What is the only surviving manuscript of Beowulf?

What is the only surviving manuscript of Beowulf?

XV. Beowulf is the first great heroic poem written in the vernacular, Old English, rather than Latin. It survives in only one manuscript, London British Library Cotton Vitellius A. XV.

Where is the only copy of the Beowulf manuscript kept today?

the British Library
Due to the fame of Beowulf, the Nowell Codex is also sometimes known simply as the Beowulf manuscript. The manuscript is located within the British Library with the rest of the Cotton collection.

What two events has the manuscript survived Beowulf?

Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British Literature. What did the one manuscript of Beowulf survive? survived wholesale destruction of religious artifacts during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII and a disastrous fire.

How did the manuscript of Beowulf survive to modern times?

In 1845, the British Museum mounted each leaf on a paper frame and rebound the manuscript, but it remains extremely fragile and can be handled only with the utmost care. Black-and-white facsimiles were produced in 1882 and 1969.

What is the name of Beowulf manuscript?

the Nowell Codex
The Beowulf manuscript is known as the Nowell Codex, gaining its name from 16th-century scholar Laurence Nowell. The official designation is “British Library, Cotton Vitellius A.XV” because it was one of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton’s holdings in the Cotton library in the middle of the 17th century.

Is there an original Beowulf?

Perhaps the most common question readers have is what language “Beowulf” was written in originally. The first manuscript was written in the language of the Saxons, “Old English,” also known as “Anglo-Saxon.” Since then, the epic poem has been estimated to have been translated into 65 languages.

When was the single surviving manuscript of Beowulf copied?

11th century
The most likely time for Beowulf to have been copied is the early 11th century, which makes the manuscript approximately 1,000 years old. Nobody knows for certain when the poem was first composed.

What had happened to the single surviving manuscript of Beowulf from the 900s?

It suffered damage in a fire at Ashburnham House in 1731, in which around a quarter of the manuscripts bequeathed by Cotton were destroyed. Since then, parts of the manuscript have crumbled along with many of the letters.

What are some illustrations from the surviving Beowulf manuscript?

The contents of the manuscript These comprise a homily on St Christopher; The Marvels of the East (also known as The Wonders of the East), illustrated with wondrous beasts and deformed monsters; the Letter of Alexander to Aristotle; and an imperfect copy of another Old English poem, Judith.