The Exeter Book
The Exeter Book is the oldest book of English literature in the world. Exeter’s first bishop, Leofric, gave the book to his cathedral on his death in 1072 and it has remained here ever since.
When Leofric arrived in Exeter in 1050, he furnished his cathedral with precious objects, including altar cloths, bells, candlesticks, chalices, crosses and vestments. He also established an impressive library of at least 66 books, including bibles, service books and scholarly texts. Today, however, only one of Leofric’s books remains at Exeter: the Exeter Book.
Some mystery surrounds the origins of the Exeter Book. A single scribe, most likely a monk, wrote the poetry on parchment (animal skin) in about 970. However, we do not know why or where, or who the monk was writing for, who owned the manuscript in the 10th century or how it came into the hands of Leofric in the 11th century. All we know for certain is that it has remained continuously at Exeter since 1072.
The Exeter Book contains 123 leaves of poetry. The handwriting, a script known as insular miniscule, is neat, spacious and elegant and, though there are no illustrations, the writing has many decorative features, including embellished capital letters of various sizes.
Despite their uniform appearance, the poems vary in length, format, subject and age. There are about 40 untitled poems. The book opens with a trio of religious poems, one of which bears the name of the Anglo-Saxon poet, Cynewulf, written in runes, an early form of writing in Northern Europe. Among the most celebrated poems are The Seafarer and The Wanderer, powerful meditations on loneliness, exile and the passage of time. The book also contains nearly all surviving Old English riddles – just under 100 – a highly respected form of writing in the 10th century.
The Exeter Book is in remarkable condition for its age but signs of wear hint at its changing status over the centuries, including a scorch mark, a spill from a glue pot, and other marks that suggest it was even once used as a chopping board and press for gold leaf. As early as the 12th century, Old English was no longer in general use. When the Cathedral made an inventory of its books and other treasures in 1327, the Exeter Book was among other “books in French, English and Latin, worn out by age, which are not assigned a value because they are considered to be worthless.”
Interest in the Exeter Book renewed in the 16th century when an Anglo Saxon scholar, Lawrence Nowell, examined the book and annotated it. Its poetry has inspired musicians, artists, writers and poets, especially J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Poetry from the Exeter Book also features in the spiritual life of the Cathedral, including in the Advent Procession on the first Sunday of December. Since 2022, Exeter Cathedral’s Riddler in Residence project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, has ensured the Exeter Book remains a continuing source of inspiration within the local community.
A thousand years on, the Exeter Book is entered on the UK UNESCO Memory of the World Register in recognition of its enormous significance to national and international literary and cultural heritage. Now fully digitised and on public display in Exeter Cathedral’s Treasures Exhibition, the Exeter Book continues to fascinate people of all ages across the world.
Which poem is currently on display?
Guthlac B, 44v and 45r
An ornate capital marks the beginning of the second of a pair of poems celebrating the life of Guthlac (674-714), a Christian saint from Lincolnshire. Guthlac lived as a hermit on the island of Croyland, now called Crowland, and offered spiritual guidance to the many people who visited him. The annotations are by Lawrence Nowell, a sixteenth-century Anglo Saxon scholar and compiler of the first Old English dictionary, Vocabularium Saxonicum.
Photos by Simon Tutty.
The Exeter Book is currently on display in our Treasures Exhibition.