The Manuscript

Travellin' Man(uscript)

Though scholars don’t know exactly where the Beowulf manuscript – or, as it is also known, Cotton-Vitellius A.xv – originated, it is certain that one of its owners was Sir Robert Cotton, a seventeenth-century collector who kept track of his precious manuscripts by noting their shelf position in his bookcases which were each named for the busts of the Roman emperors that topped them (ergo, Vitellius A.xv was the fifteenth book on the first shelf of the Vitellius case).  Cotton bound the manuscript in a volume with another completely unrelated manuscript:

The first 90 folios are in twelfth-century handwriting, and we call this part of Cotton's book the Southwick Codex, based on the notice of ownership – actually a chilling curse on anyone who stole the book – on the second folio. The last 116 folios are copied by two early eleventh-century scribes, and we call this part of Cotton's book the Nowell Codex, because a previous owner, Laurence Nowell, left his name on it in 1563. (Kiernan, "Legacy," 195)

Regardless, the Beowulf manuscript managed to survive at least 700 years without incident until a fire in Cotton’s library in 1731 left the manuscript scorched along the edges. It is possible, though, that Wanley’s inaccurate description of Beowulf as a Dane actually helped in the preservation of the poem.

In 1786, Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin, an Icelander who worked in Denmark as an archivist, and who eventually became the Danish National Archivist, went to England to find Danish heroes in British archives. He learned about Beowulf in Wanley’s description, and in 1787 he hired a professional scribe to copy the manuscript for him, and later made a second copy himself.  The great value of these two transcripts is that they alone preserve nearly 2000 letters which subsequently crumbled from the scorched edges of the manuscript. (Kiernan, "Legacy," 196)

In 1805, the first attempt to translate parts of Beowulf into English was by Sharon Turner in his Anglo-Saxon history.  Turner took issue with Wanley’s description of the Beowulf story stating his "account of the contents of the manuscript is incorrect.  It is a composition more curious and important."  However, Turner must have been reading Hamlet at the same time because he, too, misinterpreted the poem describing it as ". . . a narration of the attempt of Beowulf to wreck the fæthe or deadly feud on Hrothgar, for a homicide which he had committed."  (Kiernan, "Legacy," 196)

In 1845, the British Museum discovered that Beowulf was deteriorating rapidly.  The charred edges of the manuscript  crumbled at the slightest touch, and the 1731 fire had completely burned away Cotton’s binding, leaving the manuscript a pile of unbound vellum leaves.  It was decided that rebinding Beowulf and the other Cotton Vitellius A.xv manuscripts was the only way to save them.  Though the bookbinders did an excellent job in preserving the manuscript from further degeneration, they unfortunately covered up hundreds of letters of the text, and lost the original vellum gatherings in the process.  In 1882, Julius Zupitza attempted to record all of the covered letters by holding the manuscript up to a light-bulb, and in 1982-83 Kevin Kiernan used fiber-optic light and discovered over 300 letters Zupitza was unable to find.

The manuscript is currently undergoing a drastic metamorphosis.  Kevin Kiernan is continuing his quest to save the manuscript by preserving its content through computer digitization.  The process is complicated and time consuming, but it is the best way to prevent losing the original content, script, line-marks, erasures and emendations to the ages.  Click here for more information about the Electronic Beowulf Project.

Dating the Manuscript

When was Beowulf written?  Where did it originate?  Who was the author?  One might as well ask:  "What was the exact date that life, in any form, first appeared upon the Earth, where did it appear, and what was it’s name?"  He who poses the questions may receive an answer, such as, "August 4, 10,000,000,000 BC, in Timbuktu, and his name was Bob," however, he would have no way to verify it – even with the most state-of-the-art carbon dating equipment and a one-way ticket to Ghana.

The debate began with the first publication of the poem. Thorkelin was of the opinion that the poem could not have been composed long after the action took place because "in this work we have abundant sources from which an understanding of our people's religion and poetry can be gleaned as well as a narrative of their activities in the third and fourth centuries." (Chase, "Opinions," 3) However, Outzen was of the opinion that, because the poem was so eloquently composed, it was impossible that it could have been written at such an early date. (Chase, "Opinions," 3).

Dates of origin for the Beowulf manuscript range from the late eighth century to the early eleventh century, and, I'm sorry to say, the question of the date will not be satisfactorily answered here.  I can, however, point the reader in the direction of Kevin Kiernan ["The Legacy of Wiglaf: Saving a Wounded Beowulf," and "Beowulf" and the "Beowulf" Manuscript].  Kiernan's research of the original text – the physical examination of the pages and bindings – has lead him to believe that the story was written down sometime around 1000, and his argument is very convincing.  [Note: I stress "written down" because some scholars believe the manuscript was the result of an industrious poet who decided to write down what had previously been only part of a scop's repertoire.]

One thing that has convinced Kiernan that Beowulf was most certainly an early eleventh century poem, was a discovery he made during his examination of the original manuscript.  The original gatherings, or binding features of the document were constructed in 4-sheet gatherings, all pages ruled for 20 lines of text with only one exception.  The scribe had arranged his vellum (sheep-skin) sheets with hair sides facing hair sides and flesh sides facing flesh sides so that a reader would not notice the contrast.  Because of this manuscript layout, Kiernan believes the Beowulf manuscript is from the same scriptorium as the Blickling Homilies codex now located in the Scheide collection at Princeton.

What makes this discovery so exciting to me is that it explains in the best possible way why the description of Grendel’s mere is so like the description of Hell in Blickling Homily 16. The Beowulf poet had access to this manuscript of homilies, which is dated internally in the year 971.  Beowulf must have been composed after that.  (Kiernan, "Legacy," 208)

I would doubt whether [the poet] would have spoken in these terms during the Viking Age, or whether his audience would have given him a patient hearing if he had. It is not how men like to hear the people described who are burning their homes, pillaging their churches, ravaging their cattle and crops, killing their countrymen or carrying them off into slavery. (Liuzza, 285)

And so the debate continues. Every Beowulf scholar possesses an opinion about the dating of the manuscript. These opinions occasionally change when a new theory is published, but on the whole, they are unwavering and fervently debated anytime two scholars meet . . . a condition, it is safe to say, that will not change anytime soon.

Important Dates:
 

Bibliography
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