Chester's economy had grown steadily from 1550 to c. 1600, not least because in the early 1580s and later 1590s the passage of troops bound for Ireland created more demand for goods and services: although recovery from the plagues of 1603-5 was hampered by national economic difficulties and by recurrent, though limited, local epidemics. Henry was seen as "the coming man", yet his father was still young enough that he could be expected to be Earl of Chester for some years. Undoubtedly one object of the Triumph of 1610 was to gain the attention, and hence the favour, of Prince Henry. But favour for whom? - Lucian the Monk would have seen the City as a mere extension of the Abbey: Bradshaw's Life of Werburgh tries to hang on to the central position through superstition - but both have been undermined by the Norman Earls and eventually the Reformation. The Chester Mystery Plays become a reflection of the appropriation of the ritualistic function of the Abbey by the lay community. "Chester's Triumph" is an expression of both the civic urge to further subsume the church's governance in the name of "Rome" and also an expression of the internal conflict over who governs in the name of the Prince. Perhaps the author of the play saw a continuing shift, first with rebellion against "Rome" and then with rebellion against a London elite. Chambers misquotes the original work when he repeats the speech of Mercury - in the work he is "Joves dearest darling". The next 'Heale thee, blessed full borne (child), Loe, sonne, I bring thee a flaggette, Theirby heinges a spoune, To eate thy pottage with all at noune.' There was never any general ban on the bible during the "middle ages". Production of Wycliffite Bibles would be officially banned in England at the Oxford Synod (1407) in the face of Lollard anticlerical sentiment, but the ban was not strictly enforced and since owning earlier copies was not illegal, books made after the ban were often simply inscribed with a date prior to 1409 to avoid seizure. John Wycliffe (c.1320s – 31 December 1384) does not actually condemn the (York) plays, but rather uses their existence as a justification for the translation of what is now known as " Wycliffe's Bible" (1382 to 1395) into English.

One of the carvings at the Town Hall showing buskers and beggars marching (thirty miles) to the aid of Ranulf de Blondeville against the Welsh. From his viewpoint Chambers' does not appear to fully appreciate the subtle interactions between the parts of history he recites. He fails to interpret that some local traditions echo Roman-British, Mercian, Palatinate and then Civic identities, often featuring a "local" saviour, be that a "local" Emperor, Warrior Queen, Earl or Civic hierarchy. Cohen, Esther (February 1986). "Law, Folklore and Animal Lore". Past & Present. 110: 6–37. doi: 10.1093/past/110.1.6– via Oxford Academic. Signage at St Peter's in Chester states that it remained a guild church even after the Fraternity of St George was dissolved. In Oxford, May Day morning is celebrated from the top of Magdalen College Tower by the singing of a Latin hymn, or carol, of thanksgiving. After this the college bells signal the start of the Morris Dancing in the streets below.

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Paid for five sheepskins for god’s coat and for making . . . three shillings. Paid for John Croo for mending of Herod’s head (vizored mask) and a mitre and other things . . . two shillings. Paid to Wattis for dressing of the devil’s head . . . eight pence. Paid for mending Pilate’s hat . . . four pence. The Statute of Henry VIII of 1511-12 required that "All Men under the Age of Forty Years shall have Bows and Arrows, and use Shooting; certain Persons excepted".

Chambers' section on Werburgh is essentially free of errors and omits unlikely miracles. He does repeat the story of Werbode the "perverse heathen" who brought about the death of Werburgh's brothers. Adding some speculation this could be a vague reference to a situation where Werbode (if he even existed) saw an opportunity to become ruler himself, by disposing of the older heirs and marrying Weburgh (her surviving brother being too young to rule). The city was indeed the seat of Hugh of Avranches. The sword does not appear to be on public display at the British Museum.Weburgh is first recorded as a daughter in a late 11th Century manuscript Liber Eliensis: "a history of the Isle of Ely from the seventh century to the twelfth". It was written to help buttress the claims of Ely to a judicial liberty, or the exercise of all the royal rights within a hundred. To do this, the Liber collected together earlier sources used to help the abbey evade episcopal control, prior to the abbey becoming a bishopric. These documents may have been forged or had their contents doctored to help the abbey's cause. Because of the tendentious nature of the collection, the work is used by historians with great caution. Chambers' omits to note that the "Ale-wife" who has given false measure, does not get released from Hell - presumably this was because her "sin" was seem as too great for any redemption. She was undoubtedly a great hit with the crowd as she took part, with the devil, in the Midsummer Show. St Chad of Mercia (died 2 March 672) was a prominent 7th century Anglo-Saxon churchman, who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonised as a saint. He was the brother of Cedd, also a saint. He features strongly in the work of the Venerable Bede (who is the major source for his actual existence) and is credited, together with Cedd, with introducing Christianity to the Mercian kingdom. According to tradition, Wulfhad and Rufinus were led to Chad (and conversion) by a white hart. Tales of people being led to a religious location by a white hart (especially while hunting) are fairly commonplace and Chambers notes that the legend is inconsistent. A chapel of St Chad once existed in Chester. Chester was endowed by Hugo with two yearly fairs, at Midsummer and Michaelmas, on which occasions criminals had free shelter in it for a month, as indicated by a glove hung out at St. Peter's Church, — for gloves were a manufacture at Chester. It was on these occasions that the celebrated Chester mysteries, or scriptural plays, were performed. William Lawes, who possibly wrote the music for the first ever entrance of a carrot into a theatrical performance, and was later killed at Chester during the Civil War.