206 Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. 



XVI. 

 THE PUY. 



The agencies that took part in the composition and representation 

 of the plays, after they ceased to be liturgical, are many. As has 

 been shown, the church did not take an attitude of opposition unless 

 certain objectionable features were present.^ Therefore monkish 

 and other religious authors often wrote plays,^ and even acted lead- 

 ing roles.® Again, monasteries often bore the burden of presentation. 

 This was most frequently the case in Italy.* The religious brother- 

 hoods^ that spread over Catholic Europe as earlj^ as the twelfth 

 century were oftentimes the promoters of the mystery play. If, as 

 seems probable, the craft gilds had a religious origin,^ or assumed 

 functions akin to those of religious brotherhoods, their connection 

 with the play is easily understood. Through connection with the 

 craft gilds the Meistersanger of Germany also shared in the develop- 

 mental history of the drama. Indeed, Mone attributes the downfall 

 of the mystery in Germany — though probably other agencies were 

 more potent — to the prolixity of the Meistersanger plays, involving 

 the introduction of so many actors and so much machinery that the 

 unskilled craft players could not successfully present the action. 



In France, the Puy, that shadowy literary academy of the Middle 

 Ages, was the immediate successor of the clergy.'' These Puys, 

 semi-religious, semi -literary, were very numerous in the West and 

 North of France. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries they 

 were devoted to the service of the Virgin, and the members com- 

 posed verse in her honor, but in the thirteenth century the influence 

 of the lay members led to a broader literary life, and they cultivated 

 zealously the religious drama. To some Puy the cycle of Notre 

 Dame is attributed. In the Pu}^ d'Arras, it is believed, the comedies 

 of Adam de la Halle were played. These literary societies, about the 

 fifteenth century, turned to other lines of literary activity, to morali- 



1 In France, the play passed from the hands of the clergy in the twelfth century, but 

 they were interested in it even in the fifteenth century.— J ulleville, vol. 1, p, 347. 



2 Julleville g-ives sketches of the eighteen known authors of French mysterj' plays. 

 Among these there were nine religious or ecclesiastical authors, one lawyer, one notary, 

 one physician, two valets de chambre, and one princess.— Les Mj'steres, vol. 1, p. 314 ff. 



3 Julleville, vol. 1, p. 367. J Ebert, vol. 5, p. 56. 



5 Compagnia de Battuti of Treviso established 1261, Ebert, vol. 5, p. 52. Compagnia del 

 Gonfalone of Rome, Hase, p. 18, and Ebert, vol. 5, p. 53. Brethren of St. Luke of Ant- 

 werp, artisans, Hase, p. 18. 



6 Wilda, Gildenwesen im Mittelalter; also Gross, Gild-Merchant, p. 175. 



7 Julleville, vol. 1, p. 115 If. 



