Volume XIX: The Vercelli Book

Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile Finding Aid Home

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v.XXVIII and XXIX    Other resources

Volume XIX: The Vercelli Book

A distinctive vernacular literature of high quality was, of course, one of the principal achievements of Anglo-Saxon England. This manuscript, of the second half of the tenth century, is one of the four great codices on which our knowledge of Old English poetry mainly depends. It also contains twenty-three items of striking vernacular religious prose, rare examples of homiletic writing from before the revolutionary work of Ælfric.

From the publisher's website: http://www.rosenkilde-bagger.dk

1r-9r Homily 1, the Passion

9v-12r Homily 2, Judgment Day

12v-16r Homily 3, for Lent

16v-24v Homily 4, Judgment Day

25r-29r Homily 5, for Christmas

29v-52v Andreas

52v-54r Cynewulf's "The Fates of the Apostles"

54v-56r Homily 6, for Christmas

56v-59r Homily 7, addressed to women, against over-indulgence

59r-61r Homily 8, Judgment Day

61r-65r Homily 9, Judgment Day

65r-71r Homily 10, virtue of teaching, Judgment Day

71v-73v Homily 11, for Monday in Rogationtide

73v-75v Homily 12, for Tuesday in Rogationtide

75v-76v Homily 13, for Wednesday in Rogationtide

76v-80v Homily 14, an exhortation on Peter 5:8

80v-85v Homily 15, based on the Apocalypse of St. Thomas

85v-90v Homily 16, for Epiphany

90v-94v Homily 17, exegetical, on Luke 2:22-32

94v-101r Homily 18, on the life of St. Martin, bishop of Tours

101v-103v "Soul and Body"

104rv "Deceit"

104v-106r "The Dream of the Rood"

106v-109v Homily 19, for Rogationtide, the story of Jonah, Mamertus bishop of Vienna

109v-112r Homily 20, for Rogationtide

112r-166v Homily 21, the need for humility, almsgiving, good works

116v-120v Homily 22, lament of a sinful soul against worldly vanities

121r-133v Cynewulf's "Elene"

133v-135v Homily 23, St. Guthlac's deliverance from temptation