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Which four manuscripts preserved most surviving Old English poetry?
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English literature
Beginning of the Beowulf manuscript.
Most surviving Old English poetry is preserved in four major manuscripts dating from the late 10th and early 11th centuries:1
- The Beowulf Manuscript: Housed in the British Library, this codex contains the epic poem Beowulf, the poem Judith, and three prose tracts.1
- The Exeter Book: Located at Exeter Cathedral, this is the largest extant collection of Old English poetry. It features a diverse array of lyrics, elegies, religious narratives, and 95 riddles.12
- The Junius Manuscript: Also known as the Caedmon Manuscript and held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, this collection contains various biblical paraphrases.1
- The Vercelli Book: Found in the cathedral library in Vercelli, Italy, this manuscript includes saints' lives, religious poems, and prose homilies.13