The Mystery Play

The “Mystery Play” was a well-established feature of late medieval English life. One of the most ambitious was that performed at the great cathedral city of York. The origins of the York Mystery Plays are to be found in the increasingly prosperous economic situation enjoyed by York in the later Middle Ages. By the fifteenth century, the city was second only to London. The text of the mystery plays is thought to have reached its final form by 1415, and was performed annually until it declined in the later sixteenth century, and was even- tually abandoned.

This play was divided into sections, with one of the city’s professional guilds being given the responsibility for each. The crucifixion of Christ, generally regarded as one of the finest sections of the entire cycle, was assigned to the Guild of Pinners – that is, to those who made nails. The dry humor of this would have been obvious to the crowd watching, as the dominant theme of this section is the nailing of Christ to the cross. The scenes depicting the death of Christ were allocated to the Butchers, and would probably have been enacted in the section of the city of York now known as “The Shambles,” which was the site of a number of slaughter-houses in the Middle Ages.

Music developed significantly during the Middle Ages, both in secular society and within the church. The importance of music in worship had long been recognized. In the late classical period, the musical form now known as “plainsong” emerged. Religious texts – especially the Psalms – would be sung “monophonically.” In other words, the music consisted of a single, unaccompanied melodic line. There was no harmony; each singer would pitch the same note, and follow the same rhythm. The most famous of these mono- phonic forms of church music is usually referred to as “Gregorian Chant.”