Every vice has its excuse ready: Language, Vices and Demons in Medieval Religious Drama

This chapter forms part of Georgina’s thesis, which examines Vices and Demons in fourteenth- to sixteenth-century drama. It specifically explores the often-overlooked intersection between morality plays and the political landscape of fifteenth-century England, focusing on the Macro Morality Plays: Wisdom (1460–70), The Castle of Perseverance (1405–6), and Mankind (1470). While traditionally viewed through the lens of religious salvation and repentance, these plays also engage profoundly with contemporary political themes, particularly those concerning obedience and allegiance. The term 'bastard feudalism,' used by historians to describe the complexities of feudalism during this period, especially in light of the unstable kingship, is crucial to this analysis. As Gordon McKelvie notes, ‘It was composed of a lord and his various servants and followers, who were retained by a variety of methods.’ This structure is explicitly reflected in all three Macro Morality Plays, where the vices, akin to feudal lords and their retainers, compete for the souls of humanity through promises of wealth, status, and loyalty. This dynamic mirrors the opportunism and instability of the Wars of the Roses and the Hundred Years' War. By examining the language of obedience, loyalty, and reward in both the plays and contemporary sources such as The Paston Letters, this chapter argues that the Macro Morality Plays offer not only spiritual guidance but also a critique of the political fragmentation and social upheaval of the time. In doing so, these works provide a unique insight into how feudal obligations and shifting allegiances were morally and socially interrogated within a cultural and theatrical framework.

Georgie Crespi is an English Literature PhD Student at the University of Reading specialising in late medieval drama, with a particular focus on representation of Vices and Demons in the fourteenth to sixteenth century. Her research delves into the intersection of drama with politics. Georgie has attended the University of Göttingen Palaeography Summer School, where they gained valuable skills in manuscript studies, as well as a Summer School on Divine Will at the Institute of Reformation History, enriching her understanding of theological debates in the Middle-Ages. She has presented her work at Leeds, The Globe and the American Marlowe Society.

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