• The N-Town Plays: Play 5, Abraham and Isaac

last half of Play 4 (the Bar­bers' Play), Towneley's Play 4, and the Brome Play — all accentuate the anguish of Isaac's impending sacrifice. What sets this N-Town play apart from the other English versions is its lack of pathos.

• The N-Town Plays: Play 12, Joseph's Doubt

(also unaware of his visitor's identity) learns that he will be the father of the nation of Israel (Genesis 14:18–15:6). 166 ful of grace. This line could be Joseph's acknowledgment of Mary's special status as the Mother of God. Compare

• The N-Town Plays: Play 19, Purification

also Mary bryght! ANNA PROPHETISSA All heyl, salver of seknes! SYMEON All heyl, lanterne of lyght! ANNA PROPHETISSA All heyl, thu modyr of mekenes! MARIA Symeon, I undyrstand and se That bothyn of my sone and me Ye have knowynge

• The Awntyrs off Arthur: Introduction

of the remarkable achievements of Awntyrs' doubled and dialogic style is its capacity to move from a consciousness of the contradictions within the ethos of knighthood and the fatal history of Arthur's court to a celebration of the magnificence

• Codex Ashmole 61: Item 35b, The Adulterous Falmouth Squire

me, For vengawnce of that cursyd synne The blode ryneth oute of this tre.” He lede hym forth upon the pleyn. He was were of a pynakyll pyght; Syche one saw he never none Of clothes of gold that burnest

• Eustache the Monk: Introduction

the historical time of King Richard I, King John, and King Philip Augustus of France. Because an awareness of the historical background is vital to an understanding of both works, we have included the following brief summary of the important

• Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia

source of Jovinian's ideas, which apparently opposed such basic tenets of Christian doctrine as the superiority of virginity, the hierarchy of sins, and the meritorious inequalities of punishment and heavenly reward; Jovinian also did not maintain the perpetual virginity of

• Lydgate, Mumming at Eltham

mooste furyous and woode, Causer of stryf and desobeyssaunce, Shal cesse his malice; and God that is so goode, Of unytee shal sende al souffysaunce. He joyne the hertes of England and of Fraunce, B’assent of boothe sent to your

• Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne: Introduction

of the significance of these features has not been fully appreciated by most commentators, more meshed in the tradition of realist humanism than aware of what Gray calls "the inherently expressionist form" of ballads (1984, p. 16). One example

• The Tale of Ralph the Collier: Introduction

blurring of the distinction is significant in this late poem where the heroic conventions of earlier romance and certainly of the chansons de gestes are taken with a grain of salt.) The theme is evident from the very beginning of

• Book of Genesis

of Satan. Both this change of attri­bution and the added detail of the death occurring on the first night very likely have their origins in the independent story of the demon who kills the new hus­bands of the daughter

• The N-Town Plays: Play 39, Ascension; Selection of Matthias

record of a Weavers’ pageant of the Ascension in Bury St. Edmunds (possibly near the scribal home of the N-Town manuscript), c. 1477, close to the 1468 date found in the N-Town manuscript. (Macray, "Manuscripts of the Corporation of Bury

• Item 27, Ypotis: Introduction

“a curious example of the power of traditional names.”7 Though it seems completely without organization, the dialogue moves through a logical sequence of topics, from the origins of heaven and earth, the fall of man, the varieties of sin, and

• Audelay, Carol Sequence

A Floure of pryce! Ther is non seche in paradise! Of lillé, of rose of ryse, Of prymrol, and of flour-de-lyse, Of al the flours at my devyse, Thet Floure of Jesse yet bers the prys, As most of hele

• Audelay, Carol Sequence

A Floure of pryce! Ther is non seche in paradise! Of lillé, of rose of ryse, Of prymrol, and of flour-de-lyse, Of al the flours at my devyse, Thet Floure of Jesse yet bers the prys, As most of hele

• Audelay, Carol Sequence

A Floure of pryce! Ther is non seche in paradise! Of lillé, of rose of ryse, Of prymrol, and of flour-de-lyse, Of al the flours at my devyse, Thet Floure of Jesse yet bers the prys, As most of hele

• Audelay, Carol Sequence

A Floure of pryce! Ther is non seche in paradise! Of lillé, of rose of ryse, Of prymrol, and of flour-de-lyse, Of al the flours at my devyse, Thet Floure of Jesse yet bers the prys, As most of hele

• Audelay, Carol Sequence

A Floure of pryce! Ther is non seche in paradise! Of lillé, of rose of ryse, Of prymrol, and of flour-de-lyse, Of al the flours at my devyse, Thet Floure of Jesse yet bers the prys, As most of hele

• Audelay, Carol Sequence

A Floure of pryce! Ther is non seche in paradise! Of lillé, of rose of ryse, Of prymrol, and of flour-de-lyse, Of al the flours at my devyse, Thet Floure of Jesse yet bers the prys, As most of hele

• Audelay, Carol Sequence

A Floure of pryce! Ther is non seche in paradise! Of lillé, of rose of ryse, Of prymrol, and of flour-de-lyse, Of al the flours at my devyse, Thet Floure of Jesse yet bers the prys, As most of hele