Dramatising the visual

The relationship between the visual arts and the medieval drama has been a subject of discussion since the first edition, now a hundred years ago, of Emile Mâle´s book about the French religious art in the Middle Ages. His point was that the visual artists painted what they saw on the stage. In the preface of the second edition of his book he admitted that he had given too much honour to the theatre as a source of influence. Later studies showed that, generally speaking, it was the visual art that influenced the drama: the drama is using the iconographic schemata and that is, I believe, the right way to see the problem.

To proof the thesis that in many cases the drama has used the visual art I investigate the staging of one scene: the indication of the traitor at the Last Supper. In the Gospel of John Jesus says to his disciples that one of them was going to betray him and one disciple asks him who it is. Then, the Bible text says: John 13: 26 Respondit Jesus: Ille est cui ego intinctum panem porrexero. Et cum intinxisset panem, dedit Iudae Simonis Iscariotae. 27Et post buccellam, introivit in eum Satanas. "26Jesus answered, ´It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish´ Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him" John does not tell us, how the devil entered into Judas, and so an artist visualizing this event had to find his own way to indicate the act of the devil. We find a striking solution of this problem in the Carolingian Stuttgart Psalter of the year 830. On fol.43^r King David laments in Psalm 40,10 that even his close friend, whom he trusted, he who shared his bread, has betrayed him. The allegoric-typological interpretation of this text refers to the betrayal of Judas: Jesus also experienced the betrayal of a trusted associate. The illustration on fol. 43^r shows us how Christ gives the bread to Judas and a black bird flies into Judas´ mouth. The illuminator wrote in small letters to the right of the miniature the text of John 13, 27: Et post buccellam, introivit in eum Satanas, "As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him" We find illustrations of the same black bird flying into Judas´ mouth representing the devil in the Bohemian Codex Vysehradensis of the year 1058, in the Book of Pericopes of Hirsau (11^th century), in the Evangelistar of Karlsruhe (1187-98) and in the Book of Pericopes of Salzburg (1150).

The German Donaueschingen Passion Play (1480) is known for its detailed stage directions.

They give us, for instance, minute indications of the Last Supper and the prediction of the betrayal of the traitor Judas.

DP 1778a Nu gat der huß vater vnd git / den iungern tischlachen ein kelch vnd andas den legent sÿ den / tisch dar vnd sitzt iudas allein dar / zuo sin gelt ze zellen vnd gat petrus / zuo dem saluator vnd spricht... „Now the house-owner comes and gives to the disciples a tablecloth, a chalice and other things. They lay the table and Judas sits separated from the others and counts his money. Peter goes to the Saviour and speaks: …"

DP 1786a Nu stat der saluator vff mit denn / iungernn vnd gat zuo tisch vnd / loufft iudas vnd bringt ein brates / lembly oder gitzi vnd stelt das für / in das gesegnet der saluator vnd / Sitzt iudas ze vnderst an tisch iohan / nes vf der rechten sitten des / saluators vnd petrus vff der lingken / vnd den nimpt der saluator das / brot gesegnet das bricht vnd büttet / ieglichem ein stuck vnd spricht: ... „Now the Saviour stands up with the disciples. Judas goes and fetches a roasted lamb or goat and puts it in front of the Saviour who blesses it. Judas is sitting at the other side of the table, Johannes on the right and Peter on the left of the Saviour. Then the Saviour takes the bread, blesses it and gives a piece to every disciple and speaks:.."

DP 1863 iudas entpfacht das brot mit / reverentz vnd spricht: ´bin ich der dich verraten sol´, "Judas receives the bread, bows and speaks: ´Is it me, who will betray you?"

How the devil came into Judas is revealed by the stage direction DP 1864a: ietz sol iudas ein swartzen vogel by / den füssen in daz mull nemen das es / flocke, " then, Judas must take a black bird by its feet in his mouth so that it will beat its wings" In this iconographic way the public is made clear how the devil entered into Judas.

Not only the devil has been rendered just in the same way – as a black bird - as in the preceding pictures, the whole arrangement of the table of the Last Supper in the Donaueschingen Play is exactly the same as in the visual arts: the tablecloth, the chalice, the bread, the place of Jesus, Judas and the other disciples, the gesture of Judas – hand on his heart - as he accepts the bread. The precise analysis of the Donaueschingen Play reveals the priority of the visual art in many of the episodes.

We see in all European countries the same relationship between the plays and the visual arts. The crucifixion of Christ, for instance, is not described in the Bible. The four Gospels say no more than: "They crucified him" Already in the earliest Christianity, but particularly since the Carolingian period, a detailed crucifixion arose. The biblical base upon which the catena aurea rests is Psalm 21: " They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones;

They look and stare upon me: They part my garments among them, And upon my vesture do they cast lots." Several narrative texts of the late Middle Ages describe a detailed crucifixion. The Cross is laid on the ground. The executioners tie ropes at the wrists and feet of Jesus and stretch his limbs on the holes in the Cross they bored too far from each other. Then they nail his hands and feet into these holes, raise the Cross up and fix it in the ground. In the medieval European drama we find this crucifixion. The earliest Italian drama showing a detailed crucifixion is a lauda of Jacopone da Todi (1228-1306): Donna, la man li è presa, Ennella croc´è stesa; Con un bollon l´on fesa Tanto lo ´n cci ò ficcato. "My lady, they have taken his hand and stretched it out on the Cross; and nailed his hand deeply into the Cross, using a thick, blunt nail" In England the York Plays show us a very detailed version (1425) of the same schema. In France the Mystère de la Passion d´Arnoul Gréban (1450) represents the same kind of crucifixion and in German plays it is, again, the Donaueschingen Passion Play (1480) that uses the same basis. The iacente cruce crossings have a rich history in the visual art of the Middle Ages. In Byzantine psalm illustrations the schema is known from the 12^th century. The movement of St. Francis initiated the enormous interest in the details of the crucifixion as they are found in the works of Franciscan writers such as the Pseudo-Bonaventura´s Meditationes and the Pseudo-Anselmus with his Dialogus cum Maria and painters as Duccio and Giotto. Under the influence of the Franciscan movement with its focussing on the sufferings of Christ it spread all over Europe. Painters such as the Master of St. Veronica Cologne (1430-1440), the Master of the Karlsruher Passion (1455-60), Gerard David with the Altarpiece in National Gallery London, a juvenile work of David (1480-1490) (The missing wings are in the ´Museum voor Schone Kunsten´ in Antwerp) and Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) and his School in the 16th century show the abundance of details we know from the mystery plays. Paintings and illustrations in manuscripts show that France and England knew the schema of the nailing on the Cross as well. All the details of the dramatic crossings are present in these pictures.

We see the same phenomenon in many fields of the drama. The York Play is the oldest. Clifford Davidson says that the York Realist believed that he brought new Franciscan life to the narrative of the Passion; he was responsible for individualistic detail. But the detailed crucifixion was already present, as we saw already, in visual art and the example of Jacopone da Todi shows that the beginnings of dramatic detailing are earlier.

The many correspondences between the visual arts and the drama and the priority of the visual arts with regard to the drama do not exactly proof the dependency of drama from art. It is possible that both, art and drama, draw from the same literary source. But, further consideration of the character of literary sources, art and drama shows that this possibility is highly unlikely. Our study links up with the medieval discussion of the problem of universals that makes a distinction between universalia post rem (‘universals after the thing’), universalia in re (‘universals in the thing’) and universalia ante rem (‘universals before the thing’) On the basis of the Greek philosophy medieval scholars studied the place of the universal terms of language in the universalia-problem. Especially Abaelard (1079 -1142) worked out the universality of words and he emphasized the differences between the visual (painting, image) and the universals as concept of the mind. He says: (63) "But now that we have shown the reasons why things taken neither singly nor collectively can be called ´universals´ insofar as they are predicated of several, it remains to ascribe this kind of universality only to words", (76) "Now that the definition of ´universal´ and ´singular´ has been applied to words [rather than to things], let us carefully investigate the characteristic of universal words especially", (95) Since both sensation and understanding belong to the soul, the difference between them is this: The senses are engaged only through bodily organs and perceive only bodies or what are in bodies. For example, vision perceives a tower or the tower’s visible qualities. But the understanding, just as it needs no bodily organ, so neither does it have to have a subject body to which it is directed. Instead it is satisfied with a things´ likeness the mind itself makes up for itself, to which it directs the action of its intelligence. So when the tower is destroyed or removed from sight, the sensation that dealt with it is lost, but the understanding of its remains since the thing’s likeness is retained in mind" The "words" render Abaelard´s "understanding"; they need no "bodily organ" (=vision) and no reality to which they are directed. "Words" are "universals"; paintings need "things". After him, medieval scholars as Duns Scottus (1265-1308) and William of Ockham (1285-1347) continued this study and in our days the problem of universals is an important subject of philosophy.

Language abounds in universal terms and the problem of visualizing language is how to map them meaningfully onto the details of the real things. Look at a sentence such as: "A man was sitting at a table and drinking a glass of wine". All possible men, tables and glasses are summarized in this sentence. Hearing or reading this sentence we understand perfectly what is meant. But a painter who has to paint this situation must transform the ´universalia´ man, table, glass, wine, in ´res´, in a specific man – young, old, great, small, thick, thin, how did he look etc. – a specific table – high, low, wooden, stone, what colour etc. - a specific glass – great, small, crystal, a flute, a rummer, a copita, etc. – a specific wine – white, red, rosé, still, sparkling, etc. And the universal-problem of language is for him not limited to concrete nouns. The man "sits at a table": how? Does he sit on a chair, a bench? What chair and what bench? The man was drinking. How did he drink? And so we can go on. The illustrator has a hard job to do. It is clear that there are numerous possibilities and countless combinations to transform the universalia of language into the res of the visual arts.

The author of the medieval plays finds the same problems in his path. He too has to visualize stories known from literary sources (Bible, legends, tractates, etc), but that does not mean that for his visualizing he used these sources. If he did, we could expect the many variations of the transformation of universalia into the res, that is, of the general concepts of language into the things to be shown on the stage. But medieval eyewitnesses of the religious plays tell us a quite different story.

The medieval documents concerning the staging of the drama all over Europe give us many proofs of the importance of the visual arts for the medieval drama. An early and very important remark about the connection between the English Mysteries and the visual arts is in the Wycliffite tract A Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge of the 14^th century where the mystery plays are attacked and the writer turns against the opinion that the people can learn from paintings and from the dramatised miracles of God. It is clear that the defenders of the mystery plays use the images of the visual arts as a justification of the plays. This discussion shows us not only the close connection as regards content between visual art and the mystery plays, but also the priority of the former.

Two hundred years later Georgius Wicelius defends in the Psalter Ecclesiasticus the German Passion Plays (´ludi ecclesiastici´), repeatedly mentioning the visual aspects of the plays saying that "young people can see the teachings of the Church with their own eyes", and he speaks on various occasions of "the Passion in pictures" and "the devotional picture of the Crucifix and the Entombment of Christ"

An eye-witness account of the performance of the Annunciation in Florence in 1439 describes the Angel visiting Mary as a "beautiful, curly-headed youth, dressed in a robe as white as snow, adorned with gold, exactly as celestial angels are to be seen in paintings" and in the description of God the Father and the Virgin Mary he implicitly compares with products of the visual arts. The same witness is watching in the same year the Ascension in Florence and tells us "the Apostles walk barefoot and are dressed as they can be seen in holy paintings"

The ambassador Giovanni Angelo Rizio gives us in his report of the Last Judgment Play in Lucerne 1549 a description of Christ in multi-coloured circle standing on the globe, his arms stretched out, next to his mouth a white lily and at the other side a red sword, exactly as the medieval painters used to render this Revelation-scene for centuries. In French religious plays silent tableaux vivants were popular (´le mystère mimé´) and the authors emphasized the visual aspects of the play. The documents repeatedly mention a close connection between the representations on the stage and the fixed schemata of the visual arts. Therefore we must assume that many playwrights used the detailed schemata of visual arts as their sources and not the universals of language of literature.

The gestures in medieval drama are, it is true, dramatic, but they are by no means characteristic only of the drama. It is helpful to look at the scene of Christ in the house of Simon the Pharisee in the Donaueschingen Passion Play. Unlike most medieval religious dramas this play has many stage directions with regard to gestures. It says: DP 248a Vff söllichs winckt der saluator Simon vnd spricht zuo im, "After that the Salvator waves Simon and speaks to him", DP 272a Dar vff antwürt der saluator Simoni vnd zögt mit einem finger vff maria magdalena vnd spricht zuo im, "After that the Salvator answers Simon and he points a finger at Mary Magdalene and speaks to him". The Princeton Index of Christian Art shows that these gestures of Christ occur already in the 11^th century in a mural painting in the Church of St.Angelo in Formis (Italy), in the Henry III´s Gospel book of the Escorial (1043-1045), in the Queen Mary Psalter in the British Museum in London (beginning of the 14^th century) and many times in the Italian and Italian influenced paintings of the 14^th and 15^th centuries. Both gestures are sometimes simultaneous, as on a fresco (1365) of Giovanni da Milano in the Franciscan Church Santa Croce in Florence (Italy). Giovanni was a pupil of Giotto; his art exerted great influence on North Italy and on the ´Magdalene Altar´ (1431) of Lukas Moser in Tiefenbronn (Stuttgart) whose style copied the frescos of the Giotto-adept Altichiero da Zevio in Verona and Padua. Clifford Davidson, too, is of the opinion that gesture in medieval drama must be studied in connection with the visual arts. But, he says, a Byzantine ivory of the 10^th century is of less importance for the interpretation of a late medieval play than a local contemporary illustration. That is right, but his Byzantine ivory can be, in the visual arts, a link in the chain reaching to the Reformation and therefore be of considerable importance for a gesture stage direction of the 15^th century. The priority of the visual arts is, as we saw above, important in the discussion about the relationship between the visual arts and the drama.

It was the power of the iconographic types and of the model books that caused the proliferation of the schemas and their filling in all over Europe. These images of the current religious events in the creative minds put their stamp also upon the visualization in the medieval drama.

There are two manners of indicating gestures:

A. Detailed stage directions as in the Planctus of Cividale:

Maria Magdalene: (here let her turn to the men with arms outstretched): "O brothers,"

(here to the women): "and sisters where is my hope?"

(here let her strike her breast): "Where is my consolation?"

(here let her raise her hands): "Where all salvation"

(here, with head bowed, let her place herself at Christ´s feet): "O my master?"

The despair of Mary Magdalene after the death of Christ is rendered by her outstretched arms while speaking to the men en women around her – on the scene and in the public. And, striking her breasts, she laments the loss of consolation, and, while raising her hands, the loss of salvation. Finally, speaking to Christ, she falls at his feet. The stage directions give a clear picture of the gestures and again we find the same representations in the visual arts.

B. The stage directions only implicitly mention gestures but do not say how to perform them. A battle in the Vengeance for instance is totally shown with gestures and body movements, without words: "The soldiers of both sides come together and fight, without speaking. The men must fight without wounding each other; and they must let themselves be killed in pretence" How this wordless battle was performed is left to the medieval director and I could not find any indication in the historical documents how the gestures were performed. It is, in such cases, too speculative to use the gestures of the visual arts to fill up our ignorance.

Given the fact that in many cases the drama uses the iconographic schemata I want to discuss the question how the iconographic schemata were integrated in the course of the play. The visual arts render static personalities, animals, objects, etc. in their visible qualities. The drama shows us living personalities who are acting; drama is a succession of acts. How did the playwright make the visual arts suitable for acting? In the terminology of our congress: How was the visual made playable? To answer this question we study in the German Donaueschingen Passion Play the acting of the soldier who pierced the side of Christ hanging on the Cross.

The origin of the scene is the Bible. The Gospel of John 19, 31 says: 31 Iudaei ergo (quoniam parasceve erat) ut non remanerent in cruce corpora sabbato (erat enim magnus dies ille sabbati), rogaverunt Pilatum ut frangerunt eorum crura, et tollerentur. 32 venerunt ergo milites: et primi quidem fregerunt crura, et alterius, qui crucifixus est cum eo. 33 Ad Iesum autem cum venissent, ut viderunt eum iam mortuum, non fregerunt eius crura, 34 sed unus militium lancea latus eius aperuit, et continuo exivit sanguis et aqua. 35 Et qui vidit, testimonium perhibuit: et verum est testimonium eius. Et ille scit quia vera dicit: ut et vos credatis. 36 Facta sunt enim haec ut Scriptura impleretur: Os non comminuetis ex eo. 37 Et iterum alia Scriptura dicit: Videbunt in quem transfixerunt.

"31Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," 37and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced." In the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus and in the legend the soldier who pierced the side of Jesus while he was hanging on the Cross got the name of Longinus; he was blind and healed through the blood and water from Jesus.

The iconographic schema of Longinus under the Cross is very old. The fresco in the church S.Maria in Antiqua on the Forum in Rome (741-752) gives us a starting point for a clear recognizable development, ending in the many late medieval pictures of Longinus, who, assisted by a servant, pierces the side of the crucified Christ.

The text of the Donaueschingen Play V. 3527a says:

Sadoch setzt loÿnus das sper an / das denn dar zuo gemacht sol sin / vnd den sticht loÿnus das daz bluot / vss her sprützt vnd im vber die / Stangen ab vff die hand loufft / vnd den facht Centurio an vnd spricht: „Ich wil mich rächen ouch an dir du woltest vff erd nie helffen mir vnd hest mich laussen blind beliben"

"Sadoch puts his spear on Longinus that is fabricated for this purpose and then Longinus stabs it into Christ’s body so that the blood spurts out of it and flows down the spear on his hand and then Centurio begins and speaks: "I too want to revenge myself on you. On earth you refused to heal me and you let me be blind"

V. 3533a Vff das stricht loÿnus die blutigen / hend an sin ougen vnd tuot / ob er gesechen sÿ worden vnd falt / den vnder dem crütz nider vff / Sine knüw vnd spricht: ´O we was han ich armer getan an Ihesum disem heiligen man´

V. 3457a Hie mit stat loÿnus vff vnd ist / glöbig worden vnd in dissem falt / maria vmb das crütz mit/ cläglicher stim vnd geberd vnd sprich: ´O kind wie lastu mich hie stan´

"Then Longinus stands up and becomes a believer and simultaneously Mary falls down, embraces the cross and speaks with lamenting voice and gestures: ´Oh my child, how can you leave me in this way´

Why did Longinus stab his spear into Christ´s body? What is the cause of the revenge of Longinus? Neither the Bible, nor the Gospel of Nicodemus, nor the legend gives us an answer to this question. The Donaueschingen Passion Play however leads us to the episode of Christ healing the blind man in John 9: 6. The Bible says: "(Jesus) spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ´Go´, he told him, ´wash in the Pool of Siloam´ So the man went and washed and came home seeing"

In the Donaueschingen Play this blind man is named Marcellus. DP 976a Vff diser red spüwt der saluator / in die hend vnd gat zuo Marcello / vnd bestricht im sin ougen dar / mit vnd spricht: ´gan hin marcelle an alles we wäsch dich im wasser flüß siloe´ Nv gat der blind zuom brunen vnd / wäscht sin ougen vnd wirt gesehen.

„After these words the Saviour spits into his hands and goes to Marcellus and touches his eyes with his hands and speaks: „Go now, Marcellus, and wash in the pool of Siloam." Now the blind man goes to the pool and washes his eyes and is seeing."

After the healing of Marcellus, Cayphas sends Jacob to the blind Longinus. 1040a Vff das antwürt cayphas der / bischoff vnd Spricht: ´…gang iacob tuo es loymo kund ob er von im ouch wurde gesünt´ „ After that, Cayphas, the bishop, answers and speaks: ´Go, Jacob, and tell Longinus about it, and ask him, if he wants to be healed by him too."

Jacob goes to the blind Longinus and tells him the miracle of the healing. DP 1044a Nu gat iacob zuo loÿno vnd spricht:´loÿne kum in tempel bald da würstu hören ein seltzen gestalt der geborne blind ist worden gesehent ich weiß nit wie im ist geschehen´ „Now Jacob goes to Longinus andsays: ´Longinus, come quickly to the temple. There you will hear a about miracle. A man, who was blind since birth, can see. I don’t know how it is done."

And he leads the blind Longinus into the temple V.1048a Nu stat loÿnus vff vnd fürt inn / iacob in temple da stat er vnd / hört zuo vnd facht nicodemus an / vnd Spricht zuo Marcello: ´Blind tü vns din meinung kunt vonn dem der dich hat gemacht gsunt, "Now Longinus stands up and Jacob leads him to the temple. There he stands and listens to the people and then Nicodemus speaks to Marcellus: ´You, blind man, give us your opinion about the man who healed you", but Longinus declines the help of Christ V.1087 Vff das antwürt loÿnus vnd / Spricht zuo in allenn:´Ich wil siner hilffe nit helffe mir wen ich inn bit an in gloub ich nit ewenklich er hett so dick gesehen mich vnd mocht mir nie kein hilff tün het ich gewist ich wer nie hieher kon´ "Then Longinus answers and speaks to all: ´I do not want his help, he should have helped me when I asked him. I shall never believe him, because he saw me so many times and did never help me. If I had known that he was here, I would never have come here´

Later, after the Cleansing of the Temple, the Jews hold against Christ that he did not heal Longinus V.1174a Vff das antwürt aber vrias vnd / Spricht zuo dem salaator: ´Du würst vnss wenig lüginen sagen es gat dir anders vmb dinen kragen war vmb tuostu an loÿnus nit ein zeichen das ist vnnser bit So künnen wir glouben han an dich gib im wider sin gesicht bistu ander gottes sün wir wellent anders dar zuo tün.´ „Then Urias answers again and speaks to the Saviour: ´You will tell us no lies, otherwise you are a dead man. Why don’t you work a miracle for Longinus? That’s what we ask you. Then we can believe you. Give him his eyesight back, if you are the Son of God. Otherwise we shall treat you in an other way"

Christ answer is as a prediction of the healing of the blind Longinus under the Cross:

V. 1187 Der saluator antwürt vnd spricht: ´ir werdent geleben hie vff erden das noch vil zeichen geschechen werden die üch ÿtz nit wessenn kund loÿnus wirt noch wol gesunt´

"The Saviour answers and speaks: "…. You will see here on earth that many signs will occur you don’t know so far. Longinus will soon be healthy"

Longinus was not present when Christ made his prediction. That is why under the Cross the blind Longinus says that he wants revenge on Christ because Christ did not heal him and he will open the side of Christ with his lance.

After many episodes, the Raising of Lazarus (1141-90), the meal in Bethany(1505-44), the entrance into Jerusalem (1545-1650), Judas and the thirty silver coins (1651-1728) the first day of the play ends. The second day has as first episode the Last Supper and the Washing of the Feet (1729-40), after that follow the Prayer on the Mount of Olives and Arrest of Christ (2000-2156), Jesus before Annas (2157-2244), Jesus before Kaiphas (2245-2421), Judas´ Remorse and Suicide (2422-2527), Jesus before Pilatus (I) (2528-2629), Jesus before Herodes (2630-2747), Jesus before Pilatus (II) (2748-2841), the Scourging of Jesus (2842-2909), the Crown of Thorns (2910-25), Jesus before Pilatus (III) und Judgment (2926-3074), Jesus takes the Cross (3075-3182), the Miracle of Veronica (3183-3242) and the last Rest of Jesus (3243-70) and the Crucifixion of the two Robbers, finally, the Crucifixion of Jesus with Longinus opening his side (3271-3577)

It is clear that the playwright invented a long previous story to explain the action against the crucified Christ. Because the Jews were not present at the healing of the blind Marcellus they want Christ to do another healing of a blind man in their presence so that they can believe what happened to Marcellus. The blind Longinus is brought to Christ, but Longinus refuses being helped by Christ. The reason is, he says, that Christ did not help him on former occasions. The Jews urge Christ to heal Longinus but now Christ refuses saying that the time of healing Longinus will be later. So he implicitly predicts the miracle under the Cross where Longinus is healed by the blood of the crucified Christ and brought to faith. By the long previous history of Longinus on the first day the well-known iconographic schema of the lance-thrust on the second day is fully integrated in the course of the play and gets a real theatrical function: the visual is dramatized.

The Donaueschingen Passion Play was performed on one open space, in the later Lucerne version on the Fish Market with stalls, stands and scaffolds for groups of performers. The public looked at the play as a whole like in a modern football stadium and could follow all the events on the acting area. Plays performed on wagons, like York, stopping at many prearranged stations to perform their individual scene offered the public the play in parts. The public did not see the whole play as a unity, but a series of independent episodes. The consequence of this type of performance was for instance that for the role of Christ 22 different actors were needed. This parcelling out of the play and change of actors made a development of characters and an integration of iconographic material almost impossible.

Summarizing we can say that the resemblance between the visual arts and the medieval drama in visualizing their material and the priority of the visual arts prove that often the iconographic schemata served as a model for the staging of medieval drama. But it is clear that the static, fixed pictures needed integration into the course of the drama: the visual had to be dramatized. The detailed past history of Longinus in the Donaueschingen Passion Play proves that the playwright took an interest in an acceptable explanation of the appearance of the iconographic schema of his behaviour under the Cross, the opening of Christ’s side. The possibilities of integration of the visual were greater in the plays performed in the churchyard or the marketplace, where the whole play was performed under the eyes of the public, as was the case with the Donaueschingen Play, than in plays performed on pageants wagons in the streets of the cities like York showing, if we opt for the extreme formulation, a sequence of isolated iconographic schemata.

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