ABSTRACT
The York Cycle was fully developed in 1376, its unique manuscript text dated from about 1420. The Chester Cycle, although its five complete manuscripts were lamentably dated after 1590, was nevertheless the oldest of the cycles, dating from 1325. Both cycles were known to have been performed from pageant wagons on the streets of the two northern cities. Since 1954 and more particularly in the last decade, there has been an explosion in scholarship on the two cycle plays. The dramatic records of both cities have been edited and published through Records of Early English Drama, new editions of both cycles have appeared and facsimiles of the York manuscript and two of the five Chester manuscripts have been made available. All of this activity has led to a new understanding of the facts related to the cycles. The records also tell us the performance history of the cycles.
