Beowulf Manuscript (Nowell Codex)

Yes. No second medieval manuscript of the complete Old English poem is known, so the Nowell Codex is the sole surviving textual witness to Beowulf.

The Nowell Codex also contains The Passion of Saint Christopher, The Wonders of the East, The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, and the poem Judith. Their shared interest in monsters, distant peoples, and extraordinary beings may help explain why the texts were grouped.

The fire damaged the edges of Cotton MS Vitellius A XV and left parts of the Beowulf manuscript brittle and vulnerable to further loss. Later paper frames protected the leaves, while early transcripts preserve some letters that subsequently disappeared from the margins.

The British Library holds it in London under the shelfmark Cotton MS Vitellius A XV. Digitized images allow readers to inspect the manuscript without handling its fire-damaged vellum leaves.