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Introduction

In this part of the website you can

• view the video recordings of the principal enactments of late medieval liturgies undertaken in 2011;
• follow the scripts;
• read responses and reports.

There are two groups of video recordings:

• shortened versions of three medieval liturgies with explanatory introduction and commentaries;
• complete recordings of eight medieval liturgies (together with a ninth from an earlier project).

Three introductory videos

Lady Mass at St Teilo’s Church, June 2011

Jesus Mass at St Teilo’s Church, September 2011

Procession of the Holy Name of Jesus, October 2011

Complete video recordings are presented in five groups

Lady Mass
Jesus Mass
Procession of the Holy Name
Office services and Antiphons
Other services

In viewing the videos, remember that these record what happened on that occasion, and that you can only view what one camera sees at any single moment. The recordings offer you an experience of the rituals, and give a good idea of the ways in which medieval liturgy was enacted; but what you see is in two dimensions only, and it represents how that particular group set about the enactment. Even in the Middle Ages, the way in which each specific ritual would have been enacted in over 10,000 churches in Britain alone would have been particular in character and detail – even using the same texts and the same ritual instructions. You can read more about these issues in the project section of the website.

Each of the enactments has a group of texts (available in pdf format). These generally fall into one of three categories:

• ‘performance’ texts for the participants (clergy and their assistants, singers and other musicians, participating congregations);
• ‘inculturation’ texts to help the participants get a hold of some aspects of the medieval mindset;
• introductory or explanatory texts for members of the public attending the ritual.

In addition, there is a fourth kind of text, related either to one or a group of enactments, in the form of a report or reflections written by the participants.