Text, Performance, and the Production of Religious Knowledge: The Protestant Passion Play and the Catholic Saint Play Claudia Daiber (Groningen) / Elke Huwiler (Amsterdam) The article examines two specific types of theatre plays of the German-speaking theatre history of the Late Medieval and Early Modern period: The Passion Play and the Saint Play. In general, German-speaking theatre of the 16 th and 17 th century was characterized by the Reformation and Counter Reformation movements, and performances of theatre plays were, amongst other things, meant to spread religious beliefs and to show the citizens the ‘ right ’ way to believe and to behave. Also, performance practices as such were influenced by these movements: on the one hand, Reformation theatre rolled back the aspect of seeing, thus spectacle; on the other, the Counter Reformation tried to uphold the traditions of the ‘ old ’ faith - an effort which is seen in the staging of Saint Plays, rejecting by their very nature the solus Christus dictum of the Protestant faith but also upholding pre-reformatory performance practices. The drama texts analysed in the article show the reaction of theatre to socioreligious developments by enacting specific content and performative features and hereby shaping the history of Christendom as well as theatre history. When, in the Late Middle Ages, dramatizations of biblical events in churches started to spread to the cities, 1 the Passion Play was one of the most influential genres of religious plays. However, there also emerged numerous other religious plays, such as Easter Plays, Christmas Plays, Pentecost Plays, or, at the end of the 16 th century, Saint Plays. With religious plays, biblical stories and religious beliefs were re-enacted by and for citizens, and religious ideas and notions of the “ right ” behaviour for Christians was spread. Especially in times of the Reformation and Counter Reformation movements, theatre was a means for the officials to reach the people. Therefore, these performances, which were witnessed by a large number of the citizens (as lay players or as spectators), helped to shape the history of Christian beliefs and traditions. However, they also shaped theatre history itself. The following article will examine two specific types of religious plays, the Protestant Passion Play and the Catholic Saint Play, and thereby show how performative strategies shaped (theatre-)historical developments. 2 Part I: The Protestant Passion Play It is certainly not an exaggeration to label the Passion Play as evergreen throughout Latin Europe, since it appears to be a constant from the Middle Ages to the present day. Due to this bestseller status within the Christian tradition, the Passion Play mirrors both the history of Christendom and the history of the performative arts, to the extent that the latter appropriated this pivotal Christian narrative. The evergreen status suggests that drama texts of Passion Plays not only told this narrative, but also received, mediated, and produced Christian history as well as theatre history. The process of receiving history and producing history through the lenses of drama texts, i. e. performative texts, has shaped a theatre Forum Modernes Theater, 32/ 2 (2021), 198 - 214. Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen DOI 10.2357/ FMTh-2021-0019 history of its own. This phenomenon can be clearly observed when analysing the performance of Passion Play drama texts originating from the Protestant period. 3 What follows is the analysis of a Passion Play, which was composed after the onset of the Protestant 4 Reformation in Northern and Central Europe by Sebastian Wild, an author who adhered to the ‘ new ’ faith. 5 Wild ’ s Passions- und Osterspiel is one of few which were composed in the wake of the Protestant reformation. 6 For this reason, Wild ’ s dramatic text qualifies for the research question: Which performative features in particular characterize a Passion Play influenced by the ‘ new ’ (Protestant) faith and how have these features shaped theatre history? 7 The earliest known Passion Play from the German-speaking regions, which does not draw exclusively on the Latin language, is the Benediktbeurer Passionsspiel from the first half of the 13 th century. 8 It contains scenes freely composed in a Bavarian-Austrian dialect. 9 Further plays followed in the German-speaking regions throughout the 16 th century. 10 Passion Plays distinguish themselves from other forms of religious plays by their focus on the suffering of Jesus. They have been transmitted in various forms, e. g. embedded in an enlarged history of salvation or combined with an Easter Play on a narrative as well as material level. 11 Today ’ s scholarship upholds the theory that motives for the composition of Passion Plays in particular were inspired by the dogmatization of the doctrine that the ‘ real ’ body of Jesus (rather than his mystical body) is transubstantiated through liturgical rites; a dogmatic change which has moved the ‘ real ’ body of Jesus more into the centre of religious attention. 12 Furthermore, influential predicants, such as Bernhard of Clairvaux 13 and Francis of Assisi 14 concentrated on the physically and mentally suffering (and therefore humble) Christ, and promoted co-suffering. 15 This theory is supported by the fact that the Church, in 1264, introduced the Corpus Christi feast, which celebrates the ‘ meeting of Christ ’ in the consecrated bread and wine, and which led to the Corpus Christi procession as a form of veneration. 16 Within this procession, the established practice was to stage tableaux vivants, which commonly depicted the Stations of the Cross, or more tellingly, the Way of Sorrows. This type of performance has similarities with the Passion Play. Therefore, scholarship is of the opinion that, the Corpus Christi procession was one factor that stimulated the composition of Passion Plays. 17 The quantity of religious play manuscripts and other archival evidence transmitted from German-speaking regions peaks in the 15 th century and at the beginning of the 16 th century. 18 At that time, lay people were often involved in the organization of the historical staging of Passion Plays and therefore composed the drama texts, too. It was then that Passion Plays increasingly received and negotiated societal issues, and the genre became - as Hans Jürgen Linke expressed it - a medium which aimed at “ religious affective collectivization and affirmative socialization of city dwellers and religious communities ” . 19 At this time, some Passion Plays became large-scale events, turning the performance into a common sensational experience for the masses. In particular, this sensational aspect was enhanced by the promotion of the co-suffering believer with Jesus (theologically framed as compassio) in combination with the ever more realistically performed cruel mistreatment of the character Jesus. Although the status of the Passion Play with its Schaufrömmigkeit and the involvement of indulgences was never unanimously accepted, the genre of the Passion Play did not experience a serious backlash until the early Protestant Reformation. Naturally, this change was most pronounced in the terri- 199 Text, Performance, and the Production of Religious Knowledge tories which turned to the Protestant belief and therefore rejected the mediation of faith through the ‘ eye ’ , but instead claimed its mediation through the ‘ Word ’ . 20 As a consequence thereof, religious practices which work by ‘ seeing ’ − such as the Corpus Christi procession and the veneration of the Divine by pictures − were abolished, as was the tradition of performing Passion Plays. 21 Interestingly, Martin Luther, 22 in one of his earliest letters, addresses the issue of daily religious practices based on the veneration of Jesus ’ passion. 23 Clearly, Luther rejects the concept of epiphany by compassion with the suffering Jesus, in Passion Plays often mediated through the suffering mother, Mary. Mainly for this, but also for other reasons, Luther and his companion Philipp Melanchthon 24 rejected the performance of Passion Plays. 25 This point of view does not, however, mean that performance practices were abandoned by the Protestant movement. Luther, as well as the equally important reformer Melanchthon, favoured drama. The latter, recommended and practiced the reception of drama from Antiquity in the Latin language. Luther also recommended the dramatization of biblical texts in the vernacular language, more so from the Old Testament than from the New. Both reformers rejected the status of a Passion Play as an indulgence but emphasized the didactic and pedagogic effect of such drama performances, although for them, the institutional framework was not the marketplace, but the school. Still, Luther more than Melanchthon, looked upon the biblical school drama as a way to mediate faith through education, and from this perspective, as a way to supplement other genres like the sermon. 26 This historical framing clearly signals that the performance of the crucifixion scene in any drama text, and even more so in any possible historical staging, became a major issue due to a change of paradigm initiated by the Protestant movement. The following analysis of the Passion Play by Wild concentrates on the crucifixion scene and the way Jesus presented himself through his suffering; likewise, the analysis examines scenes involving women followers in the Passion Play since they are crucial in representing compassio. The Passion Play by Sebastian Wild The author/ composer Sebastian Wild 27 was a resident of the Free Imperial City of Augsburg, located in the southeast of the Holy Roman Empire. The city ’ s involvement in the events of the Reformation reached its first peak at the 1530 Imperial Diet (Reichstag), where the Confessio Augustana was presented to the Emperor Charles V with the aim of demanding reforms within the Church and justifying and recognizing the religious positions of the Protestant side, but at the same time, preserving the unity of the Church. The petition was rejected by the Emperor and the majority of the Imperial States. However, it had some impact, since it reached the public. In 1548, an Imperial Diet of relevance for the Reformation movement took place again in Augsburg. At this Diet, held shortly after the Dukes united in the Schmalkaldic League had lost a military confrontation with the Emperor and his allies, the Emperor issued the Declaration of His Roman Imperial Majesty on the Observance of Religion within the Holy Empire until the Decision of the General Council. This Declaration is known as Interim and became law on 30 June 1548, applicable throughout the Empire. The measure aimed to re-establish the situation prior to the Reformation until religious questions could be addressed by a council under the auspices of the Pope. For the city of Augsburg and its citizens, the first of the above developments meant 200 Claudia Daiber/ Elke Huwiler the introduction of the Reformation in 1534/ 37, thus in a timely proximity to the 1530 Diet (see above). On the political level, the introduction of the Reformation led to a strengthening of the guilds in the governing organs of the city. 28 This development experienced, however, a rather harsh reversal due to the effects of the above-mentioned 1547/ 48 Diet. Emperor Charles V, the direct ruler of the Free Imperial City, ordered the city to re-establish the order that had been valid prior to the introduction of the Reformation. This included not only the reversal of the 1534/ 37 reformatory politics, but also the abolishment of the participation of the guilds in government 29 through the introduction of a patristic elite which was in favour of the Catholic belief and therefore represented the position of the Emperor. 30 As a consequence of this intervention, priests adhering to the Protestant belief were forced to give up their positions; teachers who did not consent to the reestablishment of the ‘ old order ’ lost their jobs. Since Wild was a teacher at the time, he was probably affected by the enactment of this decree in Augsburg. 31 In 1552, the city government of Augsburg, possibly after complaints by citizens, withdrew this measure and readmitted previously sacked teachers of the Protestant faith. 32 The Peace Treaty of Augsburg followed in 1555, as did an imperial law which permitted Protestants to exercise their religion in terms of cuius regio eius religio, and secured their property against expropriation. With this Treaty, the Protestant religion was acknowledged de jure as a religion and no longer considered heresy. For the city of Augsburg, this meant that henceforth all offices, and thus also teaching positions, were filled on the basis of parity. Against this background, Wild wrote between 1556 and 1566 a Passion Play with the title: Ein schöne Tragedj / auß der heyligen schrifft gezogen / Von dem Leyden vnd sterben / auch die aufferstehung vnsers Herren Jesu Christi / in reymen vnd Spilweyß gedicht / welches mit nutz vnd besserung wolzulesen vnd zuhören ist [A nice Tragedy of the Suffering, Dying and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ based on the Holy Scripture, composed in Verses in the manner of a Play to be read and listened to for Benefit and Betterment]. 33 With regard to its performance, the title asserts that the drama text is composed “ in the manner of a play in order to be read and listened to ” . 34 The title therefore suggests a performance that is read aloud and consequently listened to. Furthermore, the title contains the additional assertion that the play is based on the Scripture, thus adhering to the sola scriptura dictum, an affirmation which is repeated once more by the herald in its prologue when he pronounces: “ der grund vnd das gantz fundament / ist auß dem newen Testament / Gezogen vnd zusam gericht, der gantz Passion [Throughout the whole Passion Play, any reasoning is drawn from and based on the New Testament]. ” 35 Remarkable, in particular when compared to the Passion Plays in the old tradition, is the prominent categorization as a “ Tragedj ” in the title, a term that is also used three times in the prologue by the herald character. The term indicates the humanistic influence of the biblical school drama and an adaptation of the terminology used by Hans Sachs, a contemporary Meistersinger from the city of Nuremberg. 36 The herald stresses the seriousness of the play by distinguishing it expressis verbis from the Shrovetide play, which was the first performative genre influenced by the Reformation. 37 The herald admonishes the audience: “ dann die Tragedi ist nit ein / Fastnacht spil oder sonst ein Schertz [The tragedy is not a Shrovetide play or otherwise an entertaining play]. ” 38 Furthermore, the herald declares the intention of the play, which is to inform the audience/ recipients 201 Text, Performance, and the Production of Religious Knowledge “ about a past history in a reformed way ” , 39 a statement that can be understood as a clear siding with the Protestant belief. 40 Jesus ’ crucifixion Again, the text displays the humanistic influence of the biblical school drama by its organization in three acts, a textual structuring unknown to Passion Plays in the tradition of the Late Middle Ages. The second act, rather early in the drama text, contains Jesus ’ death; however, it does not show a crucifixion scene. In fact, Jesus is ‘ seen ’ on stage for the last time prior to his death when he is standing in front of Pilate. Then, the stage direction informs us that Jesus is led away. What follows are several rather short scenes, all demarcated by individual stage directions. 41 This accumulation of scenes starts with a reflecting Pilate, a group of apostles discussing events, a reappearing Pilate talking to the high priests, “ Cayphas ” and “ Annas ” , the wording of the inscription to be fixed on the cross, the experiencing of the unnatural occurrences by said high priests, and the entrance of Pilate ’ s knight together with the characters Joseph of Arimathea and the High Priest Nicodemus. This organization of rapidly changing scenes with characters entering and exiting indicates that Wild had abandoned the concept of the simultaneous stage of the late medieval tradition and used concepts of the renaissance theatre instead. 42 This particular staging, irrespective of whether it is due to religious considerations or stage requirements, or both, 43 enhances the emotions of uneasiness and distress which are expressed by the characters in these scenes, most clearly so when Jesus ’ follower Mattheus suggests that they should watch from afar, a suggestion which is first rejected by his follower Petrus, who fears for his own life, but later accepted. 44 At this point one might expect that the followers would tell what they see - i. e. the crucifixion − however this is not the case. Instead this silence and the simultaneousness of the rapid change of scenes with the articulation of stressful and uncomfortable feelings suggests that things are happening elsewhere, thus hidden from the audience ’ s/ recipients ’ sight, irrespective of whether they are located inside or outside the text. Therefore, the crucifixion at this point is a matter for the audience ’ s/ recipients ’ imagination. This uneasy, pending atmosphere is resolved in the next scene, when the characters Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus ask Pilate on his appearance 45 for permission to bury Jesus ’ body: “ Es ist unser bitt vmb des Herren/ Jesu leib wollten wir begraben,/ den die Juden gecreützigt haben [We ask for the body of/ Jesus since we want to bury him/ the one who the Jews have crucified] ” . 46 Here, for the first time, the crucifixion is pronounced in words that up until now had only been suggested indirectly on stage by the expression of emotions, movements, and gestures. Thus, the anxiety of the audience/ recipients materializes in the words of Joseph and is further embodied, or quite literally becomes a body, when the dead body of Jesus is brought on stage: “ tragen Jesum sam tod ein [carry the dead Jesus on stage]. ” 47 Women followers After Jesus ’ crucifixion has been confirmed by the words of Joseph of Arimathea and his death by the staging of his corpse, the three female characters, Maria Magdalena, Maria Salome, and Maria Jacobi (mentioned in Mark 16: 1) appear. With a long gesture of lament, they start to express their distress about Jesus ’ death, asserting repeatedly that Jesus is God ’ s son. However, in indirect speech, they also report on the factual event of the crucifixion, including Jesus ’ bodily 202 Claudia Daiber/ Elke Huwiler suffering: “ Er hieng dam it ausgspannen armen/ An einem hohen Kreütz erhaben,/ An beyd hend vnd füßen durch graben,/ Das von jm floß das rodte blut “ [He was hanging there with stretched arms/ on a high cross/ Both his hands and feet were pierced through/ So that the red blood was flowing therefrom]. ” 48 The group of female characters operates most clearly throughout this long lament on the interaction with the audience/ recipients. The female characters invite the audience/ recipients to lament with them. In doing so, they articulate what would have been expressed by an on-stage performance of the crucifixion on that very spot. 49 The event of the crucifixion, which was suggested by the choreography of the text as taking place in the mind of the audience/ recipients, is staged outwardly at this point through the keening women, but as a past, narrated, and unseen event. In this way, the female characters, although formally adhering to the requirements of the gospel, perform the function of characters such as the important female follower Veronica in the Passion Plays in the tradition of the Late Middle Ages. 50 This becomes particularly obvious when the character Maria Magdalena attacks the Jews as false in character and blind in faith. She also curses them because of their role in the crucifixion of Jesus and predicts that they have put themselves under a yoke for generations. 51 Language of that type can be found, for example, in the Donauesching Passion Play, a Passion Play from the Late Middle Ages. There it is the character Cristiana, a personification of the Christian religion, who condemns the Jews. 52 The messages mediated by the female followers in Wild ’ s Passion Play are therefore rather close to the compassio concept as performed in the Passion Plays of the late medieval period and consequently close to the old faith, too. 53 What does, however, come as a surprise is the absence of Mary, the Mother of God. This observation is confirmed by the lists of characters participating in the play: Mary, the mother of Jesus is not listed, 54 not even as a silent character. If this omission is interpreted from a religious angle, it may mean the reception of the Solus Christus dictum, i. e. God ’ s grace can only be received through his son and not through his mother Mary, the latter perspective upheld by the ‘ old ’ faith. Jesus ’ self-staging The particular setting of the crucifixion raises the question of whether there is any room left for a self-staging of Jesus. In other Fig. 1: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, painting by Lucas Cranach, the Elder, 1518. 203 Text, Performance, and the Production of Religious Knowledge words, is there any way that the character can present himself as the suffering sacrifice for humankind and its sins? An attempt in this direction is undertaken when the scene in the olive garden called Gethsemane is expanded. As in the gospel, Jesus experiences loneliness and fear in the face of his impending death, emotions that intensify when he watches his sleeping followers. In contrast to the account in the gospel, he begs God, the Father twice 55 “ to take this cup away from him ” , and expresses his fear accordingly when he says that “ the fear makes him sweat blood ” and that “ he may die out of fear and pain ” . 56 His agony is stressed even more by his walking back and forth between his sleeping followers and the place where he kneels down to address God, the Father. Production of Religious Knowledge I It can be concluded from the variety of religious plays that the Passion Play in particular was a challenge for authors/ composers who adhered to the ‘ new ’ Protestant faith. This challenge, articulated by Luther in an early letter (1519), 57 was embedded within the widespread discourse about the depiction of the Divine in paintings and on stage. As discussed, the drama text omits the crucifixion scene, which is crucial to all Passion Plays, but tries to compensate for the omission through performative scenes evoking the same feelings of distress. The effect of this approach is that the depiction of the crucifixion scene, and thus the suffering divine entity, is transferred to the inner realm of the audience/ recipient, a composition that is in line with the reformatory dictum as expressed by Luther and his Wittenberg circle. The conclusion is therefore that the drama text evidently tries to pass on the ‘ old ’ tradition of the Passion Play, a symbol of the ‘ old ’ faith, to the ‘ new ’ one by adjusting it to various dicta of the new faith. Ultimately, however, the conclusion is that the genre of the Passion Play in an emerging tradition of religious plays mediating the ‘ new ’ faith did not last, but found its way into the oratorios by, amongst others, Johann Sebastian Bach. 58 Still, particularly those Passion Plays composed in the spirit of the Protestant faith mark a paradigm change brought about by the Reformation. As described, Passion Plays reduced the aspect of spectacle, and instead stressed the listening to and reflecting on the Word. In line with this observation is that Passion Plays do not try to convey salvation (as the Passion Plays in the tradition of the ‘ old ’ faith do) but try to teach the way to salvation. Moreover, and this is of particular interest, Passion Plays of the ‘ new ’ faith historicize religion simply because - from their perspective − there is a ‘ new ’ and an ‘ old ’ religion, something Wild was obviously aware of when he wrote: “ So mercket auff die gsicht vergangen, / Die wir yetzt wollen reformiren [be aware of the history past / which we will reform now]. ” 59 In this way, Passion Plays shaped theatre history. Part II: The Catholic Saint Play The Saint Play is a dramatic form, which only emerged in the late 16 th century. 60 While the Saint Play in the German territories was both a Catholic and a Protestant genre, 61 in the Swiss Confederation it was only produced in Catholic areas due to the special historical circumstances, which will be explained in this part of the article. Therefore, the Saint Play, as well as the Passion Play, mediated and produced Christian history and theatre history, albeit with specific local characteristics. The religious - and therefore political - self-image of the inhabitants of the Swiss 204 Claudia Daiber/ Elke Huwiler Confederation and the relationship between the various Swiss regions of the early modern period were fundamentally tested by the Reformation and Counter Reformation movements. Starting in the early 1520s in Zurich, the Reformation tried to spread to all cantons of the confederation, with cantons like Berne and Basel following. However, the resistance on the side of the cantons that did not want to reform, 62 such as Lucerne and other cantons in central Switzerland, led to a war between the cantons in 1531. After this so-called Second Kappel War, which the Catholics won, the dissemination of Reformation thought was, for the time being, ended, and a sphere of toleration was installed in which every canton was free to stay Reformed or Catholic. A ban on reviling the opposite denomination was also introduced, which made sure that insulting members or habits of the other denomination was purged. 63 However, the parts of the Swiss Confederation adhering to the old faith had to deal with allegations against the clergy and their habits, like the selling of indulgences and keeping of mistresses. Some Protestant ideas and criticism of the old church were taken seriously and started a process of change within the Catholic Church itself; the luxurious life of the clergy and their neglect of their duties, but also the morally questionable lifestyle of the citizens, began to be tackled. Theatrical plays were - together with sermons and leaflets - the most popular and successful ways of spreading the ideas of the ‘ right ’ moral behaviour amongst citizens. Therefore, morality plays and extensive scenes of morally good behaviour in plays in general became very popular after the Reformation movement in both Catholic and Reformation cantons of the Confederation. Swiss early modern theatre is known for its inherent political layer. 64 As the Swiss confederation was organized in a federal manner, political power lay with the council of the cities and villages. Whenever political matters were discussed in general, they were also discussed in performances. As there were no principalities and no nobility, there were no courts, as in other countries, where theatre was played on indoor stages built for the court. When theatre was played indoors in Swiss cities, it was in schools; but generally, theatre was a public happening for the whole city. As no permanent theatre houses existed yet, performances were given in open spaces outdoors, mostly marketplaces. 65 When theatrical events took place, virtually the whole city was involved, either as lay actors and producers of the play, as service providers for the feast accompanying the performance, or as viewers. All citizens, rich and poor, men and women, old and young, noble and lower class, were able to attend and did so. 66 Performances had great impact and coverage - a fact well known by the writers of the plays and by the city council, who had to grant permission for the performances. Therefore, when the council wanted to convey a specific message to the people of a city, theatre performances were an excellent means of doing so. Also, it was common in the Swiss Confederation to invite representatives from other cantons to such festivities, 67 and what was shown in the performances thus also served as a means of representing the city to the outside world. Comparable to what Peter Lake and Michael C. Questier write about the early modern English theatre, performances in Swiss cities of the Early Modern period were able to provide “ [c]ontemporaries with a complex, interconnected and gendered web of narrative conventions, images and tropes that allowed them to confront and control, to scare themselves with and reassure themselves about, some of the most threatening aspects of their social, religious and political worlds ” . 68 Or as Hildegard Keller puts it; by experiencing, as performers and as viewers, 205 Text, Performance, and the Production of Religious Knowledge “ a whole variety of subject positions ” , people in the Swiss Confederation were able to “ come to an understanding of themselves as citizens of a city-state within an Empire, as allies within a Confederation, and as avantgarde reformers of ecclesiastical, social and civic institutions ” . 69 Of course, a clear distinction cannot be made between the intentions of the officials and the meaning interpreted by the citizens in the audiences. The display of morally right behaviour and beliefs intentionally inscribed into the performance practice and the content of the plays can be described as censuring practices; governmental interests in spreading information were important factors in the process of staging a play. The writers or producers of the plays were often people with great influence within city politics, and they had to submit their scripts to the city council for approval. Therefore, the messages conveyed in the plays had, in principle, on a semantic level of the written words, to be in line with official politics. However, the theatre experience could not be completely controlled; the open space was already filled with meaning inscribed in it from other activities usually carried out at the same spot, as well as historical events at the time of the performance, or political conflicts triggered by elements of the story that was being enacted. In historical theatre research, we cannot describe the actual impact performances had on the audience. Yet, by looking at textual performative strategies, we can describe how plays tried to employ “ Wirkungen und Dynamiken [. . .] an der Schnittstelle mit seinen Rezipienten ” . 70 [ “ effects and dynamics [. . .] at the intersection with its recipients ” ] At the same time, performances in the early modern Swiss Confederation were, due to their inherent political layer, always bound to the specific location at the specific time of performance. This context is crucial to the understanding of the play texts. Against the background of the Reformation and Counter Reformation movements, the hypothesis of this part of the article is that the ‘ right ’ denomination and moral behaviour were to be conveyed to the citizens by means of a re-enactment of religious and political beliefs by the audience of the plays. This will be shown on the basis of a particular theatrical genre, the Saint Play. The questions to be asked are, following those asked about the Protestant Passion plays in the first part of this article: What performative features in particular characterize (Catholic) Saint Plays? What textual performative strategies are applied in order to stick to the requirements posed by the renewed faith of the Counter-Reformation? How is the understanding of the biblical text and, with it, history itself being negotiated on stage by means of performative strategies? The Catholic Saint Play Lucerne was - besides Fribourg and Solothurn - the main city in Switzerland that remained Catholic during the 16 th century (and ever since). The surrounding rural cantons of today ’ s central Switzerland - Unterwalden, Uri, Zug and Schwyz - also adhered to the old faith. Here, the medieval tradition of the Easter and Passion Plays remained very strong, and there is a very rich legacy of documented performance culture from that time. 71 While plays explicitly showing the suffering of Christ (the trial, crucifixion, and death) were forbidden by the Reformation, the Catholic Passion Plays seemed to increase the intensity of the suffering shown. The old denomination held on to the conviction that by identifying with the performed suffering, the public would be invited to experience compassion and to long for the redemption of their own sins. By intensifying the performances of the Passion and Easter Plays, the city of Lucerne 206 Claudia Daiber/ Elke Huwiler made a public statement about the rightness of the Catholic denomination: the plays became longer, and the scenes of suffering were extended. In general, as in other areas of the Confederation, in Lucerne it was common to add a didactic and cautionary tone not only to religious, but also to secular plays; thus a tendency towards a mingling of styles of theatre play types can be observed. 72 While, at the beginning of the 16 th century, there was a clear division between religious and secular plays (although both shared some characteristics), the predominant theatre play type of the Catholic areas at the end of the 16 th and the beginning of the 17 th century was the Saint Play, incorporating a wide range of elements which had previously tended to be separated according to the type of play (secular or religious). 73 The Swiss Saint Play at the end of the 16 th and the beginning of the 17 th century is a type of play that emerged only in the Catholic areas of the Confederation; in the reformed areas, worship and display of saints had been banned by Zwingli. 74 Showing the life of saints on stage was a distinct feature of the Counter Reformation area and, as such, a demonstration of the belief in the rightness of the old denomination; since the Protestant denomination rejected the notion of redemption being reached through someone other than Christ himself, the mere existence and staging of a Saint Play made a strong statement to the contrary. Showing the life and holiness of a saint was thus a political statement. When the worship and display of representations of saints (pictures, statues, etc.) were banned in the Reformation areas, the Catholic areas were at first hesitant regarding their own official standpoint towards the worship of saints. However, after the synod in Trento 1545 - 1564, the Catholic denomination was officially assured that the worship of saints was good and important; hence, the increase of saint plays afterwards. 75 Usually, play texts were written to be staged at a specific time and in a specific place for a specific occasion. There were no permanent playhouses yet, and theatre performances were usually a singular event, although we do have occasional proof of plays being performed more than once on different occasions. In order to analyse the performative qualities of a play text, the specific staging at a certain time and place in history provides important information. However, we do not always know where and when the play was performed. Therefore, the intrinsic performative qualities of the text, as described by Velten, 76 help us to analyse the strategies of the text to present a sort of staging of the text by itself. In the following analysis, a combination of both analytical strategies will be applied, as the political circumstances, place and time of the saint play analysed are known to us, and provide us with important information. Das Sarner Bruderklausenspiel of 1601 The Catholic Saint Play, The Sarnen play of brother Klaus [Das Sarner Bruderklausenspiel] 77 by the priest of Sarnen, Johann Zurflüe, was written in 1601 and performed on 16 th and 17 th September of the same year, very probably at the marketplace of Sarnen, the capital of the canton of Obwalden, part of Unterwalden. It was most probably staged in the old tradition of the ‘ simultaneous stage ’ , with all the characters continuously present. 78 The manuscript we have 79 is a fair copy written after the performance to be handed over to the authorities of Sarnen, who had supported the performance of the play. The actors in the play were, as usual at the time in Swiss cities, lay actors who were citizens of the area. The play text provides us with a list of the names and (in most cases) the profes- 207 Text, Performance, and the Production of Religious Knowledge sion and/ or social rank of each of the players. Here, the text links the dramatis personae of the play with a specific social structure, providing the readers with a frame for interpreting the text. The important roles of the ‘ Herald ’ and the ‘ Argumentator ’ were played by two of the highest ranked political men of Obwalden; these characters bridge the gap between the play and the audience by addressing the audience directly, explaining to them what they were going to see next, what they had just seen, and how they should interpret it. Other political men played important personae in the play, such as Bruder Klaus, Moses, or the impersonated representatives of the different cantons; the roles of the clergy in the play were all played by real clergy. 80 Fig. 2: The Town of Sarnen. Wood engraving by Johann Stumpf, printed in 1548. The marketplace is situated in the middle where four human figures are displayed. The chapel the play most probably refers to was built on the edge of the marketplace in 1556. The play tells the life story of the Saint 81 Bruder Klaus in eight acts. Niklaus von Flüe, later called Bruder Klaus - brother Klaus - lived from 1417 to 1487 in the canton of Obwalden, part of Unterwalden. He was a farmer, soldier, and father of ten children. At the age of 50, he left his wife and children to become a hermit, ending up living in a small hut near his family home in Sachseln. He attracted many visitors, whom he helped with their concerns; he apparently did not need any food or water and thus he was considered a Saint. The endeavour to canonize him began right after his death, but it was not until 1947 that the canonization actually took place. However, the people of Unterwalden, together with the Catholic part of the whole Swiss Confederation, regarded and worshipped Bruder Klaus as a Saint anyway from the very beginning until the actual canonization. The Sarner Bruderklausenspiel is a typical (Catholic) Saint play of the late 16 th and early 17 th century, showing the life of a Saint and incorporating elements of the theatrical tradition of various types of plays of the 15 th and 16 th century; these include: scenes of wastrels, drunkards, adulterers, and whores; scenes with fools commenting on the story; scenes with devils appearing on stage and taking the sinners to hell; long scenes in which various figures comment on the moral meaning of the story; as well as scenes in which representatives of the various cantons of the Confederation appear and speak about political problems and the solutions of the state. Also typical is the method of the writer Johann Zurflüe of taking earlier (play) texts and inserting them into his own play, changing them whenever an adjustment to the local and contemporary environment was needed and completing them with own passages. The two main sources from which Zurflüe took whole passages are: a Latin Saint Play of Bruder Klaus by the Jesuit Jakob Gretser (1552 - 1625) which had been performed in Lucerne in 1586, 82 and a Protestant secular play called Der welt spiegel (The mirror of the world) by Valentin Boltz (1515 - 1560), a citizen of Basle, which was performed there in 1550 and which contained passages in which Bruder Klaus appeared as a political figure (not a Saint). 83 In the opening scene of Sarner Bruderklausenspiel, the public is addressed by the 208 Claudia Daiber/ Elke Huwiler “ Herald ” who invites the audience to say a prayer with him. Then, the audience is included in the circle of “ chosen ” people whose grandfathers knew the Saint and witnessed his miracles: “ Vnsre großvätter hand jnn bekantt / Den säligen vnd vil helgen man [Our grandfathers knew him / The beatified and very holy man] ” . 84 In this way, the audience is invited to participate in the worship of the Saint by means of the performance. This specific localization of the performance in the environment of the audience of 1601 in Obwalden can also be observed in various other performative features, for example the representation of devils on stage. In the tradition of the Passion and Easter plays, the appearance on stage of devils who take the sinners with them to hell is a well-known and very performatively effective way of reminding the audience directly of their own possible faith: sinners (drunkards, adulterers, cursers, prostitutes, etc.) are taken directly to their final destination, never to return. The devil figures in the Sarner Bruderklausenspiel are mostly taken from this well-known theatrical tradition; they are called Sathan, Belzebock, Behemott, and Astaroth. 85 Two devils, Asmodeus and Belial, are taken from the Latin play by Gretser. There is, however, one devil figure who is completely different from the others: a devil figure disguised as a dog, but with only one eye positioned in the middle of his forehead. This figure called “ Der Tanzlaubenhund ” [The dance arbour dog] is a well-known legendary figure of local folklore and superstitious traditions; 86 by integrating this figure into this specific performance, the performance was not only referring to theatrical traditions, but also to the direct environment of the audience. The designation of the audience as a ‘ chosen circle ’ and the re-enactment of the local beliefs of the time of the performance can be seen even more clearly in the scene after the Saint dies on stage. The historical Niklaus von Flüe had been buried in his hometown, Sachseln, a little village close to the village of Sarnen, where the play was performed. As the grave in Sachseln was not easily reached by the growing number of pilgrims wanting to visit it, it was expanded and made accessible to a large audience in the year 1600, one year before the performance in question. This had certainly been a big issue for the whole area in 1600, and so the re-enacted entombment of the Saint during the performance in 1601 united the audience and the players alike in an experience close to their own world. When the Saint is put into his coffin and carried away by the crowd of people present on stage, the stage directions describe a very ritualized and specific movement: “ Komptt der priester, B. Uelrich sampt/ B. Claúsen fründtschafft mitt brünnen-/ den kertzen, legentt jnn in thodtenbaúm/ tragentt jn vmb den platz der kirchen/ zuo, mitt kläglichen gesangen [Comes the priest, brother Ulrich as well as/ the friends of Brother Klaus with burning/ candles, they place him in the coffin/ [and] carry him around the place to the church/ with lamenting songs]. ” 87 The crowd of friends carrying burning candles walk around the space in a kind of half circle to get to the place where the coffin is buried. In the real marketplace where the performance most probably took place, this was probably a chapel at the edge of the marketplace. 88 The movement of the actors enacts a religious procession, which were very common at the time. Especially in Obwalden, processions to the grave of Bruder Klaus were very customary. Here, the local anchoring of the performance is especially obvious: as Niklaus von Flüe was not officially canonized (yet), he could not function as an official patron Saint for a church or a community. 89 However, the officials in Obwalden themselves undermined this official statement by having the people of Obwalden 209 Text, Performance, and the Production of Religious Knowledge carry out processions to the grave of Bruder Klaus on a regular basis: “ Der Obwaldner Rat etwa ließ zur Abwendung verschiedener Gefahren oder aus politischen Anlässen Wallfahrtsprozessionen nach Sachseln abhalten, um anzuzeigen, dass sein Stand nach dem ‘ consensus populi ‘ unter dem Schutz von Bruder Klaus stand ” . 90 The text does not state whether members of the audience followed the procession of the actors, yet in light of the space where the performance was most probably carried out, this assumption is more than probable. The coffin is carried around the place to a church, and there was a chapel situated at the edge of the marketplace of Sarnen. 91 In order for the audience to be able to follow the closing scenes of the play, it is very likely that they followed the actors, thereby actually participating in the re-enacted religious procession. Religious precessions had been banned in the reformation areas, and to include one in a public performance in such a prominent manner was a clear statement of the Counter Reformation. Production of Religious Knowledge II The textual performative strategies of integrating the audience into the performance by means of bridging figures and the reenactment of religious rituals can be seen as characteristic of the Counter Reformation movement; this movement was one to separate the right from the wrong belief, one to include and exclude the right and wrong people respectively. The opposition of “ us ” and “ them ” was omnipresent in the early modern Swiss Confederation, and although this particular Saint play also strives to unite the confederation on a political level by reenacting the joint oath of the Confederates, 92 the tendency to mark the Catholic faith as the one true faith is clearly seen. As direct mockery and invectives were not possible on stage due to the ban on reviling the opposite denomination, this performative re-enactment and the unifying gestures, which include the audience in the statements of the performance, are performative strategies which mark the Catholic denomination. Just like in the Reformation areas, theatre reacted to the new societal, religious, and political conditions and not only integrated the statements into the story of the play, but also re-enacted the statement with the audience (or reader, for that matter) by means of performative strategies that included the audience in the statement. This re-enactment can itself be seen as a negotiation of the righteous reading of the biblical text by the Counter Reformation and therefore as history being made by performance. Theatrical performances of the 16 th and the beginning of the 17 th century in the German-speaking areas were meant to shape society, theatre history, as well as history as such. Notes 1 Ursula Schulze, Geistliche Spiele im Mittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit. Von der liturgischen Feier zum Schauspiel, Göttingen 2012, p. 35. 2 Part I of this article is written by Claudia Daiber, part II by Elke Huwiler. 3 For the purposes of this article, the Protestant Period is dated from 1517, when Martin Luther ’ s 95 Theses for reforming the church were spread, until 1648 with the conclusion of the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which established religious toleration within the Holy Roman Empire for the confessions of the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, and the Reformed Churches. With the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, the 1555 Peace Treaty of Augsburg, which had already granted religious toleration to the Lutheran confession, was confirmed (see also below The Passion Play by Sebastian Wild). 210 Claudia Daiber/ Elke Huwiler 4 For the purposes of this article, the term ‘ Protestant ’ is understood as being the opposite of Roman Catholic. Strictly speaking, the term Protestantism and Protestant belief/ believer respectively mean the followers of Luther. The term was established in the context of the 1529 Imperial Diet (Reichstag) in the German-speaking city of Speyer when the Imperial Estates in favour of Reformation launched a protestatio with which they protested against the withdrawal of the 1526 Diet decision which established the eius regio cuius religio doctrine for the first time and therefore left it up to the individual Imperial States which religion was the ruling one within their territory. In fact, the 1529 Imperial Diet attempted (however without success) to reinstate the status accomplished by the 1521 Worms Diet where it was decided to prohibit the reading and spreading of Luther ’ s teachings. 5 See below Passions- und Osterspiel by Sebastian Wild. 6 See Schulze, Geistliche Spiele, pp. 126 - 135. 7 See Jan Lazardzig, Viktoria Tkaczyk and Matthias Warstat, Theaterhistoriografie. Eine Einführung, Tübingen/ Basel 2012, pp. 1 - 7 and pp. 26 - 30. 8 For its text, see Karl Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church, Vol. 1, Oxford 1962, pp. 518 - 536. 9 For details, see Schulze, Geistliche Spiele, p. 83. 10 Joachim Heinzle (ed.), Geschichte der deutschen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zum Beginn der Neuzeit, Vol. 2: Vom hohen zum späten Mittelalter, Part 2: Wandlungen und Neuansätze im 13. Jahrhundert (1160/ 70 - 1220/ 30), Tübingen 1994, p. 158. This creation process is not unique to the German-speaking regions but can be observed throughout the Europe of the Latin Christendom. 11 For details on the various transmissions, see Schulze 2012, pp. 45 - 68 and pp. 78 - 135. 12 Anthonius H. Touber, “ Einleitung ” , in: id. (ed.), Das Donaueschinger Passionsspiel, Stuttgart 1985, pp. 5 - 52, here: “ Introduction to the Donauesching Passion Play ” , pp. 8 et seq. 13 1090 - 1153. 14 1226 - 1230. 15 Touber, “ Introduction to the Donauesching Passion Play ” , pp. 8 et seq. 16 Johannes Janota, “ Orientierung durch volkssprachliche Schriftlichkeit (1280/ 90 - 1380/ 90) ” , in: Joachim Heinzle (ed.), Geschichte der deutschen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zum Beginn der Neuzeit, Vol. 3: Vom späten Mittelalter zum Beginn der Neuzeit, Part 1, Tübingen 2004, pp. 368 et seq. 17 Touber, “ Introduction to the Donauesching Passion Play ” , p. 8. 18 Janota, Orientierung durch volkssprachliche Schriftlichkeit, p. 356. 19 Hans-Jürgen Linke, “ Sozialisation und Vergesellschaftung im mittelalterlichen Drama und Theater ” , in: Christel Meier, Heinz Meyer and Claudia Spanily (eds.), Das Theater des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit als Ort und Medium sozialer und symbolischer Kommunikation, Münster 2014, pp. 64 - 93, here: p. 67: “ Die theatralische Veranschaulichung von Heilsgeschichte [. . .] dient der [. . .] affektiven religiösen Vergemeinschaftung, [. . .] der städtischen Repräsentation und der affirmativen stadtbürgerlichen Sozialisation ” . 20 See Martin Luther, “ Wider die himmlischen Propheten, von den Bildern und Sakrament (1525) ” , in: Weimarer Ausgabe (citation key WA) 18, pp. 62 - 84; Walther von Loewenich, “ IV. Reformatorische und nachreformatorische Zeit ” , in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (online edition), Berlin 2006, pp. 546 - 551. 21 Andrea Löther, Prozessionen in spätmittelalterlichen Städten, Köln/ Weimar/ Wien 1999, p. 310, referring to the city of Nuremberg. 22 1483 - 1546. 23 Martin Luther: “ Sermon von der Betrachtung des heyligen leydens Christi (1519) ” [Sermon on Contemplating the Holy Suffering of Christ], in: WA 2, pp. 136 - 142. 24 * 1497 - 1560. 25 Detlef Metz, Das protestantische Drama. Evangelisches geistliches Theater in der Reformationszeit und im konfessionellen Zeitalter, Köln 2013, p. 126 and pp. 131 et seq. 211 Text, Performance, and the Production of Religious Knowledge 26 Ibid., p. 139; Christian Schmidt, Drama und Betrachtung. Meditative Theaterästhetiken im 16. Jahrhundert, Berlin 2018, p. 211, doubts whether on the basis of the Sermon von der Betrachtung des heyligen lydens Christi it can be concluded that Luther rejected the historical staging of passion plays. In the context of this article, this question is of no relevance since the author/ composer Wild obviously reacted to Luther ’ s statement by composing his passion play in the way he did, i. e. without directly showing a crucifixion scene, see below Passions- und Osterspiel by Sebastian Wild. 27 Neither the birth nor the death year of Wild is known. He is mentioned for the last time in a 1583 tax protocol (see Metz Protestantisches Drama, p. 550). 28 For details, see Rolf Kießling, “ Augsburg in der Reformationszeit ” , in: Augsburger Stadtlexikon, pp. 1 - 10, here: pp. 7 et seq. (https: / / www.wissner.com/ stadtlexikon-augsburg/ aufsaetze-zur-stadtgeschichte/ augsburg-inder-reformationszeit [accessed 22 September 2020]. 29 For details, see ibid. 30 Wolfgang Reinhard (ed.), Augsburger Eliten des 16. Jahrhunderts. Prosopographie wirtschaftlicher und politischer Führungsgruppen 1500 - 1620, Berlin 1996, pp. XIV-V. 31 Manfred Knedlik, “ Wild, Sebastian ” , in: Wilhelm Kühlmann et al. (eds.), Frühe Neuzeit in Deutschland 1520 - 1620. Literaturwissenschaftliches Verfasserlexikon (VL 16), vol. 6, Berlin/ Boston 2017, columns 573 - 580. However it should be noted that no archival evidence has been retrieved so far about how he and his wife (who was also a teacher) spent the time of the Interim. 32 Metz, Protestantisches Drama, p. 550 with reference to Friedrich Roth, Augsburgs Reformationsgeschichte, vol. 4, München 1911, p. 357 et seq. 33 See Manfred Knedlik, Das Passions- und Osterspiel (1566) von Sebastian Wild, Editio Bavarica, vol. VII. Regensburg 2019, p. 7. Citation key: Wild, Passion. 34 According to Manfred Knedlik, “ Aneignung durch Transformation. Zu den protestantischen Passionsdramen von Hans Sachs und Sebastian Wild ” [Appropriation through Transformation. The Protestant Passion Dramas by Hans Sachs and Sebastian Wild.], in: Bayerisches Jahrbuch für Volkskunde, München 2019, pp. 115 - 124, here: p. 119, there is archival evidence that the Passions- und Osterspiel was staged in 1565 in the city of Augsburg. 35 Wild, Passion, p. 8, lines 7 - 10. 36 Schulze, Geistliche Spiele, p. 132. 37 Metz, Protestantisches Drama, p. 228. 38 Wild, Passion, p. 8, lines 24 - 25. 39 Ibid., p. 9, lines 36 - 37: “ So mercket auff die gsicht vergangen, / Die wir yetzt wollen reformiren ” [Pay attention to the history past / now, we will it reform it]; see as well below Conclusion. 40 Schulze, Geistliche Spiele, p. 132. 41 Wild, Passion, placed after p. 42 lines 859, 870, 886, p. 43 line 896, and p. 44 line 910. 42 Knedlik, “ Aneignung durch Transformation ” , p. 117. 43 See Metz, Protestantisches Drama, p. 552. 44 Wild, Passion, p. 43 line 880 - 881: “ O ich darff mich nit sehen lassen. / Den Juden ist niet zuvertrauen ” . [I am not allowed to be seen / the Jews cannot be trusted]; [. . .] p. 43 line 886: “ Ja, so geht her, ich wils auch wagen ” [Move ahead, I will take the risk.] 45 Ibid., p. 44 stage direction ahead of line 914: “ Pilatus geht ein und spricht ” . [Pilate enters the stage and speaks]. 46 Ibid., p. 44 lines 916 - 918. 47 Ibid., p. 47 stage direction after line 972. 48 Ibid., p. 48 lines 1014 - 1017. 49 Schulze, Geistliche Spiele, p. 133. 50 See Touber, Das Donauesching Passionsspiel, p. 204 lines 3189 - 3200. 51 Wild, Passion, p. 49 lines 1044 - 1047: ” O ir falschen Juden verblend, / Wol habt ir ein joch auff euch gladen, / Wol must irs so mit grossem schaden / buessen vnd all ewre Kinder. “ [O you false Jews / you have betaken yourselves under a yoke / you and your children will have to purge and suffer great damage.] 52 See Touber, The Donauesching Passion Play, p.224 lines 3625 - 3631. 53 A different view is taken by Knedlik, Aneignung durch Transformation, p. 110. 212 Claudia Daiber/ Elke Huwiler 54 See list of participating characters, in: Wild, Passion, p. 7. 55 Ibid., p. 16 lines 235 - 241 and p. 17 - 18 lines 260 - 279. 56 Ibid., p. 18 lines 276: “ Die angst macht mir bitter vnd heiß, / Das mir außtringt der blutig schweyß. [Fear makes me feel bitter and hot] [. . .] lines 279: “ Ich stirb sonst vor angsten vnd pein. ” [I am dying out of fear and pain]. 57 Metz, Protestantisches Drama, p. 131 referring to Luther: “ Sermon von der Betrachtung des heyligen leydens Christi (1519) ” , in: WA 2, pp. 136 - 142. 58 See Anne Metzler, Das Kaufbeurer Passionsspiel. Das Kaufbeurer Osterspiel. Zwei Werke des reformatorischen Gemeindegeistlichen in Kaufbeuren und Augsburger Bürgers MICHAEL LUCIUS aus dem Jahr 1562, Augsburg (Dissertation) 1996, p. 22. 59 Wild, Passion, p. 9 lines 36 - 37. 60 Heidy Greco-Kaufmann, “ Ein schön lústiges vnd nüwes spill. Zurflües Bruder Klaus - ein unterhaltsames Heiligenspiel? ” , in: id./ Elke Huwiler (eds.), Das Sarner Bruderklausenspiel von Johann Zurflüe (1601), Zürich 2017, pp. 445 - 468, here: p. 449. 61 Ibid. 62 It was only after the installation of the Reformation that the term ‘ Catholic ’ became the ‘ opposite ’ of the term ‘ Reformation ’ and that they were seen as two different denominations, although the Reformation movement actually had wanted to reform the church as such and not to split it. In Switzerland, the term ‘ Reformation ’ was used in the 16 th century, as the term ‘ Protestantism ’ originated from the Lutheran Church, which differs from the Reformed church in various aspects. Later, ‘ Protestantism ’ became a synonym for ‘ Reformation ’ ; see Martin Sallmann, ‘ Protestantismus ’ , in: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, Version 14 December 2011, http: / / www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/ textes/ d/ D28700.php [accessed 29 September 2020]. 63 See Glenn Ehrstine, Theater, Culture, and Community in Reformation Berne, 1523 - 1555, Leiden/ Boston/ Köln 2002, p. 52. 64 See Elke Huwiler, “ Theater, Politik und Identität: Das Schweizer Schauspiel des 16. Jahrhunderts ” , in: Peter Hanenberg and Fernando Clara (eds.), Aufbrüche. Kulturwissenschaftliche Studien zu Performanz und Performativität, Würzburg 2012, pp. 22 - 35. 65 The first permanent theatre house opened in Baden in 1675. See Simone Gojan, Spielstätten der Schweiz. Historisches Handbuch, Zürich 1998, p. 11. 66 See Stefan Schöbi, “ Der Ludius auf Zurichs Bühne ” , in: Hildegard Elisabeth Keller (ed.), Mit der Arbeit seiner Hände. Leben und Werk des Zürcher Stadtchirurgen und Theatermachers Jakob Ruf (1505 - 1558), Zürich 2008, pp. 155 - 171, here: p. 156. 67 See Peter Pfrunder, Pfaffen, Ketzer, Totenfresser. Fastnachtskultur der Reformationszeit - Die Berner Spiele von Niklaus Manuel, Zürich 1989, p. 74. 68 Peter Lake and Michael C. Questier, The Antichrist ’ s Lewd Hat. Protestants, Papists, and Players in Post-Reformation England, New Haven 2002, p. xxvi. 69 Hildegard Elisabeth Keller, “ God ’ s Plan for the Swiss Confederation ” , in: Randolph C. Head and Daniel Christensen (eds.), Orthodoxies and Heterodoxies in Early Modern German Culture. Order and Creativity 1500 - 1750, Leiden/ Boston 2007, pp. 139 - 167, here: p. 154. In the 16 th century, Swiss cities were still technically part of the Holy Roman Empire, yet they had already gained a high level of independence and saw themselves as part of the Swiss Confederation. The city-state of Zurich was the first one to convert to the Reformation. 70 Hans Rudolf Velten, “ Performativitätsforschung ” , in Jost Schneider (ed.), Methodengeschichte der Germanistik, Berlin/ New York 2009, pp. 549 - 572, here: p. 552 [Transl. E. H.]. 71 See Heidy Greco-Kaufmann, Zuo der Eere Gottes, vfferbuwung dess mentschen vund der statt Lucern lob. Theater und szenische Vorgänge in der Stadt Luzern im Spätmittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit, Historischer Abriss (Band I) und Quellenedition (Band II), Zürich 2009. 72 Greco-Kaufmann, Ein schön lústiges vnd nüwes spill, p. 445. 73 Ibid., p. 446. 213 Text, Performance, and the Production of Religious Knowledge 74 See Peter Dinzelbacher and Dieter R. Bauer (eds.), Heiligenverehrung in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Ostfildern 1990; Arnold Angenendt, Heilige und Reliquien. Die Geschichte ihres Kultes vom frühen Christentum bis zur Gegenwart, München 1994; Martin Sallmann, “ Reformatoren und Brennpunkte konfessioneller Gedächtniskulturen: Martin Luther, Karl Borromäus und Johannes Calvin im Vergleich ” , in: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Religions- und Kulturgeschichte 103 (2009), pp. 99 - 116; Wolfram Schneider-Lastin and Alfred Schindler (eds.), Die Badener Disputation von 1526, kommentierte Edition des Protokolls, Zürich 2015. In Lutheran Protestantism, worship of saints was also banned, but showing saints in theatre plays, in order to show examples of good behaviour to the public, was still allowed. 75 Instituto per le Scienze Religiose Bologna (ed.), “ Konzil von Trient. 25. Sitzung, 3. - 4. Dezember 1563: Heiligen- und Reliquienverehrung. Heilige Bilder ” , in: Dekrete der ökumenischen Konzilien, Besorgt von Giuseppe Alberigo et. al., Paderborn/ München/ Wien/ Zürich 1973, pp. 774 - 776, here: p. 774. 76 Velten, Performativitätsforschung. 77 Greco-Kaufmann and Huwiler, Das Sarner Bruderklausenspiel. 78 Greco-Kaufmann, Ein schön lústiges vnd nüwes spill, p. 463. 79 Johann Zurflüe, Ein schön lústiges vnd nüwes spill. Von warhafftiger vnd wúnderbarlicher hystorj; oder läben vnnd stärben et cetera deß rächtfrommen, andächtigen gottsäligen, wyttberüempthe et cetera Nicláusen von der Flüe, den man nemptt Bruoder Claúß Ob dem wald zuo Vnderwalden jn der eydgenoschafft geboren, 1602, Staatsarchiv Obwalden, 02.LIT.0001. 80 See Elke Huwiler, “ Spieltext und Aufführung des Sarner Bruderklausenspiels von 1601 ” , in: Greco-Kaufmann/ id. 2017, pp. 413 - 443, here: pp. 423 - 424. 81 Niklaus von Flüe - Bruder Klaus - was not canonized yet at that time. However, he was treated and worshipped like a Saint by the people, and his official canonization was in progress. The play therefore does not differ from other Saint plays of the time. 82 Emmanuel O. S. B. Scherer, Das Bruder- Klausen-Spiel des P. Jakob Gretser S. J. vom Jahre 1586, Sarnen 1928. 83 See Huwiler, “ Spieltext und Aufführung ” , pp. 418 - 420. 84 See Greco-Kaufmann and Huwiler, Das Sarner Bruderklausenspiel, p. 40, lines 305 - 306. 85 See Valentin Boltz, Der Weltspiegel, ed. by Friederike Christ-Kutter, Klaus Jaeger and Hellmut Thomke, Zürich 2013, p. 254, annotation at line 3524. 86 Karl Imfeld, Volksbräuche und Volkskultur in Obwalden, Kriens 2006, p. 174. 87 Greco-Kaufmann and Huwiler, Das Sarner Bruderklausenspiel, p. 395. 88 See Huwiler, “ Spieltext und Aufführung ” , pp. 420 - 422. 89 Daniel Sidler, Heiligkeit aushandeln. Katholische Reform und lokale Glaubenspraxis in der Eidgenossenschaft (1560 - 1790), Frankfurt am Main 2017, p. 266. 90 “ To avert various threats or on political occasions, the officials of Obwalden organized processions to Sachseln in order to show that, according to the ‘ concensus populi ’ , they stood under the protection of Bruder Klaus ” , ibid. 91 Huwiler, “ Spieltext und Aufführung ” , p. 422. 92 See ibid., pp. 442 - 443. 214 Claudia Daiber/ Elke Huwiler