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Nowell Codex
The Nowell Codex is the second of two manuscripts comprising the bound volume Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, one of the four major Anglo-Saxon poetic manuscripts. It is most famous as the manuscript containing the unique copy of the epic poem ''Beowulf''. In addition to this, it contains first a fragment of ''The Life of Saint Christopher'', then the more complete texts ''Wonders of the East'' and ''Letter of Alexander to Aristotle'', and, after ''Beowulf'', a poetic translation of ''Judith''. 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. Name and date The current codex is a composite of at least two manuscripts. The main division is into two totally distinct books which were apparently not bound together until the 17th century. The first of these, originally owned by Southwick Priory in Hampshire, dates from the 12th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liber Monstrorum
The ''Liber Monstrorum'' (or ''Liber monstrorum de diversis generibus'') is a late seventh-or early eighth-century Anglo-Latin catalogue of marvellous creatures, which may be connected with the Anglo-Saxon scholar Aldhelm. It is transmitted in several manuscripts from the ninth and tenth centuries, but is often studied in connection with the more well known text ''Beowulf'', since the ''Liber'' also mentions King Hygelac of the Geats and that he was renowned for his large size. Some scholars argue that the ''Beowulf''-poet was in fact inspired by the ''Liber Monstrorum''.{{cite journal, first=Giovanni, last=Princi Braccini, title=Tra folclore germanico e latinita insulare. Presenze del ''Liber Monstrorum'' e della ''Cosmographia'' dello Pseudo-Etico nel ''Beowulf'' e nel cod. Nowell, journal=Studi Medievali, volume=series 3 25, year=1984, pages=681–720 The book contains extraordinary people, such as Hygelac, some clearly historical reports of actual peoples, such as the Ethiopians, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exeter Book
The Exeter Book, also known as the Codex Exoniensis or Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, is a large codex of Old English poetry, believed to have been produced in the late tenth century AD. It is one of the four major manuscripts of Old English poetry, along with the Vercelli Book in Vercelli, Italy, the Nowell Codex in the British Library, and the Junius manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The book was donated to what is now the Exeter Cathedral library by Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter, in 1072. It is believed originally to have contained 130 or 131 leaves, of which the first 7 or 8 have been replaced with other leaves; the original first 8 leaves are lost. The Exeter Book is the largest and perhaps oldest known manuscript of Old English literature, containing about a sixth of the Old English poetry that has come down to us. In 2016, UNESCO recognized the book as "the foundation volume of English literature, one of the world's principal cultural artefa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caedmon Manuscript
The Junius manuscript is one of the four major codices of Old English literature. Written in the 10th century, it contains poetry dealing with Biblical subjects in Old English, the vernacular language of Anglo-Saxon England. Modern editors have determined that the manuscript is made of four poems, to which they have given the titles ''Genesis'', ''Exodus'', ''Daniel'', and ''Christ and Satan''. The identity of their author is unknown. For a long time, scholars believed them to be the work of Cædmon, accordingly calling the book the Cædmon manuscript. This theory has been discarded due to the significant differences between the poems. The manuscript owes its current designation to the Anglo-Dutch scholar Franciscus Junius (the younger), Franciscus Junius, who was the first to edit its contents and who bequeathed it to Oxford University. It is kept in the Bodleian Library under shelfmark MS Junius 11. Name and date The codex now referred to as the "Junius manuscript" was forme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beowulf Manuscript
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025. Scholars call the anonymous author the "''Beowulf'' poet". The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 6th century. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by the monster Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and becomes king of the Geats. Fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a headland in his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Judith
The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible, but excluded from the Hebrew canon and assigned by Protestants to the apocrypha. It tells of a Jewish widow, Judith, who uses her beauty and charm to destroy an Assyrian general and save Israel from oppression. The surviving Greek manuscripts contain several historical anachronisms, which is why some Protestant scholars now consider the book non-historical: a parable, a theological novel, or perhaps the first historical novel. The name Judith (), meaning "Praised" or "Jewess", is the feminine form of Judah. Historical context Original language It is not clear whether the Book of Judith was originally written in Hebrew or in Greek. The oldest existing version is in the Septuagint, and might either be a translation from Hebrew or composed in Greek. Details of vocabulary and phrasing point to a Greek text written in a language m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Christopher
Saint Christopher ( el, Ἅγιος Χριστόφορος, ''Ágios Christóphoros'') is veneration, venerated by several Christianity, Christian denominations as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman Empire, Roman emperor Decius (reigned 249–251) or alternatively under the emperor Maximinus Daia (reigned 308–313). There appears to be confusion due to the similarity in names "Decius" and "Daia". Churches and monasteries were named after him by the 7th century. One day he carried a child, who was unknown to him, across a river before the child revealed himself as Christ. Therefore, he is the patron saint of travelers, and small images of him are often worn around the neck, on a bracelet, carried in a pocket, or placed in vehicles by Christians. Historicity Probably the most important source of the historicity of Christophorus is a stone inscription published by Louis Duchesne in 1878. The copy of the stone inscription and the first publication took place o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Quentin
Saint Quentin ( la, Quintinus; died 287 AD) also known as Quentin of Amiens, was an early Christian saint. Hagiography Martyrdom The legend of his life has him as a Roman citizen who was martyred in Gaul. He is said to have been the son of a man named Zeno, who had senatorial rank. Filled with apostolic zeal, Quentin traveled to Gaul as a missionary with Saint Lucian, who was later martyred at Beauvais, and others (the martyrs Victoricus and Fuscian are said to have been Quentin's followers). Quentin settled at Amiens and performed many miracles there. Because of his preaching, he was imprisoned by the prefect Rictiovarus, who had traveled to Amiens from Trier. Quentin was manacled, tortured repeatedly, but refused to abjure his faith. The prefect left Amiens to go to Reims, the capital of ''Gallia Belgica'', where he wanted Quentin judged. But, on the way, in a town named ''Augusta Veromanduorum'' (now Saint-Quentin, Aisne), Quentin miraculously escaped and again started hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon And Saturn
''Solomon and Saturn'' is the generic name given to four Old English works, which present a dialogue of riddles between Solomon, the king of Israel, and Saturn, identified in two of the poems as a prince of the Chaldeans. On account of earlier editorial tendencies, the two poetical works, ''Solomon and Saturn I'' and ''Solomon and Saturn II'', have often been read as a single, continuous poem. They are considered some of the most enigmatic and difficult poems of the Old English corpus. ''Prose Solomon and Saturn'' The so-called ''Prose Solomon and Saturn'' in the Nowell Codex (the ''Beowulf'' manuscript) is a question-and-answer text dealing chiefly with issues of biblical or Christian lore. It shares much similarity with the later Old English prose dialogue '' Adrian and Ritheus'' and, later still, the Middle English '' Master of Oxford's Catechism''. Poetic versions Themes ''Solomon and Saturn I'', ''Solomon and Saturn II'', and the ''Pater Noster Solomon and Saturn'' in M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gospel Of Nicodemus
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words and deeds of Jesus, culminating in his trial and death and concluding with various reports of his post-resurrection appearances. Modern scholars are cautious of relying on the gospels uncritically, but nevertheless, they provide a good idea of the public career of Jesus, and critical study can attempt to distinguish the original ideas of Jesus from those of the later authors. The four canonical gospels were probably written between AD 66 and 110. All four were anonymous (with the modern names added in the 2nd century), almost certainly none were by eyewitnesses, and all are the end-products of long oral and written transmission. Mark was the first to be written, using a variety of sources. The authors of Matthew and Luke both independently ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustine Of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. His many important works include ''The City of God'', '' On Christian Doctrine'', and '' Confessions''. According to his contemporary, Jerome, Augustine "established anew the ancient Faith". In his youth he was drawn to the eclectic Manichaean faith, and later to the Hellenistic philosophy of Neoplatonism. After his conversion to Christianity and baptism in 386, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and perspectives. Believing the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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