Routs and Reyes

Abstract

T HERE has been much discussion, if not controversy, over what constitutes the origin of the English Morris, and it seems a pity that some arguments reveal a reluctance to consider early evidence on its own merits without relinquishing nineteenthand twentieth-century conceptions. I should like to put all such contentious arguments to one side and approach the sixteenth-century dance called 'Morris' via other dances of the same period and earlier, in which men were the chief participants. There are two in particular; one called a route and the other a ray or rey. 'Rout' can, of course, mean an aggressive rising of men and, according to the OED, so too can 'Rey'. It appears that this meaning is sometimes attached to the word when it is used in a dance context, as though the ambiguity was applied deliberately. Most of the sources at our disposal are literary, which is an obvious disadvantage. If there were historical attestations there would be no problem, but since there are not, detective work applied to chronicles and literature is the only alternative. The unifying factor in the references, to which I shall be drawing attention initially, is the beribboned or tattered state of dress. Following this is a discussion of its possible origin. The most famous dancing march called a 'route' is that in Phillip Stubbes's Anatomie ofAbuses, written in 1583,' in which he attacks the exuberant practices of young men on Holy Days. According to Stubbes, the followers of the 'Lord of Misrule' elected for the day could number up to a hundred, all dressed in liveries