CHAPTER II

ENGLISH MIRACLE PLAYS


Most of what has been said hitherto has referred to the rise of
religious plays on the continent. The first recorded presentation of a
play in England occurred in Dunstable--under the management of a
schoolmaster, Geoffrey--about the year 1110. Probably, therefore, the
drama was part of the new civilization brought over by the Normans, and
came in a comparatively well-developed form. The title of Geoffrey's
play, _St. Katherine_, points to its having been of the _St. Nicholas_
type, a true Miracle Play, belonging to a much later stage of
development than the early _Pastores_ or _Quem Quaeritis?_. We need not
look, then, for shadowy gropings along the dramatic path. Instead we may
expect to find from the very commencement a fair grasp of essentials and
a rapidly maturing belief that the people were better guardians of the
new art than the Church.

We know nothing of _St. Katherine_ except its name. Of contemporary
plays also we know practically nothing. A writer of the late twelfth
century tells us that Saint Plays were well favoured in London. This
statement, coupled with the fact that all sacred plays, saintly
wonder-workings and Bible stories alike, were called Miracles in
England, gives a measure of support to Ten Brink's suggestion that the
English people at first shrank from the free treatment of Bible stories