CONTENTS LIBER I Genesis (I-IV) Genesis B (IV-XIV) Exodus (XLII-XLIX) Daniel (L-LV)

Codex Junius 11

(Author unknown)

This file contains translations from the Anglo-Saxon of the following works: "Genesis A", "Genesis B", "Exodus", "Daniel", and "Christ and Satan". All are works found in the manuscript of Anglo-Saxon verse known as "Junius 11."

These works were originally written in Anglo-Saxon, sometime between the 7th and 10th Centuries A.D. Although sometimes ascribed to the poet Caedmon (fl. late 7th Century), it is generally thought that these poems do not represent the work of one single poet.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Other Translations—

Bradley, S.A.J.: "Anglo-Saxon Poetry" (Everyman Press, London, 1982)

Critical Editions—

Doane, A.N. (ed.): "Genesis A: A New Critical Edition" (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1978)

Doane, A.N. (ed.): "The Saxon Genesis: An Edition of the West Saxon Genesis B and the Old Saxon Vatican Genesis" (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1991)

Dobbie, Elliot VanKirk (ed.): "The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, vol. I—The Junius Manuscript" (Columbia University Press, New York, 1937)

Farrell, R.T. (ed.): "Daniel and Azarias" (Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1974)

Tolkein, J.R.R. (ed.): "The Old English Exodus" (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981)

GENESIS (Genesis A & B)

NOTE: This work is generally believed to be a composite of two separate poems, usually referred to as "Genesis A" (or "The Earlier Genesis") and "Genesis B" (or "The Later Genesis"). "Genesis A" is the work at lines #1-234 and #852-2935; "Genesis B" is interpolated into "Genesis A" at lines #235-851.

The reason for this interpolation is not known. Perhaps the original compiler preferred the version of the story presented in "Genesis B", or perhaps the text of "Genesis A" from which he was working with was missing this section. Adding to this confusion is evidence that "Genesis B" appears to be a translation from an earlier and separate Old Saxon retelling of the biblical "Book of Genesis", a fragment of which (corresponding to lines #791-817 of "Genesis B") survives.

"Genesis", like the other poems of "Codex Junius 11", is not a direct translation into Anglo-Saxon of the Old Testament "Book of Genesis". Rather, it is an effort to retell the story in the poetry and style of the Germanic Epic, a style still popular with the Anglo-Saxons at the time "Junius 11" was compiled.

—DBK