Mime In The Medieval Church

The pattern that began in the early church continued in the Middle Ages: official pronouncements squelched mime even as some leaders found creative and helpful ways of incorporating it into their practice of the Christian faith. a. d. 300-1000 Synods, canons, and councils struggled throughout the Middle Ages against the secular use of mime that survived from Graeco-Roman culture. The mime traditions had been carried forward by artists known as mimes (mimus), jongleurs, and histriones, which later evolved into the medieval artists known as minstrels, jongleurs, and troubadours. The councils of the church threatened to withhold Communion from mimes and, in the worst cases, excommunicated them. The immoral use of the arts was condemned by the church, yet the arts still flourished. Both priests as well as lay persons participated in hosting the mimes. The English priest Alcuin advised Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarne that "it is better to feed the poor from your table than the actors it is…