Pierson—The Corpus Christi Procession. 
Ill 
Ob the authority of Mr. Spencer (Corpus Christi Pageants in 
England, p. 81) one more stage might be added: 
VI. Pageant wagons and actors in the procession after the 
separation from the plays. 
The evidence given by Mr. Davidson and by Mr. Spencer for 
each of these stages is, however, too meagre to be conclusive. It 
was in the hope of discovering additional material that I under¬ 
took this study. 
To be definitive, the illustrations must show us the process as it 
worked out in some one place. It will not do to say that since 
in Durham, the crafts with banners marched in the Corpus 
Christi procession, since in Prance, the crafts acted mute mys¬ 
teries, and since in Beverley the procession and the plays were 
separated, therefore the development followed the consecutive 
stages I, II, III, IV, V, VI. If, however, one should find that 
in Coventry every stage is represented in the correct order, he 
might assume that the theory was substantiated, at least for that 
one case. For each town, therefore, I have grouped together in 
a chronological order all the material on the Corpus Christi play 
and the Corpus Christi procession. Except in unimportant en¬ 
tries, the original language of the illustrations is given. In the 
first column to the left will be found the date to which the evi¬ 
dence refers; in the second narrow column, the authority (full 
titles are given in the bibliography). In the wide column at 
the left, is the evidence itself; in the wide right-hand column, 
a comment on the stage represented. 
Aberdeen 
Date 
Document 
1440. 
Davidson, p. 97. 
1479. 
Council Register, 
p. 410. See also 
Chambers, II, 
331; Davidson, p. 
97. 
DOCUMENTS. 
Content 
“The play is men¬ 
tioned in a regulation of 
1440.” 
“The samyn dai, the 
consale and brethryn of 
gilde beand present for 
the tym, has consentit 
and ordanit the aider- 
man to mak the expen- 
sis and costis—of the 
play to be plait in the 
fest of Corpus Xristi 
nixttoeum.” 
Interpretation 
“It seems that on Cor • 
pus Christi day after 
the procession a play 
was usually performed 
on Windmill-hill. The 
play is mentioned in a 
regulation of 1440 and 
again in 1479, but it 
probably changed from 
year to year, and was 
under the care of the 
Abbot of Bonaccord. It 
certainly was not the 
charge of the gilds.” 
Davidson, p. 97. Stage I. 
