The Croxton Play of the Sacrament is the only surviving English Host miracle play. [1] The play centers around the abduction of a Host by a group of Jewish men, and the series of miracles that lead to their conversion of Christianity.
The play was written circa 1491. [1] It is believed that the play was performed by an East Anglian touring company. [2]
The original author is unknown, however it is believed that he was a member of clergy, as he has great knowledge of Scripture, The Mass, and The Office. [3]
A singular manuscript of the play is the only surviving text available. The manuscript is found in 338r–356r of Dublin, Trinity MS F.4.20, catalogue no. 652. [3] The initials "R.C" are located on the bottom right corner of the text. Gail Gibson hypothesizes that these initials belong to a vicar by the name of Robert Cooke, [4] while Tamara Atkin argues that they belong to the printer Robert Copeland. [5] Like the author, there is no way to definitively know what these initials really mean.
The main plot points throughout the play correspond to the main plot points from the Passion. [6] As Aristorius is Christian, his selling of the host symbolizes Judas betraying Christ. The host is nailed to a post, relating to Christ's crucifixion. The cauldron symbolizes Christ's burial, while the oven symbolizes Hell. The image of Christ revealed at the end represents the resurrection of Christ.
The play is largely antisemitic, and Lisa Lampert views the play as a text that vilifies "the Jew" and casts them as a murderer and constant enemy of a Christian. She states that the play asserts that the Jews murdered Christ in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. [6] Anthony Bale notes that while the play is largely antisemitic, viewing it as simply antisemitic would be a mistake. He asserts that the Jews are used to examine the aspects of religion, international trade, identity, and most importantly the efficacy of the Eucharist. He also asserts that the corrupt Christian (Aristorius) is presented as much at fault as the Jewish men who buy the host. [7]
There is an ongoing scholarly debate around whether or not the Jews in the play were actually meant to covertly depict members of the proto-Protestant Lollard movement. At the time that the play was written, the English Jewish community had been completely nonexistent for almost two centuries, since all Jews had been banished from England by King Edward Longshanks in the 1290 Edict of Expulsion. [3] Celia Cutts accordingly believes that the real purpose of the play was to defend the Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament against the attacks of the Lollards, and to persuade them away from their heresy. [8] Others have alleged that East Anglia was very tolerant in the fifteenth century, as long as the nonconformists were both non-violent and discreet and presented no threat to the state. [9] Furthermore, those who oppose this theory claim the lack of evidence of Lollardy during this time disproves it entirely. [10]
Vexillators – Men who give a summary of the play before it begins.
Jonathas – A Jewish merchant. Skeptical of the holy host, and aims to disprove it.
Aristorius – A Christian merchant. Flawed in his own ways, as he steals and sells Christ's body to Jonathas.
Episcopus – The Bishop.
Presbyter – A Priest named Isoder.
Clericus – A Clerk named Peter Paul. He is part of the deal to buy the host.
Jason – “The second Jew.”
Jasdon – “The third Jew.”
Masphat – “The fourth Jew.”
Malchus – “The fifth Jew.”
Magister Phisicus / Brundyche – A master physician, the "quack doctor".
Coll – A servant.
The play begins with the Vexillators appearing to the audience with banners. They inform the audience of the plot. After the summary, the Vexillators ask that the audience never doubt Christ. They tell the audience that the play is set in Croxton, [11] and then the play begins.
Aristorius appears, praising his success as a merchant, and thanking God for allowing him to sell his goods. Isoder enters, and says that he will do anything in his power to ensure that Aristorius remains successful. Jonathas then enters, thanking Mohammed for all that he possesses. Jonathas is a Jewish man who is skeptical of the Real Presence and Christianity. He, along with his friends Jason and Jasdon, have discuss how insane it is for Christian men to “believe on a cake” in their religion. The cake is referring to the holy host. They wish to desecrate a host in the name of their God, and discuss ways in which they can acquire one.
The Jewish men visit Aristorius, and ask him to sell the host. He initially refuses, as they are not of the Christian faith. Jonathas increases his offer to 100 pounds, which Aristorius is unable to turn down. Aristorius is afraid that he will get caught stealing the host, but Jonathas convinces him to do it at night time. Aristorius goes to visit his parish priest, and gets him drunk on wine – enabling him to steal the host.
Once they receive the consecrated host, Jonathas, Jason, Jasdon, Malchus, and Masphat decide to stab the host to see if it bleeds. To their surprise, it bleeds. Now terrified of the host, they decide to boil it in hot oil. When Jonathas tries to throw the host in the oil, it clings to his hand. He tries to wash it away in water, but again it stays attached. The men decide to pin it to a host, and pull Jonathas until he is released. The host is not removed, and the men wind up pulling so hard that his arm detaches from his body. Defeated, the men go to bed and vow to keep their plot a secret.
Coll and Brundich now enter. It is revealed that Brundich is a corrupt man, who makes his patients ill again to get the most money possible out of them. Coll tells Brundich of Jonathas’ troubles, and Brundich proceeds to attempt to treat him. Jonathas refuses this treatment, and tells Brundich to leave.
Jonathas has his men remove the host and toss it in the bubbling oil. The oil then turns to blood, and overflows. They then toss the host in a hot oven, where it begins to ooze blood and then eventually explode. After the explosion, an Image of Jesus Christ appears to the men.
Christ asks the Jewish men why they despise him so much. He proceeds to blame them for the desecration of his body both presently and in the past. Still, he says that he will forgive them. The men repent their sins, and Christ heals Jonathas’ arm when he dips it in the cauldron.
Upon confessing his sins to the Bishop, Jonathas brings the Bishop back to the image of Christ. The Bishop converts the image back into the Blessed Sacrament, and carried the Host back to the Cathedral. Aristorius confesses his sins, and asks forgiveness from the Bishop.
At the end of the play, all of the men attend a sermon at the church. The Jewish men convert, and proclaim belief in the Holy Trinity.The Bishop then asks for God's blessing, and chant in Ecclesiastical Latin, “Te Deum Laudamus” (We Praise Thee, O God) which ends the play.
A performance was staged at St. John's College Chapel in Oxford on 9 January 2013. On 13 March 2014 a recording of this performance was uploaded to Vimeo from the user Unmarked Films. The performance can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/89019417.
Known publications of the play include:
Blood libel or ritual murder libel is an antisemitic canard which falsely accuses Jews of murdering Christian boys in order to use their blood in the performance of religious rituals. Echoing very old myths of secret cultic practices in many prehistoric societies, the claim, as it is leveled against Jews, was rarely attested to in antiquity. According to Tertullian, it originally emerged in late antiquity as an accusation made against members of the early Christian community of the Roman Empire. Once this accusation had been dismissed, it was revived a millennium later as a Christian slander against Jews in the medieval period. This libel—alongside those of well poisoning and host desecration—became a major theme of the persecution of Jews in Europe from that period down to modern times.
Antisemitism in Christianity, a form of religious antisemitism, is the feeling of hostility which some Christian Churches, Christian groups, and ordinary Christians have toward the Jewish religion and the Jewish people.
John Wycliffe was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of Oxford. He became an influential dissident within the Catholic priesthood during the 14th century and is considered an important predecessor to Protestantism. Wycliffe questioned the privileged status of the clergy, who had bolstered their powerful role in England, and the luxury and pomp of local parishes and their ceremonies.
Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic theologian who was dismissed from the University of Oxford in 1381 for criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. The Lollards' demands were primarily for reform of Western Christianity. They formulated their beliefs in the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards.
Hugh of Lincoln was an English boy whose death in Lincoln was falsely attributed to Jews. He is sometimes known as Little Saint Hugh or Little Sir Hugh to distinguish him from the adult saint, Hugh of Lincoln. The boy Hugh was not formally canonised, so "Little Saint Hugh" is a misnomer.
Host desecration is a form of sacrilege in Christian denominations that follow the doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It involves the mistreatment or malicious use of a consecrated host—the bread used in the Eucharistic service of the Divine Liturgy or Mass. It is forbidden by the Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox Churches, as well as in certain Protestant traditions. In Catholicism, where the host is held to have been transubstantiated into the body of Jesus Christ, host desecration is one of the gravest sins. Intentional host desecration incurs the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae. Throughout history, a number of groups have been accused of desecrating the Eucharist, often with grave consequences due to the spiritual importance of the consecrated host.
It is believed that the first Jews in England arrived during the Norman Conquest of the country by William the Conqueror in 1066. The first written record of Jewish settlement in England dates from 1070. They suffered massacres in 1189–90. In 1290, all Jews were expelled from England by the Edict of Expulsion.
The Rhineland massacres, also known as the German Crusade of 1096 or Gzerot Tatnó, were a series of mass murders of Jews perpetrated by mobs of French and German Christians of the People's Crusade in the year 1096, or 4856 according to the Hebrew calendar. These massacres are often seen as the first in a sequence of antisemitic events in Europe which culminated in the Holocaust.
Religion in Medieval England includes all forms of religious organisation, practice and belief in England, between the end of Roman authority in the fifth century and the advent of the Tudor dynasty in the late fifteenth century. The collapse of Roman authority brought about the end of formal Christian religion in the east of what is now England as Germanic settlers established paganism in the large sections of the island that they controlled. The movement towards Christianity began again in the late sixth and seventh centuries. Pope Gregory I sent a team of missionaries who gradually converted most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, while Scots-Irish monks were active in the north of England. The process was largely complete by the end of the seventh century, but left a confusing and disparate array of local practices and religious ceremonies. The Viking invasions of the eighth and ninth centuries reintroduced paganism to North-East England, leading in turn to another wave of conversions.
The Jew of Malta is a play by Christopher Marlowe, written in 1589 or 1590. The plot primarily revolves around a Maltese Jewish merchant named Barabas. The original story combines religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean that takes place on the island of Malta. There has been extensive debate about the play's portrayal of Jews and how Elizabethan audiences would have viewed it.
The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards is a Middle English religious text containing statements by leaders of the English medieval movement, the Lollards, inspired by teachings of John Wycliffe. The Conclusions were written in 1395. The text was presented to the Parliament of England and nailed to the doors of Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral as a placard. The manifesto suggests the expanded treatise Thirty-Seven Conclusions for those that wished more in-depth information.
Siege of Jerusalem is the title commonly given to an anonymous Middle English epic poem created in the second half of the 14th century. The poem is composed in the alliterative manner popular in medieval English poetry, especially during the period known as the "alliterative revival", and is known from nine surviving manuscripts, an uncommonly high number for works of this time.
Antisemitism in the history of the Jews in the Middle Ages became increasingly prevalent in the Late Middle Ages. Early instances of pogroms against Jews are recorded in the context of the First Crusade. Expulsions of Jews from cities and instances of blood libel became increasingly common from the 13th to the 15th century. This trend only peaked after the end of the medieval period, and it only subsided with Jewish emancipation in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Antisemitic tropes are "sensational reports, misrepresentations, or fabrications" that are defamatory towards Judaism as a religion or defamatory towards Jews as an ethnic or religious group. Since the Middle Ages, such reports have been a recurring motif of broader antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Nicholas Love, also known as Nicholas Luff, was first a Benedictine and then a Carthusian monk in medieval England, and became the first prior of Mount Grace charterhouse in Yorkshire. He was the translator and reviser of a popular devotional treatise which was used by the Church authorities to counter the teaching of John Wycliffe. In his later years he convinced Henry V of England to attempt to reform Benedictine monasticism in England, but died before measures could be taken.
The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ is an adaptation/translation of Pseudo-Bonaventure's Meditations on the Life of Christ into English by Nicholas Love, the Carthusian prior of Mount Grace Priory, written ca. 1400.
The Church History of Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea was a 4th-century pioneer work giving a chronological account of the development of Early Christianity from the 1st century to the 4th century. It was written in Koine Greek, and survives also in Latin, Syriac and Armenian manuscripts.
Jewish deicide is the notion that the Jews as a people were collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus. A Biblical justification for the charge of Jewish deicide is derived from Matthew 27:24–25. Some rabbinical authorities, such as Maimonides and, more recently, Zvi Yehuda Kook have asserted that Jesus was indeed stoned and hanged after being sentenced to death in a rabbinical court.
The theology of John Calvin has been influential in both the development of the system of belief now known as Calvinism and in Protestant thought more generally.
The Birds' Head Haggadah is the oldest surviving illuminated Ashkenazi Passover Haggadah. The manuscript, produced in the Upper Rhine region of Southern Germany in the early 14th century, contains the full Hebrew text of the Haggadah, a ritual text recounting the story of Passover – the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt – which is recited by participants at a Passover Seder. The text is executed in block calligraphy and accompanied by colorful illustrations of Jews performing the Seder practices and reenacting Jewish historical events. The Birds' Head Haggadah is so called because all Jewish men, women, and children depicted in the manuscript have human bodies with the faces and beaks of birds. Non-Jewish and non-human faces are blank or blurred. Numerous theories have been advanced to explain the unusual iconography, usually tied to Jewish aniconism. The Haggadah is in the possession of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where it is on permanent exhibition.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)