The Exeter Book (Gollancz-Mackie)/Part 1

The Exeter Book.

Oxford
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

Original Series
104

Early English Text Society.

The Exeter Book,

AN ANTHOLOGY OF ANGLO-SAXON POETRY

PRESENTED TO EXETER CATHEDRAL BY LEOFRIC, FIRST BISHOP
OF EXETER (1050–1071), AND STILL IN THE POSSESSION
OF THE DEAN AND CHAPTER,

EDITED FROM THE MANUSCRIPT,
WITH A TRANSLATION, NOTES, INTRODUCTION, ETC.,

BY

ISRAEL GOLLANCZ, M.A.,

LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE;
QUAIN STUDENT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON; EDITOR OF 'PRE-TUDOR TEXTS.'

'I. Mycel Englisc boc be gehwilcum þingum on leoðwisan geworht;
'One Great English Book on all sorts of subjects wrought in verse.'

Leofric's Donations.

PART I. POEMS I–VIII.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY,
BY KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LLMITED,
PATERNOSTER HOUSE:, CHARING CROSS ROAD, W.C.

M DCCC XCV.

TO

DE. JOHN PEILE

MASTER OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE

THIS WORK

IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED

PREFATORY NOTE.

It is proposed to issue the present edition of the 'Exeter Book' in three parts. Part II, completing the text will, in all probability, be ready for publication by January, 1894. Part III, containing notes, introductions, indexes, will follow in due course. The Manumissions, Charters, and other Documents prefixed to the MS. will form a supplementary brochure. The entire work will, it is hoped, be completed by the end of 1895. In accordance with the Society's present practice the accompanying instalment is published in advance. All the longer poems of the Codex will be found therein; in bulk it represents about three-fifths of the whole. The Editor begs leave to point out that the notes at the bottom of the page are strictly limited to variations from the MS., which has been scrupulously followed. Italic letters, when not otherwise commented on, represent the customary Anglo-Saxon contractions; the small clarendon type, used occasionally after stops, indicates that in the original the size of the respective letters is intermediate between ordinary small and capital letters. No attempt has been made to normalize the spelling of the text, and in matters of interpretation the reading of the MS. has been preferred to plausible emendations. It is surprising to find how often the MS. is correct. Difficult and doubtful passages will be duly discussed in the fuller 'Notes and Illustrations,' (Part III); meanwhile, the translation may perhaps serve as a fairly adequate commentary to the text.

I. G.

June, 1893.

CONTENTS OF PART I.


Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		v
Prefatory Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		vii
I.	Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	2
II.	Saint Guthlac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	104
III.	Azariah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	188
IV.	The Phœnix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	200
V.	Saint Juliana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	242
VI.	The Wanderer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	286
VII.	The Endowments of Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	292
VIII.	A Father's Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	300

CORRIGENDA

Page 104, line 3, for ham read þam
Page„ 304 (footnote), for 83 read 82
Page„ 305, line 75, for them. read them.'

THE EXETER BOOK.