392 THE GERMAN PASSION-PLA Y 



followed in the greater passion-plays by German trans- 

 lations and expansions, but their presence suffices to 

 indicate that the ultimate source of the scene is to be 

 found in Church ritual. 1 



The Descent into Hell follows instead of precedes 

 the Kesurrection, probably to avoid the difficulty of the 

 return to the sepulchre. This hell-scene usually opens 

 with growing excitement among the patriarchs and pro- 

 phets. They feel sure something is going to happen but 

 do not know what. 2 Lucifer is much alarmed at their 

 restlessness, and by the failure of Satan to bring back 

 Christ's soul (p. 388). Happa or Puck 3 announces the 

 approach of a ' Wildenaere,' who ' looks as if the world 

 belonged to him.' Satan demands who this man in a 

 red coat 4 may be. Lucifer screams with fear. The 

 bolts of hell-gate are drawn ; the devils hasten to fetch 

 their fire-forks, and on every side diabolic rage and con- 

 sternation is depicted mingled with the broadest farce. 

 As in the Church ritual 5 (see p. 296), the angels sing 

 Tollite portas, etc., and Lucifer replies with the cor- 

 responding Quis est iste rex gloriae ? The gate of hell 

 is burst open, and the utmost confusion prevails as the 



1 Compare the rituals of the Elevatio crucis given (G, pp. 123, 135) with I, 

 p. 139 ; A, p. 114 ; and F, p. 282. 



2 Gospel of Nicodemus, chap. xiv. et seq. Compare The Devil's Parliament, 

 Furnival, Hymns to Virgin and Christ, E.E.T.S., p. 49. 



3 In the Townley Mysteries, Extractio Animarum, this demon is called 

 Rybald. 



4 The robe of the resurrection was always red (e.g. S, p. 152). Compare for 

 example the thirteenth-century Descent into Hell in the Cologne Gallery (No. 

 38), and the painted woodcuts of the Schatzbehalter, 1491, Fig. 78. 



5 There are traces of this ritual in the resurrection-play printed by Jubinal, 

 Mysteres inecLits, vol. ii. pp. 332 et seq. Here, instead of the Jesu nostra re- 

 demptio, the Veni Creator spiritus is sung by the departing patriarchs. See also 

 Townley Mysteries, p. 246, for the Attolite portas, etc. 



