The feast of Corpus Christi, celebrated annually on Thursday after Trinity Sunday, was devoted to the Eucharist, and the normal practice was to have solemn processions through the city with the Host, the consecrated wafer that was believed to have been transformed into the true body and blood of Jesus. In this way the "cultus Dei" thus celebrated allowed the people to venerate the Eucharistic bread in order that they might be stimulated to devotion and brought symbolically, even mystically into a relationship with the central moments of salvation history. Perhaps it is logical, therefore, that pageants and plays were introduced in order to access yet another way of visualizing and participating in those events. Thus the "invisible things" of the divine order "from the creation of the world" might be displayed. The York Corpus Christi Plays, contained in London, British Library, MS. Add. 35290 and comprising more than thirteen thousand lines of verse, actually represent a unique survival of medieval theater. They form the only complete play cycle verifiably associated with the feast of Corpus Christi that is extant and was performed at a specific location in England.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction The York Corpus Christi Plays 1. The Creation of the Angels and the Fall of Lucifer 2. The Creation through the Fifth Day 3. The Creation of Adam and Eve 4. The Prohibition of the Tree of Knowledge 5. The Fall 6. The Expulsion from the Garden 7. Sacrificium Cayme et Abell 8. The Building of Noah's Ark 9. The Flood 10. Abraham and Isaac 11. Pharaoh and Moses 12. The Annunciation to Mary and the Visitation 13. Joseph's Troubles about Mary 14. The Nativity 15. The Offering of the Shepherds 16. Herod Questioning the Three Kings and the Offering of the Magi 17. The Purification of the Virgin 18. The Flight to Egypt 19. The Massacre of the Innocents 20. Christ and the Doctors 21. The Baptism of Christ 22. The Temptation in the Wilderness 22A. The Marriage in Cana 23. The Transfiguration 23A. The Feast in Simon's House 24. The Woman Taken in Adultery and the Raising of Lazarus 25. The Entry into Jerusalem 26. The Conspiracy 27. The Last Supper 28. The Agony and Betrayal 29. The Trial before Cayphas and Anna 30. The First Trial before Pilate 31. The Trial before Herod 32. The Remorse of Judas 33. The Second Trial before Pilate 34. The Road to Calvary 35. Crucifixio Christi 36. Mortificacio Christi 37. The Harrowing of Hell 38. The Resurrection 39. The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalen 40. The Travelers to Emmaus 41. Doubting Thomas 42. The Ascension 43. Pentecost 44. The Death of Mary 44A. The Funeral of the Virgin ("Fergus") 45. The Assumption of the Virgin (Thomas Apostolus) 46. The Coronation of the Virgin 47. Doomsday Explanatory Notes Textual Notes Appendix: Notes on the Dialect of the York Corpus Christi Plays by Paul A. Johnston, Jr. Bibliography Glossary