MANUSCRIPTS OF ANGLO-SAXON PROSE AND POETRY

Abstract

There are actually four manuscripts in which Old English or Anglo-Saxon poetry is preserved. The vast majority of all extant Old English poetry is contained in these four books. Though damaged partially, they are safe today at various places. These manuscripts are mainly known as The Exeter Book, Junius Manuscript, Nowell Codex and Vercelli Book. These books are unique in their own way. These manuscripts are the only sources by which we would know something of Old English poetry or prose today. In this paper, I would try to give brief explanation of how significant these manuscripts are in connection with Old English literature. The Old English Period or the AngloSaxon Period begins from the fifth century till 1066 i.e. from the arrival of Jutes, Angles and Saxons into England around 450 AD until the Norman Conquest in 1066. During this period, lot of literature was written anonymously; most of the poems were not titled; lot many works were burnt; some works were also lost due to invasions; everything had to be written manually due to lack of printing press; until first printing press was introduced in England by William Caxton in 1476, there was hardly any guaranty for the survival of any work; so survival of any text should be treated as a ‘luck’. Despite all these problems, there are some important works which could survive and are preserved in four manuscripts, which I will discuss in this paper.