Parisian Confraternity Drama of the Fourteenth Century: The ’Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages’

Description

Parisian Confraternity Drama of the Fourteenth Century is the first volume of studies devoted solely to the Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages. These anonymous plays, found in a single luxury manuscript, comprise the only major corpus of dramatic works in French that have survived from the fourteenth century. They derive from a rich diversity of sources: narrative miracle accounts, saints’ lives, epic chansons de geste, vernacular romances, and history. Each play is preceded by a richly detailed miniature, some two dozen include a sermon in prose, and each includes at least one rondel to be sung by the cortege accompanying the Virgin. They constitute both a collective demonstration of the fervent late-medieval devotion to the Virgin, and a substantial archive of contemporary insights into the issues of power, authority, and influence that struggled for dominance in fourteenth-century Paris. As this extraordinary collection has, in its entirety, attracted little critical attention to date, this volume will be of significant interest to scholars wishing to explore the plays in their literary context, as well as those interested in medieval drama, the Marian tradition, and the role of confraternities in fourteenth-century French culture. Front matter (“Contents”, “Preface and Acknowledgements”, “List of Illustrations”), p. i Free Access Introduction. French Confraternity Drama of the Fourteenth Century: The Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages, p. 1 Donald Maddox, Sara Sturm-Maddox https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4086 Medieval Trade Guilds and the Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages, p. 29 Graham A. Runnalls https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4087 The Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages and the Legacy of Gautier de Coinci, p. 67 Olivier Collet https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4088 The Serventois in the Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages: The Ways of Imitation, p. 87 Samuel N. Rosenberg https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4089 The Dramatization of the Persecuted Heroine in the Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages, p. 113 Kathy M. Krause https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4090 The Pregnant Abbesses of Paris and Lille, p. 135 Alan E. Knight https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4091 Vice and Virtue in the Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages, p. 149 Carol J. Harvey https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4092 The Virgin’s Mediation: Evolution and Transformation of the Motif, p. 163 Pierre Kunstmann https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4093 Ending and the Ends of the Collection: The Miracle de saint Alexis, p. 179 Donald Maddox https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4094 ‘Visible Words’: Gesture and Performance in the Miniatures of BNF, MS fr. 819–820, p. 193 Robert L. A. Clark, Pamela Sheingorn https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4095 The Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages: Decadent Dramas?, p. 219 Robert L. A. Clark https://doi.org/10.1484/M.TCNE-EB.3.4096 Back matter (“Select Bibliography: The Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages”, “Index”, “List of Contributors”), p. 239