Elen of the Hosts



In the Chester Mystery Plays there is a garbled reference to the church of "Saynte Marie" in Rome. It occurs at the end of the The Nativity, in the final passage spoken by the Expositor (see panel right). Of all medieval drama, the Chester cycle is most closely associated with commentators such as the "Expositor" and the significance and function of these has been the subject of much debate.

The actual church can hardly be missed by any visitor to Rome, being sat on top of the Capitoline Hill right next to the Capitoline Museums. The reference to this church in the mystery play touches on many myths and legends as well as some actual history. It is unclear just how much of these stories (true or otherwise) would have been known to the audience of the mystery plays, but a detailed look at them serves to illustrate the depth of the context of the plays as well as possible links to the influence of local myths.

The Chester Nativity
The version of the nativity in the Chester Mystery Plays is different from the one in the bible as it features a walk-on part by the Roman emperor Octavian/Augustus. The play moves from Joseph's house at Nazareth to the Emperor's court at Rome, partly to show why Octavian ordered the general tax but more importantly to evaluate the pax Romana into which the "Prince of Peace" was born. According to the Chester play, the Roman senate believe that the long peace and prosperity of Octavian's rule must be a sign of his divinity and request his deification, but Octavian recognises his own mortality and rejects the offer. He then consults a sibyl who foretells the birth of a child of greater power than he. The action in the Mystery Play returns to Bethlehem for the birth, but then reverts to Rome, where Octavian is granted a vision of the Virgin and Child in a star and orders his countrymen to worship the Child - something entirely fictional. In the course of the play the pax Romana is shown to have been based upon a primitive kind of early warning system, the Temple of Peace, "contrived by a fiend", so that Rome always had advance notice of rebellion. According to one version: "at Christ's birth, the structure collapsed, and subsequently a church has been built to commemorate the vision".

There was a Temple of Peace in Rome, but this was not built until 71 AD under Emperor Vespasian. The funds to create this grand monument were acquired through Vespasian's sacking of Jerusalem during the Jewish-Roman Wars. The interior and surrounding buildings were decorated with the treasures collected there by the Roman army. However, the rather peculiar appearance of Octavian/Augustus in the Chester Mystery Play would not have come as a surprise to the original audience. As is explained in detail below the "prophecy" aspect of the Mystery Play would have been familiar. It is even mentioned in the Banns:


 * "Of Octavian the Emperor, that could not well allow the prophecy of ancient Sibyl the sage, ye Wrights and Slaters with good  players in show lustily bring forth your well­decked carriage. The Birth of Christ shall all see in that stage. If the Scriptures awarrant not of the midwives' report the author telleth his author; then take it in sport"

Indeed, the story of the sibyl (and other prophets) was so well known that it occurs on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, where five of Michaelangelo's seven prophets are also found in the Chester cycle: Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Jonah and Joel.

Santa Maria in Ara Coeli
The local connection to Chester is that the "church" is Santa Maria in Ara Coeli. It was this church where Edward Gibbon was struck with the idea to write his “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”. As he wrote in his "Autobiography":




 * "It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amid the ruins of the capitol, while the bare-footed friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.”

Gibbon was mistaken; this church was actually the former Temple of Juno Moneta: the protectress of the city's funds. Money was coined in her temple for over four centuries, before the mint was moved to a new location near the Colosseum during the reign of emperor Domitian. The church also contains the marble tomb of Cecchino Bracci, pupil and lover of artist Michelangelo who had dedicated a number of poems in his name. The tomb's design (not the carving) is by Michelangelo.

Originally the church was named Sancta Maria in Capitolio, since it was sited on the Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio, in Italian) of Ancient Rome; by the 14th century it had been renamed. A medieval legend included in the mid-12th-century guide to Rome, Mirabilia Urbis Romae, claimed that the church was built over an Augustan Ara primogeniti Dei, in the place where the Tiburtine Sibyl prophesied to Octavian the coming of the Christ: "For this reason the figures of Augustus and of the Tiburtine sibyl are painted on either side of the arch above the high altar". A later legend substituted an apparition of Mary. In the Middle Ages, condemned criminals were executed at the foot of the steps; there the self-proclaimed Tribune and reviver of the Roman Republic Cola di Rienzo met his death, near the spot where his statue commemorates him. Mirabilia Urbis Romae ("Marvels of the City of Rome") is a much-copied medieval Latin text that served generations of pilgrims and tourists as a guide to the city of Rome. The original, which was written by a canon of St Peter's, dates from the 1140s. The text survives in numerous manuscripts. The Catholic Encyclopedia reports:


 * "Unhampered by any very accurate knowledge of the historical continuity of the city, the unknown author has described the monuments of Rome, displaying a considerable amount of inventive faculty."

The legend-filled Mirabilia remained the standard guide to the city until the fifteenth century and so is likely to have been available to the author of the Chester Mystery Plays. At first the church followed the Greek rite, a sign of the power of the Byzantine exarch. Taken over by the papacy by the 9th century, the church was given first to the Benedictines, then, by papal bull to the Franciscans in 1249–1250; under the Franciscans it received its Romanesque-Gothic aspect. The arches that divide the nave from the aisles are supported on columns, no two precisely alike, scavenged from Roman ruins (it overlooks the forum). During the Middle Ages, this church became the centre of the religious and civil life of the city. in particular during the republican "renewal" of the 14th century, when Cola di Rienzo inaugurated the monumental stairway of 124 steps in front of the church, designed in 1348 by Simone Andreozzi, on the occasion of the Black Death.

The legent about Octavian and the Sybil has a long pedigree. In the Middle Ages, the Roman poet Virgil's reputation was such that it inspired legends associating him with magic and prophecy. From at least the 3rd century, Christian thinkers interpreted Eclogues 4, which describes the birth of a boy ushering in a golden age, as a prediction of the nativity. In consequence, Virgil came to be seen as a "virtuous pagan" on a similar level to the Hebrew prophets of the Bible as one who had heralded Christianity. Dante Alighieri included Virgil as a main character in his Divine Comedy, and Michelangelo included the Sibyl on the ceiling painting of the Sistine Chapel. Virgil's legacy in medieval Wales was such that the Welsh version of his name, Fferyllt or Pheryllt, became a generic term for magic-worker, and survives in the modern Welsh word for pharmacist, fferyllydd. It is probable that the author of the Chester Mystery Plays had read Vergil and that the Christian interpretations of Virgil's Eclogue 4 would have been known to some if not many of those who made up the audience. If they didn't know then they have the Expositor to tell them "this is a true story".

A particular connection with Chester and North Wales is that Santa Maria in Ara Coeli is known for housing relics belonging to Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine - the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and one who has a distinct connection to Britain. Just which relics are there is uncertain: her alleged skull is displayed in the Cathedral of Trier, in Germany. Portions of her relics are found at the basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli in Rome, the same is claimed by the Église Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles in Paris, and at the Abbaye Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers. The church of Sant'Elena in Venice claims to have the complete body of the saint enshrined under the main altar.

In Britain, a later legend, mentioned by Henry of Huntingdon (c1088 – c1157) but made popular by Geoffrey of Monmouth (c1095 – c1155), claimed that Helena was a daughter of the King of Britain, Cole of Colchester (see "Old King Cole" below), who (according to Geoffrey of Monmouth) allied with "Constantius" to avoid more war between the Britons and Rome: all of that is without any historical foundation. In the Chester mystery play the church has its name mangled: "The churche is called Saynte Marie - The sirname in a Racali". The links with Britain and eventually with Chester start with St Helen.

St Helen
Helena, or Saint Helena (Greek: Ἁγία Ἑλένη, Hagía Helénē, Latin: Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta; c. 246/248 – c. 330), was an Empress of the Roman Empire, and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, although he lived much of his life as a pagan, and later as a catechumen (κατηχούμενος, "one being instructed"), Constantine is traditionally believed to have only joined the Christian faith on his deathbed, being baptised by Eusebius of Nicomedia. He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared religious tolerance for Christianity in the Roman empire. Helena ranks as an important figure in the history of Christianity and of the world due to her influence on her son. In her final years, she made a religious tour of Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem, during which ancient tradition claims that she discovered the True Cross.

At least twenty-five holy wells currently exist in the United Kingdom dedicated to a Saint Helen. She is also the patron saint of Abingdon and Colchester. St Helen's Chapel in Colchester was believed to have been founded by Helena herself, and since the 15th century, the town's coat of arms has shown a representation of the True Cross and three crowned nails in her honour. Colchester Town Hall has a Victorian statue of the saint on top of its 50-metre-high (160 ft) tower. The arms of Nottingham are almost identical because of the city's connection with Cole, her supposed father.

Helen's links with Britain
Born outside of the noble classes, a Greek, possibly in the Greek city of Drepana, Bithynia in Asia Minor, Helena became the consort of the future Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and the mother of the future Emperor Constantine the Great. As Caesar, Constantius Chlorus defeated the usurper Allectus in Britain. Upon becoming Augustus in 305, Constantius launched a successful punitive campaign against the Picts beyond the Antonine Wall. Constantius Chlorus died at Eboracum (York) on 25 July 306. As he was dying, Constantius recommended his son to the army as his successor; consequently Constantine was declared emperor by the legions at York. There is some evidence for major repair work at Chester around 300, especially to the walls, at least half of which were rebuilt from the base up. Quite strangely many tombstones of soldiers were used in the rebuilding of the walls and one explanation may be that Legio XX was not the unit stationed at Chester at the time. Another explanation is that the use of tombstones was something to do with the revolt by Carausius which had occurred in 286 and which was followed by the revolt of Allectus.

Works on such a scale may be associated with the presence of the emperor. It is not known for certain whether either the older or younger Constantine ever visited Chester, but given their activities in the north of Britannia it is probable that they did - evidence being provided by Roman milestones found in North Wales. Examples of these milestones include RIB 2267 found about 6.4 km. west of Caerhun fort (Kanovium) and on the north side of the Roman road from Rowen (in the Conway Valley) towards Llanfairfechan, not far from Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen (‘Pass of the Two Stones’: the pass probably takes its Welsh name not from the two milestones originally standing there, but from the two menhirs which still stand there today).

Geoffrey of Monmouth
Constantius Chlorus' activities in Britain were reported with all his usual inaccuracy by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his History of the Kings of Britain (1136). According to Geoffrey, Constantius Chlorus is sent to Britain by the Senate after "Asclepiodotus", here a British king, is overthrown by Coel of Colchester. Coel submits to Constantius Chlorus and agrees to pay tribute to Rome, but dies only eight days later. Constantius Chlorus marries Coel's daughter Helena and becomes king of Britain. He and Helena have a son, Constantine, who succeeds to the throne of Britain when his father dies eleven years later. Similarly, the "History of the Britons" traditionally ascribed to Nennius mentions the inscribed tomb of "Constantius the Emperor" was still present in the 9th century in Segontium (near present-day Caernarfon, Wales). Segontium was founded by Agricola in AD 77 or 78 after he had conquered the Ordovices in North Wales. It was the main Roman fort in the north of Roman Wales and was designed to hold about a thousand auxiliary infantry. It was connected by a Roman road to Roman Chester.

In reality, Constantius Chlorus had divorced Helena before he went to Britain and Julius Asclepiodotus was a Roman praetorian prefect who assisted the western Caesar Constantius Chlorus in re-establishing Imperial rule in Britain following a revolt by Carausius (a Roman Naval commander in Britain) and later Allectus, his finance minister and eventual assassin. Monmouth is possibly confusing Helena with Elen ("Elen of the Ways") a semi mythical figure in Welsh traditional literature. Geoffrey was born between about 1090 and 1100, in Wales or the Welsh Marches and so it might be supposed he would have been familiar with Welsh legends.

In order to obtain a wife more consonant with his rising status, Constantius divorced Helena some time before 289, when he married Theodora, Maximian's daughter. Maximian (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius Augustus c. 250 – c. July 310) was Roman Emperor from 286 to 305. He was Caesar from 285 to 286, then Augustus from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximian's military brawn.

Carausius
The man Maximian appointed to police the Channel shores, Carausius, rebelled in 286, causing the secession of Britain and northwestern Gaul. Maximian failed to oust Carausius, and his invasion fleet was destroyed by storms in 289 or 290. Carausius held power for seven years, fashioning the name "Emperor of the North" for himself, before being assassinated by his finance minister Allectus. Carausius appears to have appealed to native British dissatisfaction with Roman rule; he issued coins with legends such as "Restitutor Britanniae" (Restorer of Britain) and "Genius Britanniae" (Spirit of Britain). Some of these silver coins bear the legend "Expectate veni", (Come long-awaited one), recognised to allude to a supposedly messianic line by the Augustan poet Virgil (the sixth and seventh lines of the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil), written more than 300 years previously. The last known reference to Legio XX (based at Chester) is on coins struck by the usurper Carausius, and it seems likely that Legio XX joined his side in the revolt.



Constantine himself also believed the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil could be interpreted as a prophecy about Christ. Many copies of the Roman historian Eusebius's Vita Constantini (The Life of Constantine) contain a transcript of a speech made by the emperor at a Good Friday sermon during the First Council of Nicaea (AD 325), in which the emperor re-imagines almost the entire poem line-by-line as a Christian portent (although a few are omitted because they overtly reference pagan characters and concepts). Some of Constantine’s interpretations are obvious: he argues that the virgo in line 6 is a reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the puer in lines 8, 18, 60, and 62 to Christ, and the serpent in line 24 to the Serpent of Evil. This association between Virgil and Christianity reached a fever pitch in the fourteenth century, when the Divine Comedy was published; the work, by Dante Alighieri, prominently features Virgil as the main character's guide through Hell. In the fifteenth century, a popular story concerning Secundian, Marcellian and Verian — who started out as persecutors of Christians during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius—emerged. The story claims that the trio were alarmed by the calm manner in which their Christian victims died, and so they turned to literature and chanced upon Eclogue 4, which eventually caused their conversions and martyrdom. The story seems possibly related to the myth of Saint Aaron and Saint Julius (or Julian) were two Romano-British Christian saints who were martyred around the third century. These saints have been associated with the Amphitheatre at Chester, but there seems little basis for that link.

Old King Cole
"Old King Cole" is a British nursery rhyme first attested in 1708 by William King (1663–1712) in his "Useful Transactions in Philosophy". There is much speculation about the identity of King Cole, and some consider it is unlikely that he can be identified reliably given the centuries between the attestation of the rhyme and the putative identities. It is often noted that the name of the legendary Welsh king Coel Hen can be translated 'Old Cole' or 'Old King Cole'. This sometimes leads to speculation that he, or some other Coel in Roman Britain, is the model for Old King Cole of the nursery rhyme. However, there is no documentation of a connection between the fourth-century figures and the eighteenth-century nursery rhyme. Further speculation connects Old King Cole and thus Coel Hen to Colchester. The "Colchester legend", claimed he was a ruler of Colchester in Essex and the father of Saint Helena, and therefore the grandfather of Constantine the Great. The 12th century legend originated from a folk etymology indicating that Colchester was named for Coel (supposedly from "Coel" and "castrum", producing "fortress of Coel"). However, the city was actually known as Colneceaster until the n was dropped in around the 10th century; its name likely comes from the local River Colne. In Monmouth's Historia, Coel grows upset with Asclepiodotus's handling of the Diocletianic Persecution and begins a rebellion in his duchy of Caer Colun (Colchester). He meets Asclepiodotus in battle and kills him, thus taking the kingship of Britain upon himself. Rome, apparently, is pleased that Britain has a new king, and sends senator Constantius Chlorus to negotiate with him. Afraid of the Romans, Coel meets Constantius and agrees to pay tribute and submit to Roman laws as long as he is allowed to retain the kingship. Constantius agrees to these terms, but Coel dies shortly after. Constantius marries Coel's daughter, Helena, and crowns himself as Coel's successor. Helena subsequently gives birth to a son who becomes the Emperor Constantine the Great, giving a British pedigree to the Roman imperial line and in particular a British cause for the adoption of christianity by the Romans.

Summary so far
The prophetic legend of Octavian and the Sybil as portrayed in the Chester Mystery Cycle has its roots in the still extant church of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, which is garbled in the Mystery Cycle as: "The churche is called Saynte Marie - The sirname in a Racali". This was, when the plays were originally performed, a well known interpretation of the Roman poet Virgil's Eclogue 4. This same Eclogue had been used during the Roman empire by the usurper Carausius (after the year 286) previously a Roman Naval commander in Britain, and, very shortly thereafter by Emperor Constantine the Great (in the year 325).

Constantius Chlorus' activities in Britain were reported with all his usual inaccuracy by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his History of the Kings of Britain (1136). According to Geoffrey, Constantius Chlorus is sent to Britain by the Senate after "Asclepiodotus", here a British king, is overthrown by Coel of Colchester. Coel submits to Constantius Chlorus and agrees to pay tribute to Rome, but dies only eight days later. Constantius Chlorus marries Coel's daughter Helena and becomes king of Britain. He and Helena have a son, Constantine, who succeeds to the throne of Britain when his father dies eleven years later.

Prophecy plays a large part in the Chester cycle.

Saint Elen
The myth may arise from the similarly named Welsh princess Saint Elen (alleged to have married Magnus Maximus and to have borne a son named Constantine). The church actually stands on the site of the Temple of Juno Moneta (where coins were minted). The original structure cannot possibly date back to the time of Augustus (Rome did not become officially Christian until the 4th century), but by the 6th century the existing church was already considered old. It was later rebuilt, with the present structure dating from the 13th century.

Related Pages

 * Dark Ages;
 * Chester Mystery Plays;

Sources and Links

 * Early British Kingdoms on Magnus;
 * Mabinogion on Magnus;
 * More on Macsen's dream;
 * Saint Elen Magnus' wife (Welsh: Elen Luyddog, lit. "Helen of the Hosts");
 * "Goddess, Saint and Ancestor - Elen of the Hosts" analysis of the Elen/Magnus tradition.