In the cities during the Middle Ages the church played an important role as a source of popular diversion. Medieval London was a city vibrant with life—noisy, odoriferous and colourful. While the lot of the masses was hard, with work from dawn to dark the year round and the threat of starvation or the plague never far away, there were also a great many special events in the City which were occasions for excitement and merriment.
Some of this free entertainment consisted of affairs put on by London itself, such as the annual Lord Mayor’s show or splendid ‘ridings’ by the sheriffs, aldermen or other officials. Others were magnificent events having to do with royalty or the nobles—coronations, victory celebrations and the like. And of course, there were morris-dancing, mummers, May-pole dancing and other folk diversions in the spring, and minstrels, jugglers and street shows in the market and at various fairs.
But a good number of the special events were church holy days. For example, each guild had a celebration in honour of its patron saint, which called for a solemn mass before the feasting. There were many other saints’ days too, such as the vigils of St John the Baptist, St Paul and St Peter, the Feast of St Bartholomew... And of course there was feasting and merriment on Christmas, Easter and Twelfth Night, the Beating of the Bounds on Ascension Day, Mystery Plays in the churches, and colourful ceremonials on the occasion of important weddings and funerals all the year round. Thus it is not difficult to see how much the people of London counted on the church to make their lives, if not holier, at least a bit more interesting.