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When was the Beowulf manuscript written?
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Beowulf
Beowulf preparing to cut off the head of the monster Grendel, illustration from Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race, 1910.
The Beowulf manuscript, known as the Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, dates to approximately 1000 CE.12
It is important to distinguish between the date of the manuscript and the date of the poem's composition. While the physical manuscript was produced around 1000 CE, the poem itself was likely composed earlier, with many scholars suggesting a date of composition between 700 and 750 CE. The identity of the poet remains unknown, and it is possible that the work was transmitted among several poets before being recorded in this single surviving manuscript.12