description Vercelli Book Overview
The Vercelli Book is a late tenth-century manuscript containing religious prose and poetry in Old English. Its texts include "The Dream of the Rood," "Andreas," "The Fates of the Apostles," "Soul and Body I," and a collection of homilies. It is one of the four principal surviving poetic codices of Anglo-Saxon literature and is preserved in the cathedral library at Vercelli in northern Italy, although the circumstances of its arrival there are unknown.
help Vercelli Book FAQ
Why is an Old English manuscript kept in Vercelli, Italy?
The Vercelli Book was probably brought from England to northern Italy by a medieval traveler or pilgrim, but its exact journey is unknown. It has been preserved at Vercelli's cathedral library for centuries.
Which famous poem appears in the Vercelli Book?
The manuscript contains The Dream of the Rood, an Old English poem in which the Cross recounts Christ's crucifixion. Related lines carved in runes also survive on the Ruthwell Cross in Scotland.
Is the Vercelli Book only a collection of poems?
No, most of the manuscript consists of religious prose homilies. Its poetry includes Andreas, The Fates of the Apostles, Soul and Body I, Elene, and The Dream of the Rood.
How does the Vercelli Book compare with the Exeter Book and Beowulf manuscript?
All three are among the four principal manuscripts preserving substantial bodies of Old English poetry, along with the Junius Manuscript. Their contents differ: the Vercelli Book mixes homilies and poems, the Exeter Book is a major poetic anthology, and the Nowell Codex preserves Beowulf.
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