The York Corpus Christi Play : Selected Pageants

The York Corpus Christi Play as we know it consists of 47 surviving individual plays or “pageants,” 27 of which are included in this volume. (The whole is always referred to in the singular, following the usage of medieval York itself.) This cycle of plays was produced by the York civic government and its occupational guilds—called “crafts”—and performed annually for nearly 200 years on Corpus Christi day, a mid-summer feast with a movable date that could fall between May 23 and June 24. The York Corpus Christi play is the only extant and complete cycle of plays performed on Corpus Christi day in England throughout the play's life.

The earliest record we have of the York play is from 1376; the last performance until the 20th century was in 1569.

Together these 27 plays represent the cycle’s core narrative of creation, fall, and salvation.

In addition to 27 of the pageants, this new edition includes extensive annotation (both marginal glosses and explanatory footnotes), a wide-ranging introduction, and a helpful selection of background contextual materials.