Herods Herod" sufficiently suggests the raging tyrant whom the playwrights of the Middle Ages loved. His appearance marks perhaps the first introduction into the Christian religious play of the evil principle so necessary to dramatic effect. At first Herod holds merely a mild conversation with the Magi, begging them to tell him when they have found the new-born King; in later versions of the play, however, his wrath is shown on learning that the Wise Men have 127 departed home by another way; he breaks out into bloodthirsty tirades, orders the slaying of the Innocents, and in one form takes a sword and brandishes it in the air. He becomes in fact the outstanding figure in the drama, and one can understand why it was sometimes named after him.

In the Laon "Stella" the actual murder of the Innocents was represented, the symbolical figure of Rachel weeping over her children being introduced. The plaint and consolation of Rachel, it should be noted, seem at first to have formed an independent little piece performed probably on Holy Innocents' Day.{7} This later coalesced with the "Stella," as did also the play of the shepherds, and, at a still later date, another liturgical drama which we must now consider--the "Prophetae."

This had its origin in a sermon (wrongly ascribed to St. Augustine) against Jews, Pagans, and Arians, a portion of which was used in many churches as a Christmas lesson. It begins with a rhetorical appeal to the Jews who refuse to accept Jesus as the Messiah in spite of the witness of their own prophets. Ten prophets are made to give their testimony, and then three Pagans are called upon, Virgil, Nebuchadnezzar and the Erythraean Sibyl. The sermon has a strongly dramatic character, and when chanted in church the parts of the preacher and the prophets were possibly distributed among different choristers. In time it developed into a regular drama, and more prophets were brought in. It was, indeed, the germ of the great Old Testament cycles of the later Middle Ages.{8}

An extension of the "Prophetae" was the Norman or Anglo-Norman play of "Adam," which began with the Fall, continued with Cain and Abel, and ended with the witness of the prophets. In the other direction the "Prophetae" was extended by the addition of the "Stella." It so happens that there is no text of a Latin drama containing both these extensions at the same time, but such a play probably existed. From the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century, indeed, there was a tendency for the plays to run together into cycles and become too long and too elaborate for performance in church. In the eleventh century, even, they had begun to pa.s.s out into the churchyard or 128 the market-place, and to be played not only by the clergy but by laymen. This change had extremely important effects on their character. In the first place the vulgar tongue crept in. As early, possibly, as the twelfth century are the Norman "Adam" and the Spanish "Misterio de los Reyes Magos," the former, as we have seen, an extended vernacular "Prophetae,"

the latter, a fragment of a highly developed vernacular "Stella." They are the first of the popular as distinguished from the liturgical plays; they were meant, as their language shows, for the instruction and delight of the folk; they were not to be listened to, like the mysterious Latin of the liturgy, in uncomprehending reverence, but were to be understanded of the people.

The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries saw a progressive supplanting of Latin by the common speech, until, in the great cycles, only a few sc.r.a.ps of the church language were left to tell of the liturgical origin of the drama. The process of popularization, the development of the plays from religious ceremonial to lively drama, was probably greatly helped by the _goliards_ or vagabond scholars, young, poor, and fond of amus.e.m.e.nt, who wandered over Europe from teacher to teacher, from monastery to monastery, in search of learning. Their influence is shown not merely in the broadening of the drama, but also in its pa.s.sing from the Latin of the monasteries to the language of the common folk.

A consequence of the outdoor performance of the plays was that Christmas, in the northern countries at all events, was found an unsuitable time for them. The summer was naturally preferred, and we find comparatively few mentions of plays at Christmas in the later Middle Ages. Whitsuntide and Corpus Christi became more popular dates, especially in England, and the pieces then performed were vast cosmic cycles, like the York, Chester, Towneley, and "Coventry" plays, in which the Christmas and Epiphany episodes formed but links in an immense chain extending from the Creation to the Last Judgment, and representing the whole scheme of salvation. It is in these Nativity scenes, however, that we have the only English renderings of the Christmas story in drama,{9} and though they 129 were actually performed not at the winter festival[42] but in the summer, they give in so striking a way the feelings, the point of view, of our mediaeval forefathers in regard to the Nativity that we are justified in dealing with them here at some length.

As the drama became laicized, it came to reflect that strange medley of conflicting elements, pagan and Christian, materialistic and spiritual, which was the actual religion of the folk, as distinguished from the philosophical theology of the doctors and councils and the mysticism of the ascetics. The popularizing of Christianity had reached its climax in most countries of western Europe in the fifteenth century, approximately the period of the great "mysteries." However little the ethical teaching of Jesus may have been acted upon, the Christian religion on its external side had been thoroughly appropriated by the people and wrought into a many-coloured polytheism, a true reflection of their minds.