Everyman and Its Dutch Original, Elckerlijc

Students of medieval English will be familiar with the Middle English version of Everyman, a staple of medieval drama courses. However, it is a lesser known fact that Everyman is a translation and adaptation of Middle Dutch Elckerlijc, a work regarded in the Low Countries as an important part of Dutch literary history. Everyman and Elckerlijc follow a young man—representative of humankind— through his pilgrimage of life; he is confronted by Death and must learn the art of dying. The timeless themes of death and spiritual life would have been of interest during the sixteenth century when the urban mortality rate exceeded the birth rate. Though Everyman and Elckerlijc are usually considered morality plays, editors Davidson, Walsh, and Broos reinterpret both as allegorical plays. This edition brings together the fifteenth-century Middle Dutch drama, its Middle English adaptation, and a modern English translation to document the play’s evolution.