Beowulf and the Beowulf ManuscriptThe story of Beowulf and his hard-fought victory over the monster Grendel has captured the imagination of readers and listeners for a millennium. The heroic Anglo-Saxon story survives to the world in one eleventh-century manuscript that was badly burned in 1731, and in two eighteenth-century transcriptions of the manuscripts. Kevin S. Kiernan, one of the world's foremost Beowulf scholars, has studied the manuscript extensively with the most up-to-date methods, including fiber-optic backlighting and computer digitization. This volume reprints Kiernan's earlier study of the manuscript, in which he presented his novel conclusions about the date of Beowulf. It also offers a new Introduction in which the author describes the value of electronic study of Beowulf, and a new Appendix that lists all the letters and parts of letters revealed by backlighting. This important volume will be a must-read not only for the scholar of early English history and literature, but for all those who are interested in practical applications of the new technologies. |
Contents
THE POEMS ELEVENTHCENTURY PROVENANCE | 13 |
The Historical Context of the Extant Manuscript | 15 |
The Linguistic Tests for an Early Date | 23 |
The Late Literary and the Early Poetic Dialects | 37 |
The Mixture of Forms in Beowulf | 50 |
Conclusion | 61 |
THE HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE COMPOSITE CODEX | 65 |
Cotton Vitellius A xv | 66 |
The Judith Fragment | 150 |
Conclusion | 168 |
THE BEOWULF CODEX AND THE MAKING OF THE POEM | 171 |
The Authority of the Beowulf Manuscript | 172 |
The Proofreading of the Scribes | 191 |
The Palimpsest and the New Text of Folio 179 | 219 |
Beowulf in the Making | 243 |
Conclusion | 270 |
The Prefixed Leaves | 71 |
History of the Multiple Foliations | 85 |
The Southwick Code | 110 |
The Nowell Codex | 120 |
The Beowulf Codex | 133 |
| 279 | |
| 291 | |
The State of the Beowulf Manuscript 18821983 | 305 |
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Common terms and phrases
11th-century alliteration Anglian Anglo-Saxon appears argument assume beginning Beowulf bottom Catalogue century copied corrections Cotton Vitellius course covered damaged dating dialect distinct dittograph doubt early edition editors emendation England erased error evidence example explain extant fact fire fitt flesh foliation folio forms Förster four gathering gone hair hand intact Judith Judith fragment late later leaf leaves letters light linguistic literary lost Malone manuscript means Mercian minim natural noted Nowell Codex numbers Old English once original paleographical partly perhaps poem poet poetic possible preserved probably proofreading prose quire reading reason remains restoration revised rulings says scholars scribal script second scribe seems seen sense separate sheet shows side Southwick spelling stroke suggests theory Thorkelin traces transcript transmission vellum West Saxon writing written Zupitza