Nowell Codex

Remounted page fromBeowulf,British LibraryCotton Vitellius A.XV, 133r

First page of Beowulf, contained in the damaged Nowell Codex (132r)

TheNowell Codexis the second of two manuscripts comprising the bound volumeCotton MS Vitellius A XV,one of the four majorOld English poetic manuscripts.It is most famous as themanuscriptcontaining the unique copy of the epic poemBeowulf.In addition to this, it contains first a fragment ofThe Life of Saint Christopher,then the more complete textsWonders of the EastandLetter of Alexander to Aristotle,and, afterBeowulf,a poetic translation ofJudith.Due to the fame ofBeowulf,the Nowell Codex is also sometimes known simply as theBeowulfmanuscript.The manuscript is located within theBritish Librarywith the rest of theCotton collection.

Name and date

The currentcodexis 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, originally owned bySouthwick PrioryinHampshire,dates from the 12th century and contains four works of prose.

It is the second, older manuscript that is more famous. This second manuscript is known as the Nowell Codex, after the antiquarianLaurence Nowell,whose name is inscribed on its first page; he was apparently its owner in the mid-16th century. At some point it was combined with the first codex. It was then acquired bySir Robert Cotton.In his library, it was placed on the first shelf (A) as the 15th manuscript (XV) of the bookcase that had a bust of the EmperorVitellius,giving the collection its name.The Nowell Codex is generally dated around the turn of the first millennium. Recent editions have specified a probable date in the decade after 1000.

Condition of the manuscript

The Nowell Codex was written in two hands. The first extends from the beginning of the manuscript (fol. 94a) as far as the wordscyranin line 1939 ofBeowulf;the second hand continues frommostein that same line to the end ofJudith.Elliott Van Kirk Dobbienotes that although the scribes behind the two hands are contemporary, they differ markedly in appearance, the second hand appearing "to belong to an older school of insular writing than its companion hand."

The volume was heavily damaged in 1731 when a fire partially destroyed theCotton 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. Three pages, fol. 182a, fol. 182b and fol. 201b are in notably bad shape, showing more damage than can be explained by the Cottonian fire, with many words faded or illegible, some of which are far from the edges of the leaf. Van Kirk Dobbie suggests the damage to the third of these pages was due toBeowulfbeing separated fromJudithprior to the 17th century, and fol. 201b was on the outside of the manuscript with no binding to protect it. But he offers no explanation for the condition of the first two pages.

The damage to the Nowell Codex can be overcome to different degrees. The three pages in bad shape mentioned above have been studied under ultraviolet light, and the resulting information has been published.Three modern transcriptions of parts of this portion of this manuscript are known. Two of these transcriptions, known as A and B, were made under the direction of the first editor ofBeowulf,Grimur Jonsson Thorkelinin the years 1786-1787 after the Cottonian fire yet before the manuscript had deteriorated as far as it presently has. Transcript A was made by an unidentified professional copyist, while B was made by Thorkelin himself.The third transcript (MS Junius 105, currently in theBodleian Library) is of theJudithpoem and was made byFranciscus Juniusbetween 1621 and 1651. A careful copy of the poem with only occasional errors, Junius' transcription preserves the text of the poem before it suffered fire damage.

Contents

First codex

The first codex contains four works of Old English prose: a copy ofAlfred's translation ofAugustine'sSoliloquies,a translation of theGospel of Nicodemus,the proseSolomon and Saturn,and a fragment of a life ofSaint Quentin.

Second codex

The second codex begins with three prose works: a life ofSaint Christopher,Wonders of the East(a description of various far-off lands and their fantastic inhabitants), and a translation of aLetter of Alexander to Aristotle.

These are followed byBeowulf,which takes up the bulk of the volume, andJudith,a poetic retelling of part of thebook of Judith.Great wear on the final page of Beowulf and other manuscript factors such as wormhole patterns indicate Judith was not originally the last part of the manuscript, though it is in the same hand as the later parts ofBeowulf.

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.

The codex, opened to a page of Beowulf

See also

• Old English literature
• Beowulf
• Junius manuscript(erroneously referred to as Caedmon manuscript)
• Exeter Book
• Liber Monstrorum
• Vercelli Book

Further reading

• R.D. Fulk, ed. and trans.The Beowulf Manuscript: Complete Texts and The Fight at Finnsburg.Cambridge, Harvard University Press (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library). 2010.
• Kiernan, Kevin.Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript.Revised edition. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press. 1996. Originally published by Rutgers, State University of New Jersey Press, 1981.

External links

• Full digital coverage of the manuscript on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts website