Anonymous, The Pride of Life

James Cummings (University of Newcastle upon Tyne)

Ed. by Hugh Magennis, Queen's University Belfast
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1337

Places

Ireland, Republic of (Eire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Anthology/ Collection
Historical
Morality
Play
Poetry (any)

Resources

The Pride of Life is the earliest morality play written in English. Until it was destroyed in the early twentieth century, it was preserved in a fourteenth-century account roll from Dublin. The original manuscript was incinerated by explosion and fire at the public record office in Dublin during the political disturbances of June 1922. However, the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland had published a transcription of the Account Roll of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, 1337-1346, with the Middle English Moral Play ‘The Pride of Life' in 1891. This was a full edition of the manuscript by James Mills. This edition also included, as a frontispiece, a photozincographic facsimile of one section of the …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1051 words

Citation: Cummings, James. "The Pride of Life". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 July 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9290, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Save this article