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EDITIONS
AND TRANSLATIONS OF THE PLAYS
The
'ORDINALIA'
CHUBB, Ray;
JENKIN, Richard & SANDERCOCK, Graham (eds.) of NANCE, R. Morton
& SMITH, A.S.D., The Cornish Ordinalia, first play:
Origo Mundi (Redruth, Agan Tavas, 2001)
HARRIS,
Markham, The Cornish Ordinalia. A Medieval Dramatic Trilogy
(Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1969). [Translation
only]
KENT, Alan
M., Ordinalia - The Cornish Mystery Play Cycle - A
verse translation (London: Francis
Boutle Publishers, 2005) with an informative introduction by Brian
Murdoch.
NANCE,
R. Morton & SMITH, A.S.D., The Cornish Ordinalia, ed.
SANDERCOCK, Graham (3 vols. n.p.: Kesva an Tavas Kernewek/Cornish
Language Board, 1982-1989).
NORRIS,
Edwin, The Ancient Cornish Drama (2 vols. Oxford:
Oxford
University Press, 1859; repr. London & New York: Blom, 1968). Full text here
- Volume
1, Volume
2.
'BEUNANS
MERIASEK'
HARRIS, Markham, The
Life of Meriasek. A Medieval Cornish Miracle Play (Washington:
Catholic University of America Press, 1977). [Translation only]
'THE
CREATION OF THE WORLD' ('GWREANS AN BYS')
GILBERT,
Davies, The Creation of the World with Noah's Flood, written
in Cornish in the Year 1611 by Wm. Jordan,
with an
English translation (London: J.B.
Nichols, 1827).
NANCE,
R. Morton & SMITH A.S.D., Gwryans an bys (2nd
ed. revised by HOOPER, E.G.R., Padstow: Lodenek Press, 1979).
NEUSS, Paula, The
Creacion of the World. A Critical Edition and Translation (New
York and London: Garland, 1983).
RAWE,
Donald R., The Creation of the World (Gwryans an Bys)
(Padstow: Lodenek Press, 1978. [Performance translation only]
BEWNANS
KE
The manuscript containing the fragment of this
play was discovered among the papers of the late Emeritus Professor J.
E.
Caerwyn Williams donated to the National
Library of Wales, Aberystwyth,
by his widow, the late Gwen Caerwyn Williams, in 2000. The play was
probably
composed in the second half of the fifteenth century.
The first section deals with the confrontation of Saint
Kea
with Teudar, a local Cornish tyrant. A second section deals with King
Arthur's
quarrel with the Roman
emperor Lucius
Hiberius, concerning the tribute the Britons
were forced to pay to Rome
and with Queen Guinevere's
adultery with Arthur's nephew, Mordred,
ending with a scene in which Guinevere regrets her behavior. The rest
of the play is missing.
The complete manuscript is here: Aberystwyth,
National Library of Wales, MS 23849D
THOMAS,
Graham & WILLIAMS, Nicholas, Bewnans Ke/The Life of
St Kea: Critical Edition with Translation (Exeter, Exeter
Medieval
Texts & Studies, 2007)
STUDIES
OF CORNISH MEDIEVAL DRAMA
THE
'ORDINALIA'
BAKERE, Jane
A., The Cornish Ordinalia. A Critical Study (Cardiff,
University of Wales Press, 1980).
BETCHER,
G.J., 'A Reassessment of the Date and Provenance of the Cornish Ordinalia.
Comparative Drama, 29 (1995-96), pp.436-453.
BETCHER, G.J. 'Translating a Labour Dispute in the
Cornish Ordinalia within a Legal
Context' in Fourteenth Century England 1, ed. Nigel Saul (Woodbridge:
Boydell, 2000), pp. 89-102.
CRAWFORD,
T.D., 'The Composition of the Cornish Ordinalia', Old
Cornwall, 9 (1979-85), pp.145-153; 166-67.
CROSS,
Sally Joyce, 'Torturers and Tricksters in the Cornish Ordinalia',
Neuphilogische Mitteilungen, 84 (1983),
pp.448-53.
DENNY,
Neville, 'Arena Staging and Dramatic Quality in the Cornish Passion
Play'. In his Medieval Drama: Stratford-upon- Avon
Studies 16,
pp.125-53.
FOWLER,
David C., 'The Date of the Cornish Ordinalia', Medieval
Studies, 23 (1961), pp.9-125.
FUDGE,
Crysten, 'Aspects of Form in the Cornish Ordinalia with
Special Reference to Origo Mundi', Old
Cornwall, 8 (1973-79), pp.457-64; 491-98.
HALL,
Jim, 'Maximilla, the Cornish Montanist: The final scenes of Origo
Mundi', Cornish Studies, 7 (July, 1999).
HAWKE,
Andrew, 'A Lost Manuscript of the Cornish Ordinalia?', Cornish
Studies, 7 (1979), pp.45-60.
LONGSWORTH,
Robert, The Cornish Ordinalia: Religion and Dramaturgy (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967).
MARX,
C.W., 'The Problems of the Doctrine of the Redemption in the ME Mystery
Plays and the Cornish Ordinalia', Medium
Aevum, 64 (1985), pp.20-32.
MEYER,
Robert T., 'The Liturgical Background of Mediaeval Cornish Drama', Trivium,
3 (1968), pp.45-58.
MURDOCH,
Brian, 'The Place-Names in the Cornish Passio Christi', Bulletin
of the Board of Celtic Studies, 37
(1990), pp.116-8.
RODDY,
Kevin, 'Revival of the Cornish Mystery Plays in St. Piran's "round"
& of the York Cycle, 1969', New Theatre Magazine, 1969.
No. 3, pp.6-19.
'ST.
MERIASEK'
CRAWFORD,
T.D., 'Stanza Forms and Social Status in Beunans Meriasek', Old
Cornwall, 9 (1979-85),
pp.431-9; 485-92.
GRANTLEY,
Darryll, 'Producing Miracles'. In NEUSS, Paula
(ed.), Aspects of Early English Drama (Cambridge:
Brewer, 1983), pp.78-91.
MANNING,
H. Paul, 'Staging the State and the Hypostasization of Violence in the
Medieval Cornish Drama', Cornish Studies
13, pp. 126-169, 2005. Text
here.
MEDIEVAL CORNISH
DRAMA
MEYER,
Robert T., 'The Middle-Cornish Play Beunans Meriasek', Comparative
Drama, 3 (1969), pp.54-64.
MURDOCH,
Brian, 'The Holy Hostage: de filio mulieris in the
Middle Cornish Play Beunans Meriasek', Medium
Aevum, 58 (1989), pp.258-73.
NANCE,
R. Morton, 'Notes on the Beunans Meriasek Manuscript', Old
Cornwall, 9 (1979-85), pp.34-36.
OLSON,
Lynette, 'Tyranny in Beunans Meriasek'. In PAYTON, Philip (ed.), Cornish
Studies: Five /Exeter, University of Exeter Press, 1997)
THOMAS,
Charles, Christian Antiquities of Camborne (St.
Austell: Warne, 1966) - ch.11.
TURK,
Frank A. & COMBELLACK, Myrna M., 'Doctoring and Disease in
Medieval Cornwall: Exegetical Notes on Some Passages in Beunans
Meriasek', Cornish Studies, 4/5
(1976-77), pp.56-76.
WICKHAM,
Glynne, 'The Staging of Saint Plays in England'. In STICCA,
Sandro (ed.), The Medieval Drama (Albany, NY: SUNY
Press, 1972), pp.115-18.
'THE
CREACION OF THE WORLD - GWREANS AN BYS'
HIGGINS, Sydney, 'Creating
the Creation: the staging of the Cornish medieval
play The Creation of the World'. In European
Medieval Drama 1996 (Camerino: Centro Linguistico, 1996),
pp.67-95.
MURDOCH,
Brian, 'Creation, Fall and After in the Cornish Gwreans an Bys',
Studi Medievali, 29 (1981), pp.822-36.
NEUSS, Paula,
'Memorial Reconstruction in a Cornish Miracle Play', Comparative
Drama, 5.2 (1971), pp.129-37.
NEUSS, Paula, 'The
Staging of the Creacion of the World', Theatre
Notebook, 33 (1979), pp.116-25.
GENERAL
WORKS ON CORNISH MEDIEVAL DRAMA
BAKERE, Jane
A., 'Glasney and Cornish Drama', Paper 1, Friends of Glasney (1989).
BANNISTER,
Rev. Dr., 'The Mystery of the Passion at Ammergau and in Cornwall', Annual
Report of the Plymouth Institution, IV, pp.373-84.
BRUCH, Benjamin,
'Words and Music in Middle Cornish Drama' - Powerpoint presentation
at the Annual Meeting of CSANA at the University of California, Los
Angeles, March 17 2006.
ELLIS,
P. Beresford, The Cornish Language and its Literature (London
& Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974).
HALLIDAY,
F.E. The Legend of the Rood (London: Duckworth,
1955).
JENNER,
Henry, 'The Cornish Drama', The Celtic Review, 3
(1906-7), pp.360-75; 4 (1907-8), pp.41-68.
LACH-SZYRMA,
W.S. 'Miracle Plays in Cornwall', The
Antiquary, 1 (1880), pp.241-44.
LONG, P.R.,
'New Light on the Mystery Plays of Cornwall', Old Cornwall,
VII.10 (1972), p.458-9.
MURDOCH,
Brian, Cornish Literature (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer,
1993).
MURDOCH,
Brian, 'The Cornish Drama'. In BEADLE, Richard, The Cambridge
Companion to Medieval English Theatre (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1993), pp.211-239.
NANCE,
R. Morton, 'Painted Windows and Miracle Plays', Old Cornwall,
5 (1951-61), pp.244-48.
NEWLYN,
Evelyn S., 'Between the Pit and the Pedestal: Images of Eve and Mary in
Medieval Cornish Drama'. In DuBRUCK, Edelgard, New Images of
Medieval Women (Lampeter: Mellen, 1989), pp.121-64.
NEWLYN,
Evelyn S., Cornish Drama of the Middle Ages: A Bibliography (Redruth:
Institute of Cornish Studies, 1987).
NEWLYN,
Evelyn S., 'The Middle Cornish Interlude: Genre and
Tradition', Comparative Drama, 30, No.2 (1996),
pp,266-281.
NEWLYN,
Evelyn S., 'The stained and painted glass of St. Neot's church and the
staging of the Middle Cornish drama', Journal of Medieval and
Renaissance Studies, 24 (Winter 1994. Dunke University
Publications, N.C.
PAINO, Fiorella & HIGGINS, Sydney, ‘Playing the
Serpent: Devil, Virgin or Mythical Beast?’. In HIGGINS,
Sydney, European Medieval Drama 2 (Camerino, Centro
Linguistico di Universitą di Camerino, 1997), pp. 275-392.
SANDYS,
William, 'On the Cornish Drama', Journal of the Royal
Institution of Cornwall, 1.3 (1865), pp.1-18.
SCHERB, Victor I., ‘Situating
the Holy: Celtic Community in Breton and Cornish Saint Plays’,
Comparative Drama, 35 (2001-2) pp.319-343.
WALLWARTH,
George F., 'Methods of Production in the Medieval Cornish Drama', Speech
Monographs, 24 (1957), pp.212-28.
THE
CORNISH THEATRE IN THE ROUND OR 'PLAIN-AN-GWARY'
In the
manuscript of the 'Ordinalia' there are three circular plans (one for
each of the three days of the play) showing where the permanent
stations (or stages) were situated. There are two similar plans in
'Beunans Meriasek'. These, together with other documentary evidence,
show that at least the major Cornish medieval plays were presented in
open-air, circular theatres.
BORLASE,
William, Observations on the Antiquties, Historical and
Monumental of the County of Cornwall (2nd
ed. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1798), pp.195-7, 208.
BORLASE,
William, The Natural History of Cornwall (Oxford:
Clarendon,
1758), pp.295-8.
DAVIDSON,
Clifford, Illustrations of the Stage and Acting in England
to 1580 (Kalamazoo,
Michigan: 1991), pp.41-47.
GUTHRIE,
A., 'The Plain-an-Gwary, St. Just in
Penwith. Report on an Exploratory Excavation', Proceedings of
the West Cornwall Field Club, n.s. 2.1 (1956-7), pp.3-8.
HOLMAN,
Treve, 'Cornish Plays and Playing Places', Theatre Notebook,
4 (1950), pp.52-54.
JENNER,
Henry, 'Perran Round and the Cornish Drama', 79th Annual
Report of the Royal Cornwall
Polytechnic
Society (Falmouth, 1912),
pp.38-44.
LYON,
Rod T., Cornwall's Playing Places (Cornwall, Tava
an
Wryn, n.d.)
NANCE,
R. Morton, 'The Plen an gwary or Cornish
Playing Place', Journal
of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, 24 (1933-36),
pp.190-212.
PROSSER,
Eleanor, Drama and Religion in the English Mystery Plays - A
Re-evaluation (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961),
pp.46-51.
SCHMITT,
Natalie C., 'Was There a Medieval Theatre in the Round? A
Re-examination of the Evidence'. In
TAYLOR,
JEROME & NELSON, Alan H., Medieval English Drama:
Essays Critical and Contextual (Chicago & London:
University of Chicago Press, 1972), pp.292-315.
SOUHERN,
Richard, The Medieval Theatre in the Round (2nd ed.
London: Faber,
1975), pp.60-69, 223-38, 237-60.
TYDEMAN,
William, The Theatre in the Middle Ages: Western European
Stage Conventions c.800-1576 (Cambridge & New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1978), pp.134-65.
WHITLEY, H.
Michell, 'Cornish Rounds or Playing Places', Devon and
Cornwall Notes and Queries, 7 (1912-13), pp.172-4.
THE
CORNISH LANGUAGE
ELLIS, P.
Berresford, The
Story of the Cornish Language (2nd
ed. Penryn: Tor Mark, 1990).
EVANS,
D. Simon, 'The Story of Cornish', University
of Liverpool
Studies, 58 (1969),
pp.293-308.
SMITH,
A.S.D., The Story of the Cornish Language (2nd ed.
Camborne: An Kef Kernewek, 1969).
SPRIGGS,
Matthew, 'The
Cornish Language,
Archaeology and the Origins of English Theatre'. In JONES, M.
(ed), Traces of
Ancestry: studies in honour of Colin Renfrew, Vol. 2
(Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monograph Series, 2004),
pp.143-161.
SPRIGGS.
Matthew, 'Where
Cornish was Spoken and Written: a Provisional
Synthesis', Cornish
Studies 11 (2003), pp.230-272.
WAKELIN,
Martyn F., Language and History in Cornwall (Leicester:
Leicester University Press, 1975).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A most useful and interesting survey, published by the Cornwall
Heritage Trust.
A short but useful introduction on the Cornish Council site.
This important document (the Cornish part of which was edited by Sally
L. Joyce and Evelyn S. Newlyn) was published by the University of
Toronto Press. It contains a considerable amount of information from
original documents about Drama, Music, Dance & Popular Customs in
medieval Cornwall. The site contains the complete text of the book. The
Cornish section starts on p. 371.
An interesting account, richly illustrated with aerial photographs.
A fascinating - if slow-loading - copy of the interesting monograph by
George Randall Lewis, published in 1908.
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