With the lapse of time, the imagination of authors, and the progress of popular language, theatrical representations passed from the chapels and holy places to the public places, and the Latin language was superseded by the vulgar. The priests who had conducted the play gave way to laymen, and the liturgy of the drama was superseded by other compositions. While religious scenes were continued and religious thoughts were the principal inspiration, yet there came interruptions and lapses. Secular and historic pieces were put upon the boards. These were occasionally fixed together and played, first one and then another, without attempt at regularity or continuation, as we in the present day may have everything from tragedy to farce in the same season at the same theatre. In the fifteenth century the favourite representations were the “Mysteries” and next the “Moralities,” and after these, dramas and farces. The former were religious or historic dramas, calculated as much for religious or historical instruction and entertainment as for pleasure and amusement. The Last Judgment, the Birth of Christ, the Baptism in Jordan, the Marriage in Cana, and other Mysteries in the life of Christ were presented, usually on holy days, at Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost. In not a few cases the theatre was in the open air, and this custom has been kept up in Brittany and certain provinces in France to the present day. While there are regular theatre halls in the cities, yet throughout the country are travelling troupes of mountebanks, jugglers, conjurers, etc., with trained dogs and other animals, who, arriving at a small town in the afternoon, pitch their tents upon the market-place or any other open square which can be secured, advertise the play by beating of drums or ringing of bells, charge one sou for a stand-up admission, and two sous for admission and a seat. The stage is made by unrolling a strip of carpet upon the ground or pavement. And here will be performed the sublime tragedy, the touching drama, and the roaring farce.
In the fifteenth century the plays, especially the Mysteries, whether religious or historic, were elaborate and extensive. The scene of the play varied according to its necessity and so was changed from town to country, from open street to walled town, the audience and actors being moved with it, as in certain ancient Greek theatres. An immense amount of decoration was required, which, however, was not usually a painted canvas stretched upon a frame, representing the desired object; but these scenes were made of the real thing, and the decoration, especially of the streets and walls about, were of hangings, usually of tapestry, though in cases of need any gaily coloured stuffs, like coverlets, bed-spreads, table-cloths, or carpets would be pressed into service. This custom exists in Brittany to the present day. The author well remembers one of the holy days in August, 1882, when, visiting the village of Savenay near Nantes, which by chance was one of the seigniories of Gilles de Retz, he witnessed the decoration of the village. The well-to-do residents brought out their tapestries and hung them along the fronts of their houses and garden walls; the poorer people, their carpets and coverlets, or anything which helped to make a gay appearance; while in one particular residence a bolt of white cotton cloth was brought out and stretched along the wall, covering it for a distance of fifty or sixty yards. This kind of decoration is not uncommon, and even in Nantes and Angers a greater amount of tapestry may be seen on a single holy day than otherwise during a year’s residence.
Where required by the action of the drama, the scenes were built in the fashion of scaffolds. In the Mystery of the Creation the lower scaffold represented the earth, while the second or upper represented the heavens. In the Last Judgment and the Resurrection it consisted of two great scaffolds, making three stones one above another, the upper one of which represented Paradise, with God upon His throne, the Virgin, the Christ, the angels; all the holy things. The middle stage represented the earth with the mortals engaged in their everyday duties; while the lower one represented Sheol with the Prince of Darkness in command, and the demons, small and great, engaged in their supposed task of keeping up the fires and of stirring up the spirits of the damned. The description of all this interests us in its relation to Gilles de Retz only because of its extravagance and immense expenditure.
The historic Mystery was also a favourite. The Mystery of the Siege of Orleans appears to have been the most popular and the most frequently played. But there were others: the Passion of Metz, the Mystery of Paris, that of Saint Michel of Angers, of Saint Barbe. Gilles de Retz organised, equipped, and presented no less than ten of these Mysteries. They were long, too; the Moralities contained about twelve hundred verses; while the Mysteries had many thousand verses, that of the Siege of Orleans having twenty thousand five hundred and twenty-nine lines; and they not infrequently required an entire day in the performance. The presence and aid of five hundred persons were required on some of these grand occasions.
One of the first paragraphs in the chapter on the extravagant and ruinous folly of Gilles in the Mémoire des Héritiers, tells that the establishment, organisation, and equipment of these theatres and the performance of the plays was at the expense of Gilles. The succeeding paragraphs enlarge upon his immense and ruinous expenditures in this regard. The decoration, apparel, apparatus, the costumes of all the actors, were ordered by him. He required the best of everything, while the question of expense or even of value seemed as nothing. When he wanted them, he wanted them, and they were purchased at the asking price. Each person had his special costume according to his rôle and dignity; the beggar, the varlet, the huntsman, as well as the soldier, knight, and noble, the fair ladies, the saints in heaven, were all accoutred and equipped with stuffs of such richness as would magnify the greatness and power of the author and owner of it all, and gratify his inordinate ambition. Gold, silver, velvet, precious stones, rich armour, luxurious harness, fine embroidery, silken stuff, satin, and all the marvels of art in profusion. When the ornaments of the Church were required in any scene or play, there were copes, chasubles, dalmatics, albs, and all the ecclesiastical robes so rich and sumptuous. His ecclesiastical paraphernalia was at the command of the theatre.
The follies and ambition of Gilles not only required his theatrical costumes and property to be of the richest and most expensive stuffs, but in his maladministration they were bought at highest prices, payment frequently made with promises greatly increasing their cost. With all this, his pride was such that he never permitted the same dress to be worn twice; everything was required to be made anew for each representation, or for each series of representations. New costumes seem to have been his particular fad in that day, so that he could use the same terms which now appear in the playbills of the city—“entirely new and elegant costumes.” Having been once used, they were thrown aside or sold at whatever could be gotten for them. This meant to buy at the highest price and sell at the lowest, a system which we well know produces financial ruin. His ambition and desire to please led him into foolish and useless expenditures. All his theatres and the plays rendered by him were free; the people who attended paid nothing. Gilles paid the expenses of the entire entertainment. Consequently, one can easily understand the statements made in the Mémoirs of the ruin wrought by these representations, the cost of each one being thirty, forty, and fifty thousand francs (six, eight, and ten thousand dollars).
Gilles’s favourite play was the Mystery of the Siege of Orleans. Here he was not only actor but principal. It was a drama in verse though not in rhyme. It was based upon the events of that memorable siege. Quicherat says of it that its historic value is nil, not because the author has removed it from the domain of history, but for the contrary reason, that he was quite too near, both in space and time, to the events as they happened, and was, therefore, unable to take the rôle of historian, and make deductions. He could not form conclusions, nor announce principles: all that he did was to recount the actions and events as they happened day by day. He was a recorder, not an historian. The drama or poem was largely romance; while recounting the daily progress of the siege, it was not a veritable or trustworthy journal thereof. The words put into the mouths of the various actors were probably never spoken by them, certainly never were heard by the author. But they were the speech of the day; they were news gathered at the time and which might have appeared in the daily newspapers, if such things had then existed. It is because of their nearness to the events that they are not history. How long the Mystery of the Siege of Orleans continued to be represented in the theatre as a drama is immaterial.
One hundred and forty personages have been introduced upon the stage, not counting the groups of soldiers, peasants, citizens, musicians, etc. The Marshal de Retz figured in it as one of the prominent actors, in close relation to the King and to Joan of Arc. Not only is his name mentioned, but he himself had a speaking part and was present on the stage. Naturally he would take his own part and appear under his own name in the play; and this was both a compliment to his courage and ability as a soldier, and his versatility as an artist. While it kept him constantly before the people, it gave him an opportunity to gratify his ambition. It is useless to give any description of it, for it is simply the representation of the siege of Orleans written by one who, while he did not copy the journal, had it under his hand while writing the drama. Because it is in verse, it will not be practicable to translate much or any of it, but a few paragraphs will be given in which Gilles de Retz figured, and will be inserted (Appendix C) for the purpose of bringing out his part.
A description of one of these Mysteries has been given us by Monsieur Paul Saunière. Its presentation took place in the Place Notre Dame before the Cathedral at Nantes, on May 21, 1439, under the direction, and at the expense, of Gilles de Retz. It was the Mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Virgin Mary. It was written by a young poet, Jean Lanoë, and Gilles de Retz is reported to have paid him the sum of ten golden crowns. Whether the story told by Saunière is absolute verity, is of slight consequence. There can be little doubt that it represents truthfully the custom of the period relating to such spectacles, and is a fair description thereof. Much of it is recognised as in accordance with habits and customs of that country in the present day.
All public proclamations and announcements by official authority in the provinces are made through the aid of either trumpet or drum, but in Brittany with the trumpet. The herald or other officer, when making an official sale, begins generally at the City Hall, makes the round of the city, sounding his trumpet at prominent places, calling the people together to hear his announcement, which he makes viva voce, and so passes on to the next place, repeating the performance. Lost children are cried in the same way, except that when done by a private individual a bell is used.