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Play 6, The Expulsion from the Garden

Play 6, THE EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN: EXPLANATORY NOTES


ABBREVIATIONS: AV: Authorized (“King James”) Version; Meditations: Meditations on the Life of Christ, trans. Ragusa and Green; MED: Middle English Dictionary; OED: Oxford English Dictionary; RB: Richard Beadle, ed., York Plays; REED: Records of Early English Drama; YA: Davidson and O’Connor, York Art; York Breviary: Breviarium ad usum insignis ecclesie Eboracensis; York Missal: Missale ad usum insignis ecclesiae Eboracensis.

References to the Ordo paginarum are to REED: York, 1:16–27.

At the conclusion of the previous pageant, Adam and Eve have already been expelled from the garden. To be sure, a different angel must play the angel of the Expulsion here. Since in this case the angel, identified in the biblical account (Genesis 3:24) as a cherubim, traditionally holds a flaming sword, as in another panel in the East Window of the Minster (French, York Minster: The Great East Window, p. 51), the Armorers, or Furbishers, would seem to have been a logical choice for producers of this pageant, especially since over time this craft gravitated more toward weaponry than protective gear. However, while the Ordo paginarum says nothing about the sword, it does have the angel supplying Adam and Eve with a spade and spindle with which they are to begin their work. The Armorers’ most prosperous period was the early fifteenth century, though by 1444 they were pleading for aid for themselves and their pageant (REED: York: 1:62). The play is written in six-line stanzas, also including irregular stanzas of five lines.

47 fele fandyngis manyfolde. Middle earth, to which Adam and Eve have been banished, is a place of temptation that will mark the race from henceforth, even affecting St. Peter immediately after the Crucifixion when he denies his Lord three times.

58 Adam, have this. The angel hands the spade to Adam with an admonition that this will be needed for earning his living. The spade is generally taken to be Adam’s identifying symbol in the iconography of the later Middle Ages; see May, “Medieval Stage Property.”

70–74 Travell herto shalle thou ta . . . To man ay be. The point at which Eve presumably must receive the spindle from the angel. This seems verified by the following lines in which she laments that she can no longer have the kind of tranquility that she enjoyed in the garden but must work. Adam also refers to the tool that has been given him in line 77. For a typical depiction of Eve, seated outside and spinning at the left, and Adam working with his spade “in the sweat of his brow” to break up the hard ground at the right, see the Speculum humanae salvationis (Wilson and Wilson, Medieval Mirror, p. 145).

90–91 At prime of the day. / Be tyme of none alle lost had wee. The creation of the first parents took place at the beginning of the day (specifically at prime, the second of the canonical hours), and already by noon the Fall had taken place. The rapidity of the Fall is a medieval commonplace.

131 We mon go nakid. So in the garden, but now they cannot do this on account of their awareness of their bodies, of which they are ashamed. The biblical account has them dressed in skins (Genesis 3:21).

160 Dede wolde I be. A sign of despair, though in Adam’s case it will not be a sickness unto death, for he will be rescued from Limbo along with Eve by the second Adam, Jesus Christ, at the Harrowing. The despair here is not the remorse of Judas but of a penitent now that he has finished his blaming of Eve for his deed. Traditional gestures are beating one’s breast and wringing one’s hands, which would have been appropriate for Adam and Eve as they wend forth at the end of the pageant, presumably as they set off toward the next station where the pageant will be repeated.


Play 6, THE EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN: TEXTUAL NOTES


ABBREVIATIONS: Bevington: David Bevington, ed., Medieval Drama (1975); Köbling: E. Köbling, “Beiträge zur Erklärung und Textkritik der York Plays”; LTS: Lucy Toulmin Smith, ed., The York Plays (1885); RB: Richard Beadle, ed., The York Plays (1972) (incorporating numerous emendations from other sources); RB2: Richard Beadle, “Corrections to The York Plays,” in Gerald Byron Kinneavy, A Concordance to the York Plays (1986), pp. xxxi–xxxii; s.d.: stage direction; Sykes: A. C. Cawley, ed., “The Sykes MS of the York Scriveners’ Play”; Towneley: Martin Stevens and A. C. Cawley, eds., The Towneley Plays.

The base text for this edition is London, British Library, MS. Add. 35290, called the “Register” in the York civic records and here identified by the abbreviation Reg. Some variations in lineation from the manuscript are not noted here; see RB and Beadle and Meredith’s The York Play: A Facsimile. In most cases the line numbering in the present text is consistent with RB. Lineation of alliterative verse throughout is based on Reg, with line numbering adjusted accordingly to account for half lines. Scribes are identified as follows: Scribe A; Scribe B: main scribe; JC: John Clerke; LH: later scribal hand (unidentified).

1 Alle. Space provided for large capital A, not added in Reg. This omission is a characteristic of texts entered by Scribe B.

69 Reg: added above line by JC as correction: “Eve for that thou begylyd hym so.”

159 ADAM. This edition; LTS and RB insert speech heading for Adam at line 161 following emendation by LH.

















 
The Origenall Perteynyng to the Crafte of Armourers
 




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165   



ANGELUS   Alle creatures to me take tent,
Fro God of heven now am I sent
Unto the wrecchis that wronge has went
Thaymself to woo;
The joie of heven that thaym was lent
Is lost thaym froo.

Fro thaym is loste bothe game and glee.
He badde that thei schuld maistirs be
Over alle kynne thyng, oute tane a tree
He taught them tille,
And therto wente bothe she and he
Agayne his wille.

Agaynst his wille thus have they wrought
To greeffe grete God gaffe they right noght,
That wele wytt ye;
And therfore syte is to thaym sought,
As ye shalle see.

The fooles that faithe is fallen fra,
Take tente to me nowe or ye ga:
Fro God of heven unto yow twa
Sente am I nowe
For to warne you what kynne wa
Is wrought for you.

ADAM   For us is wrought, so welaway,
Doole endurand nyghte and day;
The welthe we wende have wonnyd in ay
Is loste us fra.
For this myscheffe ful wele we may
Ever mornyng ma.

ANGELUS   Adam, thyselffe made al this syte,
For to the tree thou wente full tyte
And boldely on the frute gan byte
My Lord forbed.

ADAM   Yaa, allas, my wiffe that may I wite,
For scho me red.

ANGELUS   Adam, for thou trowyd hir tale,
He sendis thee worde and sais thou shale
Lyffe ay in sorowe,
Abide and be in bittir bale
Tille he thee borowe.

ADAM   Allas, wrecchis, what have we wrought!
To byggly blys we bothe wer brought;
Whillis we wer thare
We hadde inowe; nowe have we noghte.
Allas, for care.

EVE   Oure cares ar comen bothe kyne and colde,
With fele fandyngis manyfolde;
Allas, that tyraunte to me tolde
Thurghoute his gyle
That we shulde have alle welthis in walde,
Wa worthe the whyle.

ANGELUS   That while yee wrought unwittely
Soo for to greve God Almyghty,
And that mon ye full dere abye
Or that ye ga;
And to lyffe, as is worthy,
In were and wa.

Adam, have this, luke howe ye thynke
And tille withalle thi meete and drynke
For evermore.

ADAM   Allas, for syte why myght I synke,
So shames me sore.

EVE   Soore may we shame with sorowes seere
And felly fare we bothe in feere.
Allas, that evyr we neghed it nere,
That tree untill.
With dole now mon we bye full dere
Oure dedis ille.

ANGELUS   Giffe, for thou beswyked hym swa,
Travell herto shalle thou ta:
Thy barnes to bere with mekill wa,
This warne I thee.
Buxum shalle thou and othir ma
To man ay be.

EVE   Allas, for doole, what shalle I doo?
Now mon I never have rest ne roo.

ADAM   Nay, lo, swilke a tole is taken me too
To travaylle tyte.
Nowe is shente both I and shoo,
Allas, for syte.

Allas, for syte and sorowe sadde,
Mournynge makis me mased and madde
To thynke in herte what helpe I hadde,
And nowe has none.
On grounde mon I nevyr goo gladde,
My gamys ere gane.

Gone ar my games withowten glee;
Allas, in blisse kouthe we noght bee,
For putte we were to grete plenté
At prime of the day.
Be tyme of none alle lost had wee,
Sa welawaye.

Sa welaway, for harde peyne,
Alle bestis were to my biddyng bayne;
Fisshe and fowle, they were fulle fayne
With me to founde,
And nowe is alle thynge me agayne
That gois on grounde.

On grounde ongaynely may I gange
To suffre syte and peynes strange:
Alle is for dede I have done wrange
Thurgh wykkid wyle.
On lyve methynkith I lyffe to lange,
Allas the whille.

A, Lord, I thynke what thynge is this
That me is ordayned for my mysse,
Gyffe I wirke wronge whom shulde me wys
Be any waye?
How beste wille be, so have I blisse,
I shalle assaye.

Allas, for bale, what may this bee,
In worlde unwisely wrought have wee;
This erthe it trembelys for this tree
And dyns ilke dele.
Alle this worlde is wrothe with mee,
This wote I wele.

Full wele I wote my welthe is gone,
Erthe, elementis, everilkane,
For my synne has sorowe tane,
This wele I see.
Was nevere wrecchis so wylle of wane
As nowe ar wee.

EVE   We are fulle wele worthy, iwis,
To have this myscheffe for oure mys,
For broght we were to byggely blys,
Ever in to be.
Now my sadde sorowe certis is this,
Mysilfe to see.

ADAM   To see it is a sytfull syghte:
We bothe that were in blis so brighte,
We mon go nakid every ilke a nyghte
And dayes bydene.
Allas, what womans witte was light,
That was wele sene.

EVE   Sethyn it was so me knyth it sore,
Bot sen that woman witteles ware,
Mans maistrie shulde have bene more
Agayns the gilte.

ADAM   Nay, at my speche wolde thou never spare;
That has us spilte.

EVE   Iff I hadde spoken youe oughte to spill,
Ye shulde have taken gode tent theretyll
And turnyd my thought.

ADAM   Do way, woman, and neme it noght,

For at my biddyng wolde thou not be,
And therfore my woo wyte I thee.
Thurgh ille counsaille thus casten ar we
In bittir bale.
Nowe God late never man aftir me
Triste woman tale.

For certis me rewes fulle sare
That evere I shulde lerne at thi lare,
Thy counsaille has casten me in care,
That thou me kende.

EVE   Be stille, Adam, and nemen it na mare,
It may not mende.

For wele I wate I have done wrange,
And therfore evere I morne emange.

ADAM   Allas, the whille I leve so lange
Dede wolde I be.
On grounde mon I never gladde gange
Withowten glee.

Withowten glee I ga,
This sorowe wille me sla,
This tree unto me wille I ta
That me is sende.
He that us wrought wisse us fro wa,
Wharesom we wende.
give attention; (t-note)

precipitated
woe



From

natural things, except


Against


grieve; gave
know
sorrow


from
go
two

type of woe



Sadness (Sorrow)
thought to have lived in always
from

mourning make

sorrow
quickly

forbid

blame
counseled

trusted
shall
Live

redeem


matchless
While
enough


sharp
many temptations; (see note)


the world
Woe

mindlessly

dearly abide
go
live
misery and woe

(see note)
till [the soil] for; food


sorrow


many
with sin burdened; together
approached

must we purchase
deeds bad

If; deceived; so; (t-note)
Travail; take (have); (see note)
children

Obedient; more



may; or peace

such a tool; given
quickly
guilty; she
sorrow


confused; mad


may
[Even] my recreation is gone

joys
could

beginning; (see note)
noon



obedient
eagerly

against
goes

uneasily; go
sorrow
[a] deed; wrong
wile (trickery)
live too long



error
If; who; assist
By





trembles
makes noise in every manner
angry
know I well

know my well being
everything
taken
well (clearly)
at a loss (distraught)



sin
great




sorrowful sight

might [in the garden]; (see note)
indeed
mind was weak
well seen

Since; I regret it greatly
since; were

guilt


brought us to grief


attention
changed my mind

name


blame
Through

let
Trust

repent; sore
lore

made known

name it no more


know; wrong
mourn always

live so long; (t-note)
Dead; (see note)
must; go



kill
take
[to] me
keep; woe
Wherever; wander

Go To Play 7, Sacrificium Cayme et Abell