Dramatic Elements in Liturgy: The Durham Processional

Abstract

In May 1464, the annual chapter of Durham Cathedral Priory accepted a proposal that the Sub-Prior should be responsible for the missals and chalices used in the Priory’s ‘ludi ordinarii’ (liturgical performances). This article identifies two of these liturgical books as the Durham Missal (MS BL Harley 5289) and the Durham Processional (MS BL Royal 7A.VI, Item 28 [fols 116-26], which is referred to in the Missal as the ordinale; one of the chalices referred to was the ‘Judas Cup’, which was only used in the service commemorating the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday. Using these two manuscripts together with the descriptions of liturgical ritual in The Rites of Durham, which was completed in 1593 but describes the cathedral’s ceremonies in the 1530s, the article reconstructs the contents of the annual quasi-dramatic ceremonies in the Priory on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, and shows that while these ceremonies do not amount to liturgical drama in the fullest sense, they include important quasi-dramatic elements of which the monks of Durham were well aware.