The late tenth-century Vercelli Book (Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare CXVII) contains one of the earliest surviving collections of homilies and poetry in the English language. The manuscript's combination of poetry and homiletic prose has generated intense scholarly debate, and there is no consensus concerning the original purpose of the compiler.
'New Readings in the Vercelli Book' addresses central questions concerning the manuscript's intended use, mode of compilation, and purpose, and offers a variety of approaches on such topics as orthography, style, genre, theme, and source-study. The contributors include some of the foremost Vercelli experts, as well as the two most recent editors of the homilies. The remarkable essays in this volume offer the first sustained literary analysis of both the poetry and prose texts of the Vercelli Book, providing important new perspectives on a dynamic and valuable historical document.
Author(s): Samantha Zacher, Andy Orchard (eds.)
Series: Toronto Anglo-Saxon Series, 4
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 436
Abbreviations
Introduction / Samantha Zacher, Cornell University, and Andy Orchard, Trinity College, University of Toronto
The Vercelli Prose and Anglo-Saxon Literary History / Paul E. Szarmach, The Medieval Academy
Studies in the Language of Copyists of the Vercelli Homilies / Donald G. Scragg, University of Manchester
The Portents at Christ’s Birth in Vercelli Homilies V and VI: Some Analogues from Medieval Sermons and Biblical Commentaries / Thomas N. Hall, Notre Dame University
The Source of Vercelli VII: An Address to Women / Samantha Zacher, Cornell University
Vercelli Homily XV and 'The Apocalypse of Thomas' / Charles D. Wright, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
The 'Homiletics' of the Vercelli Book Poems: The Case of 'Homiletic Fragment I' / Jonathan T. Randle, Mississippi College
'The Dream of the Rood': Cross-References / Andy Orchard, Trinity College, University of Toronto
Vercelli Homilies XIX–XXI, the Ascension Day Homily in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 162, and the Catechetical Tradition from Augustine to Wulfstan / Michael Fox, University of Alberta
The Reburial of the Cross in the Old English 'Elene' / Manish Sharma, Concordia University
The Journey Motif in the Poems of the Vercelli Book / Patrick McBrine, John Carroll University
The Vercelli Book and Its Texts: A Guide to Scholarship / Paul G. Remley, University of Washington
Index of Manuscripts 417
General Index / Emily Butler, University of Toronto
