Medieval Liturgical Space vs. Staging. The Choir Screen of the Cathedral of Laon and the Public Exorcism of Nicole Obry

En 1566, el exorcismo de la joven Nicole Obry fue utilizado por el catolicismo francés como argumento de debate en contra de la crítica reformista de los hugonotes al culto a la Eucaristía y a los Santos. A tal fin, el caso de posesión se difundió como un milagro eucarístico, para el que se redactaron varios textos y se diseñaron dos grabados. En uno de éstos, se representó sintéticamente la larga ceremonia del exorcismo llevado a cabo en la catedral de Laon, sobre un tablado elevado en el antecoro de la catedral. Este artículo trata sobre las implicaciones arquitectónicas y litúrgicas del grabado en nuestra comprensión de la catedral medieval, frente a su consideración como fuente para la historia del teatro.In 1566, the exorcism of the young Nicole Obry was used by the French Catholicism as argument of debate against the reformist critic to the cult to the Eucharist and the Saints. To this end, this case of diabolic possession became a Eucharistic miracle, for which several texts were written and two engravings were designed. In both engravings, there were represented the long ceremony of the exorcism carried out in the cathedral of Laon, but in the second one they draw a synthetically represented image of the whole process, over a scaffold next to the quire-screen of the cathedral. This article deals with the architectural and liturgical implications of this second engraving in our understanding of the medieval cathedral, as opposed to its consideration as a source for the history of theater