Harrowing of Hell (drama)
Encyclopedia
The Harrowing of Hell is an eighth-century Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 piece in fifty-five lines found in the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...

 Book of Cerne
Book of Cerne
The Book of Cerne is a ninth century Anglo-Saxon prayer book. It was apparently made between 820 and 840 for Bishop Æthelwold of Lichfield . It is the only surviving illuminated manuscript that can be firmly attributed to the kingdom of Mercia...

 (folios 98v–99v). It is probably a Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...

n piece, written in prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

 and verse
Verse (poetry)
A verse is formally a single line in a metrical composition, e.g. poetry. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza....

, where the former serves either as a set of stage directions for a drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

tic portrayal or as a series of narrations for explaining the poetry.

Three voices appear in the work: those of Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...

, Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...

, and a narrator. The prose of the "narrator" appears in the Book of Cerne in red ink setting it off from the rest of the text. The prose portions are rhythmic and may therefore have been sung, even if they were primarily directorial. Besides the three main soloists, the piece was designed for a full choir (antiqui iusti). The piece may be either an early oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

 or the earliest surviving piece of Christian drama intended to be performed.

The Harrowing of Hell has two sources: a lost Latin homily
Homily
A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word...

, which survives in translation as the seventh of the Old English Blickling Homilies
Blickling homilies
The Blickling Homilies are the second largest collection of anonymous homilies written in Old English. The Blickling Homilies are written in prose and said to have been written down by possibly two different scribes before the end of the 10th century. This might be one of the oldest collection of...

, and a Roman
Roman Rite
The Roman Rite is the liturgical rite used in the Diocese of Rome in the Catholic Church. It is by far the most widespread of the Latin liturgical rites used within the Western or Latin autonomous particular Church, the particular Church that itself is also called the Latin Rite, and that is one of...

 psalter
Psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...

 also in the Book of Cerne. David Dumville (1972) provides a critical edition of the Latin text and Dronke (1994) provides some English translation.

The fifty-five lines recount how Jesus Christ descended into hell
Harrowing of Hell
The Harrowing of Hell is a doctrine in Christian theology referenced in the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed that states that Jesus Christ "descended into Hell"...

 to release the "prisoners", the just who were held by Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...

. In typical medieval representations of this event, Adam and Eve are released immediately, but in the Harrowing of Hell they must wait and beg before they too are finally saved. The plea of Eve goes as follows:
Iustus est, domine, et rectum iudicium tuum,
quia merito haec patior,
nam ego, cum in honore essem, no intellexi ...
Ne avertas faciem misericordiae tuae a me,
et ne declines in ira ab ancilla tua!
You are just, Lord, and your judgement is unswerving,
for I suffer this deservedly,
since, when I was in honour, I did not understand ...
Do not turn the face of your mercy away from me,
do not, in anger, shun your handmaiden.

The piece ends abruptly here, the rest apparently being lost, but if a comparable Old English piece is any indication, Eve's plea is successful.
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