Around 1440, literary guilds called "rederijkerskamers" ("Chambers of Rhetoric") arose. These guilds, whose members called themselves "Rederijkers" or "Rhetoricians", were in almost all cases middle-class in tone, and opposed to aristocratic ideas and tendencies in thought. Of these chambers, the earliest were almost entirely engaged in preparing mysteries and miracle plays for the people. Soon their influence grew until no festival or procession could take place in a town unless the Chamber patronized it. The Chambers' plays very rarely dealt with historical or even Biblical personages, but entirely with allegorical and moral abstractions and were didactic in nature. The most notable examples of Rederijker theatre include "Mariken van Nieumeghen" ("Mary of Nijmegen") and "Elckerlijc" (which was translated into English as "Everyman").