220 Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. 



1442. Aberdeen Pageants. 1549. Bethune Pageants. 



Poissoniers. Descente de la croix, 8 per- 

 sonnes. 



Hugiers, marchands de bois, cuveliers. Le 

 sepulcre, 8 personnes. 



Foullons, tistran de drap, pareurs de laine. 

 La Resurrection, 5 personnes. 

 Fourniers. Les trois Maries et TAnge. 

 Jesus en conforme de ung jardinier, 4 per- 

 sonnes. 



Compaignons du pourpoin. 

 La remonstrance des Patouriaux, 5 per- 

 sonnes. 



Tappiers de velours, tisserans de toille. 

 L'incredulite de saint Thomas, 12 personnes. 

 Paintres. Les quatre Evangelistes, et saint 

 Jerosme. 



Wantiers, marchands de laine. Le Juge- 

 raent a plusieurs personnes. 



A comparison of the Aberdeen pageants with those of Bethune 

 reveals instantly a kinship, yet the Bethune pageants were a 

 ' myst^re mime.' We are forced to conclude that French influ- 

 ence was exerted in the cities of Scotland upon their plays as well 

 as upon their municipal government, for there can be no doubt that 

 this French series of tableaux is a direct descendant of those that 

 antedate the tableaux of Aberdeen, and that the Aberdeen pageants 

 have their direct antecedents in France and not in England.^ It is 

 stated that there were at Bethune twenty-eight pageant wagons. It 

 is probable that the pageant of the Fleshers of Aberdeen and the 

 succeeding ones were not carried ; the remainder were, as we read 

 (1531) "and tua of ilke craft to pass with the pageant that thair 

 furnyss to keip thair geir." " 



In these processional tableaux we have evidence of the intrusion 

 of allegory, as in the royal entry.^ The Bethune series is still a 

 cycle of mysteries, but in the Aberdeen plays, although more than 

 a century older, the tableaux no longer have any connection, and we 

 find, a century later, that a representation of the legends of the 

 saints has almost excluded Biblical themes. 



1531, May 23. The craf tis are charglt to f urneiss thair panzeanis vnder written :— 

 The flescharis, Sanct Bestian and his Tormentouris. 

 The barbouris, Sanct Lowrance and his Tormentouris. 

 The skj-nnaris, Sanct Stewin and his Tormentouris. 

 The cordinaris, Sanct Marty ne. 



1 A curious survival of Candlemas pageantry in Yorkshire is found in the Bishop 

 Blaize Festival. At Bradford in 1825 the procession contained a King, Queen, Jason, 

 Princess Medea, Bishop Blaize and chaplain, and shepherds. The pageantry is supposed 

 to refer to the woolen industry.— Old Yorkshire, vol. 2, pp. 151-4. 



2 Records of Aberdeen, p. 433. 3 Cp. p. 311. 



