The events of Holy Week culminating in the Resurrection on Easter Day were dramatised innumerable times in the Middle Ages. Although I have tried to mention all the recorded or published vernacular texts, references to particular motifs are not comprehensive unless specifically stated. A number of the more unusual details and variants are also described.

THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM

On Palm Sunday, the gospel account of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem was read at the beginning of Mass before the procession during which the Palm Sunday anthems took up and amplified the gospel accounts. A number of plays include a scene of the disciples being sent to fetch the ass. There is often a keeper of some kind (Luke 19: 34 refers to the owners) who only allows them to take the ass when he knows ‘the Lord hath need of him’. In Ordinalia, I 239 the keeper hands the ass over willingly when he knows who it is for, and wishes it were worth ‘a thousand pounds in good red gold to Jesus’ whereas in Arras 123 he begins by calling them thieves and says they should have come by night to steal it.