In time ecclesiastical dramatic representations were separated from the divine oliices, and, though still jier- formcd in churches, formed a distinct part of priestly teaching, and under the name of Jli/stcn'es were acted after the sermon. ^lysteries were probably taken from Biblical, and miracle plays from legendary subjects, but this distinction in nomenclature was not always strictly adhered to. The general character of all early religious plays, whether called miracles or 7ni/st('ii(s, was about the same. If any distinction was made, the miracles ■were distinguished as those which represented the mir- acles wrought by the holy confessors, and the sufferings by which the i)ersevcrance of the martyrs was manifest- ed; of which kind the first specified by name is a scenic representation of the legend of St. Catharine. The 7i>t/s-
teries, strictly so called, were representations often of great length, and requiring several days' performance, of the Scripture narrative, or of several parts of it, as, for instance, the descent of Christ into hell. We have an extant specimen of the religious play of a date prior to the beginning of the Middle Ages in the Christos Puschon, assigned, somewhat questionably, to Gregory Nazianzen, and written in the 4th century in Greek. Next come six Latin plays on subjects connected with the lives of the saints, by Koswitha, a nun of Ganders- heim, in Saxony; these, tltough not very artistically constructed, possess considerable dramatic power and interest; they have been lately published at Paris, with a French translation. The performers were at first the clergy and choristers; after^vards any layman might participate. The earliest recorded performance of a miracle play took place in England. JIatthew Paris relates that Geoffroy, afterwards alilwt of St. Albans, while a secular, exliibited at Dunstable the miracle play of St. Catharine, and borrowed copes from St. Albans to dress his characters. This must have been at the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th centurv. Fitzstephen, in his Life of Thomas a Becket (A.D. 1 183), describes with approval the representation in London of the sufferings of the saints and miracles of the con- fessors. Le Bocuf gives an account of a mystery writ- ten in the middle of the 11th centurj-, wherein Virgil is introduced among the prophets that came to adore the Saviour; doubtless in allusion to the fourth eclogue. But there is a mystery earlier than this in the I'ro- ven(;al dialect, a curious mixture of Latin and the dialect of Southern France. It is on the subject of The Wise and Foolish Vii-yins, and probably belongs to the early part of the 11th century (comp. Demogeot, Ilistoire de la Lilterature Fran^aise'). Another mystery, entitled the Jeu de St. Nicholas, also of like antiquity, belongs to Northern France. Fitzstephen, in the reign of Henry II of England (born 1133, died 1189), dwells on the sa- cred plays acted in London representing the miracles or passions of martyrs. These plays, according to 51. Kay- nouard {Journal des Savans [1828], p. 297), were the earliest dramatic representations, and gave rise to the mysteries. This is not probable, however, as they were even then denominated mysteries or miracles both in England and on the Continent. The truth is, as Mr, Hallam has said, that "it is impossible to fix their first appearance at any single wra" (In/rod. F.urop. Lit. i, 123). The fact is that in the 11th century these plays are found in favor within the walls of convents, and on public occasions and festivals, both in England and on the Continent. Thus, in the 11th century, Hilarius, a disciple of Abelard, substituted for the prose of the old ritual for the Fea.st of St. Nicholas a dialogue in Latin rhyme, with refrains in the Lamjue iVoil. A monk of St. Benoit-sur-Loire, who flourished at a later period, treated the same history in simple Latin. Both these pieces were acted in the churches for nearly a centurj-, when Jean Bodel, of Arras, founded upon them a drama, which was written entirely in French, and which was probably acted in the public squares of .\rras, or in the hall of some large dwelling. This was, in all )irol)abil- ity, the first instance of the emancipation of the drama from the Church. The trouvores of the 13th century followed readily in the lead of Jean Hodel. Among others we may mention Adam de la Ilalle, the fellow- townsman of liodel, nicknamed Le Bossn iF Arras, and the witty enemy of the monks, the satirical Huteba-iif.
The clergy were soon altogether superseded by the laity, who formed themselves into companies and guilds to act these jiieces, and every considerable town had a fraternity for the iierformance of mt/slenes. Such asso- ciations, it should be stated, however, were established in a serious spirit of piety and beneficence, without any thought of antagonism to the Church; and that the Church failed to recognise any opposition is apparent in the fact that, on the establishment of the Corpus Christi festival by Pope Urban IV, in 12G4, miracle
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plays were made its adjuncts. The change from clergy to iaity was very desirable, for one reason especially. Hitherto the plays had usually been written in Latin, and the greater part was made intelligible to the peo- ple only through pantomime. But as this was unsat- isfactory, and the spectators could not always get at the player's intent, there was an obvious inducement to make use of the vernacular language. This gave import to the people's tongue, and in this way the mysteries of the 14th and succeeding centuries play no unimportant part in the development of the modern languages (comp. Schlegel, Led. Hist, of Mod. Lit. lect. 1 ix-xi). The most celebrated, though one of the latest founded (1350), of these fraternities was the Confrerie de la Passion et Resurrection de notre Seigneur. It was composed of Paris citizens, master masons, locksmiths, and others. The first scene of their representations was the village of St. jMaur, near Vincennes. The provost of Paris refusing his license, the Confrerie applied to and received the authorization of Charles VI, who by letters patent, in 1402, gave permission to them to act "any mystery whatsoever either before the king or be- fore his people, in any suitable place, either in the town of Paris itself or in its suburbs." Upon this they es- tablished themselves in the Hospital of the Holy Trin- ity, outside the Porte St. Denis. There on public holi- days they gave representations of pieces drawn from the New Testament, Crowds both of clergy and laity flocked to them. The Church did all in its power to further their success, altering the hour of vespers to fa- cilitate the attendance of the faithful at them. The Proe- monstratensians, owners of the Hospital of the Holy Trinity, gladly let for them their spacious hall. The spectators sat on unwearied often until the night fell, and then the assembly broke up to meet again on the next Sunday for the continuation of the interrupted drama, which sometimes lasted for months at a time. The stage consisted of tiers of scaffolding raised one above another, the topmost tier, with its gilt balustrade, rep- resenting Paradise, and holding " chaire puree," which did duty as the throne of the Most High. " In pomp of show they far excelled our English mysteries," says Hallam ; and the mixture of tragedy and comedy in the poetry appealed powerfully to the quick susceptibilities of an impressionable nation, which delights in nothing so much as in extremes and contrasts.