Editing Mystery play (section)

==Origins==
[[File:Mystery play 001.jpg|thumb|Mystery play, [[Flanders]], 15th century]]
As early as the fifth century, living tableaux were introduced into sacred services.<ref name=bellinger>[http://www.theatrehistory.com/medieval/bellinger001.html Bellinger, Martha Fletcher, "A Thousand Years Of Quiescence And The Beginnings Of Sacred Drama", ''A Short History of the Drama'', New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1927. pp. 115-21]</ref> The plays originated as simple ''tropes'', verbal embellishments of liturgical texts, and slowly became more elaborate. At an early period chants from the service of the day were added to the prose dialogue. As these liturgical plays increased in popularity, vernacular forms emerged, and travelling companies of actors and theatrical productions became common in the later Middle Ages.

The ''[[Quem quaeritis?]]'' is the best known early form of the dramas. It is a schematic dialogue between the angel at the tomb of Christ and the women who are seeking his dead body.<ref name=bellinger/> Early forms of the responsorium were later elaborated with dialogue and dramatic action. Early performances were given in Latin, and were preceded by a vernacular prologue spoken by a herald who gave a synopsis of the events. The writers and directors of the earliest plays were probably monks or clerics.

In 1210, suspicious of the growing popularity of miracle plays, [[Pope Innocent III]] issued a [[Papal bull|papal edict]] forbidding clergy from acting on a public stage. This had the effect of transferring the organization of the dramas to town guilds, after which several changes followed. Vernacular texts replaced Latin, and non-Biblical passages were added along with comic scenes, for example in the ''[[The Second Shepherds' Play|Secunda Pastorum]]'' of the [[Wakefield Cycle]]. Acting and characterization became more elaborate.

These vernacular religious performances were, in some of the larger cities in England such as [[York]], performed and produced by [[guild]]s, with each guild taking responsibility for a particular piece of scriptural history. From the guild control originated the term mystery play or mysteries, from the Latin ''ministerium'' meaning "occupation" (i.e. that of the guilds). The genre was again banned as a result of the [[English Reformation|Reformation]] and the establishment of the [[Church of England]] in 1534.

The mystery play developed, in some places, into a series of plays dealing with major events in the Christian calendar, from the Creation to the Day of Judgment. By the end of the 15th century, the practice of acting these plays in cycles on festival days was established in several parts of Europe. Sometimes, each play was performed on a decorated pageant cart that moved about the city to allow different crowds to watch each play.<ref>"Mystery Play | Dramatic Genre." Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 27 May 2013. Web. 6 February 2015.</ref> The entire cycle could take up to twenty hours to perform and could be spread over a number of days. Taken as a whole, these are referred to as ''Corpus Christi cycles''. These cycles were often performed during the [[Feast of Corpus Christi]].<ref>Windeatt, Barry. "Medieval Imaginations: Literature & Visual Culture in the Middle Ages." Medieval Imaginations: Literature & Visual Culture in the Middle Ages. University of Cambridge, n.d. Web. 7 February 2015.</ref>

The plays were performed by a combination of clerics and amateurs and were written in highly elaborate stanza forms; they were often marked by extravagant sets and special effects, but could also be stark and intimate. There was a wide variety of theatrical and poetic styles, even in a single cycle of plays.