Ancient scrolls found at Borthwick
Archivists at the University of York’s Borthwick Institute have sparked intense interest in academic circles with the discovery of a 600-year-old ‘gild roll’, which sheds new light on the York Mystery plays and life in Medieval York.
The gild roll, belonging to the influential York-based Pater Noster Gild, had been lost for 100 years before it was found among a collection of historical documents donated to the University. It is thought to be the only surviving roll of its kind. The 4ft-long parchment contains records of the accounts of the gild for 1399 and 1400.
The details it supplies about the Pater Noster Play, believed to be the forerunner of the famous York Mystery Plays, fill a gap long puzzled-over by scholars. Dr. S. Rees Jones of the University’s Centre for Medieval Studies explained that “Scholars have long known that the renowned York Mystery Plays were not the only religious plays staged in the city. The York performance of the Pater Noster Play – which taught the essentials of the Christian faith on avoiding sin and living virtuously – was first mentioned by John Wyclif in 1378”.
On behalf of the English and Related Literature Department, Prof. Linne R. Mooney explained that whilst mystery still shrouds the content of the plays, the information gleaned from the rolls is a huge step forward for literary scholars: ‘Its rediscovery brings back this bit of York history to the city of its origin. For literary scholars its text is important because it offers us insights – however limited – into the content of the plays.”
The roll gives information about dues collected from members and of rents paid and received. It also gives details of the annual gild feast at which 12 suckling pigs, 29 dozen doves, 800 eggs, 30 geese and 198 gallons of ale were consumed by the gild’s members who, according to Jeremy Goldberg of York’s History Department, ‘probably rarely consumed meat, purchased spices or drank wine’.
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