The dynamics of urban festal culture in later medieval England
A distinctive subset of late medieval drama are those customs which involved an element of subversion or inversion on the occasion of a calendar feast. These customs, which may generically be labelled as misrule, have long been a source of interest to antiquarians, local historians and students of medieval drama and popular culture. One particular view which has dominated the discussion and interpretation of misrule is the approach which sees such practices as a conservative force in late medieval society, that is, by temporarily challenging authority these customs merely reaffirm it in the long run. It is the contention of this thesis that although this model has raised the important question of the relationship between misrule, politics and social structure in this period, it is inappropriate both as a metaphor and as a tool for the analysis of these themes. I review the scholarly literature on misrule over the past twenty-five years in Chapter One, drawing attention to the problems of previous approaches. In Chapter Two I put forward what I believe to be a more appropriate vocabulary and framework in which those calendar customs with a transgressive element can be discussed. I suggest that misrule is more
Humphrey, Christopher
Medieval theatre; Urban history; Folklore studies
The dynamics of urban festal culture in later medieval England. A distinctive subset of late medieval drama are those customs which involved an element of subversion or inversion on the occasion of a calendar feast. These customs, which may generically be labelled as misrule, have long been a source of interest to antiquarians, local historians and students of medieval drama and popular culture. One particular view which has dominated the discussion and interpretation of misrule is the approach which sees such practices as a conservative force in late medieval society, that is, by temporarily challenging authority these customs merely reaffirm it in the long run. It is the contention of this thesis that although this model has raised the important question of the relationship between misrule, politics and social structure in this period, it is inappropriate both as a metaphor and as a tool for the analysis of these themes. I review the scholarly literature on misrule over the past twenty-five years in Chapter One, drawing attention to the problems of previous approaches. In Chapter Two I put forward what I believe to be a more appropriate vocabulary and framework in which those calendar customs with a transgressive element can be discussed. I suggest that misrule is more
dynamic urban culture later_medieval england distinctive subset late_medieval drama custom involve element subversion occasion calendar feast custom may generically label long source interest antiquarian local historian student medieval drama popular_culture one_particular view dominate discussion interpretation see practice conservative force late_medieval society temporarily challenge authority custom merely reaffirm long run contention although model raise_important question relationship politics social_structure period inappropriate metaphor tool analysis theme review scholarly_literature past draw_attention problem previous_approach put_forward believe appropriate vocabulary framework calendar custom transgressive element discuss suggest