comedy and bodily deformity was now so firmly established that
Adam was called the "Humpback of Arras," although he was not humpbacked
at all.[2100] Association of acts and ideas is always very important in
all folkways and popular mores. At Florence, in 1304, on boats on the
Arno, devils were represented at work. The bridge on which the
spectators stood broke down under the crowd, and it was said that "many
went to the real hell to find out about it."[2101] At Paris, in 1313, at
the celebration of the knighting of the sons of Philippe le Bel, devils
were represented tormenting souls.[2102]

+654. Flagellants.+ The flagellants exerted some of the suggestions of
the processions, and they used dramatic devices to set forth their
ideas, to say nothing of the dramatic element in the self-scourging.
They were outside of the church system, and acted on their own
conception of sin and discipline, like modern revivalists. They
reappeared from time to time through the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. They meant to declare that the asserted correlation between
goodness and blessing did not verify, and they were at a loss for a
doctrine to replace it. Their antiphonal singing turned into dialogue,
and then became drama at the end of the thirteenth century.[2103]

+655. Use of churches for dramatic exhibitions.+ The mediaeval plays were
presented in churches or on the open spaces on the streets in front of
them, at Florence. Later this became customary in all cities.[2104] The
old idea had been that churches were common public property, a universal
rendezvous for every common interest. Dedications of churches and feasts
of martyrs had been general merrymakings. D'Ancona collects dicta of
councils and popes condemning dramatic actions in churches, and the
singing of lewd songs and dancing by women.[2105] The language used
implies that the songs, gestures, acts, and suggestions connected with
the performances in the churches were lewd and indecent. The populace,
while using the license, well perceived its incongruity and impropriety,
and this stimulated the satire, which was so strong a feature of the
late Middle Ages and which produced the farce. The mysteries and
moralities for a time gave entertainment, but they became tedious. The
farce was at first "stuffing," put in to break up the dullness by fun
making of some kind and to give spice to the entertainment, just as
meats were _farcies_ to give them more savor. It grew until