This volume offers an introduction to the history of drama in the Middle Ages. It presents an overview of the diverse performance forms (German and Latin) of the plays, sets them in their cultural context (rituals, symbolism, social function) and highlights their dissimilarities with contemporary and modern drama. It combines perspectives of philological and theater studies by questioning both the specific textuality of the transmitted plays, the rules of the genre and symbolism, the stage and production forms as well as religious and social functions.