A Table of Contents for the York Corpus Christi Play

Abstract

Fifteenth-century civic records from York provide detailed information about the contents of the Corpus Christi Play presented by the guilds under the supervision of the council. This information is found in two entries in the A/Y Memorandum Book (a civic memorandum) and in the council's register of the texts of the episodes of the play. The A/Y Memorandum Book entries were compiled by Roger Burton, who was the Common Clerk from 1415 to 1433; one, the Ordo Paginarum (1415), contains guild names and brief descriptions of 51 episodes in the play; the other, a second list of pageants (c. 1420), gives guild names and titles of 56 episodes. The council's register of the texts belonging to the guilds (1463-1477) contains 48 episodes with space for another 3. These sources suggest a total play captaining at least 51 episodes.