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Power and Violence in Medieval and Early Modern Theater

Edited by Cora Dietl, Christoph Schanze and Glenn Ehrstine.

In 6 englisch and 5 german papers Theater historians discussing the particular type of violence displayed by medieval religious plays. The volume, which gathers selected papers of the first regional colloquium of the Société Internationale pour l’Étude du Théâtre Médiéval (SITM) in Germany, draws upon recent sociohistorical work on the phenomenon to reconsider past paradigms for the function of violence on the medieval stage, including the concept of compassio. The authors argue that an important key to the understanding of violence in medieval and early modern theater can be found in the relationship between violentia, vis, and potestas (violence, force, and power). The plays normally do not present violence as an isolated feature, but rather as an expression or a means of power. They thereby address the legitimacy of power, both on the page and in performance. The time frame for the plays under discussion (c. 1470-1570) elides the traditional border line between late medieval Catholicism and the Protestant Reformation. The essays clearly reveal that the depiction of violence, while altered in character and function by post-Reformation confessional debates, nonetheless remained a central feature of the new Protestant theater as well. -- From the content: 1. Cora Dietl: Preface; - 2. Jutta Eming; Gewalt als Kommunikation im geistlichen Spiel; - 3. Cora Dietl: Göttliche potestas und ihre teuflischen Handlanger. Gewalt im 'Güssinger Weltgerichtsspiel'; - 4. Stefan Engels: Die 'Münchner Marienklage' D-MBS Cgm 716. Ein dramatisierter Gesang zur Darstellung psychischer Gewalt; - 5. Glenn Ehrstine: The True Cross in Künzelsau. Devotional Relics and the'Absent' Crucifixion Scene of the Künzelsau 'Corpus Christi Play'; - 6. Heidy Greco: Inszenierte Rituale der Gewalt in der städtischen Wirklichkeit und auf der Bühne. Anmerkungen zur Aufführung des 'Donaueschinger Passionsspiels' in Luzern; - 7. Aneta Bialecka: Martyrdom as an Act of Divine Power and Pagan Violence. A Visual Reading of Hrotsvit's Dramas in the Late Fifteenth Century; - 8. Klaus Ridder, Beatrice von Lüpke, Rebekka Nöcker: From Festival to Revolt. Carnival Theater during the Late Middle Ages and Early Reformation as a Threat to Urban Order; - 9. Judith Pfeiffer: The Changing Function of Violence in Swiss Reformation Drama as Relates to Laughter and Mockery. Sixt Birck's German Judith and Nikiaus Manuel's 'Der Ablasskrämer'; - 10. Nicole Lorenz: The Functional Shift of Violence in Reformation Theater in Saxony; - 11. Regina Toepfer: Gewalt im reformatorischen Bibeldrama. Zur 'Tragedia / von Stephano dem heiligen Marterer' von Michael Sachs (1565). 237 Seiten mit einigen Abb., gebunden (V&R unipress 2014) Mängelexemplarstempel auf Schnitt, Einband etwas berieben, Kanten leicht bestoßen/defect copy stamp on cut, somewhat rubbed, edges slightly bumped