The hypothesis that the English Corpus Christi cycle plays evolved in some manner from the Corpus Christi procession is a popular and persistent one, despite Hardin Craig's assertion that it is in all probability false.1 The York plays have figured prominently in this controversy at least twice. Pierson states that there is a possible example of spoken drama in the Corpus Christi procession at York, while Spencer maintains that the York guilds marched behind the Host in the procession (rather than in the more usual position preceding it) so that they might more easily act their plays without disrupting the procession.2 Both scholars, however, apparently overlooked evidence from the York civic records that renders highly improbable the evolution of the Corpus Christi plays from the Corpus Christi procession at York. If the plays did evolve from the procession at York, then logically the route followed by the plays must have been one and the same with that followed by the procession. In fact, however, the two routes are clearly distinct. Consider the following excerpts from the York civic records :3