“Sendyth to hym Concyens”: Contested Orthodoxies in Fifteenth Century East Anglia

Abstract

This is a study of the changes in the expression of conscience within East Anglia in the fifteenth century. The ritualistic dimensions of performance are considered as to the way they demonstrate authority within a variety of performative settings. The Everyman as individual was increasingly empowered to express conscience, independent of the hegemonic voices of established institutions. A growing number of East Anglians exercised individual free will by contesting the primacy and legitimacy of prevailing power groups. The Macro morality plays are explored as representations of orthodoxy that provided the opportunity for the individual to respond and shape their conscience.