Eustache Marcadé

Eustache Marcadé (or Mercadé) (* 2nd half of the 14th century in Artois ; † January 10, 1440 ) was a French author of the late Middle Ages.

Life

Neither the date of birth nor the place of death is known of Eustache Marcadé. We know that he was provost in Dampierre-en-Yvelines in 1414 and official of Corbie Abbey in 1418 . In 1427 he was imprisoned in Amiens by the English for so-called "majesty crimes" . After his release in 1437 he was again appointed official in Corbie and from 1439 to 1440 dean of the canonical faculty in Paris. Marcadé was also a member of the Cour amoureuse de Charles VI , a knightly association of nobles, citizens and clergy founded in Paris in 1401.

Works

Marcadé is ascribed to one of the first French mystery plays : Le Mystère de la Passion , also known as Passion d'Arras . The mystery play comprises 24,944 verses and was performed between 1420 and 1430 in Arras and 1437 in Metz . The performances dragged on over four afternoons. The game begins with a fictional process in paradise, in which God allows justice and mercy to be told of the devil's misdeeds. Justice pleads for the punishment of original sin, and mercy for forgiveness. Then God decides to send his Son to earth to buy back humanity from corruption. The game subsequently describes the life of Jesus from his birth to his death on the cross. The Ascension Day takes place on the last day of the performance. In addition to the Passion d'Arras, Marcadé wrote another work: La Vengeance de Nostre Seigneur Jhesu Crist . It comprises about 14,000 verses. Its versification and dramaturgy also set standards for later poets. In 1450 Arnoul Gréban picked up the technique of the mystery play and developed it further in his work Le Mystère de la passion .

literature

• Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Artemis Verlag, Munich and Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0

Web links

• Literature list at Arlima (archive of medieval literature) (French)