THE EXETER BOOK MANUSCRIPT

The Exeter Book, also known as manuscript 3501 in the Library of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral in Exeter, contains the only extant text of The Descent into Hell or John the Baptist's Prayer. Dating of the manuscript has not gone without controversy, since it has been difficult to date the specific poetic works within the manuscript. Despite this dating controversy the manuscript is generally attributed to the latter half of the tenth century, and codicological and literary evidence suggests that the entire manuscript was both designed and copied c. 965–75. The Exeter Book may very well be ‘the oldest surviving book of vernacular poetry from Anglo-Saxon England’ and has been at Exeter after it was given to the resident Bishop Leofric (1016–72) who moved the Episcopal see to Exeter from Crediton in 1050. Before Leofric's death on 10 February 1072, he requested the compilation of an itemized donation list comprised of books and religious artifacts with the intention of leaving the listed items to Exeter Cathedral and its community. The item listed as -i- mycel englisc boc be gehwilcu(m) Þingu(m) on leoðwisan geworht is, with reasonable certainty, said to be the earliest reference to the Exeter Book, although scholarly identification is not completely conclusive. P. Conner argues that there seems to be a substantial amount of evidence to suggest that the manuscript was written in either Crediton or Exeter.