Hyt ys a gaderynt, a syghte of synne
He may in the churche, thurgh thys resun
Play the resurrecyon.
Yf thou do it in weyis or grenys
A syghte of synne truly hyt semys.”
As late as 1385 we find William of Wykeham objecting to the plays taking place in the churchyard, and threatening those who should lend vestments from the church to the actors.[14]
[14] We must not forget that the Welsh played interludes in their churchyards on Sunday afternoons down to a very late period.
The opposition of the clergy might have been fatal to the continuance of Miracle Plays but for the Feast of Corpus Christi, which was instituted in 1264, and firmly established in 1311. On this day the people and the trade gilds took part in processions with the clergy, carrying pictures and images of saints, and sometimes accompanied by the members of the gilds dressed as angels, the twelve apostles, &c.[15] From this parade it was an easy step to dramatic representation; and this day was rigidly adhered to by the gilds as their great and common festival.
[15] This is frequently to be seen in Italy at the present day.
Chester has always had the credit of being an exception to the rule by holding the performances of the plays at Whitsuntide, but this view is incorrect, and Chester was, at first, in line with other places, for we find from the Bakers’ Charter, 2 Edward IV. (which is the earliest authoritative allusion to the plays), that “there hath been tyme out of mind a company of bakers,” and they are “to be redy to pay the costes and expenses and play and light of Corpus Christi as oft tymes as it shall be assessed.”[16] Chester’s gilds were numerous and powerful, and many of them exist in some form or other at the present day.