"With myrth and gam, To the lawde of this lam": Shepherds and the Agnus Dei in the York and Towneley Plays

Allusions to the Lamb of God have often been noted in the York Offering of the Shepherds and the Towneley Prima and Secunda Pastorum, the comic pastors aligned with the coming of Christ. Yet in the period of these performances the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, represented more than we might first glean from visual iconography, or the several lines spoken at Mass. The term Agnus Dei could also refer to a popular devotional object with supposedly magical or apotropaic powers, the properties of which-I argue-are playfully referenced in these performances. I consider how and why these popular amulets might have shaped the plays, and particularly how this reading might offer a new approach to understanding the wealth of humour within them.