The Chester Mystery Plays

Titre:	The Chester Mystery Plays; The Chester Cycle
Date:	Début du XV^e au début du XVI^e siècle
Langue:	Anglais
Genre:	Mystère
Forme:	Vers
Contenu:	Cycle de 25 mystères joués à Chester du début du XV^e au début du XVI^e siècle.
Incipit:	THE TANNERS PLAYE Pagina Prima: De Celi, Angelorom, et Infirne Speciun Creacion Pagina DEUS. Ego sum alpha et oo, primus et novissimus. It is my will it shoulde be soe; hit is, yt was, it shalbe thus…
Explicit:	… And all that ever my lord sayth here, I wrote yt in my mannere. Therfore, excuse you, withowten were, I may not well, iwysse. Finis.

Manuscrits

San Marino (USA), Huntington Library, HM 2 [⇛ Description]

Éditions anciennes

Éditions modernes

A Collection of English Miracle-Plays or Mysteries: containing ten dramas from the Chester, Coventry and Towneley series, with two of latter date, to which is prefixed an historical view of this description of plays [by] William Marriot, Basel, Schweighauser, 1838, lxiii + 271 p.
The Chester Plays: a collection of mysteries founded upon scriptural subjects, and formerly represented by the trades of Chester at Whitsuntide. Edited by Thomas Wright, London, Shakespeare Society, 1843-1847, 2 t. [GB: t. 1, t. 2] [IA: t. 1, t. 2]
The Chester Plays. Re-edited from the MSS. by the late Dr. Hermann Deimling. Part I, London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co. (Early English Text Society. Extra Series, 62), 1893, xxxv + 240 p. [GB] [IA]
Réimpressions:
- The Chester Plays. Re-edited from the MSS. by the late Dr. Hermann Deimling. Part I, London, Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press (Early English Text Society. Extra Series, 62), 1893, xxxv + 240 p. [GB] [IA]
- London, Oxford University Press, 1959
- 1968
English Miracle Plays, Moralities and Interludes: Specimens of the Pre-Elizabethan Drama, edited with an introduction, notes and glossary. Second edition, Oxford, Clarendon press, 1895, 250 p.
English Nativity Plays, edited with introduction, notes, and glossary by Samuel B. Hemingway, New York, Holt (Yale Studies in English, 38), 1909, [v] + xlviii + 319 p. [HT] [IA: ex. 1, ex. 2]
Réimpression:
- English Nativity Plays, edited with introduction, notes, and glossary by Samuel B. Hemingway, New York, Russell and Russell, 1964, [v] + xlviii + 319 p. [IA]
The Chester Plays. Re-edited from the MSS. by Dr. Matthews. Part II, London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co.; Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press (Early English Text Society. Extra Series, 115), 1916, [v] p. + p. xxxvi-lx + 241-458. [GB] [IA]
Réimpressions:
- London, Oxford University Press, 1959
- 1968
The Play of Antichrist, from the Chester Cycle, edited by W. W. Greg, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1935, 90 p.
The Chester Mystery Cycle: a facsimile of MS Bodley 175. With an introduction by R. M. Lumiansky and David Mills, Leeds, University of Leeds, School of English (Leeds Texts and Monographs. Medieval Drama Facsimiles, 1), 1973, xvi + [352] p.
The Chester Mystery Cycle, edited by Robert Lumiansky and David Mills, London et New York, Oxford University Press (Early English Text Society, Supplementary Series, 3 et 9), 1974 et 1986.
The Chester Mystery Cycle: a reduced facsimile of Huntington Library MS 2. With an introduction by R. M. Lumiansky and David Mills, San Marino, University of Leeds et Huntington Library (Medieval Drama Facsimiles, 6), 1980, xvi + 150 p.
Drama from the Middle Ages to the Early Twentieth Century: An Anthology of Plays with Old Spelling, edited by Christopher J. Wheatley, Washington, D.C., The Catholic University of America Press, 2016, xv + 1006 p. (ici p. 3-13)
Édition d'un extrait.

Traductions modernes

en anglais:
- The Chester Mystery Plays: Sixteen Pageant Plays from the Chester Craft Cycle, adapted into Modern English by Maurice Hussey, London, Heinemann, 1957, xxi + 160 p. — Réimpr.: 1960; 1967.
- The Fall and Redemption of Man, selected, arranged and rendered into modern English from the Chester, Coventry, Lincoln, Norwich, Wakefield and York mystery plays by John Bowen, London, Faber, 1968, 112 p.
- The Chester Mystery Cycle: a new staging text, edited by Edward Burns, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 1987, xv + 169 p.
- The Chester Mystery Cycle: a new edition with modernised spelling by David Mills, East Lansing, Colleagues Press (Medieval Texts and Studies, 9), 1992, xxxiv + 444 p.
- The Chester Plays, adapted as an acting text by Alexandra Johnston, assisted by Linda Phillips (2010), from the modernised version by David Mills, Toronto, University of Toronto, 2010. [www]

Études

Baugh, Albert C., « The Chester plays and French influence », Schelling Anniversary Papers by his Former Students, New York, The Century Co., 1923, p. 35-63. [GB] [IA]
Réimpression:
- Schelling Anniversary Papers by his Former Students, New York, Russell and Russell, 1967, x + 341 p. [IA]
Clopper, Lawrence M., « The history and development of the Chester Cycle », Modern Philology, 75, 1978, p. 219-246.
Coletti, Theresa, « Purity and danger: the paradox of Mary's body and the en-gendering of the infancy narrative in the English mystery cycles », Feminist Approaches to the Body in Medieval Literature, éd. Linda Lomperis et Sarah Stanbury, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press (New Cultural Studies), 1993, p. 65-95. [IA]
Réimpression:
- 1994
Coletti, Theresa, « Medieval Biblical drama in post-apartheid South Africa: the Chester Plays in afterlife », Transformations in Biblical Literary Traditions: Incarnation, Narrative, and Ethics. Essays in Honor of David Lyle Jeffrey, éd. D. H. Williams et Phillip J. Donnelly, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2014, p. 268-288.
Deimling, Hermann, Text-Gestalt und Text-Kritik der Chester Plays, Berlin, Mayer und Müller, 1890, [iii] + 34 p. [GB] [IA]
Dell, Jessica, David Klausner et Helen Ostovich, éd., The Chester Cycle in Context, 1555-1575: Religion, Drama, and the Impact of Change, Farnham etc., Routledge et Taylor and Francis, 2012, xii + 230 p. — Réimpr.: 2016.
Fitzgerald, Christina M., The Drama of Masculinity and Medieval English Guild Culture, New York, Palgrave Macmillan (The New Middle Ages), 2007, xiii + 214 p.
Compte rendu: Roger A. Ladd, dans The Medieval Review, 09.04.03. * [TMR]
Furnivall, Frederick J., éd., The Digby Mysteries, London, New Shakspere Society et Trübner, 1882, xxxii + 240 p.
Gardiner, Harold C., Mysteries' End: An Investigation of the Last Days of the Medieval Religious Stage, New Haven, Yale University Press (Yale Studies in English, 103), 1946.
Hart, Steven E., et Margaret M. Knapp, The Aunchant and Famous Cittie: David Rogers and the Chester Mystery Plays, New York etc., Peter Lang (University Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, 3), 1988, 214 p.
Lascombes, André, « Une question à régler: violence et divinité dans le cycle de Chester », Dieu et les dieux dans le théâtre de la Renaissance. Actes du XLV^e colloque international d'études humanistes, 1-6 juillet 2002, éd. Jean-Pierre Bordier et André Lascombes, Turnhout, Brepols (Études renaissantes), 2006, p. ??.
Lee, Dongchoon, et Thomas Stone, « The staged events: anxiety and community in the Chester Mystery Cycle », Journal of British and America Studies, 14, 2006, p. 51-87. [www]
Lerud, Theodore K., Memory, Images, and the English Corpus Christi Drama, New York, Palgrave Macmillan (The New Middle Ages), 2008, xvi + 181 p.
Lucken, Linus Urban, Antichrist and the Prophets of Antichrist in the Chester Cycle, Washington, D.C., Catholic University of America Press, 1940, x + 158 p.
Lumiansky, R. M., et David Mills, The Chester Mystery Cycle: Essays and Documents, with an Essay "Music in the Cycle" by Richard Rastall, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1983, viii + 339 p.
MacLean, Sally-Beth, Chester Art: A Subject List of Extant and Lost Art Including Items Relevant to Early Drama, Kalamazoo, Medieval Institute Publications (Early Drama, Art, and Music Reference Series, 3), 1982, iv + 115 p.
Mills, David, « Some possible implications of Herod's speech: Chester Plays VIII, 153-204 », Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 74, 1973, p. 131-143.
Mills, David, éd., Staging the Chester Cycle: Lectures Given on the Occasion of the Production of the Cycle at Leeds in 1983, Leeds, University of Leeds School of English (Leeds Texts and Monographs, n. s., 9), 1985, vii + 123 p.
Mills, David, Recycling the Cycle: The City of Chester and its Whitsun Plays, Toronto, University of Toronto Press (Studies in Early English Drama, 4), 1998, xii + 281 p.
Mulholland, Patrick, Les "Mystery Plays" de York et de Chester, le "Mystère de la Passion" d'Arnoul Greban: théâtre religieux et profane, thèse de doctorat, Université de Nancy 2, 1970.
Russell, Jeffrey Burton, Lucifer: the Devil in the Middle Ages, Ithaca et London, Cornell University Press, 1984, 356 p. [IA: ex. 1, ex. 2]
Traduction:
- Russell, Jeffrey Burton, Il diavolo nel medioevo, Roma, Laterza, 1987, 369 p.
Salter, Frederick Millet, Mediaeval Drama in Chester, Toronto, University of Toronto Press (The Alexander Lectures, 1953-54), 1955, 138 p.
Salter, Frederick Millet, et Walter Wilson Greg, The Trial and Flagellation with Other Studies in the Chester Cycle, London, Malone Society, 1935, 171 p.
Travis, Peter, Dramatic Design in the Chester Cycle, Chicago et London, University of Chicago Press (Chicago Originals), 1982, xv + 310 p.
Ungemach, Heinrich, Die Quellen der fünf ersten Chester Plays, Erlangen et Leipzig, Deichert (Münchener Beiträge zur romanischen und englischen Philologie, 1), 1890, xi + 198 p. [GB] [IA]
Utesch, Hans , Die Quellen der "Chester-Plays", Kiel, Druck der Kieler Tagespost, 1909, vi + 95 p.
Wakeman, Rob, « Groping Golgotha: soil improvement in the Towneley and Chester Shepherds' plays », Ground-Work: English Renaissance Literature and Soil Science, éd. Hillary Eklund, Pittsburgh, Duquesne University Press, 2017, p. 103-116.

Bibliographie