Caedmon manuscript
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MS Junius 11 (Caedmon or Junius manuscript) is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon poetical codices. It contains works known by the titles Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, and Christ and Satan.
The manuscript is currently part of the collection of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.
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[edit] Name and date
The popular name of the codex is the Caedmon manuscript, after an early theory that the poems it contains might be the work of Caedmon; the name has stuck even though the theory is no longer considered credible. In more recent works it is commonly referred to either by its Bodleian designation MS Junius 11, or as the Junius manuscript; 'Junius' here is Franciscus Junius, who published the first edition of its contents in 1655.
It has been established on palaeographical grounds that compilation of the manuscript began circa AD 1000; this initial version of the manuscript contained Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel, and was the work of a single scribe. Christ and Satan was added later in the century by several other scribes.
[edit] Illustrations
The manuscript is partly illustrated with a series of line drawings depicting the events in the text. From spaces left by the scribes, it appears that it was intended that the manuscript be fully illustrated; in the event, the work was left unfinished after only about a third of the artwork had been drawn.
This scheme of illustrations, which is unparallelled in other manuscripts of Anglo-Saxon poetry, implies that the manuscript was conceived of as being considerably more important than most vernacular texts; it may have been intended for devotional or didactic use.
[edit] Contents
The names of the poems themselves are modern inventions; they are not given titles in the manuscript. As with the majority of Anglo-Saxon writing, the poems are anonymous and their provenance and dating are uncertain.
[edit] Genesis
Genesis is a paraphrase of the first part of the biblical book of Genesis, from the Creation through to the test of Abraham's faith with the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. 22).
The work is now recognised as a composite work formed of two originally distinct parts, conventionally referred to as Genesis A and Genesis B; the latter, lines 235-851 of the poem as we have it, appears to have been interpolated into an older poem to produce the current text.
It is Genesis B which has attracted the most critical attention. Its origin is notable in that it appears to be a translation from a 9th-century Old Saxon original; this theory was originally made on metrical grounds, and then confirmed by the discovery of a fragment of Old Saxon verse that appears to correspond to part of the work. Thematically and stylistically, too, it is distinctive: it tells the story of the falls of Satan and Man in an epic style, and has been suggested as an influence for Beowulf, and even perhaps for Paradise Lost.
[edit] Exodus
Exodus is not a paraphrase of the biblical book, but rather a retelling of the story of the Exodus as a heroic epic. Like Genesis A, it is considered an early poem, and typically dated in the 8th century.
The work is notable for its application of a traditional heroic style to its biblical subject-matter. Moses is treated as a warrior, and military imagery is pervasive; the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea is narrated in much the same way as a formulaic battle scene. The main story is suspended at one point in an apparent digression on the stories of Noah and Abraham; some scholars consider this a feature of the epic style comparable with the similar digressions in Beowulf, while others have argued that it appears to be a later addition to the work.
[edit] Daniel
A short paraphrase of the book of Daniel, dwelling particularly on the story of the Fiery Furnace.
[edit] Christ and Satan
A three-part poem detailing the Fall of Satan, Christ's harrowing of Hell (from the Apocryphal New Testament Gospel of Nicodemus), and Christ's temptation in the desert.
