The Beowulf Manuscript

A Brief History of More than Something
The Beowulf Manuscript (Located in British Library Cotton MS Vitellius A XV) is an epic poem which takes place in what would be known as modern day Denmark and Sweden in what is estimated to be the 6th century C.E. Originally the poem is thought to have been oral, but was written down by an unknown author in around 750 C.E. (which is approximately the time when Genesis A and B were composed).

The manuscript was bound together with several other manuscripts (notably the Judith manuscript and Marvels of the East) in the late 16th century C.E. by Robert Cotton (from whose organization of texts the categorization system for the British library later developed). A description of the Beowulf text in particular is mentioned Wanley's catalogue of the Cotton collection from 1709.

In 1831, the Beowulf Manuscript was nearly lost in the fire that ravaged the Ash Burnham house where the library had been stored (as a safer location than the original storage space). Luckily, the pages were only singed, but T\the Beowulf manuscript had deteriorated to the point where it was obvious more care should be taken. It needed to be re-attached and rebound, so the taping, gluing, and cutting of the pages began.

G.J Thorkelin began his transcription of the manuscript in 1786, and completed two while at the same time working on a more modern translation. However, twenty-one years later, Thorkelin's house was destroyed in a fire which consumed his new translations. The transcriptions, meanwhile, were spared, and so he began his work over again.

In the late 1990s, the Beowulf manuscript was selected as the first manuscript to be scanned and released to the public as a digital file, and has since been translated into English by numerous authors and scholars as well as a large number of languages.