Comprehensive itemisation and technical description of the medieval manuscripts in Pepys's Library. No fewer than twenty-three of Pepys's thirty-eight medieval manuscripts contain Middle English texts, and date from the 14th and 15th centuries. Devotional tracts and religious poetry predominate, though there is also a corpus ofsecular poetry by Lydgate and Chaucer, and some scientific and medical material; a notable rarity is the Caxton Ovid. His Latin books include Bacon's Perspectivaand other treatises on optics, and the mathematical treatisesof Johannes de Nemore. Some books he chose purely for their illustrations, such as a French and Latin Apocalypse and a model book of the 15th century. The oldest book in the collection is a late 12th-century copy of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae. The catalogue effectively revises, expands, and replaces the 1922 catalogue of M.R. James. ROSAMOND McKITTERICK is Reader in early medieval European history in the University of Cambridge; RICHARD BEADLEis lecturer in English at the University of Cambridge.

The drama of the English Middle Ages is perennially popular with students and theatre audiences alike, and this is an updated edition of a book which has established itself as a standard guide to the field. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre, second edition, continues to provide an authoritative introduction and an up-to-date, illustrated guide to the mystery cycles, morality drama and saints' plays which flourished from the late fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries. The book emphasises regional diversity in the period and engages with the literary and particularly the theatrical values of the plays. Existing chapters have been revised and updated where necessary, and there are three entirely new chapters, including one on the cultural significance of early drama. A thoroughly revised reference section includes a guide to scholarship and criticism, an enlarged classified bibliography and a chronological table.

The drama of the English Middle Ages is perennially popular with students and theatre audiences alike, and this is an updated edition of a book which has established itself as a standard guide to the field. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre, second edition, continues to provide an authoritative introduction and an up-to-date, illustrated guide to the mystery cycles, morality drama and saints' plays which flourished from the late fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries. The book emphasises regional diversity in the period and engages with the literary and particularly the theatrical values of the plays. Existing chapters have been revised and updated where necessary, and there are three entirely new chapters, including one on the cultural significance of early drama. A thoroughly revised reference section includes a guide to scholarship and criticism, an enlarged classified bibliography and a chronological table.

This volume offers 22 of the central pageants which make up York's famous Corpus Christi cycle. The York cycle is the oldest and best-known of the English mystery cycles, and its depth and scope are reflected in the selection printed here. The shape of the cycle was governed by subject matter of enduring spiritual significance, both to its contemporary audience and in later literary and artistic tradition, and the selection reflects these concerns. Included are plays on the Creation, the Fall of Man, the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ, and the Last Judgement. The Passion sequence has been expanded by six of the eight plays generally attributed to the great poetic dramatist known as the York Realist: the authentic text of these plays is not otherwise available in paperback. As well as providing detailed annotation, this edition offers an introduction which examines the history of the cycle and discusses the immensely popular modern productions in York and elsewhere. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

This is the second volume to complete this definitive scholarly edition of the York Plays. It supersedes this editor's previous edition (of the text only), published in the York Medieval Texts Series in 1982. Volume 2 offers an entirely new, full commentary and glossary to facilitate study of the revised and corrected text (published with the Introduction in volume 1), and incorporating the most recent scholarly views and discoveries. The York Plays, a cycle of religious dramas on Biblical subjects, ranging from the Creation through the life and Passion of Christ, to the Last Judgement, are one of the great literary and theatrical monuments of the later Middle Ages in English. They were financed by merchants and master craftsmen and their guilds, and expressed not only the essential theological land devotional beliefs of their time, but also the wealth, prestige, and economic vitality of medieval York.