Pageant wagon
Encyclopedia
A pageant wagon is a movable stage
or cart
used to accommodate the mystery and miracle play cycles
of the 10th through the 16th Century. These religious plays were developed from biblical texts
and they reached the height of their popularity in the 15th century before being rendered obsolete by the rise of professional theatre.
Pageant
comes from the archaic word for the wagon stage, ”pagyn.” It is a word used to describe the movable stage on which a scene of the processional religious play was performed.
The origin of the religious play began in medieval churches. The dramas began as a simple way to impart the message of the Bible to the people. They then grew and developed their own conventions. They brought to the common person a pageantry
and entertainment
so necessary to relieve the people from the monotony of the every day task.
During these monotonous times, in places like St. Gall, Switzerland
in the 10th Century, the church put on shows at their Easter
masses. Pantomimes would take place in the church depicting Christ’s Resurrection to the attendants of the mass. A few centuries later in Florence
, Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377–1446) began to create theatrical depictions of religious texts and see them as a potential work of art.
It wasn’t until 1493 however, that the Sacra Rappresentazione, an earlier form of the Mystery Play, was presented on a scaffold in the church in which “hundreds of lights encircled the ‘Throne of God.”
This new form of spectacle based theatrical representation of both Old
and New Testament
texts spread throughout Europe
and encompassed North
and Central Europe
, France
, Germany
, Netherlands
, Belgium
, and England
. As the plays became more than mere pantomimes of biblical stories, they took on bigger texts and were performed at Christmas
, Corpus Christi
, and numerous other religious saints days or feasts.
As the drama of the production became more ambitious the playing spaces also grew. The plays originally were performed on the altar
of the church but grew to encompass the entirety of the front of the church. Eventually the plays grew beyond the capacity of the interior of the church and moved its front steps while also making use of the length and width of the streets. The performances sometimes even enveloped the public square just beyond the church steps. Since there was little space in these areas to provide a backdrop for scenery the people created “mansions” or wooden stages on which to create the play. Eventually these stages would evolve into movable wagons as the troupes playing on them began to take their shows throughout the towns and play to different audiences.
One such description comes from a late sixteenth / early seventeenth century manuscript entitled A Breviarye or Some Few Recollections of the City of Chester by David Rogers. It states that the pageant wagons were wooden structures with two rooms. They contained both a higher room where the play was performed and a lower room where the players changed clothing. The whole structure was mounted on six wheels. The entire structure would be 15 feet tall with the playing space being 9 feet above the street.
This follows along with a description from the memory of an Archdeacon
Robert Rogers who, in 1595, is quoted as saying
"..pagiants weare a high scafolde with two rowmes, a higher and a lower, upon four wheeles. In the lower they apparelled them selves, and in the higher rowme they played, beinge all open on the tope, that all behoulders mighte heare and see them."
It should be noted however that this description comes at a time when pageant wagons were seldom used anymore and is subject to reinterpretation by the author.
In opposition to these descriptions, Glynne Wickham
argues in The Early English Stages, that the wagon was only a one level structure taken up entirely by off stage space used for a dressing room. This would provide the backdrop for the performance as well. The acting would then take place on a scaffold alongside the cart or on the street.
This description would testify towards how cumbersome it would’ve been for a multi-level cart to travel throughout the towns on such unwieldy streets. A cart closer to the ground would be significantly easier to manage yet might not have offered such a vantage point as a two story structure.
A Norwich
Inventory from 1565 describes one such wagon as a house of wainscot painted and built on a cart with four wheels. A square top set over the house.
It also should be of note that in the majority of Europe, fixed stages were more common than wagons, and the sites of the fixed stages varied from place to place. In Rome the ancient amphitheatres were used, and in places like Mons
, France and Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany, town square
s were the primary auditorium
.
’s house and perform the first scene. When the scene ended, the wagon would move on the next appointed spot and repeat the performance. Meanwhile, all along the predetermined route other wagons with their many varied scenes would follow in procession, each playing over and over its part in the slowly unfolding cycle. It was a chain theatre. It is said that the bigger wagons can be likened the elaborate floats in the New Orleans Mardi Gras
Parade.
When in the country, the wagons were lined up in stationary ranks and the audience moved from one to another to follow the cycle. The performers did not limit themselves to the small playing space of the wagon settings but spread out freely onto the surrounding ground.
Each wagon contained a setting and carried the actor
s to different scenes. As the actors moved, the members of the audience moved with them. In some cases simultaneous action occurred on a number of levels of wagon platforms. This offered the spectators a spectacle quite like that of a modern day three-ring circus. If a town had a large enough field nearby the wagons were sometimes set all in one spot as to minimize movement. No mode of theatre in the history of drama has ever occupied more territory.
The Archdeacon Roberts is also quoted in the movement of the carts throughout the towns;
"They begane first at the abay gates, and when the firste paginate was played it was wheeled to the highe crosse before the mayor, and so to every streete; and soe every streete had a pagiant playinge before them at one time, till all the pagiantes for the daye appointed weare played: and when one pagiant was neere ended, worde was broughte from streete to streete, and soe they mighte come in place thereof excedinge orderlye, and all the streetes have theire pagiantes afore them all at one time playeinge together; to se which playes was greate resorte, and also scafoldes and stages made in the streetes in those places where they determined to playe thire pagiantes."
As the productions regarding these plays grew towns all over Europe began to adapt and create productions of their own. The Europeans thoroughly enjoyed the elaborate spectacle and each year they outdid themselves in the creation of such productions. It reached such a point that entire towns were in on the creation of these dramas and specific guilds were created to devote themselves to the undertaking of the pageant construction. If performed today, this spectacle would tax the resources of any large country town. It would deplete most of the stock of a local lumber yard
, hardware store
and dry goods
outlet. It would also require all the available blacksmith
s and carpenter
s to devote an entire month to the creation of the carts.
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
or cart
Cart
A cart is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people...
used to accommodate the mystery and miracle play cycles
Mystery play
Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song...
of the 10th through the 16th Century. These religious plays were developed from biblical texts
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and they reached the height of their popularity in the 15th century before being rendered obsolete by the rise of professional theatre.
History
As long as the medieval religious plays were allowed to stay within the churches, special stages were erected for them.Pageant
Pageant
A medieval pageant is a form of procession traditionally associated with both secular and religious rituals, often with a narrative structure. Pageantry was an important aspect of medieval European seasonal festivals, in particular around the celebration of Corpus Christi, which began after the...
comes from the archaic word for the wagon stage, ”pagyn.” It is a word used to describe the movable stage on which a scene of the processional religious play was performed.
The origin of the religious play began in medieval churches. The dramas began as a simple way to impart the message of the Bible to the people. They then grew and developed their own conventions. They brought to the common person a pageantry
Pageantry
Pageantry is a colorful display, as in a pageant. It may refer to:*Beauty pageant*Drag pageantry*Medieval pageant...
and entertainment
Entertainment
Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...
so necessary to relieve the people from the monotony of the every day task.
During these monotonous times, in places like St. Gall, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in the 10th Century, the church put on shows at their Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
masses. Pantomimes would take place in the church depicting Christ’s Resurrection to the attendants of the mass. A few centuries later in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Filippo Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for inventing linear perspective and designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also included bronze artwork, architecture , mathematics,...
(1377–1446) began to create theatrical depictions of religious texts and see them as a potential work of art.
It wasn’t until 1493 however, that the Sacra Rappresentazione, an earlier form of the Mystery Play, was presented on a scaffold in the church in which “hundreds of lights encircled the ‘Throne of God.”
This new form of spectacle based theatrical representation of both Old
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
and New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
texts spread throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and encompassed North
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
and Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. As the plays became more than mere pantomimes of biblical stories, they took on bigger texts and were performed at Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi (feast)
Corpus Christi is a Latin Rite solemnity, now designated the solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ . It is also celebrated in some Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches. Like Trinity Sunday and the Solemnity of Christ the King, it does not commemorate a particular event in...
, and numerous other religious saints days or feasts.
As the drama of the production became more ambitious the playing spaces also grew. The plays originally were performed on the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
of the church but grew to encompass the entirety of the front of the church. Eventually the plays grew beyond the capacity of the interior of the church and moved its front steps while also making use of the length and width of the streets. The performances sometimes even enveloped the public square just beyond the church steps. Since there was little space in these areas to provide a backdrop for scenery the people created “mansions” or wooden stages on which to create the play. Eventually these stages would evolve into movable wagons as the troupes playing on them began to take their shows throughout the towns and play to different audiences.
Description
Very little is known of the specifics of the construction of the pageant wagon. Currently there are no clear descriptions of a pageant wagon to survive from the time when they were used avidly. However we do have a few speculations on the construction of English wagons, but they are from a time much later than when they actually would’ve been used.One such description comes from a late sixteenth / early seventeenth century manuscript entitled A Breviarye or Some Few Recollections of the City of Chester by David Rogers. It states that the pageant wagons were wooden structures with two rooms. They contained both a higher room where the play was performed and a lower room where the players changed clothing. The whole structure was mounted on six wheels. The entire structure would be 15 feet tall with the playing space being 9 feet above the street.
This follows along with a description from the memory of an Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
Robert Rogers who, in 1595, is quoted as saying
"..pagiants weare a high scafolde with two rowmes, a higher and a lower, upon four wheeles. In the lower they apparelled them selves, and in the higher rowme they played, beinge all open on the tope, that all behoulders mighte heare and see them."
It should be noted however that this description comes at a time when pageant wagons were seldom used anymore and is subject to reinterpretation by the author.
In opposition to these descriptions, Glynne Wickham
Glynne Wickham
-Life:Appointed in 1948 to the department of drama at Bristol University , he convened a 1951 symposium on "the responsibility of universities to the theatre" to endorse the policy of studying drama in the context of theatre and a 1954 symposium on "the relationship between universities and radio,...
argues in The Early English Stages, that the wagon was only a one level structure taken up entirely by off stage space used for a dressing room. This would provide the backdrop for the performance as well. The acting would then take place on a scaffold alongside the cart or on the street.
This description would testify towards how cumbersome it would’ve been for a multi-level cart to travel throughout the towns on such unwieldy streets. A cart closer to the ground would be significantly easier to manage yet might not have offered such a vantage point as a two story structure.
A Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
Inventory from 1565 describes one such wagon as a house of wainscot painted and built on a cart with four wheels. A square top set over the house.
It also should be of note that in the majority of Europe, fixed stages were more common than wagons, and the sites of the fixed stages varied from place to place. In Rome the ancient amphitheatres were used, and in places like Mons
Mons
Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
, France and Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany, town square
Town square
A town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, and town green.Most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets,...
s were the primary auditorium
Auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...
.
Pageant wagons in practice
When a processional cycle play came to town the whole city was used as a massive auditorium as the wagons were moved through the main streets of the city. The wagons would stop at key locations where the scene of each wagon would then begin. For instance the starting wagon would take up a position before the mayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
’s house and perform the first scene. When the scene ended, the wagon would move on the next appointed spot and repeat the performance. Meanwhile, all along the predetermined route other wagons with their many varied scenes would follow in procession, each playing over and over its part in the slowly unfolding cycle. It was a chain theatre. It is said that the bigger wagons can be likened the elaborate floats in the New Orleans Mardi Gras
New Orleans Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a Carnival celebration well-known throughout the world.The New Orleans Carnival season, with roots in preparing for the start of the Christian season of Lent, starts after Twelfth Night, on Epiphany . It is a season of parades, balls , and king cake parties...
Parade.
When in the country, the wagons were lined up in stationary ranks and the audience moved from one to another to follow the cycle. The performers did not limit themselves to the small playing space of the wagon settings but spread out freely onto the surrounding ground.
Each wagon contained a setting and carried the actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s to different scenes. As the actors moved, the members of the audience moved with them. In some cases simultaneous action occurred on a number of levels of wagon platforms. This offered the spectators a spectacle quite like that of a modern day three-ring circus. If a town had a large enough field nearby the wagons were sometimes set all in one spot as to minimize movement. No mode of theatre in the history of drama has ever occupied more territory.
The Archdeacon Roberts is also quoted in the movement of the carts throughout the towns;
"They begane first at the abay gates, and when the firste paginate was played it was wheeled to the highe crosse before the mayor, and so to every streete; and soe every streete had a pagiant playinge before them at one time, till all the pagiantes for the daye appointed weare played: and when one pagiant was neere ended, worde was broughte from streete to streete, and soe they mighte come in place thereof excedinge orderlye, and all the streetes have theire pagiantes afore them all at one time playeinge together; to se which playes was greate resorte, and also scafoldes and stages made in the streetes in those places where they determined to playe thire pagiantes."
As the productions regarding these plays grew towns all over Europe began to adapt and create productions of their own. The Europeans thoroughly enjoyed the elaborate spectacle and each year they outdid themselves in the creation of such productions. It reached such a point that entire towns were in on the creation of these dramas and specific guilds were created to devote themselves to the undertaking of the pageant construction. If performed today, this spectacle would tax the resources of any large country town. It would deplete most of the stock of a local lumber yard
Lumber yard
A lumber yard is a retail location for lumber and wood related products used in construction and/or home improvement projects. Lumber yards can also provide services such as the use of a planer and other large machines....
, hardware store
Hardware store
Hardware stores, sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware including: fasteners, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, cleaning products, housewares, tools, utensils, paint, and lawn and garden products directly to consumers for...
and dry goods
Dry goods
Dry goods are products such as textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, and sundries. In U.S. retailing, a dry goods store carries consumer goods that are distinct from those carried by hardware stores and grocery stores, though "dry goods" as a term for textiles has been dated back to 1742 in England or...
outlet. It would also require all the available blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
s and carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
s to devote an entire month to the creation of the carts.