Dramatising the Romance: from La Manekine to La Fille du roy de Hongrie

In the fourteenth century, a new kind of religious drama gained popularity in France, the miracle play or miracle par personnages. The genre originated in the numerous legends of the Virgin Mary in both Latin and French, of which the most famous are those collected by the thirteenth-century monk Gautier de Coincy. The miracle play was intended for the edification of the people, and its overarching theme is the Blessed Virgin's intercession in favour of mortals who have gone astray or who are otherwise in distress. The earliest-recorded dramatisation of the non-scriptural miracles attributed to Mary is Rutebeuf's well-known Miracle de Théophile, in which the cleric Theophilus rashly sells his soul to the devil and does his bidding for seven years; then, repenting of his sins and transgressions he invokes the aid of Mary, who conquers the devil and restores Theophilus to the path of righteousness. However, the major source of our knowledge of miracle plays is the two-volume Cangé manuscript (Bibliothèque nationale de France MS fr. 819-820), a remarkable record of dramatic production comprising forty miracles composed and performed in Paris, over the lengthy period between 1339 and 1382, during the annual assembly of the Saint-Éloi Gold and Silversmiths' Guild.