ID - 1653769 TI - The York Mystery Cycle and the worship of the city PY - 2006 VL - treater1 SN - 1843840987 9781843840985 9781846155154 1846155150 PB - Suffolk : Boydell & Brewer, DB - UniCat KW - Old English literature KW - Drama KW - Mysteries and miracle-plays, English KW - Religious drama, English KW - Theater KW - Mystères et miracles anglais KW - Théâtre religieux anglais KW - Théâtre KW - History and criticism. KW - History KW - Religious aspects. KW - Histoire et critique KW - Histoire KW - Aspect religieux KW - York (England) KW - York (Angleterre) KW - Religioius life and customs KW - Vie religieuse KW - Mystères et miracles anglais KW - Théâtre religieux anglais KW - Théâtre KW - Religioius life and customs. KW - Religious aspects KW - English religious drama KW - English drama KW - Dramatics KW - Histrionics KW - Professional theater KW - Stage KW - Theatre KW - Performing arts KW - Acting KW - Actors KW - English miracle-plays KW - English mysteries and miracle-plays KW - Cultural history. KW - Religious observance. KW - York Plays. KW - York community. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:1653769 AB - An investigation into the connections between the York Plays, religious observance, and the role played by the city itself. WINNER of the 2007 David Bevington Prize. The York Play is the earliest near-complete English civic mystery cycle. It evolved constantly throughout its long performance history, but the text that was recorded in the York Register shows that it was already a mature and elaborate civic festival by the time it was written down. This study uncovers the Cycle's connection with worship in York, in the sense both of devotional practice and of civic honour, informing a particular period in the cultural history of the city. The pageants in the Register show in their different ways how the community which devised and performed the Cycle regarded the celebration of the great summer feast of Corpus Christi. Moreover the principles of selection that give the Cycle its structure reflect the broader pattern of the liturgical calendar, with its other feasts and fasts. The Cycle bears witness not only to the practices of religious observance in York, but also to the ecclesiastical politics in which the city was caught up from the very beginning of the fifteenth century. PAMELA KING is Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Bristol. ER -