In "Communal Creativity in the Making of the 'Beowulf' Manuscript", Simon Thomson analyses details of scribal activity to tell a story about the project that preserved 'Beowulf' as one of a collective, if error-strewn, endeavour and arguing for a date in Cnut's reign. He presents evidence for the use of more than three exemplars and at least two artists as well as two scribes, making this an intentional and creative re-presentation uniting literature religious and heroic, in poetry and in prose.
He goes on to set it in the broader context of manuscript production in late Anglo-Saxon England as one example among many of communities using old literature in new ways, and of scribes working together, making mistakes, and learning.
Author(s): Simon C. Thomson
Series: Library of the Written Word, 67. The Manuscript World, 10
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: XXXIV+392
City: Leiden
Acknowledgements ix
List of illustrations xi
List of Abbreviations xvi
Terms Used xvii
Introduction 1
1. (Re)Introducing the Texts of the Nowell Codex 12
'The Passion of Saint Christopher' 15
'The Wonders of the East' 21
'The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle' 27
'Beowulf' 30
'Judith' 39
Reading the Nowell Codex in the Eleventh Century 44
Suggestions 64
2. Reconstructing the Nowell Codex 65
Dating and Placing the Scribes of the Nowell Codex 65
Extant Gatherings 83
'Judith', 'St. Christopher' and the Missing Gatherings 88
Sequence of Production 95
Suggestions 100
3. The Images in 'The Wonders of the East' 103
A 'collection of absurdities'? 104
The Two Artists of the Nowell Wonders 112
Frames 120
Colours 130
The Planning and Control of the Images 137
Variant Styles; Multiple Exemplars 141
Suggestions 148
4. Scribe A’s Performance 149
The Value of the Nowell Codex’s Prose Texts 150
Corrections 157
Scribe A’s Density of Copying in 'Beowulf' 173
Usage of Capitals 179
Minor Capitals 184
Form of Capitals 192
Explicits and Incipits 196
Scribe A and the Metre of 'Beowulf' 201
Suggestions 207
5. Scribe B’s Performance 210
Corrections 213
Scribe B’s Density of Copying 225
179 (BL182): The Palimpsest 232
Usage and Form of Major Capitals 239
Minor Capitals 244
Scribal Decoration 248
Suggestions 250
6. Communal Manuscript Production in Late Anglo-Saxon England 253
Communal Use of Manuscripts 255
Communal Production of Manuscripts 266
'Supervisors', 'Directors', and 'Compilers' 280
Final Suggestions 293
Appendix 1 – Sections and Structural Ideas in 'The Wonders of the East' 299
Appendix 2 – Images and Colours Used in 'The Wonders of the East' 303
Appendix 3 – Scribal Corrections in the Nowell Codex 309
Scribe A’s Corrections 309
Scribe B’s Corrections 326
Appendix 4 – Readers’ Annotations to the Nowell Codex 338
103 (BL106)v.19: The 'Explicit to Wonders' 338
111(119) (BL122)v.20, 112 (120) (BL123)v.12, and 117(109) (BL112)r.17: f-Shaped Marks 340
164 (BL167)v.18: Marginal Cross 344
128 (BL131)r: Drypoint Sketches 346
202 (BL205): Marginal Designs 347
Works Cited 349
Manuscripts 349
Editions and Facsimiles 352
Critical Texts 356
Index of Manuscripts 375
Index of Subjects 378
Colour Plates following page 392
