 |
 |
In working on a book on Technology, Guilds, and the Medieval English Theater, I am still struggle with the EXACT design of the steering mechanism of the medieval wagon (assuming that the pageant wagons at York, Coventry, and Chester did usually have steering mechanisms). Does anyone know of an illustration that gives all the details? I am not certain that later wagons do not involve some improvements on the medieval design, and would like to be able to include an illustration that is contemporary with the plays, if one is available. Continental pageant wagon illustrations help but do not solve the problem entirely. The other areas on which I have been working have involved such matters as ship construction (for Noah's ark especially), textiles (especially since the textile guilds were deeply involved in the plays), tools (as in the building of the ark and the Crucifixion), and mechanisms for raising and lowering actors in the Ascension, Assumption, and Last Judgment plays. (Does anyone know of any evidence of the use of counterweights, for example?) Cliff Davidson The Medieval Institute Western Michigan University 616-387-8753