DISCUSSION TOPICS
The relationship of the Ordinalia plays to the Breton and German Mystery play traditions.
How the classical Greek and Roman play forms came to be introduced into medieval English literature.
The differences in style and content between the Cornish Ordinalia Mystery plays and the York, Chester and Wakefield Mystery Plays.
The influences affecting the author's choice of subject matter for the Ordinalia plays.
The use of English and Latin in medieval Cornish drama, and the reversal of roles in modern interpretations.
The novelty of the 'Ordinary' role in the Ordinalia trilogy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Ordinalia Texts
CHUBB, Ray; JENKIN, Richard & SANDERCOCK, Graham (eds.) of NANCE, R. Morton & SMITH, A.S.D., The Cornish Ordinalia, first play: Origo Mundi (Redruth, Agan Tavas, 2001)
HARRIS, Markham, The Cornish Ordinalia. A Medieval Dramatic Trilogy (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1969).
KENT, Alan M, Ordinalia - The Cornish Mystery Play Cycle - A verse translation (London: Francis Boutle Publishers, 2005) with an informative introduction by Professor Brian Murdoch, University of Sterling.
NANCE, R. Morton & SMITH, A.S.D, The Cornish Ordinalia, ed. SANDERCOCK, Graham (3 vols. n.p.: Kesva an Tavas Kernewek/Cornish Language Board, 1982-1989).
NORRIS, Edwin, The Ancient Cornish Drama (2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1859; repr. London & New York: Blom, 1968). Full text here - Volume 1, Volume 2.
Studies of the Ordinalia
BAKERE, Jane A, The Cornish Ordinalia. A Critical Study (Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1980).
BETCHER, G.J., 'A Reassessment of the Date and Provenance of the Cornish Ordinalia. Comparative Drama, 29 (1995-96), pp.436-453.
CRAWFORD, T.D., 'The Composition of the Cornish Ordinalia', Old Cornwall, 9 (1979-85), pp.145-153; 166-67.
CROSS, Sally Joyce, 'Torturers and Tricksters in the Cornish Ordinalia', Neuphilogische Mitteilungen, 84 (1983), pp.448-53.
DENNY, Neville, 'Arena Staging and Dramatic Quality in the Cornish Passion Play'. In his Medieval Drama: Stratford-upon- Avon Studies 16, pp.125-53.
FOWLER, David C., 'The Date of the Cornish Ordinalia', Medieval Studies, 23 (1961), pp.9-125.
FUDGE, Crysten, 'Aspects of Form in the Cornish Ordinalia with Special Reference to Origo Mundi', Old Cornwall, 8 (1973-79), pp.457-64; 491-98.
HALL, Jim, 'Maximilla, the Cornish Montanist: The final scenes of Origo Mundi', Cornish Studies, 7 (July, 1999).
HAWKE, Andrew, 'A Lost Manuscript of the Cornish Ordinalia', Cornish Studies, 7 (1979), pp.45-60.
KENT, Alan M, 'Out of the Ordinalia' published by Lyonesse, Cornwall, 1995
LONGSWORTH, Robert, The Cornish Ordinalia: Religion and Dramaturgy (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967).
MARX, C.W., 'The Problems of the Doctrine of the Redemption in the ME Mystery Plays and the Cornish Ordinalia', Medium Aevum, 64 (1985), pp.20-32.
MEYER, Robert T., 'The Liturgical Background of Mediaeval Cornish Drama', Trivium, 3 (1968), pp.45-58.
MURDOCH, Brian, 'The Mors Pilati' in the Cornish Resurrexio Domini', Celtica 23 (1999), pp. 211-226, 1999.
MURDOCH, Brian, 'The Place-Names in the Cornish Passio Christi', Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 37 (1990), pp.116-8.
RODDY, Kevin, 'Revival of the Cornish Mystery Plays in St. Piran's "round" & of the York Cycle, 1969', New Theatre Magazine, 1969. No. 3, pp.6-19.
The website ‘Bibliography of Cornish Medieval Drama’, prepared by Sydney Higgens has additional information on Cornish Miracle and Mystery plays and other Cornish medieval drama.