Publisher's Synopsis
""The Middle English Harrowing of Hell and Gospel of Nicodemus"" is a book that contains two medieval texts, both of which focus on the story of Christ's descent into hell after his crucifixion. The first text, the Harrowing of Hell, is a Middle English poem that recounts the events of Christ's journey into the underworld to rescue the souls of the righteous who had died before his coming. The second text, the Gospel of Nicodemus, is a Latin apocryphal gospel that tells the story of Christ's trial, crucifixion, and descent into hell from the perspective of Nicodemus, a Pharisee who became a follower of Jesus. This edition of the texts is edited and introduced by William Henry Hulme, providing readers with an accessible and informative introduction to these important medieval works.1907. An attempt is made in the present volume to make easily accessible to students of English literature all the known Middle English versions of the Harrowing of Hell and the poetical Gospel of Nicodemus, and to give exact reproductions of the several manuscripts in parallel columns, so far as that is possible in print. Also to give in the introduction a succinct but comprehensive bibliographical account of the manuscripts in which the poems have been preserved and of all those manuscripts, so far as they are known, which contain prose versions of the Middle English gospel of Nicodemus and finally to furnish a glossary of obsolete and unfamiliar words.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
