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Notes
This essay is dedicated to the memory of the late Robert T. Meyer, Professor Emeritus of Celtic and Comparative Philology at the Catholic University of America.
George R. Coffman, "The Miracle Play in England: Some Records of Presentation, and Notes on Preserved Plays," Studies in Philology, 16 (1919), 60. There is in fact no evidence to support the claim that the play was ever staged in Wales. Coffman apparently included the play in his list of medieval performances on the basis of its subject matter and because it is now bound with a fragmentary copy of the Annales of Alfred of Beverley (fl. 1129-1143); see note 3 below.
Hardin Craig, English Religious Drama of the Middle Ages (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955), p. 333; Alfred Harbage, Annals of English Drama, 975-1700, rev. S. Schoenbaum (London: Methuen, 1964), p. 16; David M. Bevington, Medieval Drama (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975), p. 662.
Alfred J. Horwood, "The Manuscripts of Reginald Cholmondeley, Esq., of Condover Hall, Shropshire," in Fifth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part 1 (London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1876, pp. 340-341.
The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mr. F. I. Dunn, County Archivist at the Cheshire Record Office, who kindly provided a photocopy of the manuscript. A critical edition is now in preparation.
Evidence for the date of composition is presented in detail below. The note on the flyleaf reads as follows: "Nov. 9, 1701. Dr. Humphreys, Bishop of Bangor, gave me this book. R. D. The former part of Alfred's History was not thought worth copying, because Bishop Lloyd judged it but a transcript of Jeffrey [Geoffrey of Monmouth], as appears by his letter annexed." William Lloyd (1637-1710) was successively bishop of Llandaff, Peterborough, and Norwich; his son married the daughter of Bishop Humphreys. See Dictionary of National Biography, XI, 1314-1315.
Thomas Caius, Vindiciae antiquitatis academiae oxoniensis contra Joannem Caium, Cantrabrigiensem, ed. Thomas Hearne (Oxford: Sheldonian Theatre, 1730), II, 646; The Dictionary of Welsh Biography Down to 1940, ed. John Edward Lloyd and R. T. Jenkins (London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1959), pp. 395-396; Dictionary of National Biography, X, 249-250.
The Liber Landavensis, Llyfr Teilo, or the Ancient Register of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff, ed. W. J. Rees, Welsh Manuscripts Society (Llandovery: W. Rees, 1840), pp. 133-135; English translation, pp. 383-385. See also David Hugh Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints (1978), pp. 368-369; William Worcestre, Itineraries, ed. John H. Harvey (1969),
Ian Lancashire, Dramatic Texts and Records of Britain: A Chronological Topography to 1558, Studies in Early English Drama, 1 (1984), pp. 345-346. Without stating his reasons, Lancashire guesses that the play dates from "ca. 1620-1650?" Lancashire bases his comments on Horwood's 1876 inventory of the Condover House library (see note 3).
See Hubert Chadwick, St Omers to Stonyhurst: A History of Two Centuries (1962), pp. 127-140; William H. McCabe, "The Play-List of the English College of St. Omers, 1592-1792," Revue de Littérature Comparée, 17 (1937), 355-375; McCabe, "Notes on the St. Omers College Theatre," Philological Quarterly, 17 (1938), 225-239; and McCabe, An Introduction to the Jesuit Theater, ed. Louis J. Oldani (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1983), pp. 71-129. Three unedited St. Omers plays by William Banister are preserved in the British Library, MS. Additional 15204.
The text is in the Salisbury archives at Hatfield House, MS. A. IV, 13 (3), fol. 361 ff.; see Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Honourable the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., Preserved at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, Historical Manuscripts Commission (1883-1968), IX, 420.
For an exhaustive study of the biographical evidence regarding the nine boys in question, see Geoffrey Holt, St. Omers and Bruges Colleges, 1593-1773: A Biographical Dictionary, Catholic Record Society Publications, Records Series, 69 (Thetford, Norfolk: Catholic Record Society, 1969), pp. 61, 72, 76, 91, 203, 208, 244, 259-260. In addition to establishing each boy's identity and the nature of his affiliation with the school, Holt also traces the student's family history, his use of aliases, and his subsequent civil or religious career.
For general accounts of these events, see Malcolm V. Hay, The Jesuits and the Popish Plot (1934), pp. 121-172; John Kenyon, The Popish Plot (1972); and John Miller, Popery and Politics in England, 1660-1688 (1973), pp. 153-188. For the special role of St. Omers and its graduates in the affair, see John Warner, The History of English Persecution of Catholics and the Presbyterian Plot, Catholic Record Society, 47 and 48 (London: Catholic Record Society, 1953), I, 109-112; and Chadwick, pp. 184-210, 225-229.
Holt, p. 284. See also the entries for William Barrow (p. 28), John Caldwell (p. 56), and John Gaven (p. 111).
For the transcript of the trial, see "The Trial of Thomas White, alias Whitebread, Provincial of the Jesuits in England, William Harcourt, Pretended Rector of London, John Fenwick, Procurator for the Jesuits in England, John Gavan alias Gawen, and Anthony Turner, All Jesuits and Priests, at the Old Bailey, for High Treason, 31 Charles II, A.D. 1679," in Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors, ed. Thomas Bayley Howell (1809-1826), VII, 311-428; for the testimony of Gifford and Parry, see pp. 361-365. William Parry also testified against Oates in 1685; see "The Trial of Titus Oates, D.D., at the King's-Bench, for Perjury, 1 James II, A.D. 1685," in State Trials, X, 1109-1112.
For the transcript of the interrogation, see The Manuscripts of Sir William Fitz-Herbert, Bart., ed. J. A. Bennett, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 13th Report, Part 6 (1893), pp. 149-152; for the petition for Gifford's release, see "Proceedings Against the Five Popish Lords, viz. The Earl of Powis, Lord Viscount Stafford, Lord Petre, Lord Arundel of Wardour, and Lord Bellasyse, for High Treason, 30 Charles II-1 Jac. II, A.D. 1678-1685," in State Trials, VII, 1263.
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