Fleury Playbook
Encyclopedia
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
biblical
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...
dramas dating from around 1200 AD. It was included in a composite volume of sermons, biblical texts, liturgical dramas, and hymns that was bound and kept at the library of Abbaye Saint Benoît de Fleury
Fleury Abbey
Fleury Abbey in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret, France, founded about 640, is one of the most celebrated Benedictine monasteries of Western Europe, which posseses the relics of St. Benedict of Nursia. Its site on the banks of the Loire has always made it easily accessible from Orléans, a center of...
, a Benedictine monastery at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.This town hosts the Abbaye de Fleury, also known as the Abbaye de Saint Benoît . Founded around 630, it is one of the oldest abbeys of the Benedictine rule...
, France, until after the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and is now housed in the Bibliothèque de la Ville (Municipal Library) at Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
, France, as MS 201. The works in the playbook are told in a musical style similar to that of plainsong
Plainsong
Plainsong is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. Though the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church did not split until long after the origin of plainchant, Byzantine chants are generally not classified as plainsong.Plainsong is monophonic, consisting of a...
. The origin of the book is unknown, but it is possible that it was written by multiple authors. The playbook consists of a total of 10 works, occupying pages 176–243 of the manuscript.
Origin
The playbook was compiled in the late 12th century, in Fleury. Although it is widely accepted that the Fleury Playbook was created there, the neumeNeume
A neume is the basic element of Western and Eastern systems of musical notation prior to the invention of five-line staff notation. The word is a Middle English corruption of the ultimately Ancient Greek word for breath ....
s in the musical scores are not similar to those found in Fleury Abbey, nor was Fleury known for any achievements in drama prior to the Fleury Playbook, both of which suggest that the book may not have been bound in Fleury Abbey. However, the manuscript was copied and housed in the abbey's scriptorium
Scriptorium
Scriptorium, literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the copying of manuscripts by monastic scribes...
, and may have served as an early example of a liturgical musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
.
Context
The plays are both liturgical and non-liturgical (specifically those pertaining to St. Nicholas), and may be performed both monastically and non-monastically, as the text does not specify. As each drama appears to correspond with different dates of the liturgical yearLiturgical year
The liturgical year, also known as the church year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read. Distinct liturgical colours may appear in...
, it is likely that main purpose of the playbook is not liturgical. The plays are meant to be performed, as evidenced by their structure, staging, and effects. Overall, the plays cover both Old Testament
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....
themes such as the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
and conversion.
Plays
The ten works in the Fleury Playbook are written in the following order:- Miracles of Saint NicholasSaint NicholasSaint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
- Tres Filiae (The Three Daughters)
- Tres Clerici (The Three Clerks)
- Iconia Sancti Nicholai (The Image of Saint Nicholas)
- Filius Getronis, (The Son of Getron; the most popular of those relating to Saint Nicholas)
- ChristmasChristmasChristmas 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...
plays - Ordo ad Representandum Herodem (The Play of Herod; about the Nativity)
- Interfectio PuerorumOrdo RachelisThe Ordo Rachelis , Interfectio Puerorum , or Ludus Innocentium is a medieval dramatic tradition consisting in four plays and based on the Massacre of the Innocents, an event recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, and on the prophecy recorded in the Book of Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah,...
(the Massacre of the InnocentsMassacre of the InnocentsThe Massacre of the Innocents is an episode of infanticide by the King of Judea, Herod the Great. According to the Gospel of Matthew Herod orders the execution of all young male children in the village of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth...
) - EasterEasterEaster 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...
plays: - Visitatio Sepulcri (The Resurrection of JesusResurrection of JesusThe Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus states that Jesus returned to bodily life on the third day following his death by crucifixion. It is a key element of Christian faith and theology and part of the Nicene Creed: "On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures"...
) - Peregrinus (The Pilgrim; about the Supper at Emmaus)
- Conversion and rebirth
- Conversio Sancti Pauli (The Conversion of PaulConversion of PaulThe Conversion of Paul the Apostle, as depicted in the Christian Bible, refers to an event reported to have taken place in the life of Paul of Tarsus which led him to cease persecuting early Christians and to himself become a follower of Jesus; it is normally dated by researchers to AD 33–36...
) - Resuscitatio Lazari (The Raising of LazarusRaising of LazarusThe Raising of Lazarus or the Resurrection of Lazarus is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels in which Jesus brings Lazarus of Bethany back to life four days after his burial....
)