Old English Biblical Verse: Studies in Genesis, Exodus and Daniel

This is the first extended study of the Old Testament poems of the Junius collection as a group. The circumstances surrounding their composition and transmission are mysterious: none has been ascribed to a named author and none attributed reliably to the period of the development of Anglo-Saxon Christian poetry, from the seventh to tenth centuries. Old English Biblical Verse seeks to breach this critical impasse by allowing the biblical content of the Junius poems to tell its own story. Paul G. Remley compares them with genuine early medieval texts, of the books of Genesis, Exodus and Daniel, that are most likely to have circulated in Anglo-Saxon centres as written, oral and mnemonic texts. He sets out the full range of variants, including distinctive readings associated with continuous texts of Old Latin scripture and other non-Vulgate sources, such as liturgical lections and catechetical paraphrases. Remley also offers engaging exercises in hermeneutic and reader-response criticism and provides new insights into the cultural history of the Anglo-Saxons. The book brings to light a wide range of neglected early medieval biblical materials and the introductory chapter reviews five centuries of Anglo-Saxon history. All citations of Old English, Latin and Greek texts are accompanied by modern English translations, rendering the book accessible to general readers as well as specialists.