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Corpus Christi Plays At York: A Context For Religious Drama, Clifford Davidson

Clifford Davidson

For roughly two centuries, the streets of the city of York were home to the annual performance of a cycle of mystery plays held in conjunction with the festival of Corpus Christi. Remarkable as the resilience of such an event is, no scholar has yet to survey fully the plays' urban setting, especially with a view to understanding how and why they might have continued to appeal to citizens and spectators. One theory has been that the City of York made the guilds perform the plays. Yet, as Davidson argues, this is not a satisfactory solution, despite the admittedly coercive …