Three Medieval Latin Liturgical Dramas : The Three Students / The Play of Daniel & Hildegard of Bingen's / The Play of the Virtues

This edition makes available to intermediate Latin students three dramatic works of Medieval Latin literature. The earliest of these, the eleventh-century Tres Clerici (“The Three Students”), recounts one of the miracles of that most popular of medieval saints, Nicholas. This drama’s economical construction and refined use of a simple metrical unit exemplify how a playwright can convey much in few words. The other two plays included in this collection are the outstanding examples of Latin liturgical drama composed in the twelfth century. The Danielis Ludus (“The Play of Daniel”), written in the cathedral school of Beauvais, adapts material from the Bible to relate the meaning of a story from the ancient past – the Hebrew prophet Daniel’s interactions with two foreign rulers, Belshazzar and Darius – to contemporary issues. This play’s rhetorical sophistication, metrical variety, and musical invention are unsurpassed in the dramatic works from this period. Hildegard of Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum (“The Play of the Virtues”) has the distinction of being the only play in this group whose author is not anonymous. Hildegard left behind more than just a name, however, for her impressive literary, scientific, theological, and musical oeuvre rivals those of her more traditionally educated male peers in quality and surpasses them in diversity. In addition, Hildegard’s female-centered play, whose verses are rich with symbolism, fuses together liturgical drama and theological allegory in an innovative manner that anticipates the new genre of morality plays written in the vernacular languages two centuries later. This edition provides significant assistance with vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, with special attention paid to Medieval Latin forms. There are also extensive literary and historical notes.