A Satire of the Three Estates

The 1540 interlude was performed in the hall of Linlithgow Palace

The 1931 edition of Lindsay's works by Douglas Hamer hypothesized different forms of the play.[3] The critic John MacQueen proposed the play might have been composed by Lindsay as early as 1532 for the court of the young James V of Scotland.[4] An early form of the play is recorded in the royal treasurer's accounts and an English agent's report to Thomas Cromwell.[5] This short play or 'interlude' performed in January 1540 used characters who later appeared in the Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, and had the same themes.[6]

A letter written by the Englishman William Eure to Thomas Cromwell on 26 January 1540 gives a description of the interlude.[7] Eure, a Border Warden and Privy Councillor, had spoken to Sir Thomas Bellenden at Coldstream, who described the performance at Linlithgow Palace before James, his wife Mary of Guise and his bishops and council on the feast of the Epiphany. As the play turned on the Reformation of the church, Eure obtained a more detailed description from a Scottish contact who saw the play at Linlithgow, and enclosed in his letter the synopsis written by his spy .[8] This description corresponds with the expanded later text of Lindsay's play. A king was shown with his courtiers, Placebo, Picthanke, and Flatterye. A Poor Man made his complaint, and was answered by a Burgess, a Man at Arms and a Bishop, who represented the three estates of the Parliament of Scotland. The Poor Man mentioned the real events of James V executing both John Armstrong (of Staplegordon; in ballads the Laird o'Gilnockie), hanged in July 1530, and 'Sym the Laird,' who was hanged in February 1536.[9] The role of the poor man was described in the spy's synopsis;

"After them come a poor Man, who did go up and down the scaffald, making a heavy complaint that he was harried (chased) through the Courtier's place, where through he hade strayled (lost) his house, his wife and children beggyng thair bread, and so of many thousand in Scotland, whiche would make the Kyng's Grace lose of men if his Grace stod neide (required), saying there was no remedy to be gotten, for though he would suite to the King's Grace, he was neither acquainted with Controller nor Treasurer, and without them might no man get no goodness of the King. And after, he spered (asked) for the King, and when he was shewed the Man that was King in the play, he answered and said he was no King, for there was but one King, which made all and governethe all, who is eternal, to whom he and all earthly Kings are but officers, of the which they must make reckoning. And so forth much more to that effect. And then he looked to the King, and said he was not the King of Scotland, for there was another King in Scotland that hanged John Armestrang with his fellowes, and Sym the Larde, and many other more, which had pacified the country, and stanched theft, but he had left one thing undone, which pertained as well to his charge as th'other. And when he was asked what that was, he made a long narration of the oppression of the poor, by the taking of the 'corse presaunte beists' (animals due as tithes at funerals), and of the harrying of poor men by Consistory law, and of many other abussions of the spiritualitie and Churche, with many long stories and authorities."[10]

Eure said he had talked with Bellenden, a member of the council of James V of Scotland about the possibility of a Reformation of the 'spirituality' in Scotland. The play at Linlithgow had shown the 'naughtiness' of the church. Bellenden said after the play the King spoke to the churchmen in the audience asking them to reform their factions and manner of living, otherwise he would send six of them into England to his uncle, Henry VIII.[11]

The performance at Cupar on 7 June 1552 was heralded by a short piece called the Cupar Banns announcing the play, presumably also written by Lindsay.[12] This has three sections of comic drama as a foretaste of the Satire; the Cotter and his wife, Bessy and the Auld Man, and Fynlaw of the Foot Band, introduced by the 'Nuncius' and linked by the Fool. The characters of the three parts are supposed to be members of the Satire's audience. The Banns with some stage directions are found only in the Bannatyne Manuscript.[13]

Some preparations for the Edinburgh performance on Sunday 14 August 1554 were made by the Burgh Council. William MacDowall with six carpenters built a stage of boards, a seat for Mary of Guise and the French ambassador Henri Cleutin, and a 'Convoy House', at the Greenside playfield, with the gallows, 'jebbettis,' used in the final scene.[14] The town council paid the wages of 12 minstrels, and after the play treated the actors to dinner.[15]

The printer Henry Charteris mentioned the Edinburgh performance in his introduction to Lindsay's Warkis (1568), saying how the clergy were surprised by the play and considered taking revenge. Charteris gave this summary of the Satire;

"In the play, playit beside Edinburgh, in the presence of the Quene Regent, and ane greit part of the nobilitie, with ane exceeding greit nowmber of pepill. lestand fra 9 houris afoir none till 6 houris at evin, quhair, amangis mony baith grave materis and merie trickis, he brocht in ane Bischop, ane Persone (Parson), ane Freir, and ane Nun, deckit up in their papisticall ornamentis and maner of raiment. And theirefter broicht in King Correction, quha reformand sindie deformities in his realme, passit to the tryall of the Clergie. And findand thame to be altogether Idiotis, unworthie of ony functioun ecclesiasticall, dicernit thame to be degradit of their dignateis, and spulzeit (deprived) of their offices, quhilk beand executit, thay war fund bot verray fulis, hypocrites, flatteris & nouchtie persones."[16]

The Bannatyne Manuscript contains only selected "merry interludes" from the 1554 Greenside performance, the copyist George Bannatyne omitted the "grave matter" because the church had been reformed in reality in the 1560 Scottish Reformation Parliament, and he noted, "the samyne abuse is weill reformit in Scotland." Stage directions in the Bannatyne Manuscript mention the settings of "houses", the "King's seat" and "palyeoun" tent, and props for the scene of the Poor Man and the Pardoner, "Heir thay feight togeddir and the puir man sall cast doun the burd and cast the rillickis in the watter."[17]