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Economic Problems

While disorders due to morris dancing largely escape moralists’ scrutiny, those due to unchoreographed dancing do not. Dancing in churchyards, at church ales, and at wakes and weddings was decried as immoral and irreverent, as will be explored further below. But before doing so, some notice of a surprising assertion of moralists must be paid. As Pennino-Baskerville notes, antidance treatise writers claimed that dancing led to economic difficulties.  Fetherstone, for example, asserts that employers suffered economically because their servants were so exhausted by dancing; if “masters were to consider the losses they incur through their servants’ dancing, they would pay the minstrels to hold their peace faster than their dancing servants can pay them to pipe.” [35] Yet there is little evidence in the REED collections to support this claim. There is the occasional injunction against apprentices or students dancing, but these do not refer to economic concerns. The 1554 “Acte Conceryng the Apperell and behauoure of Apprentices” in the Newcastle upon Tyne Merchant Adventurers' Book of Orders demands, “from hensforth no brother therof shall permyt or suffer his Apprentice; to daunce; dyce; carde; or Mumme.” [36] Dance is considered frivolous, distracting, even demoralising, but no mention is made of dancing impairing the ability to work or learn.

Conversely, the economic benefits derived from dancing are abundantly clear. Many parish churches owned morris dance coats and bells, which they rented out to morris dancers. [37] In the St Columba the Virgin Churchwardens' Accounts, five to seven morris coats and twenty to twenty-four morris bells are listed under Parish Goods between 1584-1596. [38] This provided income for the church, and enabled dancers to perform in much more elaborate and expensive costumes than they might otherwise be able to afford. Morris costume rental or similar services might explain what is described as “daunsyng mony,” as in the Receipts entry for the St Ewen Church Book, “Item of Rychard Bransby of ρe daunsyng mony of his tyme & dauid Englond beyng procuratorz of ρe churche   ij s. iiij d,” [39] or it is possible that this refers to money collected by dancers at a church ale or other fundraiser. In Plymouth dancing money helped pay for repairs to the church steeple. [40] In short, not only do archival records fail to support antidance writers’ claims that dancing was economically detrimental, they actually indicate that dancing was a good way for institutions and individuals to raise money.

Footnotes