THE HARROWING OF HELL IN LITURGICAL DRAMA. 
KARL YOUNG 
University of Wisconsin. 
The place of the story of the Harrowing of Hell in mediaeval 
literature in general 1 2 and in mediaeval vernacular drama in 
particular 3 * * * * 8 has been comprehensively reviewed, and in many 
details exhaustively investigated. So far as mediaeval vernacu¬ 
lar drama is concerned, the attention to this theme has followed 
inevitably upon the widespread diffusion of the Harrowing of 
Hell story in mediaeval dramatic cycles. However, except for 
a few scattered references and a few printed texts, the place of 
this story in the liturgical drama that underlies the principal 
vernacular developments has not yet been expounded . 3 In the 
1 See R. P. Wulcker, Das Evangelium Nieodemi in der abendldndischen 
Literatur, Paderborn, 1872; J. Monnier, La Descente aux Enfers, Paris, 
1905; W. H. Hulme, The Middle-English Harrowing of Hell and Gospel 
of Nicodemus, London, 1908, pp. lx-lxx; E. K. Rand, Sermo de 
Confusione Diaboli, in Modern Philology, Vol. II (1904), pp. 266-267. 
2 See Monnier, pp. 211-245; Wulcker, pp. 60-95; W. Creizenach, Ge- 
schichte des Neueren Dramas, Vol. I. Halle, 1893, pp. 108-361 passim; 
E. K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage, Oxford, 1903, Vol. II, pp. 74-5; 
W. Meyer, Fragmenta Burana, Berlin, 1901, pp. 61-64, 98-104. A study 
of the place of the Harrowing of Hell theme in mediaeval drama is 
expected from the hand of Professor W. H. Hulme. See Hulme, op. 
cit., p. xxi, note 1. 
8 On the Harrowing of Hell in liturgical drama see Chambers, Vol. II, 
p. 20; Meyer, pp. 62-64; Creizenach, Vol. I, pp. 55-56; G. Milchsack, 
Die lateinischen Osterfeiern, Wolfenbiittel, 1880, pp. 126-131; 135-136. 
These writers have used the following printed sources: (1) Or do 
Augustensis, 1487, printed by Milchsack, pp. 127-129 (cf. F. A. 
Hoeynck, Geschichte der kirchlichen Liturgie des Bisthums Augsburg, 
Augsburg, 1889, pp. 220-221); (2) Ordo Wirceburgensis, 1564, printed 
by Milchsack, p. 135; (3) Bamberg Agenda, 1587, printed in Zeit - 
