European Drama of the Early Middle Ages

First published in 1974, European Drama of the Early Middle Ages stresses the distinctive variety of the dramatic traditions, both secular and religious, and shows that throughout the period the popular and profane was a constant and lively source of enrichment to the mainstream of charge drama.Dr Axton reconstructs the forms and conventions of the major secular traditions and analyses in detail some of the finest plays of the period from traditions as various as the twelfth century Latin music dramas and the unique drama of Arras in Northern France. Turning finally to late medieval English drama he illustrates and underlines his main theme of the largely unrecognised influence of secular traditions on both the morality and cycle plays.

The period from 900 to 1400 was remarkable, as Richard Axton demonstrates, for a dramatic range which accommodated the bawdy, the crude and the fantastic beside the solemn and sacred in its constant preoccupation with man and his identity. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of English and European Literature.

Review of the Original Publication:

?This work is a study of European secular dramatic traditions and their impact upon the religious theatre of the Middle Ages. It is beset by the difficulty inherent in all such attempts made in modern times-the lack of adequate documentation in surviving texts.?

- E. Catherine Dunn, Comparative Drama, Western Michigan University, Volume 9, Number 4, Winter 1975-1976