DANIEL, DANYEL. Daniel was the young prophet and reputed author of the book that bears his name. The stories about Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were supposed to have taken place during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the sixth century B.C. Porphyry, the Neoplatonist and biographer of Plotinus, proved in the third century A.D. that the events described in the book of Daniel really took place in the second century B.C., during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. Modern scholars agree with this assessment. The Play of Daniel, written in the twelfth century at Beauvais, was a magnificent liturgical drama and pageant.
The Man of Law asks rhetorically: "Who saved Daniel in the lion's cave?" MLT 475-476. The Monk narrates a tale of Daniel, MkT 2143-2166, in the story of Nabugodonosor; he says that the king commanded the castration of Daniel and his friends. This story appears in Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale II.cxxi. Chauntecleer bids Pertelote look well to Daniel to see if he thought dreams were vanity, NPT 3127-3129. Machaut tells the stories of Daniel's visions, of his interpretations of Nabugodonosor's dreams, and of Belshazzar's feast in Le Confort d'Ami, 335-1282. The tree in Nabugodonosor's dream is the tree of Penitence, ParsT 1225-1230. No man may trust in his own perfection unless he be holier than Daniel, ParsT 954-955. [Balthazar: Darius1: Nabugodonosor]
Daniel appears once initially, MkT 2166, twice in medial positions, MkT 2154, 2209, and once in final rhyming position, NPT 3128. Danyel, a spelling variant, appears once, MLT 473. Both forms appear in the Parson's prose tale.