The mediaeval stage, volume 1 (of 2)

The study traces the development of theatrical performance in the Middle Ages, beginning with the decline of classical theatre and the rise of itinerant minstrels who preserved performative forms. It surveys village festivals and seasonal customs—including sword-dances, mummers’ plays, May and New Year rites, and the Feast of Fools—that reflect communal mimetic instincts. It shows how liturgical enactments were adapted into miracle-plays, moralities, and guild pageants, and then follows the social and literary changes that produced professional interludes and a humanist-influenced stage. Substantial appendices assemble documentary, musical, and archival evidence to support the arguments.