THE SERVANT'S TALE

Author's Note

A common comment concerning these books is how untypically the nuns behave, how individual they are. Such comments do not come from nuns themselves. Even -- or more especially -- nuns who remember living in the rigors of full habits in the days before Vatican II know that outward conformity of dress and ritual has never meant inward conformity of mind or even conformity of behavior outside the Offices of prayer. To give yourself up to God is not the same as giving up your self, and any study of medieval nuns' lives and business dealings goes far to confirming this was as true then as any other time.

So the nuns of St. Frideswide's are not untypical. They are merely very much themselves.

Eileen Power's Medieval English Nunneries, though much leaning toward more lurid episodes -- those being the sort of thing more likely to make their way into records than the ordinary passing of everyday life -- gives some insights, and its bibliography lists actual medieval documents -- many in print now -- for anyone who wants to delve deeper. Also worth the reading is The Rule of St. Benedict,  available in many translations.

As for the players, we know something but not nearly enough about medieval plays and players. There were traveling troupes and the most fortunate did have patrons, but not all of them. I think there's nothing about this particular group that would be found unusual to their time and place. Certainly, from that day to this, players have lived a precarious life that only love for their craft can justify.