1. Of Peasants, Women, and Bears- Political Agency and the Demise of Carnival Transgression in Bernese Reformation Drama
- Author
-
Ehrstine, Glenn
- Subjects
Bern, Switzerland (City) -- 16th century AD ,Reformation -- Social aspects ,Carnival (Festival) -- Religious aspects ,Peasantry -- Social aspects ,Women -- Religious aspects ,Liturgical drama -- 16th century AD ,Protestants -- 16th century AD ,Characters and characteristics in literature -- Religious aspects ,Church history -- 16th century AD ,Carnival plays ,History - Abstract
Research on Bernese carnival, long focused on the plays of Niklaus Manuel as catalysts of reform, has neglected two additional works performed following the local Reformation of 1528: the anonymous Etsli Tradgenknaben (1530) and Abgotterei by Court Secretary Hans von Rute (1531). A comparison of prereform and postreform carnival plays in Bern reveals a shift in the portrayal of political agency that responds to the changing circumstances of the Protestant movement. In Manuel's two plays of 1523, male peasants enact reform. Once the Peasant Wars of 1525 give male intransigence reality, Manuel's Der AblaBkramer portrays women as religious revolutionaries. The establishment of Protestant government in 1528 finally results in the complete disenfranchisement of peasants on stage. Political power becomes allegorized, allowing for the continued representation of carnivalesque behavior, but divorcing it from all real-life connotations.
- Published
- 2000