This month’s flower is the only record that survives from Beverley (East Riding of Yorkshire) to list props used in a pageant of the local Corpus Christi play. It’s an early document in the life of the Play (1392), contained in a bound volume now called the Great Guild Book, although it belonged to the town Governors (the local equivalent of the Town Council); it may have been so named because among many other documents of importance to the Governors and the town, it also contains copies of guild ordinances. This entry details an agreement between the Governors and John of Arras, representing the Hairers’ Guild, for his safe-keeping of various ‘necessaries’ for the play of Paradise. The props and costumes listed here suggest, like some later records, that this was the Fall and Expulsion of Adam and Eve: so an angel and sword, as well as the Worme representing Satan, are included in the list. This is the list in full (in translation from the original Latin):
1 wagon (‘karre’ in the original, the only instance of the word being used for a pageant wagon in the Beverley records), 8 hasps, 18 staples, 2 masks, 2 angel’s wings, 1 fir pole, 1 serpent (the ‘Worme’), 2 pairs of linen hose, 2 pairs of shirts, 1 sword.
A prize of a big pat on the back and some publicity on this website is offered to anyone who can draw the set of the play on the basis of the list…
East Riding Archives (ERA) MS BC_II_3 f. 13r. Image reproduced by kind permission of East Riding Archives and Local Studies Service, Beverley.