Four Latin Plays of St. Nicholas: From the Twelfth-Century Fleury Play-book [Reprint 2016 ed.] 9781512809817

Table of contents :
Foreword
Contents
I. The Manuscript
II. The Life of St Nicholas and Development of His Cult
III. The Legends of the Fleury Plays; Their Sources and Development
IV. Iconography of the Legends
V. Versification of the Plays
VI. The Music of the Plays
VII. Some Dramatic Aspects of the Plays
VIII. Text of the Fleury Plays of St Nicholas
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS

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FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF S T N I C H O L A S from the 12th Century Fleury Play-book Text and Commentary, with a Study of the Music of the Plays, and of the Sources and Iconography of the Legends By OTTO E. ALBRECHT

U N I V E R S I T Y OF P E N N S Y L V A N I A P R E S S Philadelphia London:

Humphrey Milford:

1935

Oxford University

Press

Copyright, 1935 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS Manufactured in the United States of America by the Lancaster Press, Inc., Lancaster, Pa.

FOREWORD The present study was begun as a doctoral dissertation, and as such was accepted by the Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania in M a y , 1 9 3 1 . Since that time, in the light of new material, it has been considerably enlarged and extended in scope. An ideal edition of these plays would include a facsimile reproduction of the M S , and a transcription in modern notation of the music. The great expense involved has forced me to abandon these features for the present, but I hope at some future time to publish such an edition of all ten liturgical dramas in the Fleury play-book. It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor Jean Beck, who not only suggested the subject of this study, but to whom I owe my initiation into medieval literature and musicology. I am grateful, f o r helpful suggestions, to Provost Josiah H . Penniman, and to Professors Albert C. Baugh, J . P . Wickersham Crawford, and W . Shaffer Jack, of the University of Pennsylvania, and to Professor Karl Young of Yale University, for his assistance and encouragement. M y colleague, Professor François de la Fontainerie, deserves thanks for his efficient proof-reading, and is naturally not responsible f o r any of the views which I have expressed. I wish particularly to thank the staffs of the following libraries for their friendly co-operation: the University of Pennsylvania Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Yarnall Library of Theology, the Library of the Pennsylvania Museum of Art, the New Y o r k Public Library, the Yale University Library, the Bibliothèque Municipale of Orleans, and the Office de Documentation de la Biblio[v]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS thèque Nationale in Paris. Finally, I wish to acknowledge a grant from the University of Pennsylvania Research Fund which has made possible securing photostats of certain M S S which I have quoted. O. E. A . Philadelphia,

May,

1935.

[vi]

CONTENTS CHAPTER

PAGE V

Foreword I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII.

The Manuscript

i

The Life of St Nicholas and Development of His Cult

9

The Legends of the Fleury Plays; Their Sources and Development

17

Iconography of the Legends

55

Versification of the Plays

75

The Music of the Plays

90

Some Dramatic Aspects of the Plays

107

Text of the Fleury Plays of St Nicholas

117

Bibliography

J

43

Index

J

57

[vii]

ILLUSTRATIONS The 12th Century Font in Winchester Cathedral

frontispiece

T h e Earliest Occurrence in A r t of the Tres Clerici

M S Orléans 2 0 1 , Page 193

Legend

facing page 90

A Page from the Play Iconio Sancii

[ix]

Nicholai

I T H E MANUSCRIPT DESCRIPTION

The M S containing the four plays which form the subject of this study is preserved in the public library at Orléans ( M S 2 0 1 , olim 178, Miscellanea Floriacensia saec. xiii). In addition to the miracle plays of St Nicholas, which we will designate in this study as Très Filiae, Très Clerici, Iconio Sancii Nicholai, and Filius Getronis, it contains six strictly liturgical dramas, making it probably the most extensive and precious collection of medieval Latin drama extant. Originally in the possession of the monastery of Fleury, 1 it passed at the Revolution, along with other valuable M S S from the same abbey, to the nearby library of Orléans. 2 The M S is written on parchment, 16.2 x 14.4 cm., is bound in white leather, and consists of 251 pages.® The numbering is by a much later hand than the text. At the beginning of the first three plays, the same hand that numbered the pages has written in the margin 1ère, 2ieme, ¿ième, respectively. The handwriting of the text shows considerable care, and the notator, who may have been the * Called al so St Benoît-sur-Loire, after the translation thither of the relics of St Benedict in 65s or 660. 2 A f a r greater number of Fleury M S S are to be found in the Vatican Library, having found their way there, some from the library of Queen Christina of Sweden, others from the Palatine Library at Heidelberg. Both of these collections had acquired the M S S from scholars of Orleans, who rescued them at the time of the pillage of the abbey of Fleury during the religious wars. For a detailed account of the dispersal of the Fleury M S S , cf A . Septier, Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque d'Orléans, Orléans, 1820, pp. i i - S , and G . Chenesseau, L'Abbaye de Fleury à Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Paris, 1931, pp. 85-9. 3 Ch. Cuissard, La Bibliothèque d'Orléans (Catalogue général des Manuscrits des Bibliothèques publiques de France, Série iv, Départements, xii), Paris, 1889, pp. 108-9. T h e first catalog to give a description of the M S is Septier, pp. 1 1 3 - 4 .

[1]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS same person as the scribe, 4 generally places the neumes directly above their syllables. In a f e w cases w h e r e a series of neumes has been copied without consulting the text f o r their position, and where there might be some doubt as to which syllables they belonged to, vertical strokes have been drawn to indicate the relation between syllables and notes. T h a t the text w a s written b e f o r e the music is indicated by the absence of notes over textual e r r o r s that have been corrected by subpunctuation or by underlining, and by the crowding of the notes when a complex ligature occurs on a single syllable of only one or two letters. In some cases the staff has been drawn f o r a whole p a g e b e f o r e the text w a s written, as there are no gaps in the staff where the rubric occurs. T h i s is true f o r the second play and f o r most of the first, a f t e r the middle of p. 1 7 9 . U p to that point space has been l e f t f o r important capitals and f o r indication of the action. In the last t w o plays, however, which are notable f o r their extremely f u l l indications of action and setting, all but the very shortest directions stand in f r e e space, proving that the text w a s written b e f o r e the staff w a s drawn. T h e staff varies considerably in width and in the straightness of its lines, being d r a w n occasionally free-hand with only points in the m a r g i n f o r a g u i d e ; o r perhaps only one of the f o u r lines w a s ruled, and the others made as nearly parallel as possible free-hand. T h e text has a moderate number of conventional abbreviations and contractions characteristic of the period. The rubric has about twice as many as the text p r o p e r , as the presence of the music necessitated taking up a certain amount of space so that the notes might be clearly distinguished, while the rubric permitted a maximum number of contractions. T h e scribe has not, h o w e v e r , used the contractions consistently. T h e lines of the musical staff are in red, as is usual in 4

T h e c clef-sign ¡9 the same as the c of the scribe's alphabet.

[2]

THE MANUSCRIPT 1 2 t h century French notation. Capitals are colored green, the only elaborate capitals being those at the beginning of the first two plays, and at the first line of the decasyllabic stanzas of the Tres Filiae. T h e initial I of the first word of this play, however, is in red and extends down over four lines of text and music. A heavy stroke in green, drawn through the first few words of the text of each play, serves instead of underlining to mark these initial passages. The same device is also used several times in the Tres Filiae at the beginning of stanzas, and has been indicated by underlining in this edition of the text. In the other three plays it occurs only infrequently, but where found, it is used in both text and rubric. CONTENTS

Pages I—175 contain sermons, in various hands, on the Virgin, on Lent, and on certain Church festivals. T h e plays occupy pp. 1 7 6 - 2 4 3 , and the subjects of which they treat include, beside the four dealing with St Nicholas, the following familiar liturgical subjects: Officium Stellae ( T h e Coming of the M a g i ) , Ordo Rachelis ( T h e Slaughter of the Innocents), Visitatio Sepulchri ( T h e Three M a r y s at the T o m b ) , Peregrinus ( T h e Journey to E m m a u s ) , and two, less frequently dramatized, the Conversion of St Paul and the Raising of Lazarus. 5 On p. 244 begins a hymn in honor of St Laumer, with music, and the M S ends with a prose in honor of the Virgin. T h e plays are apparently the only part of the M S that has been published. DATE

Although it is generally conceded that the plays of the Fleury M S are of the 1 2 t h century, or perhaps even earlier, most editors follow the catalogs of Septier and Cuissard and assign the M S itself to the 13th century. T h e musical 5 A l l ten plays are edited in the collections of M o n m e r q u i , W r i g h t , Du M e r i l , Coussemaker, and Y o u n g , mentioned on pp. 6-8.

[3]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS notation, however, to be discussed in a later chapter, seems to indicate clearly that although the M S may not be the original of the plays, it was nevertheless written during the 12th century, f o r by the 13th the regular square notation, in which the stem does not rise above the note, is standard in France." P L A C E OF COMPOSITION

That the plays in the Fleury M S were actually composed at the monastery of that name cannot be certainly proved, since there is no internal evidence such as we find in the Daniel play from Beauvais. 7 W e know, however, that beginning with Abbo, who was abbot from 988 to 1004, the monastery enjoyed during the n t h and 12th centuries a period of brilliant literary production.8 Besides Abbo himself, the poets of Fleury number Aimoin, author of a rimed life of St Benedict, Arnoul, who put into verse the miracles of St Benedict, Eudes, Giraud, Gontard, and Raoul T o r taire. The last-named, besides writing a large quantity of poetry, is known to have taught versification at the abbey school." That the tradition of the liturgical drama was established at Fleury at an early date is evident from the statement in the Regularis Concordia of St Ethelwold, drawn up at Winchester between 965 and 975, that the 8

Cf. the facsimile of the 13th century Chansonnier Cangi, ed. J . Beck (Corpus Cantilenarum Medii Aevri, premiire sbrie, Let Chansonniers des Troubadours et des Trouvires, i), Paris and Philadelphia, 1927. Concerning the square notation, Peter Wagner, Einfuehrung in die Gregorianischen Melodien, and ed., Leipzig, 1912, ii, 319, says: In dieser Quadratschrift sind die diastematischen Neumendokumente Nordfrankreichs und Englands seit dem Ende des 12. Jahrhunderts abgefasst. Im 13. Jahrhundert nahmen ihre Punkte die quadratische Form in noch energischerer Auspraegung an. 7 Karl Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church, Oxford, 1933, ii, 390, verse 3. 8 Chenesseau, p. 78. • E. de Certain, Raoul Tortaire, in Bibliothique de l'Ecole des Charles, zvi (1855), 495-8. The verse of Raoul has recently been edited by M . B . Ogle and D. M. Schullian: Rodulfi Tortarii Carmina (Papers and Myographs of the American Academy in Rome, viii), Rome, 1933.

[4]

THE MANUSCRIPT dramatic treatment of the Quem quaeritis trope is patterned on the customs of Fleury and of Ghent. 1 0 T h e cult of St Nicholas seems to have been firmly established at Fleury before the period of the plays, if we may judge f r o m M S S which were once in its library. T h u s we find the Vita by Johannes Diaconus, the source f o r three of the plays, in ioth and n t h century M S S , formerly at F l e u r y ; 1 1 a sermon by Hildebert of L e M a n s (d. 1 1 3 9 ) f o r St Nicholas' d a y ; 1 2 an unpublished Latin hymn to St Nicholas in a ioth century M S ; 1 3 and an Old French life 14 of the saint of the 1 3 t h century or earlier. It is also more than likely that some of the M S S , dealing with legends of St Nicholas, at Bern and in the Queen Christina library at the Vatican were originally at Fleury. EDITIONS

T h e abbé Lebeuf, in 1 7 2 9 , was the first scholar to call attention to the plays of the Fleury M S . In an article in the Mercure de France he characterizes the plays as a grotesque et gothique composition, and prints a rather inaccurate text of the Très Clerici.15 In a second article, Lebeuf prints a partial text of the Très Filiae and describes briefly 10 E. K . Chambers, The Medieval Stage, Oxford, 1903, ii, 307. Relevant portions of the text are printed by Chambers, ii, 307-9. 11 Orléans MS 342, pp. 1-59, and MS 190, pp. 68-96. 12 Orléans MS 199, pp. 156-8; publ. in Pair. La t., clxxi, 707-12. 13 Orléans MS 342, fly-leaf, beginning: France beate tibi prosit meritum Nicolai. " P a r i s , Bibl. Nat., MS fr. 422, fol. 9 7 - 1 1 7 ; printed by Monmerqué in Mélanges publiés pour la Société des Bibliophiles Français, vii (1834), 215-98. Paulin Paris (Les Manuscrits français de la Bibliothèque du Roi, 7 vols., Paris, 1836-48, iv, 51) declares that this MS (formerly no. 7022) came from Fleury. 15 Remarques envoyées d'Auxerre, sur les spectacles que les ecclésiastiques ou religieux donnaient anciennement au public hors le temps de l'office, in Mercure de France, December, 1729, pp. 2981-95. This article was reprinted in A. G. Boucher d'Argis, Variétés historiques, physiques et littéraires, Paris, 1752, iii, 184-8, and in J . L. d'Ortigue, Dictionnaire liturgique, historique et théorétique de Plain-Chant, et de Musique d'Eglise au Moyen Age et dans les Temps modernes (Nouvelle Encyclopédie Théologique, xxix), Paris, 1853, col. 1393-9.

[5]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS the Iconia and Filius Getronis,18 Apparently these articles aroused little curiosity, f o r the plays were not again edited f o r more than one hundred years. 1 7 In 1 8 3 4 Monmerqué published the text of the ten plays, together with the Jeu de St Nicolas of J e a n Bodel, the Vie St Nicolas of W a c e and an anonymous 1 3 t h century life of the saint in Old French, in an edition limited to thirty copies f o r members of the Société des Bibliophiles Français.™ In Monmerqué's edition the Fleury plays are entitled Mysteria et miracula ad scenam ordinata, in coenobiis olim a monachis repraesentata. In 1 8 3 8 , T h o m a s W r i g h t reprinted the text of the Fleury plays in his collection of ' mysteries,' 19 using Monmerqué's proof-sheets, and without examination of the M S . Du M é r i l , eleven years later, in his collection of liturgical dramas, 2 0 printed a critical text of the ten plays and added to them the Ludus super iconia sancti Nicholai of Hilarius. Douhet offers a translation of all the Fleury plays in addition to an account of the M S . 2 1 Until very recently the most satisfactory edition of the Fleury M S was that of Coussemaker, and his work remains the only one which contains the music f o r all of the ten plays. 22 Unfortunately, he has transcribed the music as 16 Lettre d'un solitaire à M. D. L. R. au sujet des nouveaux livres sur les anciennes Représentations Théâtrales, in Mercure de France, April, 1735, pp. 698-708. 17 T h e text of the Très Clerici given in J . Molanus, De historia ss. imaginum libri quatuor, recensuit J. N. Paquot, Louvain, 1771, pp. 388-9, is taken from the Variétés historiques (see note 1 5 ) . 18 Mélanges, pp. 87-213. I have consulted what appear to be Monmerqué's proof-sheets of this edition in the Y a l e University Library. 19 T . Wright, Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems of the 12th and 13th Centuries, London, 1838, pp. 1-20. 20 E. Du Méril, Origines latines du Théâtre moderne, Paris, 1849 (facs. reprint, 1897), pp. 254-^71, 276-84. 21 J . de Douhet, Dictionnaire des Mystères (Nouvelle Encyclopédie Théologique, xliii), Paris, 1854, under the following headings: Benoît-sur-Loire (Manuscrit de Saint-) ; Filles Dotées ; Fils de Gétron; Juif Volé; Trois Clercs. 22 E. de Coussemaker, Drames liturgiques du Moyen Age, Rennes, i860, pp. 83-142.

[6]

THE MANUSCRIPT plain-song, and in Gregorian notation, which not only belies the pronounced rhythmic character of the plays, but also prevents the average music-lover from forming an adequate idea of the melodies to which the text was sung. Marius Sepet, in various articles and books," has given analyses or translations of all the St Nicholas plays in the Fleury M S , and Petit de Julleville has described them briefly." Remy de Gourmont was sufficiently attracted by the Très Clerici play to devote a study to i t 2 5 as well as to the Iconia play of Hilarius. 26 H e characterizes the former as a petit jeu latin d'un fort agréable cynisme, and gives both the original text and a translation, but unfortunately uses the corrupt text of Lebeuf. T h e Très Clerici has also been translated by Gofflot.27 Individual plays from our group of four have been included in various collections by American scholars. Gayley,28 in his discussion of medieval drama, analyses the Filius Getronis; and J . Q. Adams 29 gives both the Latin text and an English translation of the Très Clerici and the Filius Getronis, and of the play by Hilarius. McKnight's pop23 Deux Miracles de saint Nicolas, in Origines catholiques du Théâtre moderne, Paris, 1901, pp. 63-74, discusses Très Filiae and Filius Getronis. Le Jeu de St Nicolas, ibid., pp. 162-201, compares the Iconia with the plays of Hilarius and Jean Bodel. Un Miracle de St Nicolas, in Le Drame chrétien au Moyen Age, Paris, 1878, pp. 215-26, gives a discussion and translation of Très Clerici, and is reprinted in Le Drame religieux au Moyen Age, 3rd ed., Paris, 1908, pp. 24-7. 24 L. Petit de Julleville, Histoire du Théâtre en France au Moyen Age: Les Mystères, Paris, 1880, i, 70-6. 25 L'Ymagier, i (1894-95), 257-67- Combined with the following article, republished in Remy de Gourmont, Trois Légendes du Moyen Age, Paris, '9'9> PP- 47-7326 L'Ymagier, ii (1895-96), 37-44. For the play by Hilarius, see below, p. 44. 27 L. V. Gofflot, Le Théâtre au Collège du Moyen Age à nos Jours, Paris, 1907, pp. 16-20. 28 Charles M . Gayley, Plays of our Forefathers, New York, 1907, pp. 61-2. 29 Joseph Q. Adams, Chief Pre-Shakesfearean Dramas, Boston, 1924, pp. 59-69.

[7]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS

ular study of St Nicholas 30 offers an English translation of the Filius Getronis. T w o recent anthologies of medieval Latin also include one of the Fleury p l a y s : Harrington's " reprints the Tres Clerici and Beeson's *2 the Filius Getronis, both following Coussemaker. It is a pleasure to note the appearance, during the revision of the present study, of Professor Karl Young's exhaustive work on the medieval Latin d r a m a . " In his chapter, The Miracle Plays of St Nicholas,3* we find, besides a certain amount of commentary, texts not only of the four plays which form the subject of the present treatise, but also of the four related plays, the one by Hilarius and the others from Hildesheim 35 and Einsiedeln. 36 T h e notes to the chapter include a good bibliography and the passages from the Latin L i f e of St Nicholas by Johannes Diaconus, on which three of the Fleury plays were based. 37 80 George H. McKnight, St. Nicholas, his Legend and his Role in the Christmas Celebration and other popular Customs, New York, 1917, pp. 98-106. 31 K . P. Harrington, Medieval Latin, Boston, 1925, pp. 22S-32. 32 C. H. Beeson, A Primer of Medieval Latin, Chicago, 1925, pp. 375-82. 33 The Drama of the Medieval Church, 2 vols., Oxford, 1933. 34 Ibid., ii, 307-360. 36 See below, pp. 21 and 26 ff. 36 See below, p. 29. 37 Young, Drama, ii, 487-95.

181

II T H E L I F E O F ST N I C H O L A S A N D O P M E N T OF HIS C U L T

DEVEL-

The accounts of the life and miracles of Nicholas of M y r a , one of the major saints of the Eastern Church and, from the n t h century on, one of the most popular figures of the medieval church in Western Europe, are based solely upon oral tradition. The essential facts, in which most accounts agree, are that he was born in Patara in Lycia toward the end of the 3rd century, the only son of wealthy parents. H e was precociously devout, and upon the death of his parents during his youth, distributed his wealth to the poor. H e was miraculously chosen bishop of M y r a , was persecuted and thrown in prison under Diocletian, but was subsequently released upon the accession of Constantine. It is said that he attended the Council of Nicea in 3 2 5 , and engaged in a strenuous dispute with Arius, but the records of those present at the Council do not mention his name. His death is supposed to have occurred on December 6, 3 4 3 , and a miracle-working oil at once attracted pilgrims to his tomb. Miracles continued to be ascribed to him after his death, and throughout the Middle Ages. The first work to mention his name is the Praxis de Stratelatis,1 written during the reign of Justinian ( 5 2 7 6 5 ) . Here is related the most famous of his miracles, at least in the Eastern Church, the appearance of the saint to the emperor Constantine in a dream, to demand the release of three counts who had been unjustly imprisoned. 2 1 Text in G. Anrich, ¡¡agios Nikolaoi, der heilige Nikolaos in der griechischen Kirche, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1 9 1 3 - 1 7 , i, 66—96. T h i s exhaustive worlc contains critical texts of all the Greek lives and miracles of St Nicholas as well as a study of all phases of the cult of the saint in the Greek church. 2 See below, p. 26, for an analysis of this legend.

[9]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS T h e earliest of the extant Greek L i v e s of St Nicholas is that by Michael the Archimandrite, 3 which Anrich places between 8 1 4 and 842. Although the identity of the author has not been established, Anrich has proved that he cannot be Methodius, patriach of Constantinople, as was supposed by Falconius, 4 and repeated a f t e r him by nearly all later commentators. T h i s L i f e served as a source f o r practically all later Greek accounts and has remained the canonical account of the life of St Nicholas. 5 Slightly later than the basic version by Michael, there are two texts ascribed to Methodius. Both of these are based, in different measure, upon the L i f e by Michael. 6 T h e first, bearing the title Methodius ad Theodorum/ ' is neither a regular vita, or an encomium, nor a collection of miracles, but something of each.' 8 F r o m the introduction, which speaks of the author as presbyter kai hegumenos, Anrich concludes that the work was written before the elevation of Methodius to the patriarchate in 843.® T h e second work, nearly twice as long as the preceding one, is entitled Encomium.10 Anrich concludes 1 1 that this Encomium is probably not by Methodius, but that it was written a f t e r 860, perhaps by an otherwise unknown Basilius of Lacedaemon. Among later Greek Lives f o r which Anrich gives text and commentary, that by Symeon Metaphrastes 1 2 is perhaps the most important. It is based on both the Michael and the Praxis, giving a considerably enlarged treatment 3 For a discussion of the date and author of this Life, see Anrich, ii, 262-73. Text ibid., i, 1 1 1 - 3 9 . 4 N . C. Falconius, ed., Sancti Confessoris Pontificis et celeberrimi Thaumaturgi Nicolai Acta Primigenia, Naples, 1 7 5 1 , p. 16. 5 Anrich, ii, 276. 8 Ibid., ii, 277. 7 T e x t ibid., i, 140-50. 8 Ibid., ii, 277. 9 Anrich, ii, 284. 10 T e x t in Anrich, i, 1 5 1 - 8 2 . 11 ii, 292-8. 12 Text, i, 234-67.

[10]

THE LIFE OF ST NICHOLAS of the legend of the Stratilates. Anrieh gives the probable date as between 975 and 1000. 1 3 A Latin translation, or rather paraphrase, of Metaphrastes appeared before 1446, by Giustiniani, a Venetian. T h i s version had wide currency and was reprinted by Lipomanus, Bishop of Verona, in 1 5 5 1 . 1 * L a t e r editions of Lipomanus 1 5 also contain a direct translation of Metaphrastes, which was reprinted by Surius 16 and is also to be found in the collection of Migne. 1 7 Earliest and most important of the Latin Lives of St Nicholas, and the chief source of later versions in Latin and the vulgar tongues is that of Johannes Diaconus of Naples, written about 8 80. 18 This Vita of Johannes Diaconus offers, as he tells us in his prologue, a condensed free translation of the Methodius ad Theodorum, with the addition of material taken from later writers and also of a richly developed paraphrase of the Praxis de Stratilatis:19 Sane ortum sancti hujus

et vitam

ex laude,

are ha Ar gálico stylo cuidara primicerio de eo est prosecutus, summatim

breviterque

quoque miracula ejus ex aliis doctoribus verba

quam Methodius

Theodora

nomine

studuimus

patri-

se

roganti

carpere;

caetere

sumentes magis sensum

quam

protulimus.

A n abridged edition of Johannes Diaconus, with a few additional miracles, appears in the encyclopedia of Vincent of Beauvais, written about 1254. 2 0 T h e complete L i f e by 1 3 3

'

s -

14

Aloysius Lipomanus, Sanctorum priscorum Patrum Vitae, Venice, 1 5 5 1 , fol. i38"-i49 T . 15 Venice, 1 5 5 3 ; Rome, 1560; Louvain, 1568, 1 5 7 1 , etc. 16 De probatis Sanctorum Pitis, Cologne, 1575, vi, 795-810. 17 Patr. Gr., cxvi, 317-56. 18 For a summary of opinions as to the dates of Johannes Diaconus see K a r l Fiasen, Das Leben des heiligen Nikolaus in der altfranzoesischen Literatur und seine Quellen (Goettingen diss.), Goettingen, 1921, p. 14-5. Further details as to Johannes are found in A. Ebert, Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters im Abendlande, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1880-89, iii, 206. 19 Anrieh, ii, 59. 20 Speculum historíale, Strasbourg, 1473, xiv, 67-81.

[11]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS Johannes, again augmented by new miracles, was printed by Mombritius 21 in 1 4 7 9 and copied virtually without change by Lipomanus." Another version of Johannes, differing in many respects from that of Mombritius," was published by Falconius," who also includes the Greek texts of Michael and M e t a phrastes, the Praxis de Stratilatis and other accounts of individual miracles, the life of St Nicholas of Sion, bishop of Pinara, 25 and in addition to the revised Latin L i f e by J o hannes, the account of the Thauma de imagine Nicolai in Africa,™ together with a new version of the Thauma de Basilio T h e most popular collection of lives of the saints during the Middle Ages, the Legenda A urea, is also based chiefly, f o r the legend of St Nicholas, 28 on Johannes Diaconus, with the addition of several incidents from the life of Nicholas of Sion. About a century later, Petrus de Natalibus, who became a bishop in 1 3 7 0 , appropriated most of the Nicholas material contained in the Legenda Aurea.29 Assemanus 30 reproduces the account of Johannes Diaconus, with the addition of other miracles, most of which are also 21 Boninus Mombritius, Sanctuarium, seu V'tfae Sanctorum, M i l a n , 1479, ii, fol. I6I T -I7O. Reprinted by the Benedictines of Solesmes, 2 vols., P a r i s , 1 9 1 0 , ii, 296-309. T h r o u g h the kindness of Provost J o s i a h H . Penniman of the University of Pennsylvania I h a v e been able to consult his copy of the v e r y rare first edition. For the sake of convenience, I shall h e r e a f t e r r e f e r to the 1 9 1 0 edition. 22 Op. cit., except in the first ed., Venice, 1 5 5 1 . 23 For discussion of these differences, c f . Anrich, ii, 178. 2 * P p . 112-26. 23 M a n y of the miracles in the life of this saint w e r e early attributed to Nicholas of M y r a . For the text of these miracles and critical comment, c f . Anrich, i, 3 - 6 5 ; ii, 208-60. 26 T h e basis of the play Iconia Sancti Nicholai. 27 T h e basis of the Filius Getronis. 28 Jacobi a Voragine Legenda Aurea, recemuit Th. Graesse, Dresden and L e i p z i g , 1846, pp. 22-9. T h e compilation w a s made before 1298. 29 P . de Natalibus, Catalogus Sanctorum, Lyon, 1508. Anrich (ii, 1 7 9 - 8 0 ) indicates the borrowings f r o m the Legenda Aurea. 80 Kalendaria Ecclesiae universae, studio et opera Josephi Simonii A s semani, 6 vols., Rome, 1755, v, 4 1 5 - 2 9 .

[12]

THE LIFE OF ST NICHOLAS found in Mombritius. Another, but considerably abridged version of Johannes Diaconus was published by Mai.* 1 T h e Bollandists having not as yet reached the 6th of December in their Acta Sanctorum, we cannot have recourse to the authority of their work in the matter of sources f o r our plays. Although the translation of the relics of St Nicholas to Bari in Apulia in 1 0 8 7 gave a tremendous impetus to the cult of the saint in western Europe, his was already a familiar name in Italy, France, Germany, and England. The introduction of his cult from the N e a r E a s t to Italy is explained by the frequent intercourse between Italian cities and the eastern Mediterranean ports, and by the fact that Sicily, Apulia, and Calabria were long under the domination of the Eastern Church. Naples, the home of the saint's first western biographer, Johannes Diaconus, was a meeting place f o r the traditions of the Eastern and Western Churches. T h e 10th century author of the Thauma de Imagine (the Greek original f o r the play Iconia Sancti Nicholai) declares that ' in Italy (outside of Sicily and Calabria) many churches have already been erected to the saint, although they have but recently heard of his miracles.' 32 T h e frescoes in the church of Santa M a r i a Antiqua at Rome, to be described later, 83 are of the 8th or 9th century, and our earliest Latin hymns in honor of the saint are of the 9th century." F r o m Italy the cult spreads beyond the Alps, slowly at first, until by the first half of the n t h century it is firmly established throughout western E u r o p e . " T h e first au81

A. M a i , ed., Spicilegium Romanum, 10 vols., Rome, 1840, iv, 323-39. Anrich, ii, 477. 88 See below, pp. 56-7. 84 A. F. Ozanam, Documents inédits pour servir à l'Histoire littéraire de l'Italie, Paris, 1850, pp. 232, 234. 85 A thorough study of the development of the cult of St Nicholas in western Europe is presented by K . Meisen, Nikolauskult und Nikolausbrauch im Abendlande, eine kultgeographisch-volkskvndliche Untersuchung (Forscftungen tur Volkskunde, ix-xii), Duesseldorf, 1931, pp. 71-93. He lists over two thousand centers of the cult in the Middle Ages, chiefly in France and 82

[13]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS thentic mention of St N i c h o l a s in G e r m a n y or France " is in a poem by H r a b a n u s M a u r u s f o r the consecration of the abbey church at F u l d a in 8 1 8 . " A m o n g the 9th century m a r t y r o l o g i e s , those of A d o , F l o r u s of L y o n , H r a b anus, U s u a r d , and W a n d a l b e r t mention the festival of St Nicholas. 5 8 A s the Vita by Johannes Diaconus became k n o w n outside of Italy, other L a t i n L i v e s of St N i c h o l a s w e r e based upon it. T h e earliest of these is that by Reginold, bishop of Eichstaett f r o m 966 to 991. 3 9 F r o m about the same period are three hymns in a M S f r o m M o n t e cassino. 40 T h e 1 1 t h century marks terest in St N i c h o l a s and his number of abbeys, churches, even b e f o r e the translation tions about fifty dedications France and G e r m a n y alone.

a tremendously increased inmiracles, attested by the g r e a t and chapels dedicated to him, of the relics. Meisen 41 mento St N i c h o l a s before 1087 in M a n y of the evidences of his

G e r m a n y ( p p . 1 2 6 - 7 1 ) . H i s list s u p p l a n t s the h a p h a z a r d c o m p i l a t i o n of E . Schnell, Sanct Nicolaus, der heilige Bischof and Kinderfreund, sein Fest und seine Gaben, 6 v o l s . , B r u e n n , 1886. O f the 437 c h u r c h e s d e d i c a t e d to St N i c h o l a s in E n g l a n d ( F . B o n d , Dedications of English Churches, Oxford, 1914, p. 1 7 ) , m a n y a n t e d a t e the t r a n s l a t i o n of the relics to B a r i . 8 6 It is i m p o s s i b l e to a c c e p t the r e f e r e n c e quoted by C o f f m a n of an altar to St N i c h o l a s at St A m a n d in B e l g i u m in 679 ( G . R . C o f f m a n , A Nevi Theory concerning the Origin of the Miracle Play, C h i c a g o diss., M e n a s h a , 1914, p. 4 6 ) . T h e account ( q u o t e d f r o m Mon. Germ. Hist., Scriptores, xxv, 3 1 ) of the d e a t h of St A m a n d , bishop of T o n g r e s , w h o d e s i r e d to be b r o u g h t b e f o r e the a l t a r of St N i c h o l a s , is a 13th c e n t u r y chronicle, and the mention o f St N i c h o l a s is a m a r g i n a l a d d i t i o n of the 15th c e n t u r y , m a d e p r e s u m a b l y b y some monk i m p r e s s e d w i t h t h e w i d e c u r r e n c y of the saint's c u l t in his o w n d a y . N o n e of the e a r l i e r L i v e s o f St A m a n d printed by the B o l l a n d i s t s (Acta Sanctorum, Feb., i, 8 2 3 - 9 1 2 ) m e n t i o n St N i c h o l a s , and o n e o f t h e m (ibid., p. 882) specifies t h a t St A m a n d d i e d b e f o r e the altar of t h e V i r g i n . M e i s e n (p. 7 1 ) also r e j e c t s the p o s s i b i l i t y of the existence of the c u l t at such an e a r l y d a t e , but a s s o c i a t e s the incident not w i t h St A m a n d b u t w i t h his protégée, St Itta or I d u r b e r g a , w h o d i e d in 652.

Mon. Germ. Hist., Poetae, ii, 206. M e i s e n ( p p . 7 3 - 6 ) d i s c u s s e s t h e r e f e r e n c e s to St N i c h o l a s in t h e martyrologies. 89 A l i f e a s c r i b e d to R e g i n o l d is p u b l i s h e d in Analecta Bollandiana, ii ( 1 8 8 3 ) , 1 4 3 - 5 1 , f r o m N a m u r M S 15. M e i s e n ( p p . 7 7 - 8 ) r e f e r s to a metr i c a l office f o r St N i c h o l a s s a i d to h a v e been w r i t t e n by R e g i n o l d , but lost. 40 Anal. Hymn., x x i i , N o s . 350-2. 4 1 Pp. 126-71. 37

38

[14]

THE LIFE OF ST NICHOLAS cult are to be found in N o r m a n d y , a fact explained by the close relations between that duchy and Sicily and southern Italy. Although the N o r m a n s did not begin their actual conquest of Sicily until 1 0 6 0 , there had been frequent communication between the two countries ever since N o r m a n seamen, returning from Constantinople in 1 0 1 7 , visited Sicily and induced some of their countrymen to come and settle there. 42 It is also to be noted that N o r m a n s had captured Bari in 1 0 7 1 and that the translation of the relics was accomplished by N o r m a n sailors. Orderic Vitalis more than once testifies to the popularity of St Nicholas with the N o r mans, and tells us that William the Conqueror himself called upon him to calm a storm in the Channel. 43 W e must also mention another L a t i n vita belonging to this period written by the monk Otloh, 44 of the monastery of St E m meram in Regensburg, between 1 0 6 0 and 1 0 6 2 , and a complete historia or office f o r St Nicholas' day, with music. T h e latter exists in n t h century M S S f r o m E v r e u x 45 and St Maur-les-Fossés. 4 6 T h e s e M S S correspond closely to the 1 2 t h century version f r o m Worcester 47 and to the Sarum use.48 T h i s office is probably the one written in Rouen about 1 0 3 0 , which had a wide circulation in Normandy. 4 9 In addition to the foregoing, a number of hymns have come down f r o m the n t h century, most of which are to be found in several M S S . 5 0 42

C. H. Hasltins, The Normans in European History, Boston, 1915, p. 198. Historiae ecclesiasticae libri tredecim, emendavit Aug. Le Prévost, Paris, 1838-55, ii, 178. 44 Synopsis in Anal. Boll., xvii (1898), 204 ff., where it is compared with the Vita in the Great Austrian Legendary. 45 Paris, Bibl. Nat., M S lat. 17177, fol. 49'. 46 Paris, Bibl. Nat., M S lat. 12584, fol. 383'. Printed, without music, by K a r l Young in Manly Anniversary Studies, Chicago, 1923, pp. 259-Î3. 47 Brit. Mus., M S Nero E I ( 2 ) , fol. 1 5 3 ' . Printed, without music, in Brit. Arch. Asso. Jour., xlii (1886), 190. 48 Reproduced in facsimile by W . H. Frere, Antiphonale Sarisburiense (Publications of the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society, v ) , London, 1905, pi. 354-62. 49 A . Collette, Histoire du Bréviaire de Rouen, Rouen, 1902, p. 64 fif. 50 Anal. Hymn., xxii, Nos. 348-9; xlv b , 7 7 ; xlix, 324, 408; li, 184; lii, 305; liii, 197-9 ! '*v> 66-743

[15]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS W i t h the translation of the relics of St Nicholas to Bari in 1 0 8 7 , it becomes impossible to record all the manifestations of his cult. Nicolas de Clairvaux, secretary to St Bernard, seems to have felt this difficulty. In a sermon which is probably his, 51 despite its attribution to both St Bernard 62 and Peter Damian, 6 3 he says, speaking of St Nicholas, cuius miracula per totam mundi latitudinem diffunduntur, quem laudat orbis terrae et qui habitat in eo. Tot enim et tanta miracula cumulantur, ut omnes litterarum argutias vix at scribendum sufficiant, nos ad legendum. Since we are chiefly concerned with France, however, we must mention the unknown pilgrim who, returning home f r o m the H o l y L a n d to Lorraine, stopped at Bari in 1098 and secured a finger f r o m the relics of St Nicholas, depositing his precious relic in a chapel beside the M e u r t h e . " T h e f a m e of the saint and the favorable location of the chapel soon resulted in the flourishing settlement of SaintNicolas-du-Port, which became one of the largest towns in Lorraine. E a r l y in the 12th century, another Johannes Diaconus, of St Ouen at Rouen, wrote in Latin a L i f e of St Nicholas in prose and verse, which has never been published. 55 T h e iconography of the legends of the saint, which begins to be significant in the 1 2 t h century, will be treated exhaustively, so f a r as the legends of the Fleury plays are concerned, in another chapter. References to these four legends in medieval literature will be taken up under the development of the several legends. 56 61

Meisen, p. 297. Patr. Lai., clxxxiv, 1055. 58 Ibid., cxliv, 835. 64 A. Calmet, Histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Lorraine, Nancy, 1718, i r , 132-3 (vol. i, col. 1 2 1 2 ) . See also J . Laroche, Vie de St Nicolas, Patron de la Jeunesse et de la Lorraine, nouv. ed., Paris, n.d., p. 268 ff., and Meisen, pp. 515-8. 55 Hist, litt., x, 263. 58 A recent study bearing on the development of the cult of St Nicholas in France, with numerous quotations from Old French literature, is that of G . Franke, Der Einfluss des Nikolauskultes auf die Namengebung im franzoesischen Sprachgebiet, in Romanische Forschungen, xlviii (1934), 1 - 1 3 4 . 62

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Ill

T H E LEGENDS OF T H E FLEURY PLAYS; T H E I R SOURCES A N D D E V E L O P M E N T In this chapter I shall give an account of the action of the four plays of St Nicholas in the Fleury M S , and then discuss the sources of these legends and their occurrences in medieval literature, adding some mention of their currency in later centuries. T H E FLEURY PLAYS

I. Tres Filiae. A man of noble birth, who has suddenly lost his fortune, is lamenting to his three marriageable daughters his inability to provide a dowry f o r them. The first daughter suggests prostitution as the only solution f o r the difficulty, and asks leave to be the first to sacrifice herself. A t this moment a bag of gold is tossed through the window by an unseen benefactor, and as the family rejoices and gives thanks to God, a gener appears and claims the eldest daughter f o r his bride. At once the lamentation of the f a t h e r is repeated, word f o r word, and as the second daughter recoils at the prospect in store f o r her, the gold and the gener appear a second time. A f t e r her f a t h e r ' s third lamentation, the remaining daughter urges him to put his trust in God and to remember the tribulations of Job, when the now not altogether unexpected bag of gold makes its appearance. T h i s time the f a t h e r dashes out and surprises the unknown benefactor, falling at his feet. Nicholas reveals his identity, disclaiming credit f o r the g i f t and ascribing it to God's generosity. As the saint disappears, the rejoicing and the suit f o r the third d a u g h t e r ' s hand resume their familiar way, and the play comes to an end. [17]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS I I . Tres Clerici. Three traveling scholars, in search o f learning, find themselves at nightfall in an unfamiliar part of the country, and beg lodging of an old man at the nearest house. H e refuses, gruffly, but the scholars, turning to his wife, suggest that God may reward her hospitality with a son, and she successfully intercedes with her husband, who then bids them enter. While the scholars sleep, the old man remarks that the money in their purses might easily be his, and his wife eagerly bids him draw his sword and kill the boys, as no one will know of the murder. H e carries out her suggestion, and soon Nicholas appears as a pilgrim asking shelter for the night. T h e old man at once asks his wife's advice, and finding her favorably impressed by the stranger, bids him welcome and offers him anything he wishes for dinner. T h e saint, with a glance at the table, declares that none of the dishes suit his taste and asks for fresh meat. Upon the old man's reply that he has none, Nicholas indignantly accuses him of the crime, and the guilty couple ask his mercy, reminding him that their offense is not, after all, unpardonable! T h e saint orders the bodies to be brought in and encourages the contrition of the murderous pair. A prayer by St Nicholas, to bring the boys to life and to hear the entreaties of the sinners, closes the action. I I I . Icottia Sancti Nicholai. A Jew, having stolen an ikon of St Nicholas, and having heard of the great reputation of the saint, goes off on a journey, leaving his house unlocked with only the ikon to guard it from robbers. Three such immediately appear, and somewhat puzzled by the ease of their task, make off with a large amount of gold, silver, and precious raiment, leaving only the image of the saint in the house. T h e Jew, returning, breaks into furious imprecations and threatens to beat the treacherous guardian of his treasure, but feels too exhausted from his journey and his sudden misfortune to carry out his intentions at once. Nevertheless, he promises to administer the beating [18]

T H E LEGENDS OF T H E FLEURY PLAYS

on the m o r r o w and consign the image t o the flames, unless the loss is m a d e g o o d . Nicholas, wishing t o s p a r e his image this indignity, a p p e a r s while the thieves are dividing t h e i r loot, u p b r a i d s t h e m and t h r e a t e n s t o denounce t h e m t o the townspeople and have t h e m punished unless they m a k e i m m e d i a t e restitution to the J e w . R e g r e t f u l l y , they decide t o follow the saint's counsel, r a t h e r t h a n risk t h e chance of being h a n g e d . T h e J e w , his f a i t h in N i c h o l a s r e s t o r e d by the sight of his wealth r e s t o r e d , invites his f r i e n d s t o a b j u r e their ' idols ' and unite with him in h o n o r ing this famulum Dei. I V . Filius Getronis. M a r m o r i n u s , king of the A g a r e n i , bids his ministers g o a b r o a d and subdue any n a t i o n s they m a y find. I t is St N i c h o l a s ' D a y in the t o w n of E x c o r a n d a , and G e t r o n and E u p h r o s i n a are on their way to the church of St N i c h o l a s with their son A d e o d a t u s . F r i g h t e n e d at the a p p r o a c h of the officers of the p a g a n king, they a b a n d o n their son and flee. A d e o d a t u s is c a p t u r e d and f o r c e d to e n t e r the service of M a r m o r i n u s , with w h o m he immediately q u a r r e l s about the respective m e r i t s of the C h r i s t i a n s ' G o d and Apollo. E u p h r o s i n a ' s vain l a m e n t a t i o n s a r e int e r r u p t e d by h e r ' consolers,' w h o u r g e her to give h e r g o o d s t o the clergy and the p o o r , and t o p r a y to St Nicholas. A y e a r later, G e t r o n p e r s u a d e s his w i f e to g o again t o church to celebrate St N i c h o l a s ' D a y . T h i s t h e y do, a n d t h e n r e t u r n to their h o m e to p r o v i d e a meal f o r the p o o r . M e a n t i m e M a r m o r i n u s , h e a r i n g A d e o d a t u s , now his cup-bearer, sighing heavily, inquires the cause. The boy reminds him t h a t it is the a n n i v e r s a r y of his abduction, and while the king b o a s t s t h a t no one can t a k e him away f r o m him, the boy, still holding the king's goblet, is snatched u p by St N i c h o l a s and set d o w n in f r o n t of his p a r e n t s ' house, w h e r e u p o n the play ends in general rejoicing.

[19]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS S O U R C E S OF T H E P L A Y S A N D O T H E R V E R S I O N S OF LEGENDS

THE

1

I. Tres Filiae. T h e legend of the dowry secretly presented to three poor maidens is one of the oldest and most popular of the legends of St Nicholas. 2 It occurs regularly in all the Greek and Latin L i v e s of St Nicholas, but in them it includes certain details that the dramatist of Fleury has had to omit. Thus we read that the poor nobleman was a neighbor of the young Nicholas in M y r a , and that the saintly youth had just come into an inheritance which he was eager to distribute where it would do the most good. 3 In the legend, the g i f t occurs on three successive nights, but dramatists and artists alike have had to condense the story.* Our author follows the familiar legend but invents the three generi, who are present only by implication in the account by Johannes Diaconus. 5 Perhaps alarmed at his boldness, however, the poet fails to rise to his opportunity, and the suitors are lifeless figures indeed, appearing like automata and repeating parrot-like the same formula. Another and more successful innovation is that of having the eldest daughter instead of the father suggest the distasteful solution to their poverty. T h a t our author was acquainted with the Vita by Johannes Diaconus rather than with that of Metaphrastes is indicated by the direct quotation of the father's words to the saint, Siste gradum/ which are used only in the former account. A n earlier and simpler dramatic f o r m of the legend is 1 Besides the volumes of Young (Drama), Coffman (New Theory), and Fissen, already mentioned, the following studies analyze in detail the various dramatic versions of the legends of St Nicholas: Otto Weydig, Beitraege zur Geschichte des Mirakelspiels in Frankreich. Das Nikolausmirakel (Jena diss.), Erfurt, 1910, and Ida del Valle de Paz, La leggenda di S Nicola nella tradizione poetica medioevale in Francia, Florence, 1921. 2 Meisen, pp. 232-45. 3 Anrich, ii, 420. * T h e Fleury play is so short that it is unlikely there should have been more than brief pauses between the three visits of the saint. 5 Mombritius, ii, 297-9. Reprinted by Young, Drama, ii, 488-90. 6 Tres Filiae, v. 136.

[20]

THE LEGENDS OF THE FLEURY PLAYS to be found in a Hildesheim M S of the n t h or 12th century, now in the British Museum. 7 H e r e the generi are absent and the saint appears only once. All but two of the seventeen stanzas in this version are found in the Fleury play. 8 Creizenach believes that the Hildesheim M S is a shortened version of the Fleury play,® but it seems more likely that of the two the Fleury version is the more recent, 10 on account of the added characters and the more varied versification. It is probable that both the Fleury and Hildesheim plays are derived f r o m a lost original written in France, as the decasyllabic verse f o r m appears in that country at about this time and is unusual in Germany. 1 1 Coffman has studied the relations between Fleury and Hildesheim and the cult of St Nicholas at the latter place, 12 and has found a reference to this legend in an n t h century biography of Bishop Godehard. 1 3 T h e dowry legend is referred to more often than any other in the many medieval hymns in honor of St Nicholas. 1 4 I can take space to mention only the earliest of more than eighty such references which I have recorded. T h i s is in a 9th century Italian M S , 1 5 and reads: 7 Brit. Mus. Add. M S 22414, fol. 3*~4. First printed by E. Duemmler, in Zs. f . d. A., x x x v ( 1 8 9 1 ) , 402-5; and recently by Young, Drama, ii, 312-4. 8 T h e variants and the two stanzas not in the Fleury M S are given in the notes to the text; see below, pp. 1 1 8 - 2 5 . 8 W . Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, i. Mittelalter und Fruehrenaissance, 2nd ed., Halle, 1 9 1 1 , p. 99. 10 T h i s opinion is held by E. Schroeder in Zs. f . d. A., x x x v i (1892), 239, where he seeks to prove the German character of the Fleury plays; by Weydig (p. 56) ; and by Coffman (New Theory, p. 6 1 ) . 11 Wilhelm Meyer, Fragmenta Burana, Berlin, 1901, p. 1 1 8 . 12 G . R. Coffman, A Note concerning the Cult of St Nicholas at Hildesheim, in Manly Anniversary Studies, Chicago, 1923, pp. 269-75. 13 Ibid., p. 272. 11 Printed in H. A. Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus, 5 vols., Halle and Leipzig, 1 8 4 1 - 5 6 ; J . Kehrein, Lateinische Sequenzen des Mittelalters, Mainz, 1 8 7 3 ; F. J. Mone, Hymni Latini Medii Aevi, 3 vols., Freiburg, 1853-5, and especially in the 55 vols, of Anal. Hymn. A list of nearly 300 medieval hymns in honor of St Nicholas may be found in U. Chevalier, Repertorium Hymnologicum, 6 vols., Louvain and Brussels, 1892-1920, vi, 69-70. 15 Ozanam, p. 235. Also in Pair. Lat., cli, 814.

[21]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS Auro

patris

Stuprum

infamiam,

redemit

virginum.

T h e antiphons in the office f o r St Nicholas' day also refer frequently to the miracle. In the n t h century office from Saint-Maur-les-Fossés 18 three different antiphons mention the legend. Besides being related in the Latin Vitae we have mentioned, the legend is found in various accounts in the vernacular. Thus, in Old French, Wace 17 tells the story, adding that the girls were married as a result of the saint's charity. T h i s detail does not appear in the account of Johannes Diaconus, and may have been borrowed from the Fleury play, which is slightly earlier than Wace's Vie St Nicolas.1* Of about the same period is the Latin poem in a British Museum M S , 1 9 which devotes eight verses to the incident. Sermons f o r the festival of St Nicholas, December 6, are frequent during the 12th and following centuries, and although they are often confined to the elucidation of a biblical text, it is surprising to find how often the legend of the Tres Filiae is brought in. Thus it is very briefly referred to in the sermon by Nicolas de C l a i r v a u x : 2 0 unusquisque autem habet materiam gaudiorum; juvenes juvenum liberantem, virgines virginum infamiam redimentem. Alan of Lille 21 and Honorius of A u t u n 2 2 refer to the story at greater length. A f t e r the I 2 t h century it is mentioned in the sermon preached at the University of Paris on Decem16

Young, Miracle Play, pp. 260-1. M. S. Crawford, Life of Si Nicholas (Pennsylvania diss.), Philadelphia, '9 2 3> PP- 73—+; v. 81-120. 18 Mis9 Crawford gives the date of Wace's poem as 1150. 19 M S Tiberius, B. V. Printed by Thos. Wright and J . O. Halliwell, Reliquiae Antiquae, London, 1843, ii, 199-208. This poem cannot be of the 10th century, as the editors claim, since it records the translation of the relics to Bari in 1087. 20 Pair. Lat., clxxxiv, 1055. See above, p. 16. 21 Pair. Lat., ccx, 228. 22 Ibid., clxxii, 1033. 17

[22]

THE LEGENDS OF THE FLEURY PLAYS ber 6, 1 2 3 0 , by R i c h a r d de C o u r n o u a i l l e s ; 2 3 in three sermons by O d o of C h â t e a u r o u x ; 2 4 two by Dionysius the C a r thusian; 25 two attributed to St B o n a v e n t u r e ; 23 and one by Gerson. 2 7 N o n e of these passages tells the story completely, doubtless because it w a s f a m i l i a r to all hearers. Vincent of B e a u v a i s includes the legend in his encyclopedia, 2 8 and T h o m a s A q u i n a s cites the saint's effort to remain unknown, in his discussion of whether ingratitude is a m o r t a l sin: Sicut beatus Nicolaus aurum furtim in domum projiciens vitare voluit humanum favorem.2B D a n t e makes H u g h Capet, relating examples of voluntary poverty and generosity, mention the s t o r y : Esso parlava

ancor della

Che fece Niccolao Per

condurre

aile

larghezza, pulcelle,

ad onor lor

gtovinezza.30

T h e most p o p u l a r compilation of legends of the saints during the M i d d l e A g e s , the Legenda Aurea of J a c o b u s a V o r a g i n e , written b e f o r e 1 2 8 5 , includes the Très Filiae 81 story. W e also find the subject of the saint's generosity to the maidens treated at some length in two anonymous Old French L i v e s of St N i c h o l a s , one of the 1 3 t h 3 2 and the other of the 1 4 t h century. 3 3 I t is also briefly alluded to in the Jeu de St Nicolas of J e a n B o d e l : 2J

M. D a v y , Lei Sermons universitaires parisiens de ¡230-1231 {Eludes de Philosophie médiévale, i v ) , Paris, 1931, pp. 369-70. 24 J. B. Pitra, Analecta novissima, ii, Tusculana, Paris, 1888, pp. 296-8. 25 Dionysii Cartusiani Opera omnia, 45 vols., Tournai, 1896 sqq., xxxi, 33. 4 ' 29 Sancti Bonaventurae Opera, 13 vols., Venice, 1 7 5 1 - 6 , xi, 1 0 - 1 . This sermon does not appear in the latest edition ( 1 0 vols., Quaracchi, 18821902). T h e new edition, however, prints another sermon which twice refers to the Très Filiae (ix, 474, 476). 27 Joannis de Gerson Opera, 4 vols., Strasbourg, 1514, iv, fol. c 2 r . 28 Speculum historiale, xiv, 68. 29 Summa Theologica, ii, ii, 107, 3. Purgatorio, xx, 3 1 . 81 Graesse, p. 23. 82 Mélanges, pp. 2 1 9 - 2 1 . M K . K . R . Bohnstedt, Vie Saint Nicholas, altfrantoesisches Gedicht (Leipzig diss.), Erlangen, 1897, pp. 7-9. In this account the scene is in Apulia, after the death of the saint.

[23]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS Il consilla les trois fiucheles,M

and in an unpublished Old French prayer to St Nicholas of the same p e r i o d . " In German the legend occurs as early as the 1 3 t h century in the Passionate 38 and in a poem ascribed to K o n r a d von Wuerzburg. 3 7 Schroeder has called attention to a resemblance between the version of the legend in the Corpus Christi play f r o m Kuenzelsau 88 and the Hildesheim play already discussed. T h e familiar narrative finds a place in the three principal M i d d l e English collections of lives of the saints, the South English, 3 9 N o r t h English, 4 0 and Scottish Legendaries. 4 1 In addition, the miracle is the subject of a 1 5 t h century English poem of seven stanzas, 42 and is also treated in another poem of the same period. 43 One more medieval reference to this miracle occurs in the 15th century French miracle play f r o m an Ashburnham M S : vive le salveur des puycelles.** T h e anfant, Adeodatus in the play Filius Getronis, is singing the praises of St Nicholas and refers to a number of his miracles. H e also exclaims vive qui fe 34 A . J e a n r o y , ed., Jeatt Bode!, Le Jeu de Saint Nicolai (Classiques français du Moyen Age, x l v ) , P a r i s , 1925, v . 1 4 3 1 . « T r i n i t y College, O x f o r d , M S L X X X I I , fol. 1 6 7 . 36 F r . K . K o e p k e , Das Passional, eine Legenden-Sammlung des I^ten Jahrhunderts (Bibl. der gesammten deutschen N ational-Literatur, xxxii), Quedlinburg and L e i p z i g , 1852, pp. 7 - 9 . 37 K . Bartsch, Konrads von Wuerzburg Fartonopier und Meliur, Vienna, 1 8 7 1 , p. 336. C f . Meisen, p. 2 1 8 . 38 Zs. f . d. A., x x x v i ( 1 8 9 2 ) , pp. 239-40. T e x t reprinted by Meisen, p. 235. 39 C. Horstmann, ed., The Early South-English Legendary (Early English Text Society, orig. series, l x x x v i i ) , London, 1887, p. 241, v . 23-64. A later and shorter version of the legend is printed in an appendix to N. Delius, Maistre ¡Pace's St. Nicholas, Bonn, 1850, pp. 83-4. 40 C. Horstmann, ed., Altenglische Legenden, Neue Folge, Heilbronn, 1 8 8 1 , p. 1 2 , v . 1 0 3 - 4 2 . 41 C. Horstmann, ed., Barbour's des schottischen Nationaldichters Legendensammlung, 2 vols., Heilbronn, 1 8 8 1 - 2 , ii, 2 3 0 - 1 , v. 7 5 - 1 3 6 . 42 ( T h . W r i g h t ) , Songs and Carols from a Manuscript in the Sloane Collection, London, 1836, no. ii. 48 Ibid., no. x i x . 44 Del V a l l e de P a z , p. 1 2 7 , v . 1 3 4 . T h e same moralité à XII personages has been published by P . Aebischer, Une moralité de Saint Nicolas, F r i b o u r g , 1930.

[24]

THE LEGENDS OF THE FLEURY PLAYS avoir enfansreferring to the fact that he was born in answer to his parents' prayer to the saint. Aebischer has apparently overlooked this fact and explains the custom of invoking St Nicholas to cure sterility as derived from a confusion of pagan phallic customs with the cult of the saint as the protector of young marriageable girls. 46 Carias had already commented on the phallic character of the worship of St Nicholas, 47 and Meisen mentions other peculiar folkcustoms which have survived to the present day. 48 Such survivals are especially common in Normandy, where girls still recite the formula : Patron

des

Mariez-nous,

filles,

saint

ne tardez

Nicolas, pas.*9

It is not surprising to find that a dramatization of the Très Filiae legend was performed during the celebration of the millennium of the foundation of Normandy, at Rouen in 1 9 1 1 . 5 0 Henri Ghéon has more recently written an unpublished play on the same theme, and it also will be recalled as one of the saintly exploits imitated by the young Pierre Nozière, in Le Livre de mon Ami.51 T h e most recent adaptation of the legend is The Poor Man and. his Three Daughters, one of several scenes from the saint's life dramatized by Crafer. 5 2 Très Clerici. T h e sources of this very familiar legend have never been satisfactorily explained. A number of bizarre hypotheses have been propounded, most of which 45

Del Valle de Paz, p. 127, v. 1 3 1 . P. Aebischer, Sur deux Caractéristiques du Culte populaire de saint Nicolas, in Archivum Romanicum, xvi (1932), 125-34. 47 Revue des Traditions populaires, xxxiii ( 1 9 1 9 ) , 42-4. 48 Meisen, pp. 242—4. 48 A. Kressner, St Nicolaus in der Tradition und in der mittelalterlichen Dichtung, in Archiv fuer das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, lix (1878), 39. 80 E. Marin, Saint Nicolas, Evêgue de Myre, 3rd ed., Paris, 1930, p. 197. 51 Anatole France, Œuvres complètes illustrées, 24 vols., Paris, 1925-34, iii, 240. " T . W. C r a f e r , Scenes from the Life of St Nicholas, London, 1930, pp. 12-7. 46

[25]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS seek to explain the story through a misunderstanding of some iconographic representation

of

another scene f r o m

the saint's miracles, but ingenious as some of these theories are, all lack the necessary iconographic p r o o f . I shall first examine the occurrences of this legend in medieval literature, and then take up the various theories of its origin.

T h e r e is no mention of the legend in any of

the G r e e k L i v e s of St Nicholas, nor in the account by J o hannes Diaconus, either in its original form, or in the expanded version printed by Mombritius.

T h e first appear-

ance of the complete story, indeed, is in the n t h or 1 2 t h century plays f r o m Hildesheim and F l e u r y . of the Tres

Filiae,

A s in the case

the Hildesheim play represents an ear-

lier and simpler version, which has generally been considered as the earliest f o r m of the legend.

T h a t this assump-

tion is not correct w a s suspected by Y o u n g , " although the evidence he cites refers not to an earlier version of the Clerici,

but to the story of the Stratilatesas

Tres

w e shall try

to prove later. 68

Drama, ii, 328. A s there has been so much confusion between the legends of the Tres Clerici and the Stratilates, both with respect to the literary and the iconog r a p h i c tradition, and since many references confuse even the two separate interventions of the saint in the latter legend, it seems wise to g i v e here a brief outline of the story. M

Bishop Nicholas, about to entertain three stratilates, or officers of Constantine, in his home in M y r a , h e a r s that the g o v e r n o r of L y c i a is about to put to death three innocent men. H u r r y i n g with the officers to the place of execution, he a r r i v e s just in time to s a v e the men f r o m death. T h e g o v e r n o r confesses his guilt, but upon the request of the stratilates he is pardoned by the saint. Upon their return to Constantinople, the stratilates are unjustly imprisoned by the praetor A b l a v i u s and sentenced to death by Constantine without a hearing. R e m e m b e r i n g the intervention of the bishop of M y r a in a case similar to their own, the officers p r a y him to s a v e them. T h a t night Nicholas a p p e a r s in a d r e a m to both the emperor and the praetor, r e v e a l i n g his identity and summoning them to set f r e e the stratilates. Next morning the prisoners are brought before Constantine and accused, to their astonishment, of disturbing by m a g i c p o w e r s the emperor's sleep. W h e n at last he asks whether they know a bishop named Nicholas, they realize who h a s intervened and explain the story to Constantine, w h o sets them f r e e and asks them to take g i f t s to the holy bishop.

[26]

THE LEGENDS OF THE FLEURY PLAYS A short reference in an n t h century hymn, contemporary with or earlier than the Hildesheim play, seems to show that the legend was already well established by that time: Suscitât or S ignis

clertcorum

admirabilis,

Fac, a morte Surgam reus

peccatorum flebilis,55

T h e n t h century office f o r St Nicholas' D a y 56 does not mention the legend, the passages cited by Y o u n g 57 referring not to the clerici but to the stratilates, as indicated by the words addicti, plectendi, vinculis, pretorium, illesos, etc. A s references in hymns are usually brief, and as words like mors, nex, pueri, juvenes, liberare, and eripere, are used of either legend, one must be careful to examine the whole passage and not jump to conclusions. J e a n r o y has been misled in just this way in his comment on a bilingual hymn to St Nicholas. 5 8 H e r e again, the prayer f o r deliverance, the fact that the bishop was mout Ions selunc son cors, and that the three men were delivered f r o m prison, show clearly that the stratilates are meant. In the 1 2 t h century a reference to the Très Clerici is inserted in a i o t h century hymn, one stanza of which mentioned the stratilates. In the amended version the stanza reads: Homicidam visitât, Très occisos suscitât; Très ereptos vinculis fert ad domum consulis.59 55 Rep. Hymn. No. 36403. Text in Anal. Hymn., xlvi, No. 277, from a collectarium from the church of St Loup in Troyes. This hymn, beginning Copiose caritatis, is an imitation of the antiphon which closes the Fleury play, Filius Getronis. 58 Young, Miracle Play, p. 261. 57 See above, note 53. 58 A . Jeanroy, Une Hymne bilingue à Saint Nicolas, in Speculum, vi ( 1 9 3 1 ) , 109. M . Jeanroy apparently overlooked the edition of this poem, with facsimile and musical transcription, by P. Aubry, Les plus anciens Monuments de la Musique française, Paris, 1905, p. 7 and pi. v. 68 Rep. Hymn. No. 10249. Text in Anal. Hymn., lv, No. 265; Daniel, ii, 252; Kehrein, No. 666; Mone, iii, No. 1094.

[27]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS so

Blume s u g g e s t s that the change a r o s e t h r o u g h c o n f u s i o n as to the m e a n i n g of the w o r d stratilates in the o r i g i n a l . T o the r e f e r e n c e s in seven hymns published by M e i s e n , " I m a y a d d the f o l l o w i n g q u o t a t i o n s f r o m 1 3 t h century hymns : Tres

scholares

Et ab hospite Voce facta Idem

demonstratos

sanctus

A morte

inseratos necatos suscitai.62

clericos

Eripuit Et

tres

suscitavit

De

morte

Pro

eis oravit

caritas, Deum,

Qui fuit mundum

flos.64

F r o m the l a t e r M i d d l e A g e s I h a v e n o t e d eight h y m n s which r e f e r u n m i s t a k a b l y , and in v e r y s i m i l a r t e r m s , to the legend. 6 5 A l l c a r e f u l l y s p e c i f y scholares, clerici, or litter a ti. T o r e t u r n to the H i l d e s h e i m and F l e u r y p l a y s , the opening s t a n z a of the f o r m e r 66 presents at once the three students a s k i n g f o r shelter, and lacks the p r e l i m i n a r y c o n v e r s a tion of the F l e u r y v e r s i o n . I n the e a r l i e r p l a y the students' request is g r a n t e d at once by the hospes, w h i l e in the F l e u r y text the request is acceded to only a f t e r the intervention of the w i f e in their b e h a l f . T h e s u g g e s t i o n that the b o y s be m u r d e r e d f o r their m o n e y comes in each case f r o m the husb a n d ; the H i l d e s h e i m w i f e objects at first, w h i l e in the 60

Anal. Hymn., lv, p. 298. Pp. 290-1. Complete text in Anal. Hymn., iii, part i , No. 50; xxi, No«. i 2 i , 1 2 3 - 5 , ^ o ; Iv, 265. 62 Anal. Hymn., lv, No. 270. 63 Ibid., xlv*, No. 78. « Ibid., xii, No. 389. 65 Ibid., ii, part 3, Nos. 1 4 - 5 ; xi, 3 7 8 ; xii, 396; xxix, 1 6 5 ; xlii, 298; xliii, 4 3 5 ; x l v ' , 64. 66 T e x t in Zs. f . d. A., x x x v ( 1 8 9 1 ) , 405-7, and Y o u n g , Drama, ii, 325-7. 61

[28]

THE LEGENDS OF THE FLEURY PLAYS Fleury play she approves at once and urges her husband on. T h e reception of St Nicholas, his demand f o r fresh meat, his accusation of the guilty pair, and finally his prayer f o r the resurrection of the boys and the forgiveness of the murderers are much the same in both versions. In the earlier play an angel appears to announce that the scholars have been brought to life. Both plays use decasyllabic quatrains, the Hildesheim text adding a four-syllable refrain. Another dramatic treatment of the legend has been preserved in fragmentary f o r m in an Einsiedeln M S of the 1 2 t h century. 67 It begins with the appearance of St Nicholas as a pilgrim, but develops the remainder of the story in greater detail. T h e roles of the wife and the saint become more important than in either of the other two versions. T h e saint is particularly aghast at the woman's complicity in the crime. H e personally restores the dead students to life, without any prayer. T h e play is written in leonine hexameters, and the author shows much greater variety in the length of the speeches, which vary f r o m one to eleven lines. T h e progress in dramatic effectiveness and in versification shown in this fragment indicates that it is later than the other two plays, 68 but I do not find Coffman's arguments that the author had the text of the other two before him especially convincing. 69 T h e only non-dramatic account of the legend in the 1 2 t h century is given by Wace. 7 0 T h e short passage of ten lines contains no details not found in the plays, and makes no mention of the wife. T h e poet goes on to state that the 87 Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibl., M S 34, fol. 2 T -3- Published by Gall Morel in Ant. f . Kunde d. d. For*., Neue Folge, vi (1859), 207-8, and by Young, Drama, ii, 335-6. , 68 CoSraan (New> Theory, p. 64) also cites in support of this opinion the explicit stage directions in the MS, but the editor states specifically that it contains nur den Text ohne allt Anfuehrung von Penonen oder Handlung, and that he has supplied the rubric for clearness. t9 NepV>*m ¿y> tuJ

fpftm

X ¿cwencM* tu: urfha ^tutprlrnrníHC lu»¿

MS ORI.KANS Jul, PAGI:, I'M A l'âge troni the Play leonia

Sancii

A

ichulai

THE MUSIC OF THE PLAYS perpendicular to the stafi (5 SED), and although in later notation the stem extends only below the note, it here extends both above and below, with the upper portion sometimes curving to the right (6 tiBI). Ligatures. Ligatures are groups of two or more notes, sung to a single syllable of the text, and connected by fine vertical strokes, except in the case of a few groups, which may also be called conjunctures. The ligatures in standard use are the podatus and clivis, of two notes, and the scandicus, climacus, torculus and porrectus, each comprising three notes. More complicated groups are formed by adding a single note to any of these, or by combining two ligatures, in which case all the individual notes need no longer be connected. Podatus or Pes ( 1 NI). This consists of two parallel puncta connected by a stem at the right. The lower note is sung first, and the interval varies widely. An older form of this neume, resembling the letter J , occurs occasionally, perhaps due to an absent-minded copyist neglecting to change the form of the ligature from the earlier notation before him. Clivis or Flexa (3 soLUS). This is the reverse of the podatus, with two descending notes. There is a stem at the left, and the second note, to the right and below the first, is connected with it. Scandicus. An ascending group of three or more notes, formed usually with two puncta followed by a virga, it occurs in the Fleury M S chiefly as three virgae (7 TE), as podatus and virga (7 PRImo), as virga and podatus ( 1 maNE), as two podati (2 UIgere), or as a connected series of four ascending steps (3 ET). Climacus ( 1 COlebam). This ligature, three or more descending notes, is the reverse of the scandicus, and is usually written as a virga followed by puncta. Corresponding to the last-mentioned form of the scandicus, there [91]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS is also a series of connected descending steps with a stem at the left (3 laCRImandi). Torculus or Pes Flexus (8 CREmabo). This consists of three notes, of which the middle one is higher, and is indicated by three puncta, connected by vertical stems. Porree tus (7 flaGELla). T h i s is the reverse of the preceding ligature, and consists of three notes, of which the middle one is lower. It is indicated by three puncta, connected by vertical stems, with an additional stem at the left of the first note. Climacus resupinus. Adding a higher note qualifies a ligature as resupinus; a climacus resupinus is ordinarily a connected series of steps, but in our facsimile it appears as virga, punctum, podatus (7 POSTque). Conversely, a ligature followed by a lower note is called flexus. Compound Ligatures. T w o successive ligatures may be sung to the same syllable, or if ligatures are combined with two or more puncta, they may be qualified as prae-, sub-, or cumbipunctis ( 2 ) , tripunctis ( 3 ) , diatesseris ( 4 ) , or diapentis ( 5 ) , depending upon whether the puncta precede, follow, or both precede and follow the ligature. Among the compound ligatures found in the Fleury M S are the climacus anad podatus (7 priMO), torculus and climacus (8 CREmabo), podatus and climacus (7 FLAgella), virga and climacus (7 CAUsa), virga and clivis (7 FLAgellabo), podatus and clivis, porrectus subbipunctis, and podatus subbipunctis. T h e last three do not occur in our facsimile. Use of Virga and Punctum. A cursory examination of the notation of the Fleury plays shows that it cannot be música mensúrala, or measured notation, which is perfected in the 13th century, and that therefore the time value of the two simple neumes, the virga and the punctum, is the same. W h a t then is the difference in use between the two? It has often been observed that the virga is used to represent a higher note, and the punctum a lower note, according to their derivation from the acute and grave

[92]

THE MUSIC OF THE PLAYS accents respectively. This distinction is generally true in these plays, but there are several hundred cases in which it is not observed. Nearly all may be explained, however, by the following supplementary observations. T h e virga, in addition to being used f o r a higher note, is used regardless of the direction of the melody at the beginning of each line of the stanza ( i QUID) and after the caesura (3 CAUsam). There are but six exceptions to this rule in the sixty-three cases where there is downward motion. T h e virga is also used regularly after another virga of the same pitch ( 1 -laUS), but rarely after a punctum, or a ligature ending on the same pitch. It is generally used for a lower note if it falls on an accented first syllable of a trisyllable, on the unaccented first syllable of a 4-syllable word, on an accented monosyllable, or on the accented syllable of a disyllable ( 1 Fides). T h e virga is used f o r a lower note very frequently also on the unaccented penult of the last word of a decasyllabic line. T h e punctum, besides being used f o r a lower note ( 1 fiDES), is used after another punctum of the same pitch, and may also be used after a ligature whose first note is higher (or of the same pitch), even though its last note is lower. T h e punctum is sometimes used on the 8th syllable, bearing the tonic accent, of decasyllabic lines, even when the melodic line rises. Occasionally the punctum is used f o r a higher note on various unaccented syllables. T h e rule, observed in Gregorian chant, 3 that in a descending phrase only the last note is a punctum, is not respected in our M S . The Staff. T h e four-line staff, standardized by Guy d ' A r e z z o in the n t h century, is used f o r the music of our plays. Since the clef is accurately indicated by the sign c or b, there is no need f o r one or more lines to be distinctively colored, and all the lines are colored red, a favorite device in French notation beginning with the 12th century/ 3

Dom A. Mocquereau, Le Nombre

musical grégorien,

1 9 0 8 , p. 2 1 5 . 4

Wagner, ii, 290.

[93]

Rome and Tournai,

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS In only one case are there fewer than four lines in the staff, where the ligatures on the last two syllables of aud'tas, the last word of the last stanza of the Tres Clerici, are noted on three lines. But as no clef sign appears, the top line, which has carried the c clef sign on every preceding line on the page, has apparently been omitted f o r lack of space. T h e three lines are in fact widely spaced, and there are indistinct marks above the top line which may indicate an attempt to draw the c line, abandoned as unnecessary f o r the remaining two syllables. T h e r e are a number of occurrences of a five-line staff, which however is almost never required by the melodic line, and which could in any case have been avoided by the shifting of the clef sign up or down, a device which is frequently employed (lines 5 and 8 of the facsimile). T h e notator seems careless in his unnecessary use of these two devices, while on the other hand (line 7 ) when he has an e above the c of the fourth line, 6 he neither moves the clef sign down nor adds a fifth line, nor even draws a leger line through the note. L e g e r lines, although sometimes found in notation of this period, do not occur in our M S . Of the seventeen cases where a fifth line is drawn on the staff, there is none where a single note occurs on the added line to justify it. In at least two cases the notator, having drawn an unnecessary fifth line, places the c clef sign on it and copies his melody on the four lower lines, thus throwing two passages out of their proper pitch by a third ( M S , p. 1 8 4 , line 8, and p. 1 8 5 , line 5 ) . Coussemaker, in his transcription, 6 either failed to notice the mistake of the copyist, assuming that the melody of the previous stanza was repeated, or corrected it without noting the fact in his commentary. In another case the b clef sign occurs twice, both between the fifth and fourth lines and between the fourth and third of the staff. T h e copyist ignores the 5 6

T h e lines of the staff are numbered u p w a r d . Coussemaker, pp. 1 0 1 - 2 .

[94]

THE MUSIC OF THE PLAYS higher of the two signs, probably to keep his notation as close as possible to the text. On p. 1 8 9 the copyist has even drawn a staff at the f o o t of the page where there is no room f o r text. T h i s may indicate that the staff was drawn first f o r at least a part of the M S , or perhaps only that, moving f r o m top to bottom of the page, the one who drew the staff aligned it by the text above without noticing that there was no text below that particular one. Clef-Signs. Of the two clefs most commonly used during the period of our M S , the c clef occurs almost exclusively. It may be indicated, as in modern notation, by the letter c, or, in passages where the seventh is lowered, by the b rotundum or sign resembling a figure 6 which later becomes the modern [?• I t is often indicated by the two signs together. T h e c clef-sign may be placed on any of the upper three lines of the staff, and may be moved up or down in the middle of a line, in order to keep the melody f r o m going beyond the f o u r lines and five spaces of the staff. Similarly the b rotundum may occur in any of the three spaces between the lines of the staff. T h e / clef occurs only twice in the four plays, where the Civis, in the Filius Getronis, sings a low a which could not be indicated on the four-line staff even with the c clef-sign in its lowest position. T h e / clef-sign consists of a vertical line turned slightly toward the left at the top, with two short parallel lines at the right on either side of the line representing /. T h e occasional repetitions of the clef-sign in the middle of a line indicate the carelessness of the notator, who has failed to realize that the sign placed regularly at the beginning of each line in the M S he was copying did not need to be copied unless it came at a similar place in the new M S or indicated a shift up or down. Accidentals. T h e only chromatic modification of the notes permitted is the lowering of the b, as already described. Historically this modification was designed to [95]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS keep the semitone in the hexachordon molle, beginning on f , in its proper place. Our composer uses the progressions b-c or b flat -c, or vice versa, at will, especially in the Filitts Getronis. Coussemaker, however, notices only the b flat -c progression and states in his comment on the play : le notateur

a eu soin de mettre un bémol devant si précédant

ment aux pages ceux

126—28

qui prétendent

et 1JO-

que,

Cest

là une réponse

dans des cas analogues,

ut,

notam-

catégorique

il faut

exécuter

à si

bécarre.''

Coussemaker is apparently so convinced of the necessity f o r the b flat preceding c that he inserts the b a f t e r the clefsign in his transcription of the last stanza of the Très Clerici* where there is no justification f o r it in the M S . T h e frequent occurrence of the sequence b natural -c in the Icottia has however been scrupulously respected. 9 It should be noted that the restoration of b flat to b natural is indicated in the M S not by the usual b quadratum, but by the insertion of the c clef-sign. Without the intervention of the c clef-sign, the b remains lowered f o r the remainder of the line in the M S , just as accidentals in modern notation are valid throughout a measure. Tonality. T h e tone-system of the early Middle Ages, derived f r o m that of the Greeks, comprised eight modes or tones. W e shall refer to them as tones in order to avoid confusion with the rhythmical modes which arise in the 1 3 t h century. T h e y are grouped into four pairs, called by the Greek ordinals transliterated into L a t i n : protus, deuterus, tritus and tetrardus, each of which may be either authentic or plagal. T h e authentic tones have the final, analogous to our key-note, at the bottom, and the dominant in the middle; the plagal tones have the final in the middle and the dominant two or three steps higher. T h e fol7 8 9

Coussemaker, p. 330. Ibid., p. 104Ibid., pp. 1 0 9 - 1 2 , 1 1 4 - 5 .

[96]

THE MUSIC OF THE PLAYS lowing table gives the n a m e s of the tones, and indicates their finals and d o m i n a n t s . Name of Tone First, or Second, or Third, or Fourth, or Fifth, or Sixth, or Seventh, or Eighth, or

Protus authentic Protus plagal Deuterus authentic Deuterus plagal Tritus authentic Tritus plagal Tetrardus authentic Tetrardus plagal

Final

Dominant

D D E E F F G G

A F C A C A D C

T h e Greek names, D o r i a n , P h r y g i a n , etc., which have suff e r e d odd changes f r o m their original meanings, a r e confusing, and need not be discussed here. Since in G r e g o r i a n chant the ambitus, or range, of a given melody seldom exceeds the interval of a seventh, it is easy to determine w h e t h e r the melody is in the authentic or plagal f o r m of a given m o d e . H o w e v e r , the liturgical d r a m a enlarges the ambitus to such an extent t h a t it sometimes becomes impossible t o call a melody authentic o r plagal, as it may include nearly all the notes of b o t h tones. 1 0 Besides the increased ambitus, the 12th century presents a tendency t o w a r d indefinite tonality and the use of o t h e r finals than the d, e, f , and g of the r e g u l a r tones. 1 1 Although this is particularly t r u e of secular music, there a r e examples even in the Proses of A d a m de St Victor. 1 2 The St Nicholas plays use almost exclusively the protus and tetrardus, with the addition of a tone of c (resembling, except f o r the ¿-flat, the m o d e r n scale of c m a j o r ) , and a tone of a almost identical with our a m i n o r scale. Another peculiarity which should be noted is in the opening s t a n z a s 10 T h e melody of the Civil, in Filius Getronis, extending f r o m a low a to d, a fourth more than an octave, takes in all but one note of the combined authentic and plagal forms of the protus. 11 A. Machabey, Histoire et Evolution des Formules mus'tcalet, Paris,

1 9 2 8 , p. 12

136-8.

Ibid., p. 134.

[97]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS of the Tres Filiae, which appear to be, like the rest of the play, in protus, but which terminate in the cadence d-c-d-e, instead of using the final d. It is unlikely that this is a case of deuterus, as this mode does not occur in the four plays. RHYTHMIC

INTERPRETATION

In the musical notation of the M S , as we have seen, there is no indication of the time nor of the relative value of the notes. Measured notation, or música mensurata, does not appear until the 1 3 t h century. A r e we to assume then that music previous to that improved notation, when combined with dramatic verse such as ours, with motets or with songs of the troubadours, was to be executed without regard f o r rhythm, despite the pronounced rhythm of the text? Beck has shown 13 that such compositions were executed rhythmically, and has established the principles of modal interpretation of medieval notation. T h e modes, or rhythmic formulas, of medieval music have been amply described by theorists of the 13th—15th centuries, whose treatises are found in the collections of G e r b e r t 1 4 and Coussemaker. 1 5 T h e y are of course not to be confused with the so-called ecclesiastic or Gregorian modes, which f o r clearness we have designated in this study by their other name, tones. T h e rhythmic modes are six in number, and correspond to certain metrical feet of classic prosody. They may be indicated as follows, bearing in mind that the duration of the notes is merely relative, that is, that any time-value may be assigned, as long as the relation between the notes remains constant. 13 J . Beck, La Musigue des Troubadours, Paris, n.d., p. 43-3, and more fully in Die Melodien der Troubadours, Strasbourg, 1908, pp. 54-78. 14 M . Gerbert, ed., Scriptores ecclesiastici de Música sacra, 3 vols., St Blasien, 1784. 18 E. de Coussemaker, ed., Scriptorvm de Música Medii Aevt novam Seriem, 4 vols., Paris, 1864-76.

[98]

THE MUSIC OF THE PLAYS First mode

J

J

J

J

J

Corresponds to trochee

Second mode

J

J

)

J

I

iambus

T h i r d mode

J.

J

Fourth mode

.1 J ww

J

ti

J • I# O

It

anapest

u

spondee

J | J. J J

Fifth mode Sixth mode

j

i l i

tt

a

dactyl

tribrach

T o those unacquainted with medieval musicology it will be astonishing to learn that regular rhythmic verse, such as that in our plays, was often sung to an entirely different rhythm, or in other words that there is no correspondence between the syllables bearing the tonic accent and the strong beats of the music. T h i s is not so surprising, however, when we reflect that classical Latin poetry had always sacrificed the tonic accent to the metre, and that the medieval modes are merely the survivals of the classical metres. 1 6 Although the notation of our plays does not reveal the musical rhythm, we have a body of verse of the same period preserved in a 1 3 t h century M S with measured notation, the collection of motets f r o m Bamberg. 1 7 Observing the iambic decasyllabics in the L a t i n texts in this collection, as transcribed by Aubry, we find well over 1 0 0 lines, which without exception are to be sung, not in iambic or second mode, but in the dactylic third mode. In fact, three of the compositions in this group are cited by various theorists as examples of the third mode. 1 8 T h e dactylic rhythm is likewise used f o r a majority of lines of 4, 7, and 1 3 syllables, and even f o r 15-syllable lines, by lengthening the eighth 16

Beck, Chamonnier, ii, 36 ff. P. Aubry, ed., Cent Motets du xiii' Siicle, publics d'apris le MS Ed. iv 6 de Bamberg, 3 vols., Paris, 1908. 18 Beck, Melodien, p. 132, note 1. These compositions are O natio nefandi ffenerii (Aubry, op. cit., ii, 60) ; Eximie pater et regie (Aubry, ii, 60) ; O Maria beata genetrix (Aubry, ii, 170). 17

[99]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS note to equality with the seventh, so that the two fill a measure. T h e prevalence of the dactylic mode f o r iambic decasyllabics in the measured notation of M S S but slightly later than our own, and f o r texts of the same age, authorizes us to assume that the decasyllabics of our text were so sung, and that the 4- and 7-syllable lines were probably treated likewise. In the quantitative hexameters of Icortia, v. 47—67, where the J e w is lamenting the loss of his money, the melody is so florid, with as many as nine notes to a single syllable, that it seems impossible to confine it within any set rhythmical pattern. T h e liberties we have already observed in the composer's treatment of tonality j u s t i f y our assumption that this passage, which is practically durchkomponiert, is to be sung in the manner of a f r e e recitative, in order to bring out fully the dramatic effect. T h e same treatment seems indicated f o r the 5-syllable lines of the saint (v. 70, 7 3 , etc.) and the 4-syllable r e f r a i n , Gaudeamus, of the J e w ' s closing speech ( v . 1 0 4 , 1 0 7 ) in the same play. MELODIC I N V E N T I O N

Ambitus. W e have already observed that the ambitus, or range, of these plays is unusually extensive. Individual stanzas seldom extend over less than a seventh, and usually embrace an octave or a ninth. A n extreme case is the melody of Civis, in the Filius Getronis, which takes in a f o u r t h more than an octave. T h e first two plays have an ambitus of an octave and a ninth respectively, although there is little melodic development. T h e Iconia play, more complex melodically, has a range of a sixth more than the octave, and the Filius Getronis takes in two full octaves. Variants. T h e large number of stanzas sung to a comparatively small number of melodies permits us to study the interesting musical variants in otherwise similar melodies. It is vain to seek a satisfactory and consistent explanation

[100]

THE MUSIC OF THE PLAYS of these variants in terms of quantity, tonic stress, initial syllables, emphasis, occurrence of double consonants or diphthongs, or of any of the other phenomena that cause liquescence in earlier notation. These variants are apparently permitted at the pleasure of the composer, f o r the sake of variety, just as the poet is allowed certain licenses to avoid monotony in rhythm, or as a modern composer may vary slightly the accompaniment to different stanzas of the same melody. T h e variants noted in the music of the St Nicholas plays may be classified as f o l l o w s : A . Expansion of a simple neume to a ligature. The virga (rarely the punctum) is replaced by a podatus or by a clivis, less often by a porrectus. B . T h e converse of the foregoing, or contraction of a ligature to a simple neume. A podatus is reduced to a virga (occasionally to a punctum). Other ligatures are infrequently so treated. C. Addition of a note to a ligature, e.g., the expansion of a podatus to a porrectus. D . Simplification of a ligature, usually from three notes to two, e.g., torculus to clivis. T h i s type of variant, and the preceding one, each occur only f r o m five to eight times. E . Redistribution of notes to the syllables in a given phrase. T w o successive syllables with punctum followed by clivis may in the next stanza be written podatus followed by punctum. This type occurs some thirty-five times, and is used often where there is variation in the number of syllables. T h u s the same melodic progression, a-g-f-e-d, is written in I I I , 102 -te mi-chi as clivis, virga, clivis, and in I I I , 1 0 3 dis-per-sit, as virga, punctum, climacus. F . Change of pitch in a single note or in a note of a ligature. T h e r e is but one example of each, but each of these occurs three times. T h u s c is altered to b in I I I , 1 4 , 1 5 , 1 8 ; and the torculus d-e-c becomes d-e-d in I I I , 2, 3, 1 1 .

[101]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS DRAMATIC

EXPRESSION

T h e appropriateness of the music to the text in the liturgical drama is a fascinating subject which has not yet received adequate treatment, although G é r o l d has recently called attention, in discussing the church plays, to une recherche de l'expression de plus en plus marquée, un souci manifeste des oppositions dramatiques ; et, de plus, une parfaite connaissance de l'art du chant.™ A n examination of this aspect of some of the liturgical d r a m a s has been expertly made by Liuzzi. 2 0 A related question virtually untouched b e f o r e the two articles of L i u z z i and yet of great importance f o r the origins of the liturgical d r a m a is the influence of earlier musical offices of the Church and of hymn melodies on the music of these plays. N o adequate appreciation of the medieval liturgical d r a m a is possible until the musical text is generally available and its origins explained, any more than one can get the full flavor of the a r t of the troubadours without hearing the music along with the poetry. T h i s fact, often overlooked by literary historians, has been stressed by the chief authority on the medieval L a t i n d r a m a , K a r l Y o u n g , in his monumental corpus of liturgical plays already r e f e r r e d to. 2 1 T h e musical treatment of the f o u r St Nicholas plays varies considerably in its effectiveness in reflecting the sentiments of the characters. T h e Très Filiae has only two different musical stanzas, so that the last thirty-five stanzas are sung to the same melody. A s this melody is used f o r decasyllabic stanzas with r e f r a i n , and the music f o r each of the f o u r lines is the same f o r the first six syllables, we have melodic interest at a minimum, and the same tune must be used to express the dejection and subsequent joy 10 T h . Gérold, La Musique au Moyen Age {Classiques français du Moyen Age, lxxiii), Paris, 1932, p. 65. 20 F. Liuzzi, L'Espreisione musicale nel Dramma liturgico, in Studi Medievali, ouova serie, ii (1929), 74-109, and Drammi musicali dei Secoli xt-xiv. i. Le Fergini s a vie e le Vergini folli, ibid., n.s., iii (1930), 82-109. 21 Young, Drama, i, xiii-xiv.

[102]

THE MUSIC OF THE PLAYS of the f a t h e r and his daughters, the wooing of the generi, and the modesty of the saintly benefactor. M a c h a b e y criticizes the use of the protus, with its effect of minor, f o r the f a t h e r ' s joyous address to his daughters, not realizing apparently that the composer has not chosen to express the emotions of his characters in the music." T h e Tres Clerici in its musical construction is almost simpler than the preceding play, having only one musical stanza f o r the whole action of the play, except f o r the final p r a y e r of the saint. H o w e v e r , the melodic stanza scheme aabc offers a little more variety than the scheme of the greater part of the Tres Filiae, which amounts virtually to aaaab. In connection with the device of dividing stanzas into couplets spoken by different characters, which has been mentioned in discussing the previous play, it m a y be noted that the melodic scheme is not divided, but each character has the first two lines of the stanza melody. T h u s the aa half of the melody occurs rather more frequently than the be portion. 2 3 Considering the variety of sentiments in the play, it is difficult to understand Coussemaker's opinion that the music is v e r y appropriate to the text. 24 W e can, however, agree with him that the music f o r the p r a y e r of St Nicholas at the end of the play, in what amounts to a modern d minor (with b flat), is affecting. W i t h the Iconia p l a y we find the composer fully aware of its dramatic possibilities. W e need only r e f e r to the text where the different melodies have been indicated by capital letters at the l e f t of each line, to see that we have forty-six melodic units compared with six in each of the first two plays. N o t only does each character have different melodies (with the exception of the three thieves, w h o occasionally h a v e phrases in common), 2 5 but these melodies change with the emotions of the singers, and ex22 23 24 25

M a c h a b e y , p. 1 3 6 . Tres Clerici, stanzas v i i i - i x , x i v - x v , etc. Coussemaker, p. 329. Iconia, 9tanzas i i i - v .

[103]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS press their sentiments with a singular aptness. T h i s w a s apparent even to Coussemaker, w h o is generally satisfied with vague and misleading comments on the musical expression of the p l a y s ; here he suspects des intentions dramatiques™ T h e long monologue in hexameters 1 7 where the J e w discovers the loss of his possessions and threatens the statue is amazingly expressive and f u l l of descending scale passages which express his grief and resentment. Gérold gives the music of a part of this monologue and terms it un des plus développés parmi les morceaux de ce genre; 28 he quotes the rebuke of St Nicholas to the robbers 29 as even more vehement than the J e w ' s monologue. 3 0 E a c h of these passages has an ambitus of a ninth. T h e r e is a deliberate contrast between the opening 1 5 syllable lines of the J e w , the melody of which is repeated (with slight variations) ten times, and the impassioned lament already mentioned, which has sixteen completely different lines of music f o r the twenty-one hexameter lines of the speech. A t the end, with his treasure restored, he again repeats the music f o r each stanza of his rejoicing. 3 1 It may be objected that the descending figures in these concluding stanzas are suspiciously like the ones in the laments of the J e w and the saint, and that the d minor tonality might better have been replaced by the tetrardus, with its m a j o r , instead of minor, third. M a c h a b e y errs in criticizing the composer f o r concluding with a chorus in the seventh tone with ¿-flat, 3 2 f o r the Statuit ei Dominus is not in the seventh tone, as the initial phrase in the M S might suggest, but in the first,33 and in any case, the composer has not chosen the liturgical chorus f o r its appropri26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Coussemaker, p. 329. I coma, stanza iz. Gérold, p. 63. Icortia, stanzas x—xvii. Gérold, p. 64. Iconia, stanzas x x i i - x x v . M a c h a b e y , p. 1 3 6 . Graduale Romanum, Rome and T o u r n a i , 1908, p. ( 2 ) .

[104]

THE MUSIC OF THE PLAYS ateness to the theme of his play, but because it is the introit f o r St Nicholas' D a y . Although the versification of the Filius Getronis is the most conservative of the four plays, consisting exclusively of four-line decasyllabic stanzas, without division, the music is only slightly less varied than that of the Iconia. H e r e again the melodies assigned to the various characters are carefully differentiated, 34 and the principal characters, Adeodatus and his mother, vary their tune to suit their emotions. T h e stanzas of the Ministri, of King Marmorinus, of Getron and of the Civis are invariable, as these characters suffer no fluctuations of temperament. Getron, it should be noted, appears only after the abduction of his son and before his restoration, and to emphasize his calmness in contrast to Euphrosina's excitedness, the ambitus of his melody is, with the exception of a single lower second, confined to the interval of a fifth, the first five notes of our modern g major scale. F o r no apparent reason Adeodatus' melody is the same as the decasyllabic second melody in the Tres Filiae, omitting the extra notes required f o r the refrain in the first play. Only when he sighs f o r home on the anniversary of his abduction 35 does he forsake his usual tune and borrow not only his mother's sorrowful melody, but also the words of the first line of her lament (verses 4 1 and 1 3 3 , heu, heu, heu, michi misere[o]). T h e lament of Euphrosina (the tune is used also by her consolatrices) is notable f o r reaching a high a, although the ambitus is not extensive, going down only to b flat. T h e vehement laments of St Nicholas and the J e w were content with an e and d respectively, and the first two plays went no higher than c. With the unaccountably wide ambitus of the Civis, from a low a to the second c above, the 34 Spanke (p. 420) comments 011 the practical advantage of this arrangement f o r easier memorizing. 35 Filius Getronii, stanza z x x i v .

[105]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS

play as a whole has the unusual range of two octaves. Euphrosina, upon the return of her son, quits her m o u r n f u l tune and turns to an unusual tonality in a without the very high notes of the f o r m e r melody. I t seems strange that the melody of her lament, except f o r a single b flat, should lie in the first six notes of the modern c m a j o r scale, and her rejoicing should be expressed in our a minor scale, but other factors than tonality must have entered into the general effect.

[106]

VII

SOME DRAMATIC ASPECTS OF T H E

PLAYS

THE MIRACLE-PLAY

Although the Hildesheim plays already mentioned are apparently earlier than the Fleury plays, it is in our M S that we have the first mention of the miracle-play as a dramatic form. T h e Iconia play is preceded by a brief explanation of the action, beginning: Aliud miraculum de Sancto Nicholao et de quodam Judeo. Weydig cites this and later examples of this use, as well as that of miracle in French, in arriving at his definition of the miracle-play. 1 Coffman insists, however, that all of Weydig's early references are to the content of the plays and not to the dramatic form. 2 T h a t miraculum most often means a miraculous occurrence is undeniable, and indeed it might be so interpreted in the above passage, although it seems more reasonable to interpret the phrase ' another miracle play about St Nicholas and a certain J e w ' than ' another miracle of St Nicholas and about a Jew.' If this phrase is not conclusive, however, another phrase which terminates the play seems much more so, and helps interpret the first. I t has been overlooked both by W e y d i g and by Coffman, presumably because Coussemaker neglected to print it in his edition. A f t e r the play, and also, be it noted, a f t e r the chofus which follows, and which has not the most remote connection with the subject-matter of the play, stand the words finitur miraculum. T h i s certainly refers not to the content of the play but to the dramatic form, which includes a liturgical chant to bring it to a fitting close. 1 2

Weydig, p. 4. Coffman, Nevi

Theory,

p. 1.

[107]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS PERFORMANCE OF T H E PLAYS

I t may s a f e l y be assumed that these plays w e r e perf o r m e d during the feast-day of St Nicholas, December sixth, since three of the f o u r liturgical pieces which terminate the plays are peculiar to that festival.* T h e s e same choruses at once suggest that the plays are interpolations in the liturgical office at the points where these pieces would normally be sung. I f the latter assumption is correct, then the church itself seems the most likely place of p e r f o r m ance, f o r otherwise there would be a w k w a r d interruptions in the office. Authorities are not in agreement, however, on these points. I t has been generally supposed that the plays w e r e given on the festival of St Nicholas, but G a y l e y suggests the f e a s t of the H o l y Innocents, December 28. ' Since this festival,' he says, ' w a s probably as much a f e s t i v a l of St Nicholas as of the H o l y Innocents, some of the numerous miracles . . . would be presented by the lads in dramatic f o r m . ' * A s to the appropriateness of the miracle-plays of St Nicholas to the f e a s t of the Innocents, G a y l e y declares that ' plays of St Nicholas could readily be adapted to suit the festival of the Innocents, since intervention on behalf of the young was the characteristic role of the saint.' 5 In the absence of any evidence f o r such performances, and with the knowledge that the flight of the H o l y F a m i l y w a s enacted as part of the revels of the f e a s t of the Innocents, 6 and that the Ordo Rachelis w a s also probably p e r f o r m e d on that day, T Gayley's suggestion cannot seriously be entertained. 3 The Statuit ei Dominus, which terminates the Iconia play, may of course be used as the introit for the festival of any confessor and bishop. 4 Gayley, p. 58. He points out that the boy-bishop, usually elected on St Nicholas' Day, takes up his duties on the Feast of the Innocents. 5 Ibid., p. 61. 6 Young, Drama, i, 106-10. ''Ibid., ii, 1 1 6 .

[108]

DRAMATIC ASPECTS OF THE PLAYS L e b e u f ' s t h e o r y 8 that the f o u r plays were merely so many acts of une même tragédie has been uniformly rejected, even though there is no agreement as to the time of day when the plays w e r e p e r f o r m e d . Cuissard, 9 f o r instance, rejects the implication of the liturgical choruses which terminate the Filius Getronis and the Très Clerici, and seeks to establish f r o m internal evidence that the f o r m e r was the first of the f o u r to be given. H e fixes the time as first Vespers, the evening of December 5, based on the verse (Filius Getronis, v. 8 9 ) : In crastino erit festivitas Nicholai. T h i s reference, however, clearly has to do with the events of the play itself, and the words spoken by Getron are addressed to his w i f e , suggesting that they go to the church of St N i c h o l a s and pray on the anniversary of their son's disappearance. Quite different in purpose is the similar line in the Jeu de St Nicolas of J e a n Bodel, which is part of the prologue and is addressed to the audience, Signeur, Del

saint

che trouvons dont anuit

en le vie est la

veille.10

Cuissard makes a similar mistake in placing the p e r f o r m ance of the Très Clerici as avant la chute du jour, merely on account of the lines, Dum

sol adhuc

perquiramus

extendit

radium,

nobis hospiciurn.

( Très

Clerici,

v. 3—4.)

L e t us see at what time of day the plays would be perf o r m e d if we assume them to have been closely attached to the liturgical office. T h e Très Filiae ends with the singing of the antiphon O Christi pietas, usually attached to the Magnificat at second Vespers, but found occasionally instead at the Benedictus of L a u d s . 1 1 T h e Te Deum, which terminates the Très Clerici, is regularly sung at the end of 8

Lebeuf, Lettre, p. 705. Cuissard, Mystères, p. 296. 10 Jeanroy, Bodel, p. 4, v. 104-5. 11 Young, Drama, ii, 321. B

[109]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS Matins. T h e Icottia play ends with Statuit ei Dominus, the introit f o r the mass of St Nicholas* Day. The metrical antiphon, Copiose karitatis, at the end of the Filius Getronis, is found most often at the Benedictus of Lauds, but also occasionally instead at the Magnificat at second Vespers. When it occupies the latter position the O Christi pietas takes its place at Lauds, as in the Laon use, 12 and that of Worcester." W e may well wonder whether dramatic performances as elaborate as the Filius Getronis were given during the early morning hours at which Lauds were celebrated during the Middle Ages. If we are to accept the plays as interpolations in the liturgical office, we may perhaps assume that the Fleury use introduced the Copiose karitatis and the O Christi pietas in their less frequent positions, and that thus the first two plays of our M S , which are so much simpler than the last two in several respects, were given during Lauds and Matins respectively, and the musically and dramatically complicated Icottia and Filius Getronis were performed before a much larger audience at the more normal daytime hours of High M a s s and Vespers. T h a t the plays were really acted and were not mere cantatas is shown by the existence of stage directions in all of them, even though they are but few in the first two plays. It must be remembered that the subjects of these two were well known to everyone and that their action was relatively simple, so that a minimum of directions was necessary. It is reasonable to suppose that the plays were performed as well as written at Fleury; we have already spoken of the early existence of liturgical drama at that monastery. 14 In what part of the monastery buildings the plays were given is difficult to determine. T h e stage directions give no reference to the choir of the church, as they do in the Ordo 12 U. Chevalier, Ordinaires de I'Egliie cathedrale de Laon Liturgique, vi), Paris, 1897, pp. 207, 209. 13 Jour. Brit. Arch. Asso., xlii (1886), 197. 14 See above, p. 4.

[110]

(Bibliotiigue

DRAMATIC ASPECTS OF THE PLAYS Rachelis in the same M S . 1 5 This, however, seems the most likely place, if we accept the plays as interpolations in the liturgical office. Cuissard states that the plays were given dans la basilique de Fleury; i e Chenesseau suggests the choir of the church or the space before the abbey gate, 1 7 and later considers the Filius Getronis too complicated to be performed within the church. H e also thinks it unlikely that the talk of prostitution in the Tres Filiae would be countenanced before the altar. 1 8 Creizenach imagines a performance during the day's festivities in the refectory, and suggests that the liturgical pieces were added to adapt the plays f o r performance inside the church. 19 It may be of interest to note that the choir of the abbey-church at Fleury was being rebuilt during the period from 1 0 7 0 to 1 1 0 8 , 2 0 as a result of the fire which destroyed the church in 1 0 2 6 , and it seems unlikely that the choir could have been used until the completion of the work. COSTUMES A N D P R O P E R T I E S

T h e rubric offers no information about costumes, although other plays in our M S often contain specific directions about them. 21 Y o u n g describes various ways in which the similitudo mulierum was approximated in the liturgical drama, 2 2 and in view of the necessity of distinguishing the wife f r o m the husband in the Tres Clerici, and Euphrosina from Getron, it seems likely that this was accomplished by some suggestion of female costume. T h e stage properties are not many in number and are not always mentioned in the rubric, but are important to the action of the plays, and were doubtless carefully pro15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Young, Drama, i!, 116. Cuissard, Mystires, p. 297. Chenesseau, p. 78. Ibid., p. 79. Creizenach, p. 99. Chenesseau, p. 126-7. Notably in the Fiiitatio Sepulchri Young, Drama, i, 402.

(Young, Drama, i, 393-7).

[Ill]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS

vided for and conspicuously shown. As examples we may mention the three bags of gold as the dowry in Tres Filiae, the scholars' marsupia and the table and food provided for St Nicholas in Tres Clerici. Of these items, only the mensa is mentioned in the rubric. It should be noticed that two elements which appear regularly in the iconography, the bed in Tres Filiae and the tub or tubs in Tres Clerici, are not remotely suggested by the text of the plays. In the Iconia, the chest is specifically mentioned, and we must assume the conspicuous presence of the iconia itself. Although a whip is not mentioned, the Jew may be assumed to menace the portrait with it in his monologue. The Filius Getronis calls for two separate feasts, with bread and wine, water for washing, and most important, the royal goblet which Adeodatus is to clutch the while he is snatched up from the court of Marmorinus and set down before his home. S T A G E SETTINGS

The most casual reading of the plays is enough to show that the device of a simultaneous stage-setting, familiar in the later ' mysteries,' is used. The various mansiones or sedes, or loci, as they are called in Filius Getronis, are specifically indicated in that play, but are quite as necessary in the others. To be sure, the demands of the first two plays in this respect are not very great. In Tres Filiae, we need only a room with a window, and an open space on the other side where the father will surprise the saint. The Tres Clerici requires the outside of the inn, and within, two rooms, since when the saint arrives and asks for food the bodies of the scholars are not in evidence. The Iconia play implies, if not the exterior of the Jew's house, at least a door or window through which the thieves may look; the room in the house where most of the action takes place; and the locus where the division of the booty takes place. In addition to these, if the characters are to [112]

DRAMATIC ASPECTS OF THE PLAYS remain visible during the play, we need a sedes f o r St Nicholas and another f o r the J e w ' s destination on his journey. T h e setting of Filius Getronis is the most complicated of the f o u r . Stuart declares that it already ' f o r e s h a d o w s the later miracle plays.' 23 A preliminary rubric prescribes three distinct sedes, with the action f a i r l y evenly divided between them, and each must accommodate a l a r g e group of people. T h e s e sedes are the throne of King M a r m o r i n u s , the church of St Nicholas, and the home of G e t r o n and Euphrosina. Both the interior and exterior of the home must be represented, as the boy is not immediately apparent to his f a m i l y when he is set down by his deliverer. There must also be a sedes f o r the consolatrices, who presumably wait f o r the abduction o f the boy b e f o r e taking p a r t in the action. W e are l e f t completely in ignorance by the text as to whether A d e o d a t u s is transported through the air f r o m the court of M a r m o r i n u s to his home by some elaborate mechanical contrivance, or whether this deliverance was symbolically represented. 2 4 DIVISION INTO S C E N E S

A l t h o u g h it might seem that these f o u r plays are all too short to permit division into scenes, in each case the action involves a lapse of time at one or more points. T h e r e is no reference to any interval in the rubric, but there was probably a pause, during which the actors may h a v e stepped back out of sight (into the a m b u l a t o r y ) . T h u s , in Tres Filiae the representations of the saint's generosity must have been separated, to permit the departure of the bridal couple and give the f a t h e r a chance to resume his dejection. In Tres Clerici, a pause seems necessary to permit the scholars to f a l l asleep b e f o r e their hosts plot the m u r d e r aloud. 23 Donald C. Stuart, Stage Decoration in France in the Middle Ages (Columbia diss.), New York, 1910, p. 28. 24 For a list of similar problems of staging in the liturgical drama, see Young, Drama, ii, 400-1.

[113]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS

The Iconia requires no pause, since, as each character or group of characters leaves the platea, or center of the stage, f o r his sedes, another actor leaves his and starts toward the platea. The interval is most apparent in Filius Getronis, where the text indicates the lapse of a year between the abduction of Adeodatus and his rescue. The pause comes between v. 84-5, after Euphrosina's lament and before Getron suggests that they go to church on the anniversary of their son's disappearance. ACTORS

In common with most of the liturgical drama, our plays give no indication of the actors who performed them. Young quotes the rubrics for some of the more elaborate Easter plays to show that in them ' the rôles were usually assumed by members of the clergy in major orders, or by pueri, fratres, or clerici,' and goes on to state that ' probably the practices associated with the plays of Easter apply also to other dramatic performances.' 25 Weydig seeks to prove from the subjects of the plays that they were acted by and f o r younger scholars.28 A reference to the performance of plays on the subject of Très Filiae and Très Clerici is contained in a sermon by Thibaut de Clairvaux; Sicut videmus in festo Sancti Nicholai quod aliqui repraesentant personam ejus, ut clericorum aliqui aut puellarum et miracula quae per eurn fecit Dominus. Hauréau is certainly mistaken in his interpretation of this passage: On voit ici que le personnage du saint était joué tantôt par des clercs, tantôt par de jeunes fillesAnother reference in an exemplum of Jacques de Vitry shows that the boys of the abbey-schools took part in the performance of miracle-plays 25

Young, Drama, ii, 403. " W e y d i g , p. 81. 27 Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits 2e partie (Paris, 1888), 327.

de la Bibliothèque

[114]

Nationale,

xrxii,

DRAMATIC ASPECTS OF THE PLAYS of St N i c h o l a s : the preacher reproaches the abbots who aspire to the mitre, pour jouer fants

qui représentent

au prélat

saint Nicolas

tout comme les en-

dans

le récit

de

ses

miracles™ T h a t the authors as well as the actors of these plays m a y well have been schoolboys has been suggested by many commentators who have been impressed with the classical suggestions in such lines as lam sol equos tenet in litore equore,28

quod ad presens merget sub

and Del Valle de P a z insists on the scholastic pedantry of the ergo in the lines which immediately f o l l o w : 3 0 Nec

est nota nobis hec

ergo queri debent

patria,

hospicia.

T h e r e is nothing pedantic, however, about the classicism of the J e w ' s lament in the Iconia.

One is inevitably reminded

of the similar monologue of Euclio in the Aulularia

of Plau-

tus, and is tempted to speculate whether our author's f a m i l iarity with the R o m a n dramatist caused him to revert to the use of quantitative hexameters in the one scene which suggests a classical model.

Certainly we discern here, and in

general throughout the last two plays, the w o r k of an experienced poet r a t h e r than that of a novice.

W e y d i g as-

serts with confidence that the authors of the plays were older

scholars

or

even

teachers. 3 1

Other

words

and

phrases that betoken an acquaintance with classical authors 28 Lecoy de la Marche, La Chaire française au Moyen Age, 2nd éd., P a r ù , 1886, p. 363. 28 Très Clerici, v. 5-6. Young {Drama, ii, 334), comments on the 'literary tone ' achieved by the author in introducing this pagan note in a church play. 30 Del Valle de Paz, p. 70. 31 Weydig, p. 81.

[115]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS need not surprise us, nor does the supposed similarity be> tween the line Cara michi pignora, o filie (Tres Filiae, v. 15), and the opening line of the Lament

of

Diri patris infausta pignora

Oedipus 32

seem other than slight and accidental. 32

Ant. f. Kunde d. d. Fortrit, neue Folge, vi (1859), 208.

[116]

VIII

TEXT OF THE FLEURY PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS T h e text of the plays here presented is based on a careful study of the Fleury M S . As I hope to publish a facsimile edition of these plays at a later date, I have not given a diplomatic copy of the M S , which would unduly complicate the reading of the text. However, I have respected the peculiarities of the scribe's orthography, except for obvious grammatical errors, and for the resolution of the usual abbreviations and contractions. In all cases where I have changed the spelling of the M S , the actual reading has been indicated in the notes. I t is important to note that the capitalization of the M S has been scrupulously respccted in the poetic text, as I have found it an invaluable help, along with the music and the rime, toward the arrangement of stanzas. In the decasyllabic stanzas which form the larger part of the verse of these plays, capitals are used by the scribe only at the beginning of a stanza and for a refrain if it consists of an independent interjection. T h e punctuation of the M S is confusing to a modern reader's eye, and has been replaced by modern punctuation. T h e capitalization of the rubric has been left unchanged also, except that I have uniformly capitalized proper names and put the name of the speaker in full capitals. Underlining in the body of the text represents the heavy line drawn through certain words by the scribe to mark the beginning of certain sections. T h e capital letters in the left margin indicate the melodic treatment of the text, a given letter representing the same melody throughout the play in question. T h i s device shows at a glance not only the limited melodic invention of the first two plays as compared with the last two, but also the variety in the musical construction of the stanzas. T h e subscript numbers indicate a slight variation in a given melodic phrase. I n order to present the complete text as performed, and to facilitate reading the plays, repeated stanzas have been printed in full, and the

[117]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS liturgical chants, indicated by their incipits, have been given complete. In all cases, the added text has been enclosed in brackets. T h e variant readings of the principal previous editors have been given in the notes, as well as those of the Hildesheim Très Filiae play, which in part is identical with that in our M S . T h e following abbreviations are used: Société des Bibliophiles ( B ) , given only when differing from Wright) ; Coussemaker ( C ) ; Du Méril, Origines ( D ) , Hildesheim ( H ) ; Wright, Early Mysteries ( W ) ; and Young, Drama

(Y).

< I.

TRES FILIAE >

I

A B C D

In lamentum et merorem uersa est leticia quem prebebat olim nobis rerum habundancia. 0 rerum 1 inopia! heu! heu! perierunt huius uite gaudia.1

II

A B C D

Forma, genus, morum splendor, iuuentulis gloria, cumprobatur8 nichil esse, dum desit pecunia. 0 rerum inopia! heu! heu! perierunt huius uite gaudia.

III

A B D C D

Finis opum, dum recedunt, luctus et suspiria. eia, pater ipse lugens opes lapsas predia. 10 tractat secum, ut speramus, dampnorum socia.* 0 rerum inopia! heu! heu! perierunt huius uite gaudia. < p . 177 >

IV

D

Adeamus,

5

audiamus

que capii6

P a t e r conquerens ad filias: V E Carae michi pignora, Ei opes patris inopis unice 1

Consilia. filie,

15

rerura] reron ( M S ) . D suggests that a line has been lost between 11. 4-5 and proposes finis opum, etc. (I. 9), but both the music and the capitalization indicate that 1. 9 is the first line of a stanza and not the last. * cumprobatur] cum probatur (MS, B), turn probatur ( W ) , coraprobatur (D). * D offers two emendations after tractat tecum: ut speremui quae bonorum tocia, or ut damnorum nobis parcat socio. 6 capit] capet ( M S ) , capiet ( W , C), cepit (B, D ) . 6 H begins here, without the preceding rubric. 2

[118]

TEXT

et solamen

Ei

michi

consulile.

miserum!

Olirn diues et nunc pauperrimus, luce fruor

E

et, quam ferre non

Ei

paupertatem

et node

7

consueuimus,

grauiter

ferrimus. 8

E

Nec me mea tantum inopia

Ei

quantum

E

quorum

Ei

longa modo dampnant

uestra uexat primum

Me

laciua

10

25

penuria,

9

corpora ieiunia.

11

miserum!

patrem:1'

E

Care pater, lugere desine,

Ei

nec nos, lugens,

E

et quod tibi ualeo

Ei

consilium,

lugendum

Care

< p . 178 >

promoue,

recipe,H

pater.

Unum

Ei

per dedecus

nobis restat

E

ut nostrorum

species

Ei

nobis uictum

16

Care

30 13

dicere

hoc a me

E

F

20

anxius,

Me miserum!

F

X

miserie,

Ei

PRIMA FILIA ad

IX

mee

PLAYS

E

F

VIII

FLEURY

mesto tandem Me

F VII

THE

E F VI

OF

et per

15

auxilium,

35

obprobrium corporum

lucretur

publicum.

pater.

E

Et me primam,

Ei

dedecori

pater,11

submittet

si iubeas,

40

pietas,

f r u o r ] feror ( H ) . m i s e r u m ] misereum ( M S ) . 9 u e x a t ] uexit (MS). 1 0 p r i m u m ] primus ( M S ) , olim ( H ) . 1 1 dampnant] dampnat ( M S ) . H g i v e s f o r this line modo domant longa geiunia. 1 2 R u b r i c l a c k i n g in H . 13 lugendum] l u g e n d o ( H ) . D suggests nec nos, lugens, ad lugendum move. 1 4 recipe] suscipe (H). 1 5 nobis restat] restat nobis ( W , D , C). 1 6 nobis uictum] uictum nobis (H). 17 pater omitted ( H ) . 7

8

[119]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS E Ei F

ut senciat prima 11 anxùtas quam contulit prima natiuitas. Care pater.

Proiecto auro, P a t e r hilarius ad filias XI E Iam10 iam mecum gaudete, E1 paupertatis elapso tempore; E ecce enim in auri pondere Ei quod suficit nostre miserie. F Me beatum!

filie,

F i l i e stantes dicant: < p . I 7 9 > XII E Graciarum ergo preconia E\ offeramus et laudum muñera E uni deo, cui in sécula Ei laus et honor, uirtus et gloria. F Care pater. Primus XIII

21

45

50

G e n e r ad patrem: E Homo?2 fame note preconio, E\ natam tuam quesitum uenio, Ei quam legali ducam conubio, Fi si dederis.

55

P a t e r ad primam filiam: XIV E Die, filia, si tu uis nubere Ei huic iuueni uenusto corpore F et nobili.

60

18

p r i m a ] primam ( H ) . T h i s rubric ¡9 placed at the end of the musical staff on which the following stanza begins, but is obviously meant to precede it. 20 11. 45-77 ommitted in H, which has following stanza not found in the Fleury text: Consilium hoc miserabile mihi prebet cor lammentabile: corpus tuum tarn uenerabile meum f r a n g i t senio debile suspirando. 21 22

primus omitted by all previous editors. homo] honor ( M S ) .

[120]

MS has P

Gener.

TEXT OF THE FLEURY PLAYS ad patrem: XV E In te mea sita Consilia Ei fac ut lubet24 de tua filia, F Care pater.

FILIA

PATER

XVI

ad generum: E Ergo tue committo fidei; E\ uos coniungant 24 legates laquei Ft et grada.

Iterum plangens se P A T E R ad filias: XVII E Cara michi XVIII

E

SECUNDA F I L I A

XIX

XX

E Ei E Ei F

Olim diues 29 ad patrem:27 Noli, pater, noli, carissime, doloribus dolores addere, nec per dampnum 28 uelis in- < p . i 8 o > ducere periculum inreparabile. Care pater.

65

70

75

80

E Scimus enim 28 quod fornicantibus Ei obstrusus sit celestis 30 additus.

23 sita Consilia] sita sunt Consilia ( M S , W , C, Y ) . D points out t h a t sunt is unnecessary. 14 l u b e t ] libet ( W , D ) . T h e i h a s been e x p u n g e d a n d a u i n s e r t e d . 25 coniungant] conuingant ( B ) . 26 B and W h e r e r e p e a t , w i t h o u t justification, t h e t h i r d s t a n z a of the f a t h e r ' s complaint (11. 2 5 - 9 ) , but the a u t h o r ' s intention is obviously to shorten t h e complaint by a s t a n z a at each r e p e t i t i o n . C f . 11. 116-20, w h e r e t h e r e is but a single s t a n z a . 27 H resumes here, but omits ad patrem. 28 nec p e r d a m p n u m ] n e p r o d a m n o ( H ) . 29 e n i m ] quidem ( H ) . 40 s i t celestis] est c e l o r u m ( H ) .

[121]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS E E\ F XXI

pater, ergo cauere poscimus ne nos uelis addere talibus, Care pater.

11

85

E Nec te uelis et " nos infamie E\ submittere, pater, perpetue, E nec ab ista labi pauperie E\ in eterne lacum miserie, F Care pater.

Proiecto auro, P A T E R ad filias: XXII E Iam 51 iam mecum g

90

filie,

ad patrem: XXIII E Graciarum ergo pre

95

FILIE

ad patrem: Homo,u fame note preconio,

100

SECUNDUS G E N E R

XXIV

E

105

31 poscimus] possimus ( D , C ) . H has f o r this line care, ergo te not deposcimus. 32 et] nec ( H ) . 33 I I . 9 3 - 1 2 0 omitted in H , w h i c h has f o l l o w i n g stanza not found in the F l e u r y text:

Respontum. T u u m , nata, placet consilium, et exemplum placet e g r e g i u m ; sed p a u p e r t a s a u g e t u r nimium, que me g r a u a t quem d o m a t senium, heu f r e q u e n t e r ! 34

homo] honor

(MS).

[122]

TEXT OF T H E F L E U R Y PLAYS PATER

XXV

ad secundam filiam: E

Die, filia, si tu < uis nubere huic iuueni venusto corpore et nobili. >

ad patrem: XXFI E In te mea sita Consilia.

FILIA

PATER

XXFII

ad generum: E Istam tue commino fidei. E\ uos coniungant legales laquei F et gracia.

Iterum plangens se ad terciam filiam: < p . 181 > XXFili E Carum michi pignus, o filia, E1 non me 35 mea tantum inopia E quantum tua uexat penuria; Ei tantum michi restas miseria. F Me miserum! TERCIA FILIA

XXIX

XXX

no

115

120

ad patrem: E E1 E E1 F

Meum quoque, pater carissime,n consilium audire sustine, atque finem breuiter collige: deum time, pater," et dilige. Care pater.

125

E E1 E Ex F

Nichil enim deum timentibus per scripturam deesse notamus,-38 et omnia ministrai omnibus omnipotens se diligentibus,38 Care pater.

130

35

me inserted by another h a n d ( M S ) . c a r i s s i m e ] perpetue ( H ) . 37 deum time, p a t e r ] deum, pater, time ( H ) . 38 Nichil enim . . . n o t a m u s ] nichil enim deesse nouimus per deum timentibus ( H ) . 38 diligentibus] diligencius ( M S ) . 38

[123]

scripturas

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS XXXI

E Ei E Ei F

Ne 40 ¿esperei propter inopiam, nunc quam esse scimus fallaciam.*1 iob respice, pater, penuriam ac 41 deinde secutam copiam. Care pater.

135

Proiecto auro tercio a sancto Nicholao, P a t e r prostratus ad pedes eius d i c a t i XXXII

E Ei E E\

Siste gradum, quisquis es, domine; siste, pre cor,** et quis 48 sis, exprime, qui, dedecus tollens 44 infamie, honus quoque leuas inopie.

F Nicholaus

XXXIII

Pater

XXXIV

Me beatum!

ad patremr E Ei E Ei F

140

47

Nicholaum me uocant48 nomine. lauda deum ex dato munere, hanc ne michi uelis ascribere 49 largitatis laudem 60 dominice, queso, frater.11

145

aduersus ad terciam filiam: E Ei E

Nata, tibi sit uox leticie, paupertatis elapso tempore; ecce enim

150

« n e ] neu ( H ) . 41 n u n c q u a m esse scimus f a l l a c i a m ] n u n q u a r a esse secutus f a l l a c i a m (B, W ) , n u n q u a m esset »ecus f a l l a c i a m ( D , C ) , d e o esse q u a m scimus placidam ( H ) . « a c ] et ( H ) . 48 T h i s r u b r i c is l a c k i n g in H . 44 precor] gradum ( H ) . 45 q u i s ] qui ( H ) . 46 t o l l e n s ] tolles ( H ) . 47 T h i s r u b r i c is l a c k i n g in H . 48 u o c a n t ] uocat ( M S ) . 49 h a n c ne michi uelis a s c r i b e r e ] et non uelis ulli a s c r i b e r e ( H ) . 60 laudem] laudes ( H ) . 01 queso, f r a t e r ] D e u m , l a u d a ( H ) . T h e r e m a i n d e r of the F l e u r y p l a y is omitted in H . A f t e r this stanza H h a s 11. 45-9, lam iam mecum fatui tie, filie, etc., w h i c h h a d p r e v i o u s l y been omitted in H . T h e n follow in t h e H i l d e s h e i m M S s e v e r a l unintelligible lines ( g i v e n by Y o u n g , Drama, ii, 314) w h i c h m a y r e f e r to the f o l l o w i n g play, Trei Clerici. T h e Hildesheim Tres Filiae p l a y a p p a r e n t l y ended w i t h the s i n g i n g of the Te Deum.

[124]

T E X T OF T H E

FLEURY

PLAYS

FILIA ad patrem:

XXXV

E

Graciarum ergo < precoma offeramus et laudum munera uni deo, cui in secula laus et honor, uirtus et gloria. Care pater. >

155

TERCIUS GENER ad patrem:

XXXVI

E

Homo, fame note

PATER ad filiam s u a m :

XXXVII

E

Die, filia, si tu uis

160

FILIA ad patrem:

XXXVIII

E

In te mea sita conKsiliay1 fac ut lubet de tua filia, Care pater. >

165

PATER ad generum:

XXXIX

E

Istam tue M com < mitto fidei. uos coniungant legales laquei et gracia. >

E t CHORUS omnis sic dicat:

0 Christi pietas M 62

See above, note 23. tue] tibi ( M S ) . This ¡9 an antiphon for the feast of St Nicholas, used generally at the Magnificat in Second Vespers, but occasionally interchanged with the antiphon Copiait cariiatii, whose usual place is at the Benedictuj of Lauds. That the O Christi pietas was well known by the eleventh century is indicated by its presence in the office from St Maur (Young, Miracle Play, p. 263) and in that from Evreux (Bibl. Nat., MS lat. 17177, fol. 50 T ), as well as by the fact that it is sung by St Nicholas himself in the miracle where he appears to the recalcitrant prior of Crux and forces him to learn it. The legend is printed by Coffman (Nevi Theory, p. 5 1 - 5 5 ) , who fixes the M

54

[125]

FOUR L A T I N

< II. < PRIMUS C L E R I C U S : >

I

SECUNDUS

II

TERCIUS

III

A A B C

NICHOLAS

TRES CLERICI >

Nos, quos causa discendi literas apud gentes transmisit exteras, dum sol adhuc extendit radium, perquiramus nobis hospicium.

CLERICUS:

A A B C

lam sol equos tenet in litore, quos ad presens merget sub equore, nec est nota nobis hec patria; ergo queri debent hospicia.

5

CLERICUS:

A A B C

Insimul OMNES IV A A B C SENEX: V

P L A Y S OF ST

A A B C

Senem quemdam maturum moribus hie habemus coram luminibus; forsan, nostris compulsus precibus, erit hospes nobis hospitibus. 1

ad senem d i c a n t : Hospes care, querendo studia, hue relicta uenimus patria nobis ergo prestes hospicium dum durabit hoc noctis spacium. Hospitetur uos factor omnium, nam non dabo uobis hospicium, nam nec mea in hoc utilitas, nec est ad hoc nunc oportunitas.

10

15

20

CLERICI ad u e t u l a m : VI A Per te, cara, sit impetrabile A quod rogamus, etsi non utile; B forsan propter hoc beneficium C uobis deus donabit puerum. date of its occurrence as b e t w e e n 1056 and 1087. D e l V a l l e de P a z (p. 4 ) assumes f r o m the presence of the w o r d s of this antiphon, slightly transposed, in the y ¡ta ascribed to R e g i n o l d of Eichstaett (see above, p. 1 4 ) , that they first occur in the Vita. Since R e g i n o l d died as l a t e as 989, and the antiphon w a s w e l l k n o w n in the m i d d l e of the n t h century, it may just as w e l l be that R e g i n o l d b o r r o w e d the w o r d s of the antiphon f o r his n a r r a t i v e . 1 o m n e s ] clerici (W).

[126]

TEXT

OF

THE

FLEURY

PLAYS

ad senem: A Nos his dare, coniunx* hospicium, A qui sic uagant querendo Studium, B sola saltern compellat karitas; C nec est dampnutn, nec est utilitas.

MULIER

VII

25

SENEX:

VIII

SENEX

IX

SENEX,

X

A A

Acquiescam tuo Consilio, et dignabor istos hospicio.

ad clericos: A Accedatis, scolar es, < p . 185 > A quod rogastis uobis conceditur. clericis dormientibus: A Nonne uides quanta marsupio? A est in Ulis argenti copia. B hec a nobis, absque infamia, C possideri posset pecunia.

3° igitur;

35

UETULA:

XI

XII

A A B C

Paupertatis honus mi marite, quamdiu hos si morte donare paupertatem uitare

sustulimus, uiximus. uolumus, possumus.

A A B C

Euagines ergo iam gladiam, namque potes morte iacencium esse diues quam diu uixeris, atque seiet nemo quod feceris.

A A B C

Peregrinus, fessus itinere, ultra modo non possum tendere; huius ergo per noctis spacium michi prestes, precor, hospicium.

40

NICHOLAUS:

XIII

SENEX

XIV 2

ad mulierem: < p . i 8 6 > A An dignabor istum ospicio, A cara coniux, tuo Consilio.

coniunx] coniux ( W , C, D, Y ) .

[127]

45

5°

FOUR

LATIN

PLAYS

OF

ST

NICHOLAS

UETULA :

XV

A A

Hunc persona 1 commendat nimium, et est dignum * ut des hospicium.

A A B C

Peregrine, accede propius; uir uideris nimis egregius. si uis, dabo tibi comedere; quidquam 6 uoles, temptabo querere.

SENEX:

XVI

NICHOLAUS, a d

XVII

mensam:

A A

Nichil ex his possum commedere; carnem uellern rescentem • edere.

A A

Dabo tibi carnem quam habeo, namque came rescente careo.

A A B C

Nunc dixisti plane mendacium; carnem habes rescentem nimium, et hanc habes magna nequicia, quam mactari fecit pecunia.

SENEX:

XVIII

NICHOLAUS:

XIX

SENEX

et

A A B C

dixerunt Miserere 7 nostri, te petimus, nam te sanctum dei cognouimus; nostrum scelus abhominabile 8 non est tamen incondonabile.

A A B C

Mortuorum afferte corpora, et contrita sint uestra pectora. hii resurgent per dei graciam, et uos fiendo queratis ueniam.

MULIER

XX

NICHOLAUS

XXI

8 4 5 8 T 8

persona] personam ( M S ) . dignum] dignus ( W ) . quidquam] quicquam ( C ) . r e s c e n t e m ] resecentem ( M S ) . miserere] misereri ( C ) . scelus a b h o m i n a b i l e ] scelus est a b h o m i n a b i l e

[128]

(D).

TEXT

OF T H E

FLEURY

PLAYS

O r a c i o SANCTI NICHOLAI

XXII

D D E F

Pie deus, cuius sunt omnia, celum, tellus, aer et maria, ut resurgant isti precipias, et hos ad te clamantes audias.

E t post omnis CHORUS dicat Te deum laudamus

ICONIA SANCTI NICHOLAI >

Aliud miraculum de sancto Nicholao et de quodam iudeo, qui imaginem sancti apud se absconditam pro posse suo cotidie uenerebatur. Hie autem cum esset 1 diues, apud rus tendens, sanctum Nicholaum et imaginem eius custodem sue domus sine sera reliquit.* Interim fures cuncta que habebat furati sunt, que sanctus nicholaus ei post modum restituit, furibus iussu sancti omnia referentibus. IUDEUS ad sanctum A Si que dicta A Re testantur A Non est sane A1 Quidnam miri, A1 Qui carentes A1 Quo * qui luce A1 Tuque morti A1 Aure surdos, A1 Tu confirmas A Quem* sic bonum A In quo uitam B Ergo rerum

Nicholaum: sunt asenpta ceu uulgantur, quod non plane quod non uiri sensu,6 mentes carent duce datos sorti uoce mutos, < p . i 8 9 > res infirmas, me patronum mei sitam te mearum

tibi, dei famule, te post bustum uiuere,* tuis credam meritis. de te dant4 christicole? astruunt componete? 5 uisum 7 dicunt sumere, uiuos reddis pristine; atque claudos gressibus, quasque reddens uiribus,8 delegisse gaudeo, 10 et sistendam 10 fiagito. seruatorem statuo.

8 The Te Deum, which occurs regularly at the close of Matins, is too long and too well known to be reprinted in its entirety. 1 esset] essed ( M S ) . 2 reliquit] aliquid ( M S ) . 3 W and D note the omission of a line to rime with mcritii. * dant] dent ( D ) . 5 qui carentes sensu] que carentes sese ( M S ) . «quo] te (W, D, C ) . 7 uisum] iustum ( C ) . 8 uiribus] iuribus ( W , D, C ) . 9 quem] quam (D, C ) . 10 et sistendam] consistendam ( W , D, C ) .

[129]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS B B B B B B

Tuque bonus, presens domus, Ad quam, seram nunquam feram, Non est multi tanta fulti Huic si presit, ne quid desit Sed me mei causa rei Nec, ut credo, fas habebo

C C

Iamque uale, Uigil cura,

Interim ueniant insimul: II D D

nec quid male ne iactura FURES,

Quid agemus? Oporteret

Ad hoc dicat III

et post recessum eius dicant

quo tendemus? ut impleret

UNUS

excuba dum11 obero. te custode credito.11 gestorum potencia. 15 tecto cum substancia. rus compellit egredi. mox quod < p . 190 > mallem, regredi. nos tratent malefici. domus adsit censui. 20 OMNES

que15 captamus Consilia? nostra quisquam 14 marsupia.

ex eis: 16

E

Audite,

E1 E% F

Uir hie est iudeus, cuius pecunia, si uultis, iam erit nostra penuria releuata.

socii, mea Consilia.

E E\ Et Et F

Eamus propere; pellantur oscia, tollantur ianue, frangantur hostia. iudei forsitan huius incuria iam esse poterit nostra pecunia agmentata.lt

25

ALIUS:

IV

Et cum cicius inceperint 17 ire, dicat T E R C I U S : V E 0 mei comites, < p . 191 > ite suauius, Ex uosque prospicite nunc diligencius; Et uir talis caucius seruat quam alius Et rem de qua metuit, et uigilancius F est seruata. 11

30

35

d u m ] cum ( C ) . D suggests a line h a s been omitted to rime w i t h credito. q u e ] quo ( M S ) . 14 D s u g g e s t s c h a n g i n g quiiquam to quis or quid to a v o i d an e x t r a s y l l a b l e , not h a v i n g o b s e r v e d that 1. 2 1 also h a s 16 syllables. 15 T h i s r u b r i c has been m i s p l a c e d by C a f t e r 1. 2 1 . 16 C is in e r r o r in s t a t i n g that the M S has argumentata. 17 i n c e p e r i n t ] incipiunt ( W ) . 12

13

[130]

TEXT OF T H E FLEURY PLAYS Cum uenerint ad locum ubi furari debent, sit ibi arca patrata, 1 ® q u a m curueant. P R I M U S dicat: VI G Arcavi islam hinc tollite, H si potestis, quam conciti ; I quod si nequitis, frangiti; J que sunt in ea, capite. 40 Quo dicto, fingant " se non posse leuare archam, et dicat VII K Nos oportet hanc archam frangere, K quam nequimus integram tollere. T u n c ueniens 20 VIII L L M N

SECUNDUS :

TERCIUS, et inueniens seram non firmam, dicat: O quanta exultacio! hec archa, magno gaudio, se reserari uoluit 45 et se 21 nobis aperuit.

Hoc dicto, capto quod fuerit in archa, 22 abeant. E t tunc ueniens IUDEUS, et comperiens f u r a t a , dicat: IX 0 Vah! perii! nichil est reliqui " michi! cur esse u cepi? P Cur, mater, cur, < p . 192 > seue pater, fore me tribuisti? 0\ Heu! quid proferri michi profuit aut generari? Q Cur, natura parens, consistere me statuebas? 50 R Que luctus michi, que gemitus hos prospiciebas? S Quod querar in tantam michi25 crimen obesse ruinam? Ri Qui modo diues eram, uix aut nullius egebam, T Pollens argento, preciosis uestibus, auro. U Sum miser, idque mei moles est pauperiei. 55 Ui Nam latet ex habitu me post modo quo fruar usu. V Quod leuius ferrem, si ferre prius didicissem. W Sed, ni decipior, ego sane desipiebam. 18

p a t r a t a ] posita ( W ) . fingant] f u g i a n t ( M S ) . 20 ueniens] ueniat ( D ) . 21 se inserted by a n o t h e r h a n d 22 abeant] habeant ( M S ) . 2S r e l i q u i ] reliqii ( M S ) . 24 esse] f o r e ( D ) . " m i c h i ] mi ( W ) . 19

(MS).

[131]

FOUR

X Y Z Z AA BB BB CC DD

LATIN

PLAYS

OF S T

NICHOLAS

Sic ego, quod nomen nicho- < p . 193 > laus " mane colebam. Quidninoxa?" fides nocuit michi christicolarum, 60 que probat, et sine te, sic 18 nicholae, uigere? Id michi tristandi causam dedit et lacrimandi. Nec solus flebo, nec inultus, credo, dolebo. Tu meritis 29 subdare probris tondere flagellis. Sed fessus cedam, noctis tibi tempora credam. 65 Quod nisi maru mea repares tibi eredita causa, Primo flagellabo te, postqueflagellacremabo.

NICHOLAUS a d f u r e s , f u r t u m d i u i d e n t e s :

X

EE EE FF

Quid, propkani, quid 30 nota reconditis? quid,30 dementes, ut uestra diuiditis? I n t e r i i s t i s 32

7

XI

EE EE FF

Quid, perditi generis hominum, Uos3* uobis abduxit fraus 36 demonum Occubuistis.

XII

EE EE FF

Uos an transit, omnium miserrimi His abductis 38 finis 39 teterrimi, Quem 40 meruistis.

GG HH FF

Non me latent,41 inpudentissimi, que sunt michi commissa 42 domui, Que rapuistis.

XIII

29

0

33

75

nicholaus] nicholai (W, D, C, Y ) . noxa] nexa ( W ) . sine te, sic] sine te sic te ( M S ) , sine te sic te (W, D ) , sine sic te (C, Y ) . As emended above, restoring the expunged te and omitting the second te, quantity and rime are restored. 29 meritis] debitis ( C ) . 80 D again removes an extra syllable in lines 68-9 by omitting quid. 31 interiistis] interistis ( M S ) . 32 generis] geris ( M S ) , geritis (W, D, C, Y ) . 33 hominum] dominii ( W ) . ' « u o s ] hec (D, C ) . 80 abduxit fraus] fraus adduxit ( D ) . sa demonum] demonii ( W ) . 87 D emends an tramrunt uos, 0 miserrimi. 88 his abductis] hos abductus ( M S ) . 89 finis] fines ( D ) . 40 quem] quos ( D ) . 41 latent] latet ( M S ) . 42 commissa] commisse ( M S ) . 27

28

[132]

TEXT OF T H E FLEURY PLAYS XIV

GG II FF

Has argenti marchas, his uestibus hanc u auri massam insignibus Continuistis.

XV

GG HH FF

Michi autem sunt probra, turpium michi quidem et causa uerberum, Que perpetrastis.

XVI

GG HH FF

Quod si noctis huius presencia festinóte 44 refertis omnia, id deuitatis.

XVII

GG JJ FF

Ne deprensi mane a populo, me indicante, dignas 46 patibulo penas soluatis

< p . 195 >

Recedente sancto, dicat U n u s ex eis: XVIII K Quanta mors est has gazas reddere! K si laudatis, uolo diuidere. Alius: XIX

KK LL

In isto egemus

negocio, Consilio.

MM

nunquam letus fuero

KK

si hec sic

Tercius: XX NN 00

reddidero.

Est melius hec 47 nobis reddere, quam sic uitam pendendo perdere.

Omnes insimul: 4 8 XXI PP Redeamus QQ et reddamus. Iudeus, rebus inuentis suis, Dicat alta uoce: XXII RR Congaudete michi, karissimi, SS Restitutis cunctis que perdidi. TT Gaudeamus! 43

h a n c ] et hanc ( D ) . festínate] festine ( M S ) . 45 indicante, d i g n a s ] testante, digni ( D ) . 48 soluatis] soluaris ( M S ) . 47 hec nobis] hoc nobis ( W ) , hoc uobis ( D ) . 48 i n s i m u l ] simul (C, D ) . 44

[133]

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS XXIII

RR SS TT

Que mea dispersit incuria, Nicholai resumpsi gracia. Gaudeamus!

XXIF

RR SS TT

Conlaudemus hune dei famulum. abiuremus obscecans idolum. Gaudeamus!

RR SS TT

Ut, errore sublato mencium, Nicholai 49 mereamur consorcium. Gaudeamus!

XXV

105

no

Omnis C H O R U S dicat: Statuii ei dominus 60 Finitur miraculum."

< IV.

FILIUS GETRONIS >

Ad representandum quomodo sanctus Nicholaus 1 Getronis 2 filium de manu Marmorini, regis Agarenorum, liberavit, paretur in competenti loco, cum ministris suis armatis, Rex Marmorinus in alta sede, quasi in regno suo sedens. Paretur et in alio loco Excoranda, Getronis ciuitas, et in ea Getron, et,3 cum consolatricibus suis, uxor eius Eufrosina, et filius eorum Adeodatus.4 Sitque ab orientali parte ciuitatis Excorande Ecclesia sancti Nicholai in qua puer rapietur. His itaque paratis, ueniant M I N I S T R I Marmorini regis coram eo' et dicant O M N E S uel P R I M U S ex eis: I

A A B C

Salue, que sit seruis sumus

princeps, salue, rex optime, tue uoluntas anime tuis ne tardes dicere; que uis parati facere.

Nicholai] eius ( D ) . Introit of the Mass for St Nicholas' Day, as for the common of a confessor and bishop. 5 1 This rubric is omitted by D and C. 1 Nicholaus] Nichlaus (MS). 2 Getronis] Getron ( M S , C ) . » et omitted ( W , D, C ) . •Adeodatus] a Deo datus ( W ) . 49

50

[134]

TEXT OF T H E F L E U R Y REX dicet: II

D E F G

PLAYS

Ite ergo, tie tardaueritis, et quascunque gentes poteritis imperio meo subicite; resistentes nobis occidite.

5

Interim Getron et Eufrosina, cum multitudine clericorum, ad ecclesiam sancti Nicholai, quasi ad eius sollempnitatem celebrandam, filium suum secum ducentes, eant. Cumque ministros regis armatos illuc uenire uiderint, filio suo p r o 5 timore oblito, ad ciuitatem suam confugiant. Ministri uero regis, puerum rapientes, coram rege ueniant, et dicant O M N E S uel S E C U N D U S ex eis: III A Quod iussisti, rex bone, fecimus. A gentes multas uobis subegimus, 10 B et de rebus quas adquisiuimus C hunc puerum uobis adducimus. OMNES

IV

dicant, uel T E R C I U S : A Puer iste, uultu laudabilis, A sensu prudens, genere nobilis, B bene debet, nostro iudicio, C subiacere uestro seruicio

15

REX:

F

D E F G

Apolloni, qui regit omnia, semper sit laus, uobisque gracia, qui fecistis michi tot patrias subiugatas et tributarias.

REX puero: VI D E F G

Puer bone, nobis e diss ere de qua terra, de quo 7 sis genere, cuius ritu 8 gens tue patrie; sunt gentiles siue christicole?

20

PUER:

VII

H Excoranda principans populo, Hi pater meus, Getron uocabulo,

5 pro] pre ( W , Y ) . seruicio] imperio seruicio ( M S ) . T quo] qua ( W ) . 8 cuius ritu] D emends cuius ritus or de quo 6

[135]

ritu.

25

FOUR L A T I N P L A Y S OF ST N I C H O L A S H Hi

deum * colit, cuius sunt maria, qui fecit nos et uos et omnia.

D E F G

Deus meus apollo; deus est qui me < p . 198 > fecit, uerax et bonus est; regit terras, regnai in etthere; illi soli debemus credere.

H H1 H Hi

Deus tuus mendax et malus est; stultus, cecus, surdus et mutus est; talem deum non debes colere,1" qui non potest seipsum regere.

D E F G

Noli, puer, talia dicere; deum meum noli despicere; nam si eum iraturn feceris, euadere nequaquam poteris.

REX:

Vili

30

PUER:

IX

35

REX:

X

40

Interea EUFROSINA, comperta obliuione filii, ad eclesiam Nicholai redit, cumque filium suum quesitum non inuenerit, lamentabile uoce:11 XI I Heu! heu! heu! michi misere! 11 quid agam,a quid queam dicere? J quo peccato memi perdere It natum meum, et ultra uiuere? XII

I h J It

Cur me pater cur me mater cur me nutrix mortem michi

infelix genuit? infelix abluit? lactare debuitP quare non prebuit?

CONSOLATRICES e x e a n t e t d i c a n t : 1 ' < p .

XIII

I li

45

I99>

Quid te iuuat hec desolacio? noli fiere pro tuo

filio.

50

deum] dominum ( W ) . colere] inserted by another hand o v e r credere, w h i c h has been cancelled by underlining. 1 1 Several letters in this rubric are illegible at the edge of the p a g e . 1 2 quid a g a m ] quid nunc a g a m (D). 1 3 exeant et dicant] ueniant ad earn ( W , D ) . T h e last w o r d s of the rubric are illegible at the edge of the p a g e . 0

10

[136]

TEXT

J It EUFROSINA,

XIV

OF

T H E

FLEURY

PLAYS

summi patris exora filium, qui 14 conférât ei consilium.

quasi non curans consolacionem earum I Fili care, fili carissime, 11 fili, mee magna pars anime, J nunc es nobis causa tristicie, It quibus eras causa leticie.

CONSOLATRICES:

XV

I Ii J It

Ne desperes de dei gracia, cuius magna misericordia istum tibi donauit puerum; tibi reddet aut hunc auf alium.

I Ii J It

Anxiatus est in me spiritus. cur moratur meus interitus? cum te, fili, non possum 16 cernere, mallem mori quam diu uiuere.

EUFROSINA:

XVI

CONSOLATRICES:

XVII

I Ii J It

Lucius, dolor, et desperado tibi nocent, nec prosunt filio; sed pro eo de tuis opibus da clericis atque pauperibus.

XVIII

I li J It

Nicholai roga clemenciam, ut exoret < p . 2 0 0 > misericordiam summi patris pro tuo filio; nec faletur tua peticio.

I li J It

Nicholae, pater sanctissime, nicholae, deo carissime, si uis ut te colam diucius, fac ut meus redeat filius.

EUFROSINA:

XIX

14

qui] quo ( M S ) . consolacionem e a r u m ] consolatione9 earum, dicat 1« possum] Inserted by another h a n d ( M S ) . 15

[137]

(D).

FOUR LATIN PLAYS OF ST NICHOLAS XX

I h J Jt

Qui salvasti mulios in pelago, et tres uiros a mortis uinculo, preces mei 17 precantis 18 audias, et ex ilio me certam jacios.

I li J It

Non comedam carnem diucius, neque uino fruar ulterius, nullo modo 19 letabor amplius donec meus redibit filius.

XXII

K K L M

Cara soror, lugere desine; tue tibi nil prosunt lacrime; sed oretur pro nostro filio summi patris propiciado.

XXIII

K K L M

In crostino erit festiuitas Nicholai, quem christianitas tota debet < p . 201 > deuote colere, uenerari et benedicere.

K K L M

Audi ergo mea Consilia: adeamus eius sollempnia; conlaudemus eius magnolia; deprecemur eius suffragio.

K K L M

Dei forsan est inspirado que me monet pro nostro filio; est80 orando cum dei grada Nicholai magna clemencia.

XXI

8o

GETRON:

XXIV

XXV

»5

90

95

100

T u n c resurgant; ad ecclesiam sancti Nicholai eant, in quam, cum introierint, tendat manus suas ad celum E U F R O S I N A , et dicat: XXVI I Summe regum 11 rex omnium, li rex uiuorum, rex morientium,n " m e i ] raee ( M S ) . precantis] peccatrici^ ( W ) . 1 9 modo] mero ( W , D , C ) . 2 0 est] et ( W ) . 2 1 Summe r e g u m ] Summe pater, regum (D). 2 2 Rex uiuorum, rex morientium] R e x unicorum reraoriencium (MS, Y ) , Rex uiuorum et morientium ( W , C ) , Rex unicus et spes mortalium ( D ) . 18

[138]

TEXT OF THE FLEURY PLAYS

J

nostrum nobis foc redi filium, uite nostre solum solacium.

It XXVII

I

Audi preces ad te clamancium qui in mundum mis is ti filium, qui " nos ciues celorum faceret et inferni claustris eriperet.

h J

/,

XXVIII

I

h J h

XXIX

I

h J

/,

Deus pater, cuius potencia bona bonis ministrai omnia, peccatricem < p . 202 > me noli spernere, sed me meum natum fac cernere. Nicholae, quem sanctum dicimus, si sunt uera que de te credimus, tua nobis et nostro filio erga deum prosit oracio.

105

no

"5

His dictis, exeat ab ecclesia et eat in domum suam, et paret mensam, et super mensam panem et uinum, unde clerici et pauperes reficiantur. Quibus uocatis et comedere incipientibus, dicat M A R M O R I N U S ministris suis: XXX

D Dico uobis, mei carissimi, E quod ante hanc diem non habui F famem tantam quantam nunc habeo. G famen istam ferre non ualeo.

XXXI

MINISTRI

XXXII

28

D E F G euntes A A B C

qui] quo

120

Uos igitur quo uesci debeam preparate, ne morte subeam. quid tardatisi ile uelocius. quod manducem parate cicius. afferant cibos et dicant regi: Ad preceptum tuum parauimus cibos tuos, et hue adtulimus. nunc, si uelis, poteris propere qua grauaris famem extinguere.

(MS).

[139]

125

FOUR LATIN P L A Y S OF ST NICHOLAS His dictis, afferatur aqua, et lauet manus suas REX, et incipiens commedere, dicat: < p . 203 > XXXIII D Esuriui et modo sicio; E uinum michi dari precipio; 130 F quod afferat michi quam cicius G meus 14 Getronis filius. itaque, hoc audiens, suspiret grauiter et secum dicat: XXXIV I Heu! heu! heu! michi misero! 11 uití mee finem desidero; J uiuus enim quamdiu fuero, It liberari nequaquam poUro.

PUER

135

REX puero: D E F G

Pro qua causa suspiras taliter? suspirare te uidi fortiter. quid est 26 pro quo sie suspiraueris? quid te nocet, aut unde quereris?

XXXVI

II H1 H H1

Recordatus mee miserie, mei patris et mee patrie; suspirare cepi et gemere, et intra me talia dicere:

XXXVII

H Hi H Hi

Annus unus expletur 26 odie postquam seruus factus miserie, potestati subiectus regie, fines huius intraui patrie.

D E F G

Heu! miselle, quid ita cogitas? quid te iuuat cordis anxietas? nemo potest te < p. 204 > michi tollere, quamdiu te non uelim perdere.

XXXV

140

PUER:

145

REX:

XXXVIII

24 25 26

m e u s ] 9eruus meus ( W , D , Y ) . est] Omitted ( W , D ) . e x p l e t u r ] expletus ( W , D , C ) .

[140]

150

T E X T OF T H E

FLEURY

PLAYS

Interea ueniat aliquis in similitudine N i c h o l a i ; puerum, c i p h u m c u m recentario t e n e n t e m a p r e h e n d a t , a p r e h e n s u m q u e a n t e fores c o m p o n a t , et quasi non c o m p e r t u s , recedat; t u n c uero UNUS de CIUIBUS ad p u e r u m dicat : ' 7 XXXIX

N

Puer,

0

cuius tibi dedit

quis es, et quo uis pergere?

P

cypum istum cum recentario?

H Hi H H1

Hue uenio; non ibo longius. sunt getronis unicus filius. Nicholao sit laus et gloria, cuius hic me reduxit gracia.

28

largicio 155

PUER:

XL

Q u o audito, currat CIUIS ille ad G e t r o n e m et d i c a t : XLI

N 0 Q P

Gaude, getron, nec fleas amplius; extra fores stat tuus filius. Nicholai laudat magnalia, cuius eum reduxit gracia.

160

C u m q u e huiusmodi nuncium audierit EUFROSINA, ad fìlium suum currat, q u e m sepius d e o s c u l a t u m a m p l e x e t u r , et d i c a t : XLII

LXIII

R

Deo nostro sii laus et gloria,

R S T

cuius magna misericordia, luctus nostros uertens in gaudium, nostrum nobis reduxit filium!

U

Sintque

U F W

Nicholao lau- < p . 205 > des et cuius erga deum oracio nos adiuuit in hoc negocio.

29

patri nostro

165

perpetue grada, 170

CHORUS OMNIS

Copiose karitatis,

"

H i c finit. An antiphon for the feast of St Nicholas, used generally at the Benedictu) of Lauds, but occasionally interchanged with the antiphon O Chruti pittai, whose usual position is attached to the Magnificai of Second Vespers. Copiose caritatis appears in its usual position in the n t h century office from St Maur (Young, Miracle Play, p. 263) and in that from Evreux (Bibl. Nat., M S lat. 17177, fol. 50').

[142]

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[155]

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deutsche

INDEX Abbo, 4 Acta Sanctorum, 13, 14 (note 36) Actors, 114, u s Adam de St Victor, 79, 97 Aebiacher, 42 Aimoin, 4 Alan of Lille, 22 Alphanus of Salerno, 49 Araaod (St), 14 Amiens, 67, 68, 71 Anichkof, 40 Anrieh, 9 (note 1 ) , 1 0 - 1 1 , 41 Arnoul, 4 Austrian Legendary, 1$, 4), 49 Auxerre, 59, 71 d'Avril, J 5 Bari, 13, 15, 16, 60, 67, 72, 74 Baring-Gould, 38 Bayeux, 63, 69, 70 Benedict (St), 1, 4 Beovuulf, 40 Bernard (St) of Clairvaux, 16, 79 Béthune, $4 Bodel, Jean, 6, 23, 31, 45-^, 52, 109 Bonaventure (St), 23, 32, 42 Bourges, 59, 65 Brasses, legends of St Nicholas in, —J. 7 * - J . 74 Fribourg (Switzerland), 61, 67, 74 Froraent, Nicolai, 69 George (St), 4 1 - 2 Gerard de Nerval, 35 Gerson, 23 Ghent, 4, 30 Ghéon, 25, 35 Giottino, 74 Hauréau, 1 1 4 Herod, 48 Hiatus, 80-2 Hilarius, 6-8, 44-5, 46 Hildebert of Le Mans, ; Hildesheim, 21, 42 Tres Clerici play from, 8, 26, 28-9. 43 Tres Filiae play from, 8, 21, 24 Honorius of Autun, 22, 45 Hrabanus Maurus, 14 Hymns, 5, 13, 14, 15, 21, 27, 28, 30, 45. 49. 5 0 , 102 Iconio Sancii Nicholai: analysis of Fleury play, 18 dramatic aspects, 107, 1 1 0 , 1 1 2 - 5 editions, 5—8 iconography, 46-7, 7 1 - 3 metrical scheme, 85-8 music, 100, 103-4, 105 other versions, 44—7 sources, 43 text, 129-34 see also Hilarius Iconography, see Filius Geironit, Iconio Sancii Nicholai, Tret Clerici, Tret Filiae Illuminated MSS, legends of St Nicholas in, 64, 70 Ingham, 62, 68 Innocents: festival of, 108 play, see Ordo Rachelii Isosyllabism, 75, 76 Jacques de Vitry, 1 1 4 Jameson, Mrs., 36 Jeanroy, 27 Jews, 43-4 Johannes Diaconus of Naples, 5, 8,

1 1 - 3 , 14, 20, 22, 26, 30, 41, 43, 46, 48 Johannes Diaconus of Rouen, 16, 45 Kadow, 47 Karris, 60, 74 Kayata, 35 Konrad von Wuerzburg, 24, 46 Kuenstle, 55 Kuenzelsau, Corpus Christi play from, 24 Lament of Oedipus, 116 Laroche, 38, 39, 55 Latin poem, anon., on St Nicholas, 45 Lebeuf, abbé, 5, 109 Le Foix: play performed at, 44, 47 Legenda Aurea, 12, 23, 46, 50, 70 Legends of St Nicholas, see Nicholas: miracles Le Mans, 59, 66, 71 Liber miraculi Sancii Nicholai, 32 Ligatures, 91-2, 101 Lucca, 73 Luebeck, 63, 67 Mâle, Emile, 38, 56 Machabey, 103, 104 Marguillier, 38 Martyrologies, 14 Masaccio, 69 Maury, 36-8 Meisen, 13 (note 35), 42, 44, 50, 55 Meiler, 37 Melodic invention, 100-1, 1 1 7 Metaphrastes, 10, 1 1 , 12, 20 Methodius, 1 0 - 1 Metz: play at, $4 Meunier et les deux clercs, le, 46 Miracle-play, mentioned in rubric, 107 Miracles of St Nicholas, see Nicholas: miracles Molanus, 36 Mombritius, 12, 26, 43, 51 Musical notation, 4, 7, 90-8 Nancy, 53 Neumes, 2, 90-3, 101 Nicholas (St) of M y r a : cult, 5, 1 3 6; in England, 13 (note 3 ; ) , 24, 56; in France, 5, 14, 16, 22, 23, 24, 56; in Germany, 14, 21, 24, 4 6 ; in Italy, 13, 15, 2 1 ; in Lorraine, 16,

INDEX 35; in Normandy, 15, 25; in Sicily, 13, 15 l i f e : synopsis of, 9 lives: Greek, 10, 20, 26, 4 1 ; Latin, 1 1 , 20, see also Johannes Diaconus; Old French (prose), 5, »3. 4«. 5i. 64; (verse) 23, 32, 46, 5° miracles: see Filius Getronis, Iconio Sancti Nicholai, Praxis de Stratilatii, Tres Clerici, Tres Filiae \ of appearance to sailors in storm, 39, 40 of boy and goblet, 36, 40, 57 of Diana and the magic oil, 74 (note 152) of his election as bishop, 54 of J e w and Christian, 53 of murdered merchant, 30 of prior of Crux, 125 (note 54) as patron o f : girls, 25, 43, 108 money-lenders, 43 prisoners, 43 robbed persons, 46 schoolboys, 30, 34, 37, 42, 43) 108 travelers, 43 vagabonds, 34 Nicholas (St) of Sion, 12 Nicolas de Clairvaux, 16, 22, 31 O Chriili pietas, 84, 109, n o , 125 (note 54), 142 (note 30) Odo of Chateauroux, 23, 46 Office for St Nicholas' Day, 14 (note 39). 15. 22, 27, 50, 102, 1 0 8 - 1 1 , 125 (note 54), 142 (note 30) Orderic Vitalis, 15 OrJo Rachelis, 3, 48, 108, n o Orléans, 1, 5 Otloh, 15, 43, 49 Oudon, 36 Pagan customs, 25 Passionale, 24, 46, j o Performance of plays, 1 0 8 - 1 1 Pesellino,