Morris Before The Restoration
. . . . of Charles II in 1660
The picture shows Morris Dancers beside the
Thames at Richmond from a picture now in the
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. Dated around 1620, a hundred years
after Martin Luther nailed his protest to a church door in Wittenburg. The
1600s were turbulant times for England and for the Morris.
Earliest References
See "Annals of Early Morris", by Michael Heaney and John Forrest, 1991; 'The History of Morris Dancing, 1858 - 1750', by John Forrest. See our Short Bibliography for details.
- The earliest reference to morris dance concerns a recent discovery by Mike Heaney and John
Forrest, An Antedating for the ‘Morris Dance’
Notes
and Queries 2002 49: 190-193, {you will need to pay for this}.
This discovery was summarised in "The Morris Dancer" 2002, 3(10), 314. "Setting Morris Dancing back Ten Years", which from a tapestry, sets the earliest reference to morris in England as 31 October 1448, in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Henry VI. Thus, inventories for Caistor Castle, Norfolk have references to a tapestry depicting a morris dance:- (31st Oct) 1448: the morysk Daunce
- 1459: the morysch daunce
- 1462: the Morys daunse
- Previous to this discovery, the earliest reference (even appearing in the title of Forrest's book(!) was to Alice Wetenhale, a widow from Bury St Edmunds, in her will of 1458: "I leave to my daughter Catherine … 3 silver cups. sculpted with a moreys daunce, with one lid for them
-
The earliest existing images of Morris dancers and their associated characters,
are to be found in the Betley Window and its' various copies. The late
John Price of St Alban's Morris Men has collected
an
excellent set of links and information
about this window. In a recent article in "The Morris Dancer" {2004, 3(11), 331-344},
Mike Heaney compares the figures depicted in the window with those in an illustration by
Israhel
van Meckenem (dated about 1490), and in a wooden panel, also showing morris dancers,
in Lancaster Castle. Both the window and the panel are based upon the illustration.
- There is one other claim to be an early reference, Strutt, in his “Games and Pastimes”
suggests that the picture of the XIV century Fools Dance is related to the morris dance. Strutt's
reference is to the Bodlean Library, No 964. See:
Strutt's Sports and Pastimes Book III, Chapter V
Elizabethan Morris
In the mid-seventeenth centuary, the notion that the morris dance was introduced into this country
from Spain took hold, with a connection to the Spanish
Morisco
- hence the name “Morris” or moorish dance. The notion has persisted into the
21st century as a possible origin for the morris. However, read what
John Forrest (p6-9)
says about this idea. In the reign of Henry VIII, morris dancing certainbly attained great
popularity. There seems to have been at that time two principle performers, Robin Hood
and Maid Marian; then there was a friar, a piper, a fool, and the rank and file of the
dancers. In the parish accounts of Kingston-on-Thames for the year 1537 the Morris Dancers'
wardrobe, then in the charge of the churchwardens, consisted of "A fryers cote of russet
and a kyrtele weltyd with red cloth, a Mowren's (Moor's) cote of buckram, and four morres
dauncars cotes of white fustian spangelid and two gryne saten cotes, and a disardde's
(fool's) cote of cotton, and six payre of garters with belles."
In Elizabethan times the Morris Dance, and indeed every other kind of picturesque country
festivity, may be said to have reached the zenith of popularity, soon, alas! to be followed
by the chilling austerity of the Puritans, of whom it was so truely said that they "like
nothing; no state, no sex; music, dancing, etc., unlawful even in kings; no kind of recreation,
no entertainment, -no, not so much as hawking; all are damned."
These teach that Dauncing is a Jezabell
And Barley-breake the ready way to Hell,
The Morrice, Idolls; Whitson-ales can bee
But profane Reliques of a Jubilee;
These in a Zeale, t'expresse how much they doe,
The Organs hate, have silenc'd Bagg-pipes too,
And harmlesse Maypoles, all are rail'd upon,
As if they were the towers of Babilon
Cotswold Games - Annalia Dubrensia 1636. Discussion between Collen and Thenot
And Barley-breake the ready way to Hell,
The Morrice, Idolls; Whitson-ales can bee
But profane Reliques of a Jubilee;
These in a Zeale, t'expresse how much they doe,
The Organs hate, have silenc'd Bagg-pipes too,
And harmlesse Maypoles, all are rail'd upon,
As if they were the towers of Babilon
Cotswold Games - Annalia Dubrensia 1636. Discussion between Collen and Thenot
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