Why Do the Shepherds Prophesy?

Why Do the Shepherds Prophesy? Thomas P. Campbell The Wakefield Secunda Pastorum, by all means the bestknown pageant in the Middle English Mystery Cycles, has drawn much commentary, the majority of it directed toward the con­ trast between the humorous mock-nativity staged by Mak and Gill to conceal their stolen sheep and the pious conclusion of the play in which the shepherds reverently worship the Christchild at Bethlehem.1 Yet, much of this commentary has led us away from the connections between this superbly comic piece and the many other depictions of the shepherds in the history of medieval drama. If we are to understand the traditions under which the Wakefield Master is writing, we must examine more carefully a moment in this play which as yet has received little attention: the point at which the shepherds prophesy the birth of Christ. Typically, the Wakefield Master is able simultaneously to communicate both humor and reverence. The three shepherds have caught Mak red-handed. Realizing that they could by right hang this criminal for his robbery, they charitably “cast hym in canvas.” They fall asleep from their exertions, and are awakened by the song of the angel announcing Christ’s birth. They begin to imitate it haltingly, but are interrupted by the second shep­ herd, Gyb, who suddenly begins to cite Old Testament pro­ phecies: We fynde by the prophecy—let be youre dyn!— Of Dauid and Isay and mo then I myn— Thay prophecyed by clergy—that in a vyrgyn Shuld he lyght and ly, to slokyn oure syn, And slake it, Oure kynde, from wo; For Isay sayd so: Ecce virgo Concipiet a chylde that is nakyd.2 137 138 Comparative Drama Why should he interrupt the action of the play at this point? The transition from the mock-nativity to the real one has already been accomplished both by a demonstration of the shepherds’ charity and by the announcement of the angel. The prophecies seem to be an intrusion into the form of the play. In fact, how­ ever, the shepherds’ recognition of Old Testament prophecies of the Savior is one of the few elements which the Secunda Pastorum shares in common with all medieval English shep­ herds’ plays; and, as I shall argue, it may be traced back to the very roots of the Christmas drama itself. Yet, why should the shepherds prophesy? They do not in the scriptural source. Nor does there seem to be a firm tradition in the exegetical literature linking the shepherds with the recita­ tion of Old Testament prophecies.3 Scholarly opinion on this topic is divided. The standard view, which held that the mystery cycles were the linear outgrowths of liturgical drama, maintained that prophecy in the shepherd plays was attributable to its pre­ sence in liturgical plays; that it was a logical and evolutionary expansion of an established tradition.4 This view is now on the wane, and few modem scholars would assume a direct, linear relationship between liturgical and secular drama. In its place, more recent theorists have argued that the shepherds prophesy because they are antetypes of the clergy; or because they func­ tion to tie the Old Testament and New Testament together; or because the playwrights are drawing upon conventional folk wisdom.5 It is not enough to maintain, as the evolutionary cri­ tics held, that prophecy occurs in these plays simply because it appears in liturgical drama; nor can we synthesize the varying theories of the modem organicists. What is needed is a new attempt, drawing upon the insights of both schools. It is my purpose in the following paper to trace the function and meaning of prophecy in the medieval shepherds’ plays. We will begin with a brief literary analysis of the English cycle plays; but our study will take us back to the liturgical drama, and from there into the medieval liturgy itself. At that point I shall ex­ amine the reasons for the association of shepherds and prophecy from the earliest history of medieval drama. For it is my conten­ tion that this association is an important key to understanding the origin and meaning of the Christmas plays. The medieval English playwrights...