Nowell Codex
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First page of Beowulf, contained in the damaged Nowell Codex. |
Cotton Vitellius A. xv is one of the four major
Anglo-Saxon poetical
codices. It is most famous as the
manuscript containing the unique copy of the epic poem
Beowulf; in addition to this it contains the poem
Judith and several prose works.
It is held by the
British Library with the rest of the Cotton collection.
The current codex is a composite of at least two manuscripts. The main division is into two totally distinct books which were apparently not bound together until the 17th century. The first of these dates from the 12th century and contains four works of prose. It is the second, older manuscript that is famous.
This second MS is popularly known as the
Nowell codex, after
Laurence Nowell, whose name is inscribed on its first page; he was apparently its owner in the mid-16th century. It was then acquired by
Sir Robert Cotton, from whom its current designation comes. Due to the fame of
Beowulf, it is also sometimes known simply as the
Beowulf manuscript.
The Nowell codex is generally dated around the turn of the first millennium; it has usually been assigned to the late 10th century, though some recent editions have preferred the very early 11th century instead.
Vitellius A. xv was heavily damaged in
1731 when a fire partially destroyed the
Cotton library. While the volume itself survived, the edges of the pages were badly scorched; no serious attempt at restoration was made until the 19th century, by which time the margins had crumbled irreparably, and the edges of many pages are now illegible.
First codex
The first codex contains four works of Old English prose: a copy of
Alfred's translation of
Augustine's
Soliloquies, a translation of the
Gospel of Nicodemus, the prose
Solomon and Saturn, and a fragment of a life of
Saint Quentin.
Second codex
The second codex begins with three prose works: a life of
Saint Christopher,
Marvels of the East (a description of various far-off lands and their fantastic inhabitants), and a translation of a
letter of Alexander to Aristotle.
These are followed by
Beowulf, which takes up the bulk of the volume, and
Judith, a poetic retelling of part of the
book of Judith; this latter work appears to be a later addition to the manuscript.
The somewhat eclectic contents of this codex have led to much critical debate over why these particular works were chosen for inclusion. One theory which has gained considerable currency is that the compiler(s) saw a thematic link: all five works deal to some extent with monsters or monstrous behaviour.
*
Beowulf*
Anglo-Saxon literature*
Caedmon manuscript*
Exeter Book*
Vercelli BookKiernan, Kevin.
Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript. Revised edition. Ann Arbor, U of Michigan P. 1996. Originally published by Rutgers, State University of New Jersey Press, 1981.
