TheHarrowing of Hell is an eighth-centuryLatin work in fifty-five lines found in theAnglo-SaxonBook of Cerne (folios 98v–99v). It is probably aNorthumbrian work, written inprose andverse, where the former serves either as a set ofstage directions for adramatic portrayal or as a series of narrations for explaining the poetry.
Three voices appear in the work: those ofAdam,Eve, and a narrator. The prose of the "narrator" appears in theBook 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 work was designed for a full choir (antiqui iusti). The work may be either an earlyoratorio or the earliest surviving work of Christian drama intended to be performed.
TheHarrowing of Hell has two sources: a lost Latinhomily, which survives in translation as the seventh of theOld EnglishBlickling Homilies,[1] and aRomanpsalter also in theBook 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 howJesus Christdescended into hell to release the "prisoners", the just who were held bySatan. In typical medieval representations of this event, Adam and Eve are released immediately, but in theHarrowing of Hell they must wait and beg before they too are finally saved. The plea of Eve goes as follows:
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The work ends abruptly here, the rest apparently being lost, but if a comparable Old English work is any indication, Eve's plea is successful.