Once upon a time, the world was corrupt and filled with violence and women treating men badly. Today’s political leaders commit billions of dollars annually to combat violence against women while showing no concern for violence against men. In the primordial biblical world, Noah’s wife reportedly was an ungrateful, spiteful, and vicious woman. Yet Hebrew scripture records that Noah saved his wife’s life from the great flood that swept away all corruption and violence and other women treating men badly.
In our benighted age of gynocentric silencing of meninist voices, few know the difficulties that Noah endured with his ungrateful, spiteful, and vicious wife. About 1700 years ago, extra-biblical texts declared that Noah’s wife was named Norea. Norea regarded herself as a specially privileged gnostic know-it-all. God reportedly wanted to get rid of Noah’s wife Norea, and Noah probably did too:
Then these people who are presenting us with Philistion’s mimes all over again give a reason why Norea sought but was not allowed to join Noah in the ark. The ruler who made the world, they say, wanted to destroy her in the flood with all the rest. They say that she sat down in the ark and burned it a first time and a second time and a third time. And this is why the building of Noah’s ark itself took many years — it was burned many times by Norea.
{ εἶτα τὴν αἰτίαν ὑποτίθενται οὑτοι οἱ τὰ τοῦ Φιλιστίωνος ἡμῖν αὐθις προφερόμενοι, ὅτι πολλάκις βουλομένη μετὰ τοῦ Νῶε ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ γενέσθαι οὐ συνεχωρεῖτο, τοῦ ἄρχοντος, φησίν, τοῦ τὸν κόσμον κτίσαντος βουλομένου αὐτὴν ἀπολέσαι σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἐν τῷ κατακλυσμῷ. αὐτὴν δέ φησιν ἐπικαθιζάνειν ἐν τῇ λάρνακι καὶ ἐμπιπρᾶν αὐτήν, καὶ πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον· ὅθεν δὴ εἰς ἔτη πολλὰ ἐλήλακεν ἡ τῆς αὐτοῦ τοῦ Νῶε λάρνακος κατασκευὴ διὰ τὸ πολλάκις αὐτὴν ὑπ’ αὐτῆς ἐμπεπῆσθαι. }[1]
The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam revealed early in the seventh century, declares that Noah’s wife was a disbeliever who betrayed her husband. According to the Qur’an, God condemned Noah’s wife to the fire of Hell.[2] Noah’s wife doesn’t appear on a beautiful, sixteenth-century Muslim painting of Noah’s ark amid the flood. Perhaps in Muslim understanding God condemned Noah’s wife to the fire of Hell through the waters of the flood.
According to Hebrew scripture, God commanded Noah to save his wife’s life. In contrast to the demigods that produced a world of corruption and violence and women treating men badly, Noah was just an ordinary farmer who enjoyed drinking wine. He was a righteous, blameless man who walked with God and found favor in the eyes of the Lord. God ordered Noah to take onto the ark Noah’s three sons, his wife, and his three daughters-in-law.[3] The righteous Noah obeyed God’s commands. Although then an elderly man, Noah labored in back-breaking physical work for a hundred years to build an ark to save his family. Yet despite all Noah did for her, Noah’s wife rained upon him abuse and grief. For those with eyes that see and ears that hear, ungrateful, spiteful, and vicious wives exist in today’s postdiluvian world.[4]
Medieval Christians understood Noah’s wife to be ungrateful, spiteful, and vicious. After God revealed to Noah news of the coming flood and commanded him to build an ark, Noah in the Towneley medieval biblical plays rushed home to get approval from his ruling earthly authority, his wife:
Lord, homeward I hasten,
as fast as I may.
My wife will I ask
what she has to say,
and I am aghast
that we get into some fray
between us both,
for she is very touchy,
for little often angry.
If anything wrong be,
soon she is wrathful.{ Lord, homward will I hast
As fast as that I may.
My wife will I frast
What she will say,
And I am agast
That we get som fray
Betwixt us both,
For she is full tethee,
For litill oft angré;
If anythyng wrang be
Soyne is she wroth. }[5]
Noah submissively addressed his wife. She in response disparaged him and complained about him:
Noah: May God assist you, dear wife,
how fare you?Wife: Now as ever I thrive
worse for seeing you.
Tell me, right now,
where have you so long been?
To death we may be driven
or to life, for you
couldn’t care less.
While I sweat or toil,
you do what you think,
yet of meat and of drink
have we very scant.{ Noah: God spede, dere wife,
How fayre ye?Wife: Now as ever myght I thryfe
The wars I thee see.
Do tell me, belife,
Where has thou thus long be?
To dede may we dryfe
Or lif, for thee,
For want.
When we swete or swynk
Thou dos what thou thynk,
Yit of mete and of drynk
Have we veray skant. }
Noah noted the increase in taxes. But Noah’s wife blamed everything on him and men in general:
Noah: Wife, we are hard beset
with taxes new.Wife: But you are worthy to be clad
in bruises black and blue.
For you are always afraid,
be it false or true.
So God knows I am led,
and that do I rue
very badly.
For I risk being bound to you
even until tomorrow.
You speak forever of sorrow —
God send you at once that fill.
(to the playgoers)
We women must be wary
of all bad husbands.
I have one, by Mary,
who deprived me of postpartum rest.
If he pesters, I slow-pedal,
irrespective of his erection,
with dissembling saying sorry,
wringing both my hands
for dread.
Yet it’s otherwise,
for with game and guile
I shall smite and smile
and requite him his deserts.{ Noah: Wife, we ar hard sted
With tythyngys new.Wife: Bot thou were worthi be cled
In Stafford blew,
For thou art alway adred,
Be it fals or trew.
Bot God knowes I am led,
And that may I rew,
Full ill.
For I dar be thi borow
From even unto morow;
Thou spekys ever of sorow —
God send thee onys thi fill.
We women may wary
All ill husbandys.
I have oone, bi Mary,
That lowsyd me of my bandys.
If he teyn I must tary,
Howsoever it standys,
With seymland full sory,
Wryngand both my handys
For drede;
Bot yit otherwhile,
What with gam and with gyle,
I shall smyte and smyle
And qwite hym his mede. }
Noah’s wife talks here of her husband being physically abused, chides him for being afraid, denies his sorrows and prays that he be afflicted with them, and speaks of deceptively depriving her husband of sex. She later told him that she wishes he were dead and said that other women feel the same way about their husbands:
Lord, I would be at ease
and heartily fully whole
when I would be receiving
a widow’s dole.
(to Noah)
For your soul, without lamenting,
I would give a penny’s bail.
So would more, no doubt,
that I see in this place —
the wives that are here.
For the life that they lead,
they wish their husbands were dead.
For as sure as I eat bread,
so do I wish my sir were.{ Lord, I were at ese
And hertely full hoylle,
Might I onys have a measse
Of wedows coyll.
For thi saull, without lese,
Shuld I dele penny doyll.
So wold mo, no frese,
That I se on this sole
Of wifys that ar here,
For the life that thay leyd,
Wold thare husbandys were dede;
For as ever ete I brede,
So wold I oure syre were. }
In the relatively enlightened medieval period, women were recognized to be highly talkative and very socially sophisticated. Most medieval peasants surely would have regarded as risible that modern academic banality — anti-meninist claims about “silencing women.” The medieval Noah called his wife “ram shit {ramskyt}” for her verbal abuse of him.
Noah’s wife also physically abused her husband. In the York medieval biblical plays, she refused to believe what Noah said about the incipient, massive flood:
Now, Noah, in faith, your wits are waste.
This fare no longer will I hear. It’s in vain.
You are nearly insane. I am aghast.
Farewell. I will go home again.{ Now, Noye, in faythe thee fonnes full faste.
This fare wille I no lenger frayne;
Thou arte nere woode, I am agaste.
Farewele, I wille go home agayne. }[6]
When Noah told his wife about all the work he had done to build an ark to save his family, Noah’s wife complained that he hadn’t told her sooner about that long, arduous labor. She then physically assaulted him:
Wife: Noah, you might have let me know of it.
Early and late there you went out,
and I — at home you let me sit.
You were nowhere to see properly about.Noah: Lady, you should hold me excused of it.
It was God’s will, without doubt.Wife: What, you wish for that to go free?
Nay, by my truth, you’re getting a clout.{ Uxor: Noye, thou myght have leteyn me wete.
Erly and late thou wente theroutte
And ay at home thou lete me sytte
To loke that nowhere were wele aboutte.Noe: Dame, thou holde me excused of itt;
It was Goddis wille, withowten doutte.Uxor: What, wenys thou so for to go qwitte?
Nay, be my trouthe, thou getis a clowte. }
Noah’s wife struck her husband because he followed God’s commands. The Qur’an with good reason called Noah’s wife a disbeliever. She apparently regarded her will as superior to God’s will:
Noah: I beg you, lady, be quiet.
Thus God would have it done.Wife: You should have sought to know my will —
if I would assent, not going until.
And Noah, for that same lack of skill,
this bargain shall costly come.{ Noe: I pray thee, dame, be stille.
Thus God wolde have it wrought.Uxor: Thow shulde have witte my wille
Yf I wolde sente thertille,
And Noye, for that same skylle,
This bargan sall be bought. }
In the Chester biblical plays, Noah’s wife whacked her husband after he welcomed her into the ark:
Noah: Welcome, wife, into this boat.
Wife: Have you that for your mark of shame!
(she hits him)Noah: Aha, by Mary, she is violent.
Yet it’s good to be alive still.{ Noe: Welcome, wyffe, into this boote.
Noe’s wyffe: Have thou that for thy note!
Noe: Aha, marye, this ys hotte;
yt is good for to be still. }[7]
In the Towneley biblical plays, after his wife had struck him twice, Noah acknowledged her power and sought to keep peace through love:
You can both bite and whine
with a roar.
(to the playgoers)
For all that she strikes,
yet fast she will shriek.
In faith I perceive no woman like her
in all middle earth.
But I will maintain for her love,
for I have work to do.{ Thou can both byte and whyne
With a rerd.
For all if she stryke,
Yit fast will she skryke.
In fayth I hold none slyke
In all medill erd.
Bot I will kepe charyté
For I have at do. }[8]
Noah was a battered husband. Battered wives have in effect legal license to kill their husbands. Yet only in the Towneley biblical plays did Noah strike his wife. Gynocentric society and men themselves have long ignored and excused women’s domestic violence against men.
Noah’s wife dominated her husband. In the serious, mutual domestic violence that the Towneley play depicts, Noah’s wife finished on top:
See how she can groan,
yet I lie under her.
Now wife,
in haste let us go,
for my back is nearly broken in two.{ Se how she can grone
And I lig under.
Bot wife,
In this hast let us ho,
For my bak is nere in two. }
In the Chester play, Noah explicitly confesses that his wife rules over him:
Lord, oh that women are crabby, aye,
and none are meek, I dare well say.
That is well seen by me today,
in witness of you, each one.
Good wife, let rest all this noisy despair
that you make in this place here,
for they all believe that you are my master —
and so you are, by saint John.{ Lord, that weomen bine crabbed aye,
and non are meeke, I dare well saye.
That is well seene by mee todaye
in witnesse of you eychone.
Good wiffe, lett be all this beare
that thou makest in this place here,
for all the weene that thou arte mastere-
and soe thou arte, by sayncte John. }[9]
Noah’s wife insisted that Noah take on the ark all her female friends:
Yes, sir, set up your sail
and row forth with evil luck,
for without any fail
I will not leave this town
until I have with me my friends, each one —
one foot further from them I will not be gone.
They shall not drown, by saint John,
and I may save their life.
They loved me full well, by Christ.
But you will let them onto your ship,
or else row forth, Noah, when you wish
and get yourself a new wife.{ Yea, syr, sett up your seale
and rowe forthe with evell hayle;
for withowten any fayle
I will not owt of this towne.
But I have my gossips everyechone,
one foote further I will not gone.
They shall not drowne, by sayncte John,
and I may save there life.
The loved me full well, by Christe.
But thou wilte lett them into thy chiste,
elles rowe forthe, Noe, when thy liste
and gett thee a newe wyfe. }
In a characteristic act of gender exclusion, Noah’s wife showed no concern for her husband’s friends. His friends could all drown, as far as she was concerned. But she and her friends insisted that the ark wait for them while they enjoyed a drink:
The flood comes flowing in full fast,
on every side it spreads full far.
For fear of drowning I am aghast;
good friends, let us drawn near.
And let us drink before we depart,
for oftentimes we have done so.
For at one draft you drink a quart,
and so will I do before I go.
Here’s a tankard full of sweet wine, good and strong.
It will rejoice both heart and tongue.
Though Noah think us delayed ever so long,
yet we will be drinking quickly.{ The fludd comes fleetinge in full faste,
one everye syde that spredeth full farre.
For fere of drowninge I am agaste;
good gossippe, lett us drawe nere.
And lett us drinke or wee departe,
for oftetymes wee have done soe.
For at one draught thou drinke a quarte,
and soe will I doe or I goe.
Here is a pottell full of malnesaye good and stronge;
yt will rejoyse both harte and tonge.
Though Noe thinke us never soe longe,
yett wee wyll drinke atyte. }
Men have not only tolerated but supported women’s privileges for far too long. That must end. Gender equality requires that women not be on top of men, that women not rule over men, and that women not have the privilege to control when the ark will depart.[10]
Medieval biblical plays reached a large audience of ordinary folk. Not benighted with learned gender bigotry, these ordinary medieval folk had common sense of the difficulties in women and men’s relationships. Today leading institutions and authorities, along their masses of faithful adherents, disseminate grotesque, enormously damaging gender lies. Pondering the behavior of Noah’s wife in medieval biblical plays is a way to perceive the truth apart from today’s dominant, all-encompassing myths.
* * * * *
Read more:
- domestic violence in fabliaux and farce: medieval and modern
- Wife of Bath, criminal justice & men’s subordination to women
- did Lot support daughters who raped him? Cena Cypriani rewritten
Notes:
[1] Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion {Πανάριον} 26.1.7-8, ancient Greek text from Holl (1915), English translation (with minor changes for ease of reading) from Williams (2009) p. 91. Epiphanius wrote his Panarion about 375 GC. A sixteenth-century Latin translation of the Panarion gave it the name Against Heresies {Adversus Haereses}. William’s translation has the putative name of Noah’s wife as Noria. That’s equivalent to the more common form Norea. On Noah and his wife in Gnosticism, Minov (2010).
Many different names have been reported for Noah’s wife. Epiphanius states that the name of Noah’s wife was actually Barthenos. Panarion 26.1.6. Early Christian and Islamic sources name Noah’s wife as Haykêl (or Haikal). She was the daughter of Namûs (or Namousa), who in turn was the daughter of Enoch. The Genesis Rabba midrash calls Noah’s wife Naamah, the daughter of Lamech in the line of Cain. She was the sister of Tubal-cain. Medieval Jewish authorities echo the name Naamah for Noah’s wife. Underscoring her importance to academic scholarship, one scholar cataloged 103 names attributed to Noah’s wife. Utley (1941). The many different names used for Noah’s wife may indicate the universality and importance of her character as a woman.
Philistion apparently was a pioneering producer of mime shows. Martial refers to the “mimes of funny Philistion {mimi ridiculi Philistionis}.” Martial, Epigrams 2.41.15. In the sixth century, Cassiodorus wrote:
Moreover, the mime, who is now only considered with derision, was devised with such great care by Philistion that his performance was set down in writing, to the extent that by trivial thoughts it would calm a world seething with consuming cares.
{ Mimus etiam, qui nunc tantummodo derisui habetur, tanta Philistionis cautela repertus est, ut eius actus poneretur in litteris, quatenus mundum curis edacibus aestuantem laetissimis sententiis temperaret. }
Cassiodorus, Variae epistolae 4.51.10, Latin text via the Latin Library, English translation from Bjornlie (2019).
Noah spent many years building the ark. Williams noted:
The building of the ark requires 100 years at Apocalypse of Paul 50 (H-R II p. 740); 300 at Ginza 409,4-5; 120 at Genesis Rabbah 30.7.
Williams (2009) p. 91, n. 10. According to the York Corpus Christi Plays 9.133, Noah spent 100 years building the ark. Davidson (2011).
[2] Qur’an, Surah 66, Al Taḥrīm {ٱلتَّحْرِيم} v. 10. For an English translation, Ali (2007). Ali describes this surah as being about “how far the turning away from sex or the opposition of one sex against another or a want of harmony between the sexes may injure the higher interests of society.” Id. p. 1489. Prior to recent decades, Noah’s wife was regarded as a bad woman:
She was a very wicked woman, intimately concerned with man’s misery. Like Eve and Delilah and Lot’s Wife she betrayed her husband to the devil or to his instruments on earth. It was through her legendary self that the devil learned that Noah was building the Ark and hindered him, and also with her help that Satan entered the Ark and gnawed a hole in the bottom.
Utley (1941) p. 450. For a review of relevant folklore, Mill (1941).
[3] Genesis 6:1-4 (generation of demigods), Genesis 6:9, 9:20 (Noah’s character and occupation); Genesis 6:18 (God’s command to Noah to save his wife’s life, as well of those of his three sons and daughters-in-law). Demigods such as Hercules were a feature of traditional Greco-Roman religion. Early rabbinic writings disparaged Noah for his drunkenness and failure to produce more children after the flood. However, the sixth-century Jewish poet Yannai credited Noah was having postdiluvian sex with his wife. Lieber (2009) pp. 345-52. Given reports of the appalling behavior of Noah’s wife in the face of the catastrophic flood, Noah surely would been blameless for a maintaining a separate bedroom from his wife after the flood. On the other hand, honoring his marital obligation to his wife underscores Noah’s righteousness. Ancient accounts give Noah a full, varied character like that of many ordinary righteous men throughout history. Lieber (2009).
The third-century Jewish sage Rav argued that Ham castrated Noah when Noah was drunk and uncovered in his tent. Babylonian Talmud, San 70a; see Goldenberg (2005). Castration is a significant element of ancient Greek theogony. Incorporating castration into the genesis of the mortal world would help to explain castration culture. Irrespective of the correctness of sage Rav’s interpretation, it should be recognized as culturally perceptive and wise-thinking.
The Genesis account of the flood doesn’t mention the personal name of Noah’s wife. If she was Tubal-cain’s sister Naamah (Genesis 4:22), then she was a descendant of the brother-killing Cain. That’s consistent with her being an ungrateful, spiteful, and vicious woman. Yet Genesis clearly states that God commanded Noah to save his wife’s life. God’s ways are not men’s ways. To mere mortals, God’s will can seem inscrutable. Perhaps God saved Noah’s wife to prevent knowledgeable, pious women from swelling with gender-supremacist pride: the future is female! Here’s an alternate analysis of why Noah’s wife wasn’t named.
Recent interpretations of the biblical flood and the saving ark have favored focusing on Noah’s wife. Consider, for example, Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso’s book:
From award-winning author Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, a new story which lights our spiritual imaginations.
When God tells Noah to bring the animals of the world onto the ark, God also calls on Naamah, Noah’s wife, to save each plant on Earth.
Entrusted with this task, Naamah sets off to every corner of the world, discovering a fabulous array of growing things, and gathering seeds, bulbs, cuttings, spores, and roots. She fills a room on the ark with every type of plant–from amaryllis, soybeans, and wheat to lilies, moss, and even dandelions. Then, after 40 long days and nights on the ark, the most important part of Naamah’s work begins.
In this new story, based on an ancient text, Naamah’s wisdom and love for the natural harmony of the earth inspires us to use our own courage, creativity, and faith to carry out Naamah’s work today.
Amazon blurb for Sasso (1996). Sasso’s myth, which serves to buttress dominant gynocentric ideology, was “endorsed by Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish religious leaders.” Publisher’s Weekly selected this book to be among “Best Books of the Year” in 1996.
[4] A large body of feminist scholarship has sought to teach students that Noah’s wife represents a marginalized, justice-promoting, praiseworthy, unruly woman of herstory. See, e.g. studies discussed in Normington (2001) and Normington (2013).
From a sophisticated medieval perspective, Noah’s shrewish wife may be understood as the corrupted gynocentric church, the bride of Christ abusing her husband. Edminster (2005), Ch. 4. Ordinary medieval men probably understood Noah’s wife in relation to medieval men’s sexed protests. Too few students today have been exposed to these important views. Deeply entrenched hostility to meninist literary interpretation has biased current scholarship and teaching. All literary authorities must take immediate, dramatic affirmative action to make medieval literary studies inclusive and welcoming of meninist voices.
[5] Towneley Plays, Noah, beginning “Proceeding, Noah with his sons. Wakefield {Processus Noe cum filiis. Wakefeld}.” vv. 265-73, Middle English text from Epp (2018), my English modernization, benefiting from those of Rose (1961) and Fox & Hill (2005). Harvard’s Geoffrey Chaucer Website provides a text apparently based on that of Pollard (1898).
The Towneley Plays refer to the plays contained in Huntington MS HM 1. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Towneley family of Towneley Hall near Burnley, Lancashire, owned that manuscript. It’s earlier history isn’t known, but it was probably written in the mid-sixteenth century. The Towneley plays themselves probably date from roughly the fourteenth century. These plays draw on perceptions of Noah’s wife existing more than a millennium earlier.
Because of references within the manuscript to Wakefield, the Towneley Plays have been called the Wakefield Mystery Plays. Certain of the plays include a distinctive stanzaic rhyme form. Those plays have been associated with an author called the “Wakefield Master.” Epp (2018), Introduction, argues the connection to Wakefield and the attribution to a “Wakefield Master” aren’t credible.
Subsequent quotes from the Towneley Noah play are similarly sourced. The next three quotes are Towneley Noah play vv. 274-86 (May God assist you…), 287-312 (Wife, we are hard beset…), 560-72 (Lord, I would be at ease…).
[6] York Corpus Christi Plays, 9. The Flood, vv. 89-92, Middle English text from Davidson (2011), my modernized English, benefiting from that of Scoville & Yates (2003). The plays survive in London, British Library, MS. Add. 35290, written mainly about 1463 to 1477. The plays themselves were performed from no later than 1374 through 1579, when they were suppressed. See id., Introduction.
Subsequent quotes from the York Noah play are similarly sourced. The next two quotes are York Noah play vv. 113-20 (Noah, you might have let me know…) and 121-6 (I beg you, lady, be quiet…).
[7] Chester Mystery Cycle 3, Noah’s Flood (originally performed by the Waterleaders & Drawers of Dee) vv. 245-8, Middle English text from NeCastro (2018), my modernized English, benefiting from those of Rhys (1909) and Johnston (2010). Mills (1992) is the most scholarly modernization. Subsequent quotes from the Chester Noah play are similarly sourced.
[8] Towneley Noah Play, vv. 333-40. The subsequent quote is id. vv. 592-6 (See how she can groan…).
[9] Chester Noah play vv. 105-112. The subsequent two quotes are id. vv. 197-208 (Yes, sir, set up your sail…) and 225-36 (The flood comes flowing in full fast…). The Chester Noah play characterizes the self-indulgence of Noah’s wife in part through her choice of animals to bring into the ark. Kiser (2011) pp. 26-30.
[10] Geoffrey Chaucer, who apparently wrote mainly for women of the English royal court, imagined the solution to Noah’s difficulties was for him to build another whole ark just for his wife:
“Have you not heard,” said Nicholas, “also
of the sorrow of Noah with his companionship,
before he could get his wife onto the ship?
He would rather, I dare well venture,
than at that time to have all his black gelded rams,
better that she had had a ship for herself alone.”{ “Hastou nat herd,” quod Nicholas, “also
The sorwe of Noe with his felaweshipe,
Er that he myghte gete his wyf to shipe?
Hym hadde be levere, I dar wel undertake,
At thilke tyme, than alle his wetheres blake
That she hadde had a ship hirself allone.” }
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, The Miller’s Tale, vv. 3538-43, Middle English text from the Harvard Chaucer website, my modernized English. Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales between 1392 and 1395. Chaucer here not only seeks to burden Noah with a huge amount of additional work, but also suggests that Noah was a fool. Gelded rams would not have been able to be fruitful and multiply after the flood had receded.
[images] (1) Noah’s ark amid the waters of the flood. Painting (cropped slightly; color enhanced) attributed to Miskin. Painted in Mughal dynasty, Reign of Akbar, c. 1590. Preserved as accession # F1948.8 in the Freer Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, USA). (2) Noah attempting to pull his wife into the ark and save her life. She has a devil on her back. Illumination (excerpt) from the Ramsey Abbey Psalter, made in England, East Anglia or London, c. 1300-1310. On folio 1v of the Morgan Library MS M. 302 (New York, USA). Concerning this illumination, Bennett (1982). (3) Chester Noah Play performed by the Liverpool University Players at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, England, on May 4, 2013. Via YouTube video.
References:
Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. 2007. The Meaning of the Holy Quran: complete translation with selected notes. Al Ain, United Arab Emirates: Zayed House for Islamic Culture.
Bennett, Adelaide. 1982. “Noah’s Recalcitrant Wife in the Ramsey Abbey Psalter.” Notes in the History of Art. 2 (1): 2-5.
Bjornlie, Michael Shane. 2019. Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus. The Variae: the complete translation. Oakland, California: University of California Press.
Davidson, Clifford. 2011. The York Corpus Christi Plays. Kalamazoo, Mich: Published for TEAMS (the Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages) in association with the University of Rochester by Medieval Institute Publications.
Deimling, Hermann, ed. 1892. The Chester Plays. London: Published for the Early English Text Society by K. Paul, Trench, Trübner.
Edminster, Warren. 2005. The Preaching Fox: festive subversion in the plays of the Wakefield Master. New York: Routledge.
Epp, Garrett, ed. 2018. The Towneley Plays. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications.
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