Note 258 — Chapter XX · THE SECULARIZATION OF THE PLAYS

Text of Muri fragments in Froning, 228; cf. Creizenach, i. 114; Wirth, 133, 281. A French fragment (†1300-50) also introducing this theme is printed by J. Bédier, in Romania, xxiv. (1895), 86. Pez, Script. rerum austriacarum, ii. 268, describes a vision of the thirteenth-century recluse Wilbirgis: ‘Item quadam nocte Dominicae Resurrectionis, cum in Monasterio ludus Paschalis tam a Clero quam a populo ageretur, quia eidem non potuit corporaliter interesse, coepit desiderare, ut ei Dominus aliquam specialis consolationis gratiam per Resurrectionis suae gaudia largiretur. Et vidit quasi Dominum ad Inferos descendentem et inde animas eruentem, quae quasi columbae candidissimae circumvolantes ipsum comitabantur, et sequebantur ab inferis redeuntem.’ Meyer, 61, 98, deals fully with the development of the Resurrection and Harrowing of Hell themes in the early vernacular plays.