Note 257 — Chapter XX · THE SECULARIZATION OF THE PLAYS
Reading edition
Text in Pollard, 166; K. Böddeker, Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253 (1878), 264; E. Mall, The Harrowing of Hell (1871); cf. Ten Brink, ii. 242; Ward, i. 90; Creizenach, i. 158. There are three MSS.: (a) Bodl. Digby MS. 86 (late thirteenth century); (b) Harl. MS. 2253 (†1310); (c) Edin. Advoc. Libr. (Auchinleck) MS. W. 41 (early fourteenth century). The Digby version has a prologue beginning:
‘Hou ihesu crist herewede helle Of hardegates ich wille telle.’
The Harleian has:
‘Alle herkneth to me nou, A strif will I tellen ou.’
The Auchinleck prologue lacks the beginning, but the end agrees with the Harleian. Böddeker, who accepts the dramatic character of the piece, thinks that the prologues were prefixed later for recitation. In any case this poem became a source for a play in the Ludus Coventriae cycle (Pollard, xxxviii).