York cycle:

• Fully developed by 1376
• Only manuscript text dated 1420
• Performed on pageant wagons on the streets of York
• Controlled by the guilds
• Performed by guilds
• Performed at processionally Feast of Corpus Christi

Chester cycle:

• Oldest of the play cycles, probably from 1325, even though
• Five complete manuscripts dated after 1590
• Performed on pageant wagons on the streets of Chester
• Controlled by the guilds
• Performed by guilds
• Performed processionally at Feast of Corpus Christi

Wakefield cycle (Towneley plays):

• Exists in one manuscript whose date is unknown, probably ca. 1422
• Controlled by the guilds
• 32 plays in the Towneley manuscript performed by guilds
• Performed processionally at Feast of Corpus Christi
• Performed on pageant wagons on the streets of Wakefield

Ludus Coventriae (N-Town or Hegge cycle?):

The origins of the "Coventry" cycle have long been open to debate; even before the 1950s scholars recognized that the "Ludus Coventriae," Cottonian MS Vespation D. 9.viii, was not the manuscript for the Corpus Christi play(s) at Coventry. All early reports suggested Corpus Christi was a processional production whereas the N-Town plays were clearly meant for stationary production.

The "Facts" Regarding the ME "Cycles," ca. 2006

• Play cycles are rare––the only extant cycles ar York and Chester; other manuscripts merely contain collections of biblical plays
• No norm in episodes or styles of performances
• Performances also done at times of year other than Corpus Christi

York cycle:

• Impossible to determine what form the cycle took prior to 1415
• Only manuscript dates between 1463 and 1477
• Cycle performed annually until 1550 (except under extraordinary circumstances)
• Last known performance in 1569
• Controlled by guilds
• Performed by guilds

Chester cycle:

• A cycle is mentioned in records from 1422 (already established and being performed by companies from the city). This cycle appears to have been performed on the one-day Feast of Corpus Christi until 1472, when it disappears from the records. There is no evidence that this cycle was staged processionally; possibly the Corpus Christi play was performed only at the end of an ecclesiastical procession.
• First performance of the text as it survives: 1521, a supposedly-medieval text becomes a Tudor text, referred to as the "whitsun playe" (this becomes "plaies" in records of 1531-2)
• Performed over 3 days at Whitsuntide, not in one day at Corpus Christi
• Performed on pageant wagons on the streets of Chester on a route different from that of earlier Corpus Christi processions
• No definitive form for the text––it seems to have been frequently revised with many options for the plays included
• Occasional, not annual, event––Evidence of only six performances between 1521 and 1575
• Last known performance in 1575
• Controlled by the City
• Performed by guilds, but plays were not done by the guilds to which they were originally assigned (Shoemakers played a large part of the Passion narrative assigned in the Banns to the Bakers and the Bowers and the Fletchers.)

Wakefield "Corpus Christi Play":

• No extant manuscript so the "play's" exact nature is unknown
• Controlled by the Corpus Christi play masters
• Performed during Whitsun week

Towneley plays:

• The Towneley plays exist in one manuscript whose date is unknown (ca. 1422-1530, most likely between 1485 and 1530). The collection is probably an accretion over time.
• Linguistic and historic evidence shows the plays originated within the West Riding of Yorkshire, some surely within the manor of Wakefield
• 5 pageants contain 4 guild names in later marginalia
• 5 of the plays parallel to York plays, 3 others metrically linked to York plays

N-Town or Hegge plays:

• No obvious geographic home––associated variously with Lincoln and East Anglia
• No evidence the plays ever had anything to do with Corpus Christi
• Performed in a stationary setting
• 34 Old and New Testament biblical episodes, not originally intended as Creation-to-Doom production, but compiled later

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