Staging disorder: charivari in the N-Town Cycle

Comparative Drama, Summer, 2001 by Richard I. Moll

The seriousness of the charges brought against Joseph and Mary is clearly illustrated by the warning given to the Detractors by the Doctor of Law:

   Take good heed, serys, what ze doth say,
   Avyse zow wele what ze present.
   Zyf pis be fownd fals anothyr day,
   Full sore ze xal zoure tale repent! (14.122-25)

Defamation was a spiritual offense, (23) and the detractors have therefore been warned not to open themselves to prosecution through unfounded accusations. The second Doctor of Law also warns Mary that it would be better to admit her guilt rather than attempt to prove herself innocent and be proven guilty. His logic does not involve any sense of moral guilt, but only a warning about public shame: "If God with vengeauns set on pe his syse, / Not only pu but all pi kyn is schamyd" (14.318-19). Similarly, both Joseph and Mary pray to be spared from worldly shame as they undergo the ordeal of drinking a magical liquid. Joseph asks:

   A, gracyous God, help me pis tyde
   Ageyn pis pepyl leat me doth fame.
   As I nevyrmore dede towch here syde,
   Ieis day help me fro werdly schame. (14.274-77)

Mary also prays to have her reputation cleared: "Send me pis day pi holy consolatyon / Pat all pis fayr peple my clennes may se" (14.336-37). After they have proven their innocence the bishop begs to be forgiven of "All cursyd langage and schame onsownd" (14.372), and Mary gladly forgives "all defamacyon" (14.375). What is striking in the scene is the lack of "religious" material. There is no reference to the Bishop's resistance to God's plan. There is no reference to the Doctors' inability to believe prophecy. Apart from the trial by ordeal the episode is wholly secular. Even this ordeal, the drinking of a magic potion that will reveal chastity, seems more like a secular romance, such as the Lai du Cor, than divine revelation. (24)

The plays listed in the Proclamation, therefore, and particularly "The Trial of Mary and Joseph," are concerned with the reputation of the holy couple in the eyes of the community at large. The emphasis on social pressure exerted by secular society within the "Trial," and The N-Town cycle in general, may clarify the problems presented by the Summoner's list of thirty-four alliterating names. The Summoner, far from merely listing nonsensical names, is giving a roll call of those who will participate in a riding. As the play progresses, these characters stand on and around the stage in a loud rabble, which everyone in the audience would have immediately recognized.

A riding is a form of charivari: social pressure exerted on a household in the form of a loud demonstration. (25) Several different circumstances might bring about a riding, such as a January-May wedding, an adulterous wife, or a wife who beat her husband. (26) As the name implies, a riding revolved around a horse and rider, with the mount "variously represented ... by a real horse or by a `cowlstaff' or `stang' (a stout pole) carried on men's shoulders." (27) The husband (or a representation of him) was forced to sit on the pole and be carried through the streets. Along with the actual riding was "rough music," which was produced by "the ringing of bells, the raucous playing of musical instruments, [and] the beating of pots and pans and other household utensils." (28)