Alyssa Lobatch, Period 1, 3/1/24

Alyssa Lobatch

Period 1

20 February 2024

Modern Mythology 2024

Research Paper

The Preservation of Beowulf

Throughout my time taking this course, I have consistently found interest in the way primary sources in mythology are preserved and can change based on the word choices in translations. I’ve mentioned this curiosity in class and in a blog before, but I decided to do more research on it to get a more concrete idea of what preservation of sources looks like. The history of the manuscript of Beowulf is a great example of why we should properly care for historical artifacts.

As discussed in class, Beowulf was written by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet (or poets), captured in a manuscript that dates back to the year 1000. The original manuscript may have belonged to a monastery, which was likely dissolved (along with many other religious houses) by King Henry VIII in the mid-1500s. In around 1563, it was owned by a cartographer named Laurence Nowell, who was actually the author of the first Old English dictionary (“The Good Luck of the Beowulf Manuscript”). From there, it fell into the possession of Sir Robert Cotton, a collector with an expansive library of manuscripts. The Cotton library is known for containing the only original copies of certain works, such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and, of course, Beowulf (Harrison). The manuscripts were held in a room filled with busts of historical figures, so they were labeled based on which bust they were kept near. For instance, Beowulf was marked “Vitellius A. xv”: it was the fifteenth volume on the first shelf above the bust of Vitellius.

Though the manuscripts that belonged to Cotton are still referred to as part of his library, they were taken out of his physical library in 1700, when the British state claimed them. Believing that the building they were kept in was fire-prone, officials moved them to Ashburnham house. Ironically, in 1731, a fire ravaged the collection. Thirteen artifacts were completely destroyed, and essentially all of them were at least damaged. Beowulf, luckily, survived, but it was burned along its edges.

From there, the manuscripts were relocated to the British Museum in 1753, where they have been stored to this day. Unfortunately, no efforts were made to preserve Beowulf until 1845, when each leaf was framed and the manuscript was rebound. Over the hundred years between the fire and the first efforts for preservation, Beowulf had begun to disintegrate, so much so that large chunks of the epic were indiscernible and lost to time. Had it not been for Icelandic scholar G. J. Thorkelin, the poem as we know it and all the discussion and adaptation that came with it would not exist today. Thorkelin, searching for sources about Denmark, found Beowulf in 1786, wrote two direct transcripts of it, and published the first ever translation of it in 1815. The first modern English translation was published in 1833 (Grout).

The history of the manuscript is certainly tumultuous, and, if anything, is a grave reminder of the absolute necessity of caring for artifacts. Beowulf is often considered one of the most significant English texts ever written. Studying it allows us to learn about the development of the English language and characteristics of Anglo-Saxon culture. It is, like all historical artifacts, a window into a time long before our own. Without Thorkelin, John Gardner’s Grendel would not even exist, nor would this blog or the unit on it in Mrs. Fusaro’s Modern Mythology course. Without the efforts of those who tried to preserve Beowulf’s manuscript in 1845, we probably would not be able to look at it today and understand how real and tangible the writings were. Therefore, it is extremely fortunate that a greater emphasis is now placed on keeping artifacts intact and accessible on the Internet, so that no other stories have to suffer the horrible threat of being forgotten.

Works Cited

The Good Luck of the Beowulf Manuscript, Old Engli.sh, old-engli.sh/trivia.php?ID=BeowulfMs. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.

Grout, James. “Beowulf Manuscript.” Sir Robert Cotton and the Beowulf Manuscript, University of Chicago, penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/beowulf/vitellius.html#:~:text=Finally%2C%20in%201845%2C%20the%20British,obscured%20some%20of%20the%20letters. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.

Harrison, Julian. “Fire, Fire! The Tragic Burning of the Cotton Library.” British Library, British Library, 23 Oct. 2016, blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/10/fire-fire-the-tragic-burning-of-the-cotton-library.html.