Biblia Pauperum and The Second Shepherd's Play

¶ … Play

The Biblia Pauperum and "The Second Shepherd's Play"

Both the Biblia Pauperum and "The Second Shepherd's Play are non-canonical renderings of Biblical tales, including the nativity tale of Luke, for a common, lay audience. However, while the Biblia Pauperum, first created by St. Ansgar, Bishop of Bremen, was designed to be a picture-book for the unlettered, and as a way of brining the life of Christ to those who could not read Latin, the "Second Shepherd's Play" was part of the Wakefield Cycle, a series of mystery and miracle plays enacted by common people to illustrate Biblical texts in England. The less governed art of theater gave life to scripture in a much more iconoclastic fashion, in contrast to the sanctioned picture book of the Church.

The images chosen for the Biblia were did stress the poverty and humility of Christ's life. This was partly reflective of the audience the works were intended for, who might be drawn to the poignancy of Christ ministering to the common shepherds. This scene is also present in the Wakefield play. But rather than quietly receiving Christ's word, in the static, artistically governed figurative representations of art, the living text of drama allows for comedy and tragedy to be married together in the spontaneous art of enactment. The play like the picture-Bible designed by the priests for the poor, also shows the adoration of the common shepherds of the baby Jesus. But its adds scenes of comic life, like a renegade sheep stealer who also happens to be present near baby Jesus' manger, to deflate the high-minded tone of the play.