Is the Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge a Lollard tract against devotional drama

Abstract

“Is the Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge a Lollard Tract against Devotional Drama?” The essay argues that the Tretise is neither a Lollard text nor one that attacks devotional drama (biblical plays or liturgical representationes). The essay opens with a list of reasons terminological, dialectal, regional, and historical—for being skeptical that the Tretise is a Lollard tract or an attack on the devotional drama. There is a more detailed discussion of terminology “miraclis pleyinge,” theatrica, and related terms—before turning to the manuscript context of the Tretise. The arguments for Lollard authorship and ideology of the text that have been presented by Nicholas Davis and Ruth Nisse are critiqued. The analysis suggests that the writer of the tract was using a Dominican preaching manual for the construction of the argument and that the Tretise is directed against ludic indiscretions similar to those condemned by Innocent III, English synods, and English bishops. John Bromyard’s Summa Predicantium contains gr...