TheOrdinalia are three medievalmystery plays dating to the late fourteenth century, written primarily inMiddle Cornish, with stage directions in Latin.[1] The three plays areOrigo Mundi (The Origin of the World, also known asOrdinale de Origine Mundi, 2,846 lines),Passio Christi (The Passion of Christ, also known asPassio Domini Nostri Jhesu Christi, 3,242 lines) andResurrexio Domini (The Resurrection of Our Lord also known asOrdinale de Ressurexione Domini, 2,646 lines).[1][2] Themetres of these plays are various arrangements of seven- and four-syllabled lines.Ordinalia means "prompt" or "service book".[1][2]
The first play, calledOrigo Mundi, begins with the Creation of the World, the Fall of Man, andCain and Abel, followed by the building of theArk and the Flood; the story of thetemptation of Abraham closes the first act. The second act gives us the history of Moses, and the third represents the story ofDavid and of the building ofSolomon's Temple, curiously ending with a description of the martyrdom ofSt Maximilla as a Christian by the bishop placed in charge of the temple by Solomon.
An offshoot of theOrigo Mundi is theCreation of the World with Noah's Flood (Gwreans an Bys: the Creacon of the World), written in Cornish with English stage directions, copied byWilliam Jordan in 1611.[3]
The second play,Passio Domini, represents theTemptation of Christ in the desert,[2] and the events from the entry into Jerusalem to theCrucifixion, including thePassion. This goes on without interruption into the third play,Resurrectio Domini, which gives an account of theHarrowing of Hell, theResurrection, and theAscension, with the Legend ofSt Veronica andTiberius, the death ofPilate, the release ofJoseph of Arimathea andNicodemus from prison,The Three Marys.[2] As in thePoem of the Passion, thepseudo-Gospel of Nicodemus and other legendary sources are drawn upon.
However, running through the whole and interwoven with thescriptural narrative comes the beautiful and curiousLegend of the Rood (Legend of the Holy Cross). The legend, most of which is in the Ordinalia, is this:
When Adam found himself dying, he sent his sonSeth to the Gates ofParadise to beg of the angel that guarded them the oil of mercy, that his father might live. The angel let him look into Paradise, where he saw many strange and beautiful foreshadowings of things that should be upon the earth; and the angel gave him three seeds from theTree of Life, and he departed. When he came to where his father was, he found that he was already dead, and he laid the three seeds in his mouth, and buried him therewith onMount Moriah; and in process of time the three seeds grew into three small trees, andAbraham took of the wood thereof for the sacrifice ofIsaac his son; and afterwardsMoses’ rod, wherewith he smote the rock, was made from one of their branches. And soon the three trees grew together into one tree, whereby was symbolised the mystery of theTrinity; and under its branches satKing David whenNathan the Prophet came to him, and there he bewailed his sin, and made theMiserere Psalm. AndSolomon, when he would build the Temple onMount Sion, cut down the tree, which was then as one of the chiefest of the cedars of Lebanon, and bid men make a beam thereof; but it would in no wise fit into its place, howsoever much they cut it to its shape. Therefore, Solomon was wroth, and bid them cast it over the brookCedron as a bridge, so that all might tread upon it that went that way. But after a while he buried it, and over where it lay there came thePool of Bethesda with its healing powers; and when our Lord came on earth the beam floated up to the surface of the pool, and the Jews found it, and made thereof the Cross whereon Christ died onCalvary.
There are three manuscripts of thistrilogy in existence:
