t subsided it left
enduring traces in the foundation of lay communities throughout the land,
continuing in a more sober way the penitential practices of the
Flagellants. One of their aids to devotion was the singing or reciting of
vernacular poetry, less formal than the Latin hymns of the liturgy, and
known as _laude_.[78] These _laude_ developed a more or less dramatic
form, which gained the name of _divozioni_.[79] They were, perhaps
(though not certainly, for there seems to have been another tradition
derived from the regular liturgical drama), the source from which sprang
the gorgeously produced _sacre rappresentazioni_ of the fifteenth
century.

The _sacre rappresentazioni_ corresponded, though with considerable
differences, to the miracle-plays of England and France. Their great
period was the fifty years from 1470 to 1520, and |147| they were
performed, like the _divozioni_, by confraternities of religious laymen.
The actors were boys belonging to the brotherhoods, and the plays were
intended to be edifying for youth. They are more refined than the
northern religious dramas, but only too often fall into insipidity.

Among the texts given by D'Ancona in his collection of _sacre
rappresentazioni_ is a Tuscan "Nativita,"{36} opening with a pastoral
scene resembling those in the northern mysteries, but far less vigorous.
It cannot compare, for character and humour, with the Towneley plays.
Still the shepherds, whose names are Bobi del Farucchio, Nencio di
Pucchio, Randello, Nencietto, Giordano, and Falconcello, are at least
meant to have a certain rusticity, as they feast on bread and cheese and
wine, play to the Saviour on bagpipe or whistle, and offer humble
presents like apples and cheese. The scenes which follow, the coming of
the Magi and the Murder of the Innocents, are not intrinsically of great
interest.

It is possible that this play may have been the spectacle performed in
Florence in 1466, as recorded by Machiavelli, "to give men something to
take away their thoughts from affairs of state." It "represented the
coming of the three Magi Kings from the East, following the star which
showed the Nativity of Christ, and it was of so great pomp and
magnificence that it kept the whole city busy for several months in
arranging and preparing it."{37}

An earlier record of an Italian pageant of the Magi is this account by
the chronicler Galvano Flamma of what took place at Milan in 1336:--

"There were thre