1

CYNEWULF'S ASCENSION (CHRIST II):

A CRITICAL EDITION

Roland T. Williams

A Dissertation

Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

August 197U

Approved by Doctoral Committee

Advisor Department of Englzi

¿f7 iJ-l—dJ —;; WWUNG GREEN Stint UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ABSTRACT

Ascension (Christ II) is one of four Old English poems (the other three are Fates of the Apostles, Juliana, and Elene) with the name "Cynewulf" embedded in runes, acrostic-fashion, near the end. The purpose of the dissertation is to present a text of Ascension, transcribed from the Exeter Book facsimile. Included, too, are textual notes and commentary, introduction, translation, and glossary. Although the poem has been edited as part of the Exeter Book, as one of Cynewulf's signed works, and in collections of Old English literature, it has never been issued before as a separate work.

The first 1,664 lines of the Exeter Book have been divided by scholars into Christ I (Advent), Christ II (Ascension), and Christ III (The Last Judgment) and were considered for many years to be a trilogy called Christ. Since Benjamin Thorpe published the first edition of the Exeter Book in 1842, scholars have repeated­ ly attempted to discover whether Cynewulf wrote one, two, or all three parts. For the reason that Cynewulf's name appears only at the end of Ascension, current scholarship holds that Cynewulf wrote only this poem, a view that the present study affirms.

The introduction includes a discussion of the background of the Exeter Book, problems relating to authorship, dating, dialect, and runic writing, and a critical analysis which ejqjlores the structure, diction, imagery, and theme of the poem. The edited text follows with proposed manuscript emendations at the bottom of each page. Also noted are the suggested emendations made by selected editors of the poem. Notes and commentary appear next with explanatory material on difficult passages. Finally, a trans­ lation of the poem and a glossary, with cognate words from Indo- European languages, are included.

In the poem, the Ascension—seen by the early Church as signifying the completion of man’s salvation—becomes the emblem (along with the Harrowing of Hell) of Christ's struggle to gain man's soul and to reunite man with God. Using verbs of vertical movement, Cynewulf describes this struggle as occurring among heaven, earth, and hell, and creates a tension among these three planes that is resolved at Christ's Second Coming. Suggestive, too, of this tension are the choices (illustrated by images of euphony and cacophony, light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance) that man on earth must make during his life. The use of such parallels and contrasts not only produces an aesthetically satisfying poem, but also reveals a high order of artistic imagination. PREFACE

This, the first edition of Cynewulf's Ascension to appear singly, has as its aim the establishment of a reliable, readable text with accompanying textual apparatus, and notes and commentary that explain variant forms and difficult passages rather than nor­ malizing them. To this end, too, I seek in the Translation and

Glossary to reveal as fully as possible the linguistic richness of the poem, while I strive in the Analysis to explore critically the background, structure, diction, and imagery of Ascension. Ultimately, it is my hope that the artistic imagination that has gone into the creation of the poem comes to appear more significant than the various disputes over the authorship of the so-called Christ trilogy or its "unity." Besides these principles that have guided my editorial work on Cynewulf's poem, I have always tried to follow the advice—borne by many years of humane, judicious scholarship— offered by Frederick Klaeber in his review of Albert Cook's edition,

The Christ of Cynewulf (Journal of English and Germanic Philology,

4 E19023, 101-112):

To edit a Cynewulfian text well, it is not enough to be a "Cynewulf scholar," nor even to be a good Old English scholar. To a thorough knowledge of the requisite linguistic and metrical, details should be added keen literary insight, refinement of taste, and maturity of judgment. The editor should not allow himself to be run away with by one-sided considerations, whether metrical, aesthetic, or otherwise. He should not merely count, and measure, and analyze, but as well weigh, compare, and construct. He should make himself acquainted with all the great and (oftener) small contributions to our knowledge of this particular1 field, IV

lay before his readers the net results of that confusing mass of contradictory treatises, and set forth his own views in a clear and convincing manner. Last, but not least, his heart should be in the work no less than his head. (p. 101)

Finally, I would like to thank Miss Joyce Packer of the Exeter

Cathedral Library staff for much useful background information on the Exeter Book. I also wish to express my gratitude to my disser­ tation advisor Arthur Abel, whose thoughtful suggestions and com­ ments helped me in the writing of my dissertation. To my wife, who typed the manuscript and gave me encouragement throughout my work,

I owe my greatest debt. V

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page PREFACE...... iii

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... vi

INTRODUCTION ...... 1

The Exeter Book...... 1

Cynewulf...... 11

The Poem...... 25

Language and Date...... 25

Unity of the Christ trilogy...... 26

Sources...... 34

The Runes...... 38

Analysis...... 42

NOTE ON THE TEXT...... 83

TEXT...... 86

NOTES AND COMMENTARY...... 106

TRANSLATION...... 131

GLOSSARY 142 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliographies

Anderson, George K., "Old English Literature," The Medieval Litera­ ture of Western Europe: A Review of Research, Mainly 1930-1960« Ed. John H. Fisher. New York: New York University Press, 1966.

Heusinkveld, Arthur H. and Edwin J. Baske. A Bibliographical Guide to 0E: A Selective Bibliography of the Language, Literature, and History of the Anglo-Saxons. University of Iowa Humanistic Studies Csupplement to the University of Iowa Studies, 139Ü» Fascicle 5« Iowa City, 1931*

Jansen, Karl. Die Cynewulf-Forschung von ihren Anfängen bis zur Ge­ genwart . no. 24- (1908) of Bonner Beiträge zur Anglistik. Ed. Moritz Trautmann. Bonn: Peter Hanstein's Verlag, 1911-

Matthews, William. Old and Middle English Literature. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1968.

Renwick, William L. and Harold Orton. The Beginnings of English Literature to Skelton, 1509« 3r(i ecL* rev. by Martyn F. Wakelin. London: The Cresset Press, 1966.

Robinson, Fred C. Old English Literature: A Select Bibliography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970.

Schmitz, Theodor. "Die Cynewulf-Forschung 1908 u. 1909-" Beiblatt zur Anglia, 22 (l91l), 337-^1•

Dictionaries

Bosworth, Joseph, ed. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, rev. T. Northcote Toller, London: Oxford University Press, I898; and Supplement, London: Oxford University Press, 1921.

Grein, Christian W.M., ed. Sprachschatz der angelsächsischen Dichter. 2 vols. Ed. J.J. Köhler. Cassel und Göttingen: George H. Wigand's Verlag, 1861-6^.

Hall, J.R. Clark. A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, ^th ed. Cam­ bridge: The University Press, 1966. vii

Background

Anderson, George K. The Literature of the Anglo-Saxons. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1949-

Bede. A History of the English Church and People, trans. Leo Sher- ley-Price. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1955«

Brooke, Stopford A. English Literature from the Beginning to the Norman Conquest. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1898.

______. History of Early English Literature. New York and London: Macmillan and Co., 1892.

Brown, C.F. "Cynewulf and Alcuin," Publications of the Modem Lan­ guage Association, 18 (1903), 308-34.

______. "Irish-Latin Influence in Cynewulfian Texts," Englische Studien, 40 (1909), 1-29«

Buckhurst, Helen. "Terms and Phrases for the Sea in Old English Poetry" in A Miscellany in Honor of Frederick Klaeber. Ed. Kemp Malone and Martin Rund. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1929, PP« 103-119«

Chaney, William A. The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England: The Transition from Paganism to Christianity. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970.

Ebert, Adolf. Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters im Abendlände. 3 vols. Leipzig: F.C.W. Vogel, 1880-89«

Gatch, Milton McC. Loyalities and Traditions: Man and His World in Old English Literature. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1971-

Keiser, Albert. The Influence of Christianity on the Vocabulary of Old English Poetry. University of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature, vol. 4, no. 112. Urbana: University of Illinois, I919; rpt. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1967«

Kennedy, Charles. The Earliest English Poetry: A Critical Survey of the Poetry Written before the Norman Conquest with Illustrative Translations■ New York: Oxford University Press, 1943«

Kissack, R.A. "The Sea in Anglo-Saxon and Middle English Poetry," Washington University Studies. 13 (1926), no. 2, 371-389«

Knowles, Dorn David. The Monastic Order in England. Cambridge: University Press, 1949. Vili

Lerner, L.D. "Colour Words in Anglo-Saxon." Modern Language Review. M (1951), 246-249-

Mead, W.E. "Color in Old English Poetry." Publications of the Modern Language Association. 14 (1899). 169-206.

Patch, H.R. The Other World, According to Descriptions in Medieval Literature. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press, 1950.

Sarrazin, Gregor. Beowulf-Studien: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte altgermanischer Sage und Dichtung. Berlin: Mayer und Müller, 1888.

______. "Beowulf und Kynewulf." Anglia, 9 (1886), 515“ 550.

______Von KgLdmon bis Kynewulf. Berlin: Mayer und Müller, 1913.

Skemp, Arthur R. "The Transformation of Scriptural Story, Motive, and Conception in Anglo-Saxon Poetry." Modem Philology, 4 (1906-1907), 423-470.

Smith, M. Bentinck. "Old English Christian Poetry." The Cambridge History of English Literature. Ed. A.W. Ward and A. R. Waller. New York, 1907; rpt. London: Cambridge University Press, 1963.

Stenton, Sir Frank M. Anglo-Saxon England. London: Oxford University Press, 1950.

Wardale, Edith. Chapters on Old English Literature. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London: Ltd., 1935; rpt. New York: Russell and Russell, Inc., 1965 Echapt. 8, "Cynewulf," pp. 150-176-3 wEhiteloc^k, DQorothy]. "Cynewulf." Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 11. Chicago: William Benton, 1971, PP« 945-946.

Wülker, Richard P. "Cynewulfs Heimat." Anglia, 17 (1895)» IO6-IO9.

______. Geschichte der englischen Literatur. 2 vols. Leipzig und Wien: Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, I896.

______. Grundriss zur Geschichte der angelsächsischen Literatur. Leipzig: Verlag von Veit und Comp., I885.

______. "Ueber den Dichter Cynewulf." Anglia, 1 (1878), ^83-507•

Zesmer, David M. Guide to English Literature. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1961. IX

The Exeter Manuscript

Barlow, Frank, Kathleen M. Dexter, Audrey M. Erskine, and L.J. Lloyd. Leofric of Exeter: Essays in Commemoration of the foundation of Exeter Cathedral Library in A.D. 1072. Exeter: University of Exeter, 1972.

Blake, N.F. "The Scribe of the Exeter Book," Neophilologus (Groningen) 46 (1962), 316-19.

Conybeare, J.J. "Account of a Saxon MS. preserved in the Cathedral Library at Exeter." Archaeologia, 17 (1814), 180-192.

Coveney, Dorothy K. "The Ruling of the Exeter Book." Scriptorium, 12, 51-55«

The Exeter Book of Old English Poetry, facsimile, with introductory chapters by R.W. Chambers, Max Förster, and Robin Flower. London: Percy Lund, Humphries and Co. Ltd., 1933«

Ker, Neil R. Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon. London: Oxford University Press, 1957-

______. Review of The Exeter Book of Old English Poetry. Medium ABvum, 2 (1933). 224-231.

Lloyd, L.J. The Library of Exeter Cathedral. Exeter: The University of Exeter, 1967-

Pope, John C. "The Lacuna in the Text of Cynewulf's Ascension (Christ II, 558b)." Studies in Language, Literature and Culture of the Middle Ages and Later. Ed. Atwood E. Bagby and Archibald A. Hill. Austin: The University of Texas, 1969, PP- 210-19•

Schipper, Jacob. "Zum Codex Exoniensis." Germania, 19 (1874), 327- 338.

Sisam, Kenneth. Review of The Exeter' Book of Old English Poetry. Review of English Studies, 10 (1934), 338-342.

Tupper, Frederick, Jr. "Textual Criticism as a Pseudo-science." Publications of the Modem Language Association, 25 (1910), 164-181.

Editions and Translations of Ascension

Assmann, Bruno, ed. Die Handschrift von Exeter, vol. Ill, pt. 1. Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie. Ed. Richard Paul WUlker. Leipzig::Georg H. Wigand's Verlag, I898. X

Cook, Albert S., ed. The Christ of Cynewulf. Boston, 1900; rpt. New York: Archon Books, 1964.

Das, Satyendra K. "An Edition of the Old English Poem, Christ, A and B, Lines 1-866. Unpublished Dissertation. University of London, 1936.

Gollanez, Sir Israel, ed. Cynewulf's Christ: An Eighth Century English Epic Edited with a Modem Rendering. London: David Nutt, 1892.

______. The Exeter Book. Part 1, no. 104. London: Early English Text Society, 1895; Part 2, no. 194. Ed. W.S. Mackie. London: Early English Text Society, 193^-

Kennedy, Charles W., trans. Early English Christian Poetry: Translated into Alliterative Verse. New York: Oxford University Press, 1952.

______. The Poems of Cynewulf. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1910.

Krapp, George P. and Dobbie, Elliot V.K., eds. The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, vol. 3: The Exeter Book. New York: Columbia University Press, 1936•

Leo, Heinrich. Commentatio quae de se ipso Cynevulfus (sive Cenevulfus, sive Coenevulfus) poeta anglosaxonicus tradiderit.Halle: Hendel, 1857.

Muinzer, Louis A. "The Signed Poems of Cynewulf." Unpublished Disser­ tation. Princeton University, 1956.

Thorpe, Benjamin, ed. Codex Exoniensis . . . With an English Trans­ lation, Notes and Indexes. London: Published for the Society of Antiquaries of London, 1842.

Runes

Amtz, Helmut. Bibliographie der Runenkunde. Leipzig: Otto Harrasso- witz, 1937.

Barnouw, A.J. "Die Runenstelle der Himmelfahrt," Archiv für das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, 107 (1901)»382-5•

Brodeur, Arthur G. "The Riddle of the Runes." University of California Publications in English, vol. 3» No. 1, pp. 1-15- Berkeley, 1932.

Brown, C.F. "The Autobiographical Element in the Cynewulfian Rune Passages," Englische Studien, 38 (1907). 196-233• XL

Cosijn,P.J. "Cynewulfs Runenverzen," Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Koninkli.jke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeeding Letterkunde, 3. Reeks, 7- Deel. Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, I89O, pp. 54-84.

Derolez, René. Runica Manuscripta: The English Tradition. Bruges: Rijksuniversiteit te Gent, 1954.

Dickins, Bruce, ed. Runic and Heroic Poems of thé Old Teutonic Peoples. Cambridge, 1915; rpt. New York: Kraus Reprint Co.,1968.

______. "A System of Transliteration for Old English Runic Inscriptions." Leeds Studies^n English, 1 (1932), 15-19*

Elliott, Ralph W.V. "Cynewulf’s Runes in ’Christ;II’ and ’Elene.'" English Studies, 34 (1953), 49-57-

______. "Cynewulf’s Runes in ’Juliana’ and the ’Fates of the Apostles.’" English Studies, 34 (1953), 193-204.

______. Runes: An Introduction. 2nd ed., 1963; rpt. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1971-

______. "Runes, Yews, and Magic." Speculum, 32 (1957)»250-61.

Keller, Wolfgang. "Zum altenglischen Runengedicht." Anglia, 60 (1936), 141-149.

______. "Zur Chronologie der ae. Runen." Anglia, 62 (1938), 24-32.

Kemble, John M. "On Anglo-Saxon Runes." Archaeologia, 28 ( 1840),327-72.

Krause, Wolfgang. Runeninschriften im älteren Futhark. Halle: Niemeyer, 1937•

Marquardt, Hertha. Die Runeninschriften der Britischen Inseln; Biblio­ graphie der Runeninschriften nach Fundorten. Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-Histori­ sche Klasse. Dritte Folge, Nr. 48. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1961, pp. 1-168.

Page, R.I. "Language and Dating in OE inscriptions," Anglia, 77 (1959), 385-406.

______. "A Note on the Transliteration of Old English Runic Inscriptions." English Studies, 43 (1962), 484-90.

______. "Runes and Non-Runes" in Medieval Literature and Civiliza­ tion: Studies in Memory of G.N. Garmonsway. Ed. D.A. Pearsall and R.A. Waldron. London: University of London, Athlone Press, pp. 28-54. XL1

Page, R.I. "The Use of Double Runes in Old. English Inscriptions." Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 6l (1962), 897-90?*

Paues, A.G. "Runes and Manuscripts." The Cambridge History of English Literature. Ed. A.W. Ward and A.R. Waller, New York, 190?; rpt. London: Cambridge University Press, 1963. I, 7-18.

Sievers, Eduard. "Zu Cynewulf." Anglia, 13 (1891), 1-25 [discussion of P -rune].

Trautmann, Moritz. "Zu Cynewulfs Runenstellen." Bonner Beiträge zur Anglistik, 2 (1899), 118-120.

Tupper, Frederick, Jr. "The Cynewulfian Runes of the First Riddle." Modern Language Notes, 25 (l910), 235-41.

______. "The Cynewulfian Runes of the Religious Poems." Modem Language Notes, 27 (1912), 131-137*

Turville-Petre, Edward Oswald G. The Heroic Age of Scandinavia. London and New York: Hutchinson's University Library, 1951* [Chapt. 2, "The Runes and the Old Norse Language," pp. 19-26.]

Weber, Edmund. "Zum Alter der Runenschrift." Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 159 (1931), 273-4.

______. "Zu dem Wort rune." Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 1?8 (l94l), 1-6.

Wimmer, Ludvig F.A. Die Runenschrift, trans. Ferdinand Holthausen. 2nd. ed. Berlin: Weidmann, 1887•

Wrenn, C.L. "Late Old English Rune Names." Medium Aevum, 1 (1932), 24-34; [corrigenda:] C.E. Wright. "A P.S. to 'Late OE Rune Names'." Medium Aevum, 5 (1938), 149-51*

Critical Studies

Blackburn, F.A. "Is the Christ of Cynewulf a Single Poem?" Anglia, 19 (1897), 89-98*

Bouravel, Johannes B. "Zur Quellen- und Verfasserfrage von Andreas, Crist und Fata," Bonner Beiträge zur Anglistik, 11 (l90l), 65- 132.

Bradshaw, Margaret R. "The Metre of the Christ." Unpublished Dissertation. Yale University, 1902.

Brandi, Alois. Review of Cook's The Christ of Cynewulf. Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, 111 (1903), 447-49. Xlll

Bright, James W. "Cynewulf’s Christ 495 and 528." Modem Language Notes, 13 (1898), 27.

Cook, Albert. "Alfred’s Soliloquies and Cynewulf’s Christ." Modem Language Notes, 17 (1902), 219-220.

Das, Satyendra K. Cynewulf and the Cynewulf Canon, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1942.

Diamond, Robert E. "The Diction of the Signed Poems of Cynewulf." Philological Quarterly, 38 (1959), 228-41.

______. "Theme as Ornament in Anglo-Saxon Poetry." Publications of the Modem Language Association. 76, pt. 2 <^l)7'Wi4S8.------

Dietrich, Franz. "Cynewulfs Crist." Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum, 9 (1853), 193-214.

DuBois, Marguerite Marie. Les Elements latins dans la poesie religi- euse de Cynewulf. Paris: Librairie E. Droz, 1943»

Ettmüller, Ludwig, ed. Engla and Seaxna Scopas and Boceras. Quedlin­ burg und Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von Gottfrid Basse, 1850.

Faiss, Klaus. ’Gnade* bei Cynewulf und seiner Schule. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 19&7-

Gerould, Gordon H. "Carpenter or Athlete? Christ w. 678-79«" Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 28 (1929), I6I-65.

. "Cynewulf’s Christ 678-679," Modem Language Notes, 31 (1916),403-404.

. "Studies in the Christ," Englische Studien, 41 (1909), 1-19«

Grein, Christian W.M. "Zur Textkritik der angelsEächsischen]. Dichter." Germania, 10 (1865), 4l6-29«

Hart, J.M., "Allotria II." Modem Language Notes, 17 (1902), 461-63•

Holthausen, Ferdinand. Review of A.S. Cook’s The Christ of Cynewulf. Literaturblatt, 21 (1900), 369-373«

Howard, Edwin J. "A Concordance of Cynewulf’s Signed Poems, With An Introduction on Various Aspects of the Poet’s Diction." Un­ published Dissertation. Cornell University, 1929«

______. "Cynewulf’s Christ, 11. 1665-1693«" Publications of the Modem Language Association, 45 (1930), 354-367• XIV

Howard., Edwin J. "Old English Tree Climbing; Christ w. 6?8-79■ " Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 30 (l93l), 152-54.

Jenney, Adeline M., "A Note on Cynewulf's Christ." Modem Language Notes, 31 (1916), 91-93-

Jost, Karl. "Crist 558-585-" English Studies, 27 (1946), 175-179-

Klaeber, Frederick. "Jottings on Old English Poems." Anglia, 53 (1929), 225-234.

Review of A.S. Cook's, The Christ of Cynewulf. Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 4 (1902), 101-112.

Klipstein, Louis F., ed. Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. 2 vols. New York: G.P. Putnam, 1849.

Kock, Ernest A. Jubilee Jaunts and Jottings■ Lunds Universitets Arsskrift. N.F. aud. 1, 14, No. 26. Lund: C.W.K. Gleerup, 1918.

Leiding, Hermann. Die Sprache der Cynewulfschen Dichtungen Crist, Juliana u. Elene. Marburg: N.G. Elwer'sche Verlagsbuch­ handlung, 1888.

Liebermann, F. "Zur Cynewulffrage." Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 105 (l900), 387-

Mason, Lawrence, "Christ 779-866,” Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 129 (1912), 447-449-

Mather, Frank J. "The Cynewulf Question from a Metrical Point of View." Modem Language Notes, 7 (1892), 193-213-

Meritt, Herbert. "Beating the Oaks; An Interpretation of Christ 678-679-" American Journal of Philology, 66 (1945), 1-12.

Merrill, Katherine and Charles F. McClumphe. "The Parallelisms of the Anglo-Saxon 'Genesis.'" Modern Language Notes, 5 (1890), 164-175•

Mildenberger, Kenneth. "Unity of Cynewulf's 'Christ' in the Light of Iconography." Speculum, 23 (1948), 426-32.

Moore, Samuel. "The Old English Christ. Is it a Unit?" Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 14 (1915), 550-567-

Philip, Brother Augustine. "The Exeter Scribe and the Unity of the 'Christ'. Publications of the Modern Language Association, 55 (1940), 903-9. XV

I» -i Prollius, Max. Uber den syntactischen Gebrauch des Conjunctivs in den Cynewulf'sehen Dichtungen Elene, Juliana u. Grist. Marburg a. d. Lahn: Fr. Wagner'sehe Buchdruckerei in Freiburg i. B., 1888.

Rieger, Max. "Über Cynewulf." Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, 1 (1869), 215-26.

II Rössger, Richard., Uber den Syntaktischen Gebrauch des Genitivs in Cynewulfs Crist, Elene und Juliana. Halle: Ehrhardt Karras, 1885.

Rose, Alfred. Darstellung der Syntax in Cynewulfs Crist. Halle: Ehrhardt Karras, I89O.

Sarrazin, Gregor. "Zur Chronologie und Verfasserfrage angelsächsi­ scher Dichtungen." Englische Studien, 38 (l906), 145-195•

Schaar, Claes. Critical Studies in the Cynewulf Group. Lund and Copenhagen, 1949. rpt. New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd., 1967.

Schwarz, Franz. Cynewulf's Anteil am Crist. Eine metrische Unter­ suchung. Königsberg, 1905- Sievers, Eduard. "Zu Cynewulf." Neusprachliche Studien [^Festgabe für Karl Luick], Die Neueren Sprachen, 6. Beiheft (1925), 60- 81.

______. "Zur Rhythmik des germanischen Alliterationsverses." Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur. Herausgegeben von Hermann Paul und Wilhelm Braune, 10 (1885), 454-482.

Simons, Richard. Cynewulfs Wortschatz, no. 3 (1899) of Bonner Beiträge zur Anglistik. Bonn: Peter Hanstein's Verlag, 1899*

Sisam, Kenneth. "Cynewulf and His Poetry." Proceedings of the British Academy, 18 (1932), 303ff; rpt. ih Kenneth Sisam, Studies in the History of Old English Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953, PP- 1-28.

Smithson, George A. The Old English Christian Epic: A Study in the Plot Technique of the Jüliana, the Elene, the Andreas, and the Christ, in Comparison with the Beowulf and with the Latin Literature of the Middle Ages. University of California Pub­ lications in Modem Philology, vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 303-^00. Berkeley, 1910.

Storms, Godfrid. "The Weakening of 0E Unstressed 'i' to 'e' and the Date of Cynewulf." English Studies, 37 (1956), 104-10. XVI

Strunk, W., Jr. "Notes on Cynewulf." Modern Language Notes, 17 (IW), 371-373-

Trautmann, Moritz. "Berichtigungen, Erklärungen und Vermutungen zu Cynewulfs Werken." Bonner Beiträge zur Anglistik 23 (1907)> 85-146.

______. Kynewulf der Bischof und Dichter. Bonn: Peter Hanstein's Verlag, I898.

. "Der sogenannte Crist." Anglia, 18 (1896), 382- 388.

______. "Das sogenannte erste Rätsel." Anglia, 38 (1912), 133-138•

Tupper, Frederick, Jr. "The Philological Legend of Cynewulf." Publications of the Modem Language Association, 26 (l91l), 235-279- von der Warth, Johann J. Metrisch-sprachliches und Textkritisches zu Cynewulfs Werken. Halle a. S.: Ehrhardt Karras, 1908.

Whiting, B.J. "A Further Note on Old English Tree Climbing: Christ, w. 678-79." Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 31 (1932),. 256-57.

Wolff, Hiltrudis. "Die Epitheta in den Cynewulfischen Dichtungen." Unpublished Dissertation. University of Göttingen, 1955-

Cynewulf's Other Signed Poems

Brooks, Kenneth R., ed. Andreas and the Fates of the Apostles. London: Oxford University Press, I96I.

Gradon, Pamela O.E., ed. Cynewulf's Elene. London, 1958; New York: Methuen, 1966.

Holthausen, Ferdinand, ed. Cynewulf's Elene. 4th ed. Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1938.

Woolf, Rosemary, ed. Juliana. London: Methuen, 1955- INTRODUCTION

The Exeter Book

In the summer of I83O, N.F.S. Grund.tvig came to England, under

the auspices of the Danish government and visited the Chapter House

of the Exeter Cathedral to transcribe and study the Exeter Book in

the hope of publishing in ten volumes the whole of Anglo-Saxon lit­

erature. Although he did not receive the support he needed for his

project, his work inaugurated a serious, scholarly approach to the study of the Exeter Book3 The codex was donated to the Chapter

Library of Exeter Cathedral by Bishop Leofric, the first bishop of

Exeter, in about A.D. 1072, and is described in the list of donations

made by the bishop as "an mycel Englisc boc be gehwilcum feingum on

leogf-wisan geworht, ’one large English book on various subjects 2 composed in verse.'" How Leofric obtained the codex or the exact means by which he gave it to Exeter Cathedral is not clear; however,

of great significance for the codex is that it is one of the only manuscripts in Old English that has remained at its original place

of deposit.

bR.W. Chambers, "Modern Study of the Poetry of the Exeter Book," The Exeter Book of Old English Poetry (London: Percy Lund, 1933). PP- 34-35. The introductory chapters to this facsimile (pp. 1-94) written by Chambers, Max Förster, and Robin Flower, contain accounts of the history, paleography, foliation, punctua­ tion, script, etc., of the Exeter Codex. More background can be found in George P. Krapp and Elliot V.K. Dobbie. ed., The Exeter Book (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), PP- ix-cxvii. 2 Chambers, pp. 5ff; see also Albert S. Cook, ed. The Christ of Cynewulf (Boston: Ginn, 1900), pp. xiii-xiv. 2

This interesting and. important Old. English poetical volume has

suffered at some point in its thousand-year history the spilling of

a liquid, possibly beer, and the cuts of a sharp instrument. On folio

8a of The Exeter Book of Old English Poetry facsimile (see n. 1,

above), a dark, half-moon-shaped stain can be discerned in the upper

half of the twenty-three line page. The "limb" of the stain begins at

line thirteen, the left "horn" extends upward to line eight, and the

right to line seven. In addition to this semi-circular stain, there is

on the left a large diffuse stain which covers about one-quarter of the

folio; it has soaked through to folio 12b, blotting out large parts

of folios 8a through 10a, and rendering them almost unreadable. To the right of the semi-circular stain, approximately in the right-hand margin of folio 8a, is a small, triangular-shaped hole that has apparently resulted from the repeated hackings of a sharp instrument, possibly a large knife; bearing this out is the presence of many scored lines immediately below and to the left of the hole. It can be inferred from the damage done to folio 8a, that for a considerable time it was the first page of the codex, and that, therefore, the book was without a binding to protect it. It is often (and wrongly) assumed that only the first eight pages became detached from the codex, and that it now begins somewhere after the opening lines of the first poem (Christ i].

While the amount lost is unknown, it is now known that "seven leaves of manuscript which originally did not belong to the Exeter Book have been bound in at the beginning, so that now the actual Exeter Book begins at the page marked 8 by the [late seventeenth or early eighteenth century hand] which has numbered the folios. A misunderstanding of the 3

fact, stated, in some descriptions of the Exeter Book, that the poems

begin at page 8, has led to the mistaken idea that only eight pages

(even so it should be seven) are missing. . . . It is possible

that the loss from the original codex was considerable since it is

described in Leofric's inventory as "an mycel" book, whereas now it 4 is a volume of medium thickness. Besides these mutilations, there

is a large diagonal hole that has ruined much of the last portions of

the manuscript. The lacunae begin as two small holes in the margins

of folio 117a;. nothing is missing until folio 118b when the holes

begin to increase in size until each of the last five folios of the

volume are actually separated into two parts. Although some scholars

^Chambers, p. 37- These preliminary leaves, which bear no real relationship to the rest of the Exeter Book rightfully belong to the Gospel MS. Ii. 2. 11 in Cambridge University Library. They contain, among other things, various legal transactions, and a record, of the gifts from Bishop Leofric to St. Peter's Church at Exeter. The reason Chambers says parenthetically seven folio leaves is that in addition to the two numberings of the folios of the codex (one in the late sixteenth century, the second in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century),, two different numberings, probably in the late seventeenth century, are apparent in the preliminary matter as well: the first done in ink, the second, not long after, done in pencil. The first foliator numbered the first leaf (presently folio 0), but missed the sixth (presently folio 5), in all likelihood, because the binder had cut off the top. The later foliator ignored the blank first leaf, and began his numbering with the second leaf. Hence, rather than referring to the first folio leaf as number zero, as is usually done, this folio should be identified as folio number one. See also, Max FOrster, "General Description of the Manuscript," pp. 62-63, for a discussion of foliation, and pp. 56-60, for an account of the gatherings of the codex. ^Charles W. Kennedy, The Earliest English Poetry, (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), P- 356. There are two known gaps in the manuscripts: in the text of Juliana, at lines 288 and 558, there is a loss of folio leaves. 4 attribute this scar to damp,^ most blame the damage to a burning piece 6 of wood. The manuscript is written on thin vellum leaves that not infrequently allow the writing on one page to show through to the 7 other side. The size of the leaves averages 31.5 by 22 centimeters

(c. 12.5 by 8.6 inches); the text-space of each page amounts to Q approximately 24 by 16 centimeters (c. 9-4 inches by 6.3 inches).

In its present condition, the Exeter manuscript is comprised of I3I leaves, including the first blank leaf, which was not included in the present foliation. Therefore, the Exeter Book proper contains folios

8 to I30. Each folio leaf is ruled with lines (the number varies from twenty-one to twenty-three) following the medieval custom of incising on the parchment "horizontal lines to guide the writing and vertical 9 lines to bound it on each side." Since it was required that each ruled line have two points for placing it properly, such places were perforated by a sharp instrument; such a method had the advantage of

5SeeChambers, p. 33• ^See, for example, Jacob Schipper, "Zum Codex Exoniensis," Germania, 19 (1874), 327-338. 7 Förster, "General Description of the Manuscript," p. 55* One can observe, for example, how the capital eth on folio 74b of the facsimile shows through to folio 74a. However, Dorothy K. Goveney has pointed out in "The Ruling of the Exeter Book," Scriptorium, 12 (1958), 51-55, that this shining through holds true for the thick folios as well as for the thin. o °G.P. Krapp and E.V.K. Dobbie, p. xi. Schipper, p. 327, in his description of the Exeter Book, notes the size of the manuscript as being 18.5 centimeters by 14 centimeters. Cook, in his edition of The Christ of Cynewulf, p. xiv, repeats the error. ^Leslie W.'Jones, "Pricking Manuscripts: The Instruments and Their Significance," Speculum, 21 (1946), p. 389« 5

being easily visible to the scribe who incised the lines and of being

almost invisible to the reader of the manuscript.The prickings

can be clearly seen on almost every page of the facsimile; the ruling

lines, in general, are less clear, but they are visible, for example,

on folio leaves 14a and 44a. For the most part, the folios of the

codex were assembled in gatherings of eights, with seventeen gatherings

in all. In their present form, however, some of the gatherings have

lost one or more folios, or never had the full number in the first

place. G.P. Krapp and E.V.K. Dobbie conclude from the relatively "close

correspondence between the gatherings and the ruling of the folios, and

the frequent variation between the gatherings in this respect," that

like the Vercelli Book, the Exeter codex "was not ruled all at once, 12 but one or more gatherings at a time, as the work progressed."

A dot or point placed medially in a row of letters is one of

two forms of punctuation found in the Exeter manuscript. Such points, used metrically, facilitated reading Anglo-Saxon poems which were

-1-6Jones, p. 389. See also Coveney, pp. 51-55. for a discussion of the rulings of the Exeter Book. l\)n the latter page, it appears as if the ink of many of the descenders of the letters along the incised lines has cracked and chipped away. Possibly the lines on this page were incised so deeply that the ink, which flowed into the grooves in greater amounts than normally, had no chance to dry and adhere to the vellum properly. I2T-he Exeter Book, p. xiii. Substantiating this conclusion is Coveney, p. 52, who feels "it is clear that, following the normal insular practice, the entire quire of four double leaves was usually folded and then pricked, both for bounding lines and text lines, through the eight leaves in one process. It does not appear, how­ ever, that the prickings took place through more than one quire at a time." 6 written in prose form on manuscript pages. The codex is punctuated too infrequently and not consistently enough to regard it as denoting 13 metrical punctuation such as occurs in the Junius Manuscript. The

Ascension (Christ II) poem, however, appears to he pointed metrically, as is Widsith, and the Fortunes of Men. Often, what may appear as points are actually the dot-like end of the upstroke made after the letters a, e, t, m, and n. That such dots are not to he construed as punctuation may he observed on folio leaf 14a, line 16, where, in the middle of the word Betlem, "Bethlehem," appears a dot-tag 14 after the t. Beyond the use of points for indicating punctuation, the Exeter scribe apparently intended to signal qualitative dif­ ferences between poem endings and poem-section endings by means of the symbols : ?, : —, or combinations of these signs. Hence, he utilizes an elaborate arrangement of these symbols to denote the' more significant divisions of the codex. For example, while the individual sections of the Christ trilogy (ff. 8a-32a) normally end

-UKrapp and Dobbie, p. xxi. However, FOrster, "General Descrip­ tion of the Manuscript," says: "As in the Beowulf manuscript, the dot is almost exclusively used to denote a metrical pause, so that . . . we may call it a'metrical point.' There are hardly more than three dozen instances in the whole manuscript where the dot is used outside the metrical pauses" (p. 6l). Ker, Medium Aevum, p. 228, maintains that some dots have been added by a later hand, and cites folios l4b-15b, l6b-20a, 21a, 32b, and 33a, as evidencing these added points. 14 In his discussion of the similarities between the scribal features of the Exeter codex, and MS. Bodley 19 (Isidore's De Miraculis Christi, presently known as De Fide Catholica), Ker, Medium Aevum, p. 230, remarks about this dot-tag phenomenon in the Bodleian MS. "that 'the dot or bead at the point of the curve' of t has been very often erased." Perhaps a reader, at some point after the production of the MS., not wishing to confuse the punctuation points with the dot-tags of the t's, erased the latter. 7

with a single : 7, its three major divisions (i, II,and III) are

distinguished less simply by — Am : 7 following division I,

: — : 7 • 7 • 7 following II, and : — : 7 at the end of the 15 whole trilogy. In general, then, one finds in the Exeter Book,

that the simple : 7 follows the section-ends and the shorter poems,

while the more complex groups follow the longer poems.

The abbreviations that the Exeter scribe uses are the usual 7

for ond, for past, and a macron or tilde over a vowel or consonant

to signify a following omitted letter or letters. The most frequent

abbreviations in which the superior marks are utilized for elided

letters are represented in such words as wolcnu (Ascension, 1. 88),

the abbreviation for the dative plural ending -urn; hence, wolcnum.

Also found are ha for ham, hi for him, bry for ¿rym, su for sum, £

hone for gehonc, bon or ¿on for bonne. Rarely does one see ¿onn or

bonn for bonne. In general, words in the Exeter Book are spelled out.

The conjunction ond is abbreviated by the insular symbol 7, and when

ond appears as the initial element in a compound word, it is also

used; for example: 7sware for ondsware, 7giet for ongiet, etc. The

present edition expands 7 as ond in the text of the Ascension.

The poems and the poem-sections in the Exeter Book are not marked by titles or headings; rather, they are indicated by large

initial capital letters, and are often followed by smaller cap­

itals. The end of a poem is indicated by "emphatic" punctuation,

usually an elaborate combination of the signs mentioned above. More­

over, one to two blank spaces separate the poems, although toward the

-*-5Krapp and Dobbie, The Exeter Book, p. xxiii. 8

end of the manuscript the amount of space between poems becomes less so that at the end one finds blank spaces of only one line or less.

The longer poems of the codex have not only received more elaborate treatment in terms of the capitals (the majority of first lines being capitalized), but they have also been divided into sections. As with the poems, the sections are marked by initial letters, punctuation, and spacing, except that "only the first word or part of the first word is capitalized. . . ." 17 The sections become, in a sense, scaled- down poems. One anomaly, as far as spacing, capitals, and punctuation are concerned, exists in the so-called Christi rather than the single spacing between sections within the poem, there is double spacing. Also found is the sort of elaborate punctuation at the end of the sections that is normally expected at the ends of the poems. It is probable, therefore, that the scribe intended "major divisions similar to those at the beginning of Guthlac, Phoenix, and the other poems which have 18 capitalization of the entire first line in the manuscript." The importance of these anomalous features will be discussed later; how­ ever, the Exeter scribe apparently recognized that he was working with three major units and not merely poem-sections. In addition to the small capitals that fill many first lines of poems, are numerous other

"capitals" in the manuscript, much smaller in size. For example,

B^Krapp and Dobbie, p. xvi, attribute this phenomenon to the scribe's desire to conserve space.

17tIb..i,d■, p. xvii. 18 °Ibid. See "Table II: Sectional Divisions in the Poems,” pp. lxxiv-lxxv in the Krapp and Dobbie edition. 9

enlarged i's are used in initial positions to distinguish such words

as in and m. For such "capitals" as S, B, N, etc., on the other hand,

no real generalizations as to their use can "be made. 19

The script of the Exeter Book—the Anglo-Saxon minuscule— 20 connotes an archaic, liturgical quality. It can be suggested that the manuscript was executed "in a scriptorium in which the art of writing was carefully studied and where many older manuscripts in insular hands were available for study and imitation. A script of this 21 character cannot have been an isolated phenomenon." Indeed, this awakening in the arts of writing and in books can be traced to the

Benedictine Reform, the tenth-century monastic revival, which brought an increased interest in scriptoria, and through which many families such as the noble family of Aethelweard lent their encouragement to the composition of English texts. The date of composition of the Exeter

Book has been variously placed from the last half of the tenth century to the beginning of the eleventh, but Robin Flower, using the Lambeth

MS. 149, whose handwriting is strikingly similar to that of the codex, and whose provenance can be fairly well deduced, suggests that both manuscripts "were written in one monastery or in closely associated 22 monasteries in the West Country early in the period 970-990-" Except

T^Krapp and Dobbie, p. xviii. Of) Robin Flower, "The Script of the Exeter Book," p. 83- 21 Ibid. See also Ker, "Scribes and Scriptoria," Catalogues of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon, pp. lvi-lx. 22Ibid., p. 90- 10

for Flower, who supposes that several scribes were involved in the 23 writing of the codex, scholars generally agree that the Exeter Book 24 is the work of one scribe. In any event, the large, beautiful, and uniform hand of the Exeter copyist makes the Exeter Book a notably legible manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon period. Yet, in the view of

Kenneth Sisam, the Exeter scribe was a mechanical transcriber who brought "to English the habit of literal reproduction that was required 25 in Latin," and, who being slavish to his text, was not likely to change the text he was copying. To show that this mechanical copying is apparent, Sisam cites the following evidence: the word swist, which is no word in Old English, is written three times for the common word swift (ff. 104b, 105a, 128b); the scribe failed to make the proper transpositions in dealing with archaic or dialectal forms; and, in Biddle 90 (folio 129b), the copyist’s "one consecutive scrap of Latin ... is barbarous, probably because he had no thought

^^p. 83. Flower does not support his opinion in any way.

See, for example, Schipper, Germania, 19 (1874), p. 327; Wuiker, Grundriss . . . Literatur, p. 223; ancL Ker, Catalogue, P- 153. ^Review of English Studies, 10 (1934), p. 340. Reprinted in Studies in the History of English Literature, as part I in Chapter Six, "The Exeter Book," pp. 97-100. In Part II, pp. 100-108, Sisam reinforces his argument with linguistic evidence from the Exeter Book. Moreover, he deduces that at some time the Exeter volume was "copied by one or more scribes Clike Flower, Sisam offers no evidence for the suggestion of multiple hands] who freely substituted forms to which they were accustomed for those in the copy before them" (p. 106), and that the conditions that were favorable for such free copying took place when the whole collection was assembled, "in the time of Alfred, or his successors Edward or Athelstan" (p. 108). 11

26 of correcting a corrupt original." The evenness of the lines

throughout the Exeter Book suggests that the scribe was copying from

another manuscript rather than copying and. compiling the codex from

several distinct manuscripts. One would expect from such a uniform,

noble hand, more scribal elaboration than exists; however, one

certainly finds no illuminations like those that adorn the Lindisfarne

Gospels. "The only meagre attempt at decorating we find in the Exeter

Book are some sixty large capitals . . . which were allowed a sort of

fringe in the form of a very thin and unobtrusive second line, which 27 occasionally develops into small flowery excrescences."

Cynewulf

The language of the Exeter codex evidences an admixture of the

Late West Saxon and Anglian dialect forms. It can be assumed from

this that some of the poetry handed down to the scribes for copying

^8rES, p. >0. Confirming this view of the Exeter scribe is N.F. Blake, "The Scribe of the Exeter Book," Neophilologus (Groningen), 46 (1962), 316-319. Using Bodl. MS 319 (Isidore’s De Fide catholica contra Iudaeos, possibly the same manuscript referred to in Leofric's gift list as liber Isidori de miraculis Christi), which contains an Old English gloss on ff. 74-75, perhaps written by the Exeter scribe, Blake investigates this MS to determine how valid Sisam’s conclusions are concerning the mechanicalness of the copyist’s scribal habits. Blake concludes that the scribe composed and copied out the gloss himself; that he was capable of copying "out different standardized versions of English without substantially altering them," and "it proves beyond doubt that, if the gloss was written by the scribe of the Exeter Book, it cannot have been that scribe who standardized the language of the poetic codex" (p. 319). Cf. Frederick Tupper, Jr., "Textual Criticism as a Pseudo-Science," PMLA, 25 (1910), 164-181, who maintains that the skill of the Exeter scribe (as well as that of the Vercelli copyist) is better than often realized. 2*7 'Max Förster, "General Description of the Manuscript," p. 60. 12

and compilation might have had a northern provenance. If any Anglian

forms appear in Cynewulf's poetry it is possible, therefore, that Cyne

wulf lived and wrote in either Northumbria or Mercia. Richard WUlker

took the view that Cynewulf was Mercian rather than Northumbrian

since Northumbria was in no position to foster the likes of Cynewulf

during the eighth- and early ninth- centuries. There, kings rose and

fell with great frequency (fifteen kings in 125 years), which connotes 28 political instability ; furthermore, the raids made by the Vikings during the reign of Aethelred (A.D. 790-796) contributed to the

general turmoil of the kingdom. WUlker felt that a land had to be quiet and stable to promote the kind of literary flowering in which

Cynewulf must have written. It is this stability, according to

WUlker, that eighth-century Mercia possessed, with fewer kings reign­ ing longer (seven kings in 144 years). He surmised that one of these kings, Offa (757-795), was on the throne when Cynewulf wrote, and that Mercia had direct relations with Wessex (Egbert had conquered

Mercia in 825), thereby making it possible for the poet's work to gain 29 entrance into the southern kingdom. However, one must be cautious

^8"Cynewulf's Heimat," Anglia, 17 (1895), 106-109- For an opposing view see Sir Frank M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (London: Oxford University Press, 1950), p- 90: "But the political confusion of Northumbria did not destroy Northumbrian civilization. The life of the northern schools was unaffected by the rise and fall of kings. It was in the second half of the eighth century that the Northumbrian learning of an earlier age came to full influence abroad. Alcuin, the scholar who was the chief agent in its transmission, had made the school of York illustrious before he passed, in 782, from England to the court of Charlemagne. ... It is a superficial view which dismisses the Northumbrian history of this period as a mere record of treason and murder." 2^WUlker, p. 108. cf. Sisam, Studies, pp. 133-135- 13 about making such suppositions, since it is known that during the first half of the ninth century, the monks at Lindisfarne in Northumbria produced their glorious Liber Vitae, "not meanly or hurriedly but in stately letters of gold and silver; and it was not till 875 that they 30 were forced to abandon the monastery." It should be recognized, there­ fore, that learning and the writing of literature must not be tied too closely to the fortunes of the state, and that there is no necessary correlation between the two. In short, Northumbria cannot be pre- 31 eluded on the grounds stated by WUlker and others J ; but not enough evidence is available to pinpoint Cynewulf’s origins in either North­ umbria or Mercia. The tendency to view Cynewulf as Northumbrian stems from a regard for the literary prestige and scholarly pursuits enjoyed by eighth- and early ninth- century Northumbria, from Eduard Sievers' 32 application of his "Schallanalyse" to certain poems by Cynewulf, and from the simple and negative point that information concerning

Mercian dialects is too sketchy.

The dialect in which Cynewulf wrote was Anglian, 33 the dialect spoken generally north of the Thames River. This can be inferred from an interesting feature of the Ascension and Elene poems. In

5uSisam, p. 7• 31 J See, for example, the Cambridge History of English Literature, p. 50. Wtllker, pp. 108-109, also argues that Cynewulf was the author of Guthlac, whose hero was a Mercian; a Northumbrian, wanting to write a saint's life, would have chosen from the many native saints. Therefore, Cynewulf must have been Mercian, not Northumbrian. '■ 32"Zu Cynewulf," Die Neueren Sprachen, 6. Beiheft (1925), 65.

33 It must be pointed out that "Anglian" is a convenient, although somewhat imprecise term used for the dialects spoken in Northumbria and Mercia. 14

unique rhyming passages in Ascension (ll. 152ff.) and Elene (ll.

1237ff.), there are such sequences as hienfru / maerfru , leoht / niht,

and riht / gepeaht, miht / peaht, amaet / hegeat, respectively. How­

ever, these West Saxon forms do not rhyme. If they are replaced with

the equivalent Anglian forms, hen^u / mergfu, leht / neht, and reht / oh. gefoaeht, masht / pasht, amaet / hegaet the appropriate rhyming groups re-appear. Thus, from this evidence, it is probable that Cynewulf wrote in Anglian rather than in West Saxon.

The attempt to identify unknown or vaguely known poets with a known historical personage has persisted throughout the history of literary scholarship and is no less strong in Cynewulf-studies. The poet has been variously identified with the father of Cyneweard, "the bishop of Wells who died or was exiled in 975, Cenwulf (sometimes spelled Kenulph or Cinwulf), abbot of Peterborough (fl. 1006), the

34ßduard Sievers, "Zum Beowulf," Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur. 9 (1884), p? 236. Claes Schaar, Critical Studies in the Cynewulf Group (1949; rpt. New York; Haskell House, 1967), p. 69, feels that Sievers' modification of riht / ge]?eaht to reht / gepaeht is unnecessary. Frederick Tupper, Jr. points out in "The Philological Legend of Cynewulf," PMLA, 26 (l91l), 235-279, that Anglo-Saxon poetic attempts at rhyming were not always exact and that several of the above-emended forms occur elsewhere in Anglo-Saxon England. For an account of the relationship between Old English dialects, see Kenneth Sisam, "Dialect Origins of the Earlier Old English Verse," in Studies, 119-139• See also, Hermann Leiding, Die Sprache der Cynewulfschen Dichtungen Crist, Juliana und Elene (Marburg: N.G. Elwer'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. 1888).who discusses how the rhyme groups were made incorrect by the copyist who translated the northern forms into West Saxon (pp. 76ff.).

35Cook, pp. lxxiii, n. 1; also pp. lxxii-lxxvi. See the Cambridge History of English Literature, pp. 49-50, for a survey of the theories attempting to identify the poet. 15

Bishop Cynewulf of Lindisfarne (d. 781 or 783), and Cynulf, a Dunwich

priest who was in attendance at a synod held in Clovesho in 83O

however, there has been no attempt to link the poet with King Cynewulf

of Wessex (d. 786).

The dates of Cynewulf's life and writings are as elusive as his

language and home, and all three—dates, language, and home—are

interrelated to the extent that any proposed theory concerning one

must take into account the other two. The most conventional basis

for determining the time in which Cynewulf lived has been the

"signature" he left behind in his four poems. In Elene and Juliana,

the runes in which he signed his poems spell CYNEWULF, whereas in the

Fates of the Apostles and the Ascension, his name is spelled without the E. Eduard Sievers, in a now-famous article, "Zu Cynewulf,"

Anglia, 13 (l89l), 1-25, determined that, in general, names like the poet's underwent two changes in spelling: in the South, original

36For this, A.S. Cook's own theory, see The Christ of Cynewulf, pp. lxxiii-lxxvi. Part of Cook's case for this particular identi­ fication rests upon the supposed intercourse between the poet and Alcuin, "from whom he derived his notions concerning the fire of Doomsday" (p. Ixxiv). However, Carleton Brown, "Cynewulf and Alcuin," PMLA, 18 (1903), 308-334, shows that Alcuin's De Fide Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis, upon which Cynewulf is dependent for his description of the Day of Judgment in Elene (ll. 1277-1320), was not written until A.D. 802-804, hence pushing Elene and the Cyne­ wulfian canon into the ninth century (cf. Sisam, Studies, p. 7)- Brown shows further that the poet could have borrowed his ideas from a number of Church Fathers, all of whom were familiar to interested eighth- or ninth-century authors. Possibly, Brown believes, Cyne­ wulf took his ideas for the Judgment Day from Ambrose. Brown concludes that a late eighth-century date (indeed, the most consistent­ ly popular one) may be given for Cynewulf, and that the poet may be identified safely with the Bishop of Lindisfarne. See also Moritz Trautmann, Kynewulf, der Bischof und Dichter, Bonner Beiträge zur Anglistik, No. I (Bonn: Peter Hanstein's Verlag, I898), who presents arguments for this same association. 16

"-i-" became "-e-" toward, the middle of the eighth century, and the syncopated form Cynwulf appeared in the late eighth or early ninth century. But in Cynewulf's apparent home, Northumbria, -i- (never

-e-) forms are recorded in Bede, who died in 735» and- in an early ninth-century document from Lindisfarne, the Liber Vitae, many examples of the spelling Cyni- appear but none of the Cyne- forms. Thus, if

Cynewulf is to be identified as a Northumbrian, his poetry cannot be assigned any earlier than the ninth century; if he is to be iden- tified as a Mercian, then a somewhat earlier date may be regarded. 37

There is, therefore, a fairly considerable period of time in which to place Cynewulf: from approximately the middle of the eighth century to the middle of the ninth. However, it might be well to heed Charles

W. Kennedy's advice about the difficult problem of dating: "Such transition periods of linguistic change cannot be too definitely dated, and the evidence of charters and other legal records seems to in­ dicate that, in general use, various spellings of names overlapped cQ in time."'5 That some overlapping and inconsistencies existed is, of course, inevitable. Phonological, hence, orthographic changes do not take place from one day to the next; however, one must rec-

57Sisam, Studies, pp. 6-7. cf. Godfrid Storms, "The Weakening of OE unstressed 'i' to 'e' and the Date of Cynewulf," English Studies, 37 (1956), 104-110. Storms points out weaknesses in Sisam's argument concerning the i and e spellings in Cynewulf's name. After his own investigation into the medial vowel shift, Storms concludes that it is possible for Cynewulf to have written his poetry from A.D. 750 on, although he agrees with Sisam that choosing the earliest possible date is not necessary. Syntactically, the poems appear post- Beowulfian; thus, Storms accepts a date of c. 800 for the origin of the poems.

38The Earliest English Poetry, p. 200. 17

ognize that these inconsistencies were not like those in Elizabethan

England. Shakespeare spelled his name many ways with no appreciable

difference in sound, "but in Cynewulf's day two spellings recorded with

such deliberate care indicate alternative pronounciations." 39

As there have been attempts at identifying Cynewulf with an

historical personage, so, too, have there been attempts at theorizing

about his life as a poet. One early view saw Cynewulf in his youth

as a wandering minstrel before turning his poetic song from worldly 40 to Christian subjects. Many scholars, past and present, have seen

the poet as undergoing some sort of spiritual conversion: "in his Youth he was soiled and shackled by sin, ignorant of the Cross, until God, in

His infinite grace, granted him in old age, the glorious gift of knowl- 41 edge and sacred song. ..." This autobiographical "confession," which appears at the end of Elene (ll. 1237-1257), a story of the

Invention of the Cross, is the basis for attempts at deducing Cynewulf's personality. While it is true that this passage, in which the poet admits to leading a sinful life until God, through His grace gave him knowledge and granted him the gift of song, might be construed as a literal confession, it is, in all likelihood, an example of the con-

39sisam, p. 3* 40 See, for example, Leo Heinrich, Commentatio quae de se ipso Cynevulfus fsive Cenevulfus sive Coenevulfus) poeta anglosaxonicus- tradiderit (Halle: Hendel, 1857), and Ferdinand Holthausen, ed. Cynewulf's Elene, 4th ed. (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1936). For an opposing view, see Brown, Englische Studien, 38 (1907), PP- 196- 198. ^"4)avid M. Zesmer, Guide to English Literature (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1961), p. 56. 18 ventional revelation and confession motifs found throughout early Eng­ lish literature. One need only point to the story of Caedmon's gift of song and Chaucer's "Retracciouns" ("I revoke . . . many a song and many a leccherous lay; that Crist for his grete mercy forgeve me the synne.") to observe the possible conventionality of the Elene passage. In taking the "aging" poet's "confession" in Elene lit- 42 erally, and in viewing the poem as mature, many scholars have placed the poem quite late in Cynewulf's canon; however, if there occurred in

Mercia a medial vowel shift in names like Cynewulf's, it is possible that Elene, with its runic "signature" containing a medial £, is early rather than late. Such apparent disagreement of information might then point to the concluding lines as being a poetic convention rather than a literal revelation. Carleton Brown (see n. 40, above), while accepting explicitly that Cynewulf was an old man when he wrote Elene and inferring from the poem that Cynewulf did not begin composing poetry until after his conversion, does find some aspects of the twenty­ line Epilogue universal and figurative.

If nothing clear about Cynewulf emerges from such speculation, inferences from the nature of his works might yield more information.

It must be assumed that Cynewulf was a scholar since his four signed poems have Latin sources: Ascension, from a homily by St. Gregory the Great on Christ's Ascension; Elene, from the Acta Cyriaci, a story found in the Acta Sanctorum for March 4; Juliana, a hagiographic

^See, for example, Kennedy, The Earliest English Poetry, p. 214. 19

piece about the martyrdom of St. Juliana, based on the Acta St.

Juliana from the Acta Sanctorum for February 16; and the Fates of

the Apostles, a versified martyrology compiled from a Latin list of the Apostles. It can also be inferred that the poet was monastery-trained, since for the period between A.D. 600 and 1000, the only education outside monastery walls "was that of a rare 44 lettered country priest. ..." Furthermore, one can deduce that

Cynewulf was an ecclesiastic, possibly a monk, from his fsimilarity with such contemporaneous (seventh through the ninth centuries) theological 45 debates as the notion of purgatory, and from his choice of hagi­ ography, sermon, and apostolic inventory as sources for his poetry.

That his family was wealthy cannot be ruled out: "the monastic schools, while chiefly consisting of children of the cloister, gave education to a small number of the sons of the more considerable 46 men of the neighbourhood." Besides learning to write, Cynewulf undoubtedly had access to the monastery's library. Whether he spent his schooling-time at Dunwich or at the Cathedral School of York,

^Kennedy, pp. 208-230. ^Dom David Knowles, The Monastic Order in England (Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1949), p. 489. 45 Elene, lines 1295-1316. For a discussion of the development of this doctrine during these centuries, see Carleton Brown, "Cyne­ wulf and Alcuin," note 36, above. 46 Knowles, p. 489. Bom Knowles also discusses the cloister boy's instruction in scribal copying and the general training in writing that went on in the scriptoria: "The training in writing demanded of the learner an exact conformity to the style of hand current at the time: all individuality was excluded . . ." (p. 520). 20

Cynewulf could, have become versed, in rhetorical treatises, theolog­

ical writings, and. even in a selection of classical Greek and. Roman waitings. If he was Northumbrian, Cynewulf could, have attended. York;

there he could have had access to Ambrose, Aristotle, Augustine,

Bede, Boethius, Cassiodorus, Cicero, Gregory, Lucan, Lactantius, 47 Orosius, Pliny, Statius, and Virgil. In short, Cynewulf must have

been expert in such things as Church ritual and doctrine, in contem­

porary theological and literary scholarship, and in the latest styles

of continental and native scripts.

Although several critics have concluded from Cynewulf's brilliant

descriptions of the sea in the Ascension (ll. 4llff.) and Elene

(ll. 226-255) that the poet was a seaman, or at the very least lived 48 along the seacoast in Northumbria, there is some reason for believing

that these descriptions have come from the native English formulaic- thematic modes of oral expression. One need only compare the stylized formulaic descriptions of the sea in Beowulf (ll. 210-224a and 11. I896-

1^19), which were produced within an active oral tradition, with those s^a scenes mentioned above, to observe that the decorative formulism of oral composition has found its way into written composition. It is difficult to say from internal evidence alone, of course, whether the p6etic canon of Cynewulf was "composed orally and written down by a

^/Kennedy, The Earliest English Poetry, p. 203« 48 Stopford A. Brooke, English Literature from the Beginning to the Norman Conquest (London: Macmillan, I898), pp. 163-167.See also Brooke, History of Early English Literature (London: Macmillan, I892), especially Chapter X, "The Sea," pp. 223-257, and Kennedy, p;. 207. 21

scribe, composed with pen in hand in the ordinary modem way, or

composed by a learned poet who was making use of the traditional

poetic formulae handed down to him from an age when all poems were

That early scholars were anxious to assign Cynewulf huge amounts

of extant Old English poetry is understandable; while there are only

ten authenticated lines for Caedmon, and five for the Venerable Bede,

there are 2,600 lines that can safely be attributed to Cynewulf. These

lines comprise what Cynewulfian scholars call the "Signed Poems," those

poems—Ascension, Juliana, Elene, and Fates of the Apostles—at the end

of which appears the poet's name in runic characters. While varying

somewhat in form, the four "signatures" express similar personal

messages in their individual contexts: the poet reminds his readers

^Robert E. Diamond, "The Diction of the Signed Poems of Cynewulf," Philological Quarterly, 38 (1959), 229. Although Diamond feels that this question is indeterminable, he thinks that by investigating "the diction of such a poem [one can J determine whether it was composed in the traditional formulaic style" (p. 229). Diamond comes to the conclusion that Cynewulf does use the traditional poetic formulae in his poetry. That Cynewulf's works were originally composed in some sort of written form rather than composed orally, can be inferred from his Latin, Christian training. From its beginnings, Christianity has been a religion that has found it necessary to use the written word to preserve and pass on its teachings. Thus, it is not surprising to find that at its center is the Bible, a compendium of the writings and letters of its early church leaders. As if to confirm the authority of events being written about, much overlapping takes place in the Bible: there are, for example, four versions—the Four Gospels—of the story of Christ's life. This need for recorded confirmation and verification within Christianity informed the later efforts of the Church Fathers in their interpretation of Biblical writings and natural phenomena, and their keeping learning alive by copying down the learning of the past. A Germanic parallel to this was the attempt of the Anglo-Saxon peoples to preserve their ancestral customs and traditions through oral transmission (for example, by means of mnemonic devices). 22

of his and their mortality, and the transitoriness of this life; in

the Ascension poem, as well as in the Elene, the "signature" is fitted

into a vivid account of the Last Judgment; in Juliana and the Fates

of the Apostles, Cynewulf asks for his readers to pray for him. Be­

cause these Signed Poems are so distinctive within the corpus of Old

English poetry, most modern scholars would assign them and no others to

Cynewulf; and even though similarities in style and language appear in other poems (for example, in Andreas) the fact of his name's appearing at the end of the four poems, and no others,offers some evidence for establishing as the Cynewulf canon these poems. Between Gregor

Sarrazin's pronouncement in 1888 (Beowulf-Studien: ein Beitrag zur

Geschichte altgermanischer Dichtung [Berlin: Mayer und Mttller]) that

Cynewulf was responsible for Beowulf as well as most of the poetry in the Vercelli and Exeter codices, and S.K. Das' opinion in Cynewulf and the Cynewulf Canon in 1942 (Calcutta: Univ. Calcutta), that the poet wrote only the four Signed Poems, many poems that fit chrono­ logically were passed for Cynewulf's.

Beginning in the late 1870's stylistic research studies were published that purportedly settled problems of authorship through comparisons "of epithets and half-lines in the poems known or assumed to be by Cynewulf.WJjen verbal parallels between the Cynewulfian poems and any given poem were compared, many similarities were observed by the "stylists." This particular stylistic approach appears to have

i^Frank J. Mather, "The Cynewulf Question from a Metrical Point of View," Modern Language Notes, 7 (1892), 194. 23 come to an end. with the article, "The Parallelisms of the Anglo-Saxon

'Genesis'," Modern Language Notes, 5 (l890), 164-175, in which the authors,Katherine Merrill and Charles F. McClumphe, in showing the invalidity of the style-tests, make lists of parallel words taken from

Caedmonian and Cynewulfian poems. The results of their investigations reveal that Cynewulf could have written the Caedmonian poems as well as his own. The style-testers succeeded in proving only "that the

Anglo-Saxon epithet, imagery, and style are essentially formal and conventional throughout the whole body of the poetry, and that it is, in the main, impossible to settle questions of authorship from 51 similarities of style in Anglo-Saxon poetry."

With Eduard Sievers’ seminal work in 1885, "Zur Rhythmik des germanischen Alliterationsverses," in Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 10, 454-482, the metrists turned their attention to problems of authorship in Old English literature. On the basis of Sievers' five rhythmic types of Anglo-Saxon versification, 52 scholars such as Matthias Gremer applied Sievers' principles to the authorship and canon question. In his study, Mather (see n. 50) concluded that Cynewulf's canon consists of Juliana, Christ I, Christ

II, Elene, Christ III, Fates of the Apostles, and Guthlac B. It seems difficult to justify many of the "metrische Untersuchungen" since

Sievers' "Five-types" is a classificational device, not a means for

5lMather, p. 195• •^"Metrische und sprachliche Untersuchung der altenglischen Gedichte Andreas, Guthlac, Phoenix, Elene, Jüliana, Crist. Ein Beitrag zur Cynewulffrage," Unpublished Dissertation. University of Bonn, 1888. 24

establishing authorship of any corpus of poetry. This kind of

investigation seems particularly invalid when it is applied to poetry

that is made up of traditional, stock phrases or formulae which must

fit the meter of the verse. Moreover, it would seem incautious to

suppose that a corpus of poetry that has a limited and strict set of metrical rules would allow a poet enough freedom, metrically, to

stamp his "thumbprint," as it were, on his poetry. y As a means for

classifying metric types, this sort of investigation is useful; for

establishing the canon of an author, or the authorship of individual poems, on the other hand, the results appear to be inconclusive. In short, while it is tempting to utilize various metrical, and stylistic tests to decide what poems may be included in the Cynewulf canon, it is safest, perhaps, to regard the very unusual and distinctive four

Signed Poems as wholly constituting the poetry of Cynewulf.

53ciaes Schaar, Critical Studies in the Cynewulf Group, maintains: "metrical differences . . . must be considered important: metre is so delicate and supple a thing that it is well protected from imitation; it does not strike the eye, unlike certain features of vocabulary or phraseology. Homogeneity of metre, therefore, strongly points to identical authorship, different metre to different authors" (p. 114). Schaar ignores, however, such things as the author’s age when a poem is composed, or even the nature of the source (this is especially significant for Old English poets) the poet is following. In setting up his critical principles for the study of the individual characteristics in the Cynewulfian poems, Schaar asks a crucial question, however: "What features of an author’s style and manner are so personal to him that similar features in a certain text indicate it as being his work, or that the absence of these features in another text prevents it from being attributed to him?" (p. 114). Ferreting out those features of a poem that are due to the poet's distinctive personality, from those that are due to poetic traditions, is important as well as necessary. However, it does not appear to the present editor that metrical investigations accomplish this task. 25

The Poem

Language and Date

The dialect of the Ascension, like that of most surviving Old

English poetry, is primarily late West Saxon, with some early West

Saxon and Anglian features intermixed. As was pointed out before the

two sets of rhymes in the poem, hienpu / maerpu and leoht / niht, at

lines 152 and 153, respectively, have been used in part to suggest that the poem and its author had an Anglian (geographically, Mercian or Northumbrian) provenance. These imperfect rhymes became "corrected," when the Anglian forms hen^u / mergfu and leht / neht replaced the West

Saxon. Although the usual explanation for such dialect mixture is that an Anglian original had passed through a late West Saxon recension, it is possible that there was "a general Old English poetic koine of a mixed dialect character, to which an originally dialectally pure poem would become assimilated in transmission, and in which new poems 54 would be written from the first." Although the dates when Cynewulf flourished as a poet can be placed in the early ninth century if he was a Northumbrian, and somewhat earlier if he was a Mercian, the chrono­ logical sequence of the Signed Poems is more difficult to determine.

Since Elene contains the so-called Cynewulf-confession, it has been often suggested as coming last in the poet's canon. However, if this confession is the conventional "retraction" type, then a late date need

54Kenneth R. Brooks, ed. Andreas and the Fates of the Apostles (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), pp. xxxviii-xxxix.See also Sisam, Studies, pp. 138-139- 26

not be assumed. Using Juliana, with its "comparative lack of

ingenuity" in runic usage, and the "uninspired competence" of the

overall nature of the poem, Rosemary Woolf theorizes "that the Fates

of the Apostles . . . was the first of the four Cynewulfian poems, that

Crist Part II and the Elene represent the height of Cynewulf's poetical

development, and that Juliana shows its decline.Thus, while it

may be possible to date the Signed Poems in a general way, it is

virtually impossible to date the sequence of their composition.

Unity of the Christ trilogy

Few literary debates in Old English studies can have caused more

controversial discussion than the question of the unity and author­

ship of the three "parts" of Christ. Preserved in the opening

folios (8a through 32a) of the Exeter codex, the 1664 lines'5 of the

^Rosemary Woolf, ed. Juliana (London: Methuen, 1955), P« 7« 56 The question as to where the Christ trilogy ends and where Guthlac (the following poem) begins has been debated almost as much as the unity and authorship problem of the Christ trilogy. In the discussion that follows, these initial 1664 lines will "be referred to as the "Christ trilogy" (recognizing the three parts), the "so-called Christ" (noting the illegitimacy of the implied unity), and the three parts will be noted as Christ I (ll. 1-439), Christ II (ll. 440-866), and Christ III (ll. 867-1664). When the unity problem has been discussed and resolved, Christ II, the subject of the present study, will be referred to by its correct title, Ascension. During the discussion of the unity problem, the Ascension poem will some­ times be referred to as Christ II, out of deference to custom, not out of an acceptance of its occupying the second position of the whole trilogy. Christ I will sometimes be used instead of Advent, and Christ III used instead of Day of Judgment., Ever since 1853, when Franz Dietrich, in "Cynevulfs Crist," Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum, 9, 193-214, recognized the existence of three parts (in terms of subject matter) within these 1664 lines, and proposed calling them "Christ," it has been customary for scholars to refer to the whole trilogy as Christ, and to each part as Christ I, Christ II, and Christ III. 27

so-called. Christ have been treated as a single poem, as three poems,

even as four (including the disputed ending of Christ III, and the beginning of Guthlac). In addition to these divisions, there have been accompanying attempts to attach Cynewulf's name to these parts or combinations of these parts. The so-called unity problem of the Christ trilogy actually involves two problems: whether the first 1664 lines of the Exeter Book comprise one poem or not; and whether Cynewulf wrote all or part of these lines. As has been seen, the accepted works of Cynewulf are those that have attached to them Cynewulf's

"signature." In establishing the beginnings and endings of Juliana, 57 Fates of the Apostles, and Elene, scholars have found that the runic letters have come near the ends of these poems. Therefore, it is highly improbable that Cynewulf would have written these poems with his runic "signature" near the end, and then have composed another and signed it in the middle. Several pro-unity critics, most notably Gordon Hall Gerould ("Studies in the Christ," Englische

Studien, 41 [l910], 1-19, have circumvented this difficulty by theorizing that Christ III was written by Cynewulf after he had written Christ.II. As if to support this thesis, Samuel Moore

("The Old English Christ. Is it a Unit?" Journal of English and

Germanic Philology, 14 [1915], 550-567) hypothesizes that the theme of the Last Judgment, which is dealt with in the latter portions of

-57since Old English poetry is run-on in prose form in manuscripts, this seeming elementary task is rather difficult. Old English scholars are, of course, aided by such things as initial letters, spacing, and punctuation. These manuscript features which help in determining the divisions in the Christ trilogy will be discussed below. 28

Christ II, is developed into full-blown subject-matter in the following poem, Christ III. However, S.K. Das, Cynewulf and the Cynewulf Canon, and Claes Schaar, Critical Studies in the Cynewulf Group, in determining the canon of Cynewulf, have found Christ III too unlike Christ II to consider it as being written by Cynewulf. While Moore is certain that

Christ III continues Christ II in terms of subject-matter, he finds it somewhat difficult to link Christ I with Christ II. Hence, Moore seeks to find a thematic unity in these poems: the Incarnation or Advent, the source for man's hope for salvation, is linked with the Ascension, the pledge of that hope. However, more than ten years before the

Moore and Gerould studies were written, there appeared two seminal articles that seemed to have settled the problem with certainty.

Moritz Trautmann in his I896 article, "Der sogenannte Crist," Anglia,

18 (I896), 382-388, argues against unity by raising, among others, the following objections: each of the three parts deals with three different subjects; the three parts have entirely different styles; the Exeter scribe recognized that he was working with three distinct poems and as such utilized the appropriate punctuation, spacing, and initial letters; and there is evidence that points to a singular"use of language and verse construction in Christ II. Trautmann concludes, therefore, that there are three different poems, composed by three different poets. F.A. Blackburn ("Is the Christ of Cynewulf a Single

Poem?" Anglia, 19 [l897], 89-98) in 189?, reaches very similar con­ clusions. His reasons for deciding that what Franz Dietrich (see n.

56) believed to be a single poem is actually three poems are: each part of the trilogy evidences a different subject-matter; the manu­ 29

script’s scribal features indicate three separate poems; the method in

the treatment of theme is different for the three parts—part I is

lyrical, II is a poetical homily, and part III is descriptive; and

there is a distinct beginning and ending of each part, independent of

the others. Investigating one aspect of Trautmann’s and Blackburn’s

anti-unity theories—the manuscript evidence—Brother Augustine Philip

("The Exeter Scribe and the Unity of the 'Christ,"' Publications of

the Modern Language Association, 55 Ql94o], 903~909) argues that the

Exeter Book scribe distinguished between poems and divisions within

poems. As in the Vercelli and Junius Manuscripts, there is one set of

symbols used in designating separate poems, and another set to indicate

secondary units or divisions within the poems. Furthermore, Brother

Philip maintains that these divisions, marked at the end by a single

line of blank space and at the beginning by a single initial, are

distinguishable from the beginnings and ends of poems, which feature

several blank-space lines, and at least a partial row of small capitals

In short, Brother Philip has presented sufficient evidence that the

Exeter scribe was aware that the three parts he was copying were three individual poems. The last study to propose seriously that the Christ trilogy is a unit, seeks ironically to confirm the arguments set forth in the first pro-unity article by Franz Dietrich almost one hundred years earlier. Kenneth Mildenberger ("Unity of

Cynewulf's "Christ" in the Light of Iconography," Speculum, 23, 426-

432) in 1948, attempts to find for Dietrich's students the three­ fold "coming" of the Lord, the Advent, the Ascension, and the Day of

Judgment (used by Dietrich to show unity in the so-called Christ), 30

in the pictorial arts. Mildenberger discusses the motif of this

three-fold "coming" as it appears in oriental iconography, and

attempts to connect these eastern elements with Northumbrian illu­

minations, stone cross fragments, etc. By inference, Mildenberger

seeks to prove that the theme of the three-fold "coming" of Christ—

evident in Oriental pictorial art—made itself manifest in North­

umbria, where Cynewulf apparently composed his poetry. However, too

much of this theory depends upon whether oriental art was ever

actually transmitted to pre-Conquest Northumbria. In fact, this

question appears to be the weakest link in the chain of Mildenberger’s

argument. Mildenberger admits: "How the iconography reached the

British Isles is a matter of conjecture ..." (p. 430).

In his 1853 article (see n. 56), Franz Dietrich, who was the first to hold that the initial three pieces of the Exeter codex

constituted one poem, had worked from the Benjamin Thorpe edition of

1842. Thorpe (who did not, for example, indicate in his transcription the size of the lacunae which appear at the end of the codex) arbitrarily divided the Advent text at line 415, thus separating the copyist’s fifth section in two. Thorpe had divided up in a reasonable way the first twenty-six leaves of the codex into twenty sections and entitled each section with a name from the subject treated, thus following the scribe, who inaugurated each section with rp an initial capital letter. Evidently Thorpe was led to make his division at line 415 "by the ascription of praise [to Christ]

5bBlackburn, pp. 89-90- 31

59 immediately preceding, which he regarded as the end of a section."

Therefore, in basing his argument for unity on what he thought to

be common ideas running throughout the whole trilogy, Dietrich

assumed that this ascription of praise to Christ constituted the

beginning of Christ II. However, it is clear from the scribal di­

vision at line 439, and- from a shift in subject at this point, that

a new poem (Christ II) has begun here. The subject of the opening

lines of this new poem, which concerns the poet’s wondering why angels

were not arrayed in white for the Lord’s Birth as they were for His

Ascension, is so unlike what goes on before that it is quite impossible

to justify parts I and II as constituting one poem. Dietrich also

assumed that since the ending of Christ II dealt with the Last Judg­ ment, he could place this portion with the beginning of Christ III.

It has been pointed out, however, that Cynewulf ends Elene with the

same sort of allusion. Taking lines 416-439 (the ascription of praise to Christ, which in reality belongs to the end of Christ i) as part of the Ascension, and seeing the Day of Judgment motif as

"linking" parts II and III, Dietrich concludes: "dieses wohlangelegte, gleichmässig erhabene und einfache epos muss die Schöpfung eines dichters sein, und wenn dies, zu Cynevulfs besten werken gerechnet werden, mag es nun Cynevulfs Crist heissen, oder künftig besser benannt 6o werden können". Dietrich’s willingness to submit his suggested title for future alterations is ironic: after subsequent investigations

59Blackbum, p. 90. ^Dietrich, p. 209- 32 revealed the existence of three separate poems, the name Christ has remained for over 100 years. F.A. Blackburn underscores this irony when he says: "The title ’Christ' given by Dietrich suits the first part and may properly be retained; the others may be entitled ’The

Ascension’ and ’Doomsday’. But for the accident of their standing together in the manuscript, no one . . . would have suspected a connection, and Dietrich, if he had had access to the manuscript, or if Thorpe's edition had given the proper information in regard to the divisions made by the copyist, would have gone no farther than to 6l point out the unity of each part." In short, the title, Christ, has been concocted "by modern scholars for a combination of three 62 poems which are distinguished unmistakably in the MS." Since the

Exeter scribe distinguishes clearly the poems from the poem-sections by means of large capital letters, blank spaces, and punctuation, it is evident that he recognized definite structural "breaks" in the codex. Within the Christ trilogy itself these divisions occur on folio 14a (line 439)» on folio 20b (line 866), and on folio 32a

(line 1664, the final line of the trilogy). At line 439, the first major division in the trilogy, the following can be observed: at the

6lBlackbum, p. 94. Blackburn considers as a more proper title for the first part, "The Immaculate Conception" (as opposed to "The Advent," or "On the Nativity"); he would retain "The Ascension" and "The Judgment Day" for parts two and three, respectively. He argues that none of the so-called Christ concerns the life of Christ: "if we consider the three parts as forming one poem, and Christ as its subject and hero, it is certainly strange that the writer chose to treat only events that occurred either before his birth or after his death." (p. 9l). ^^Brother Philip Augustine, p. 909• 33

end. of the line, the signs : — Am : 7 ; after these signs, two full hlank-lines between lines 439 and 440; and at line 440, a large initial capital (extending vertically almost six lines), accompanied by a full row of small capital letters. At line 866, the same situation is found: the emphatic end-punctuation : — : 7 s 7 s 7 , the sort of collocation of signs to be expected at the end of a poem in the Exeter codex; almost two-and-a-half spaces between lines 866 and 867; and at line 867, a large initial capital letter (almost six line-spaces in height), with nearly a full row of small capitals (at the end of the line the initial element fold- , of the compound foldbuende, appears uncapitalized). Finally, at the end of line 1664, the emphatic punctuation : — : 7 may be observed; three full blank 64 space-lines follow; and, once again, the following section—in this case a new poem—begins with a large initial letter accompanied by an almost-complete row of small capitals. Thus, manuscript evidence points to there being three distinct poems in the first 1,664 lines of the Exeter Book, and on the basis of internal structure, it seems safest to conclude, therefore, that the second poem of this trilogy—

63Whether such a large initial letter with a full row of small capitals would have occupied the beginning of the trilogy is con- juctural since the opening lines of Advent have been partially destroyed by a large stain (see p. 2); the scribe seems consistent in marking off poems and poem-sections, thus, it may be assumed that the beginning of the trilogy would be treated the same as other poem-beginnings in the codex. 64 Since the poem ends near the bottom of the folio leaf, the scribe apparently did not wish to begin the next poem (Guthlac) with only three blank space-lines in which to draw the large initial capital. Hence, the three blank lines may be somewhat greater than the normal amount of space-lines that follow the ends of poems. the Ascension poem—and not the other two, was written hy Cynewulf.

If there is any "unity" among the first three poems of the Exeter co­ dex, it would be in the numerous references made to Christ in all three; it might well have been these references that prompted the compiler of the Exeter Book to place the three poems together in the manuscript.

Sources

Besides asserting that the three-fold "coming" of Christ—the Coming to Earth (Advent), the Coming to Glory (Ascension), and the Second

Coming (Day of Judgment)—was a unifying theme in the so-called Christ, Franz Dietrich*5-5 accurately pointed out that the end of homily twenty- nine of Gregory the Great, the homily for the feast of the Ascension

(a summary of the Vulgate story) was the primary source for Cynewulf's poem. Furthermore, it has been shown that Cynewulf drew from a hymn on Christ’s Ascension by Bede (Hymnum canamus gloriae), and that for lines 244-256, the poet may have used another Gregorian homily, the

Homily on Ezekiel. ' While it is impossible to present here even an abbreviated account of the nature of Ascension's sources, or the particular way the poet utilized them, the medieval practice of source­ borrowing and Cynewulf's poetic skills which relate to this practice can be briefly discussed.

65Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum, p. 204. ^See Cook, The Christ of Cynewulf, pp. Il6ff.

^Kennedy, The Earliest English Poetry, p. 223« Gregory's Homily on the Ascension and the Homily on Ezekiel may be found in Patrologiae cursus compìetus. Series latina, edited by Jacques P. Migne (Paris: privately pub., 1849), 76, columns 1218-1219, and column 899, respectively. 35

It has been pointed, out already that the primary reason for

assuming an ecclesiastical background for Cynewulf was his use of

Latin sources in composing his four poems. Furthermore, it may be

deduced that his knowledge of Latin was proficient by noting his

accurate rendering of these models. But such preciseness does not

explain why he followed them so closely in writing his poetry. Al­

though in developing his models he expanded freely rather than

paraphrasing slavishly, his reliance on the Latin originals (especially

on the longer Ascension homily by Gregory) is quite close, suggesting 68 that he may have had Gregory before him as he wrote. This is borne out by observing that all of the close of Gregory's homily is to be found in the poem, with Cynewulf's own interpolations of Biblical 69 passages and lyrical commentary. That Cynewulf followed his sources closely does not imply a lack of originality or artistic talent.

Since the early Middle Ages was a time in which it was more important to preserve and carry on past learning than it was to create new ideas, an author was judged by his skill in reworking what earlier writers had said about the subject with which he was dealing. During this time, the doctrine of authority—a notion which saw learned men turning to recorded precedence for truth rather than to empirical, verifiable evidence--ruled the way writers approached their art:

"that which was old and was by a famous man and was widely admired was most likely to be true; and if one wanted to write something

¿^Kennedy, p. 221. 69 Schaar, p. 32. See also Cook, pp. 115ff. 36

orthodox, he turned to the authorities and, as often as not, copied

them out verbatim." Since authority was virtually synonymous with

the old Scriptures, the Medieval author depended upon the Bible as well

as ancient writers who provided him with source-material and models for

the creation of his literature. Besides Scripture, he turned to the

Fathers of the Church—Jerome, Augustine, Gregory, Ambrose—and

imitated, adapted, and embellished their writings with many and varied rhetorical and grammatical devices. In short, when the Medieval author wrote, he was expected to use the art of rhetoric and grammar, and to glean ideas from the authorities who preceded him; he was not judged by his originality, but by how he employed time-tested 71 conventions and themes. It is somewhat irrelevant, therefore, to investigate merely what a Medieval poet has borrowed. A more valuable approach would be to analyze what he has selected from his sources, and also what he has decided not to borrow; the interpolations he has made, and the ways he has structured his selections and interpolations into a unified whole. For example, while Gregory's homilies and various

Scriptural passages provide the models from which Cynewulf shapes the

Ascension, he deviates in significant ways from his sources. In enumerating the various faculties that the Lord bestows upon mankind

(ll. 225ff.), Cynewulf utilizes the vernacular, formulaic, sum-series, which is also found in the Gifts of Men (ll. 30ff. and 11. 106ff.),

7UMilton McC. Gatch, Loyalities and Traditions: Man and His World in Old English Literature (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971). p. 75. 71Ibid., p. 81. 37

the Fortunes of Men (ll. 10ff.), and the Wanderer (ll. 80ff.)^2

While the ultimate source for the gifts motif is St. Paul (i Corin­

thians, 12:4-11), Cynewulf has secularized this brief Scriptural mention of spiritual gifts given by God—of speech, wisdom, healing, prophecy, etc.—into relevant, contemporary Anglo-Saxon occupations: minstrelsy, star-watching, song-making, warring, sailing, carpentry, weapons-making, etc. In other words, Cynewulf transforms a brief inventory of abstract, spiritual talents which men receive from God, into a list of actual jobs held by men during Anglo-Saxon England. He accomplishes this without forfeiting the original sense of God's endowing all men with certain talents; the "workers" in the poem possess modes snyttru just as the men in the Vulgate receive manifestatio Spiritus, and both are able to carry out their individual tasks ad utilitatem. However, Cynewulf has made specific the some­ what vague attributes of the Scriptural gifts. Sum maeg fingrum wel / hlude fore haelefoum hearpan stirgan, / gleobeam gretan (ll. 229b-

231a) has more meaning to the Anglo-Saxon culture than the Vulgate,

Alii quidem per Spiritum datur sermo sapientiae. . . . Although based on Latin sources, and revealing conventional homiletic and invocatory features, the Ascension shows that the poet was capable of working with traditional materials with freedom and artistic skill.

It is a mark of Cynewulf's genius that he has allowed his poem to

’^Schaar, p. 33- Nor a study of the general transformation of scriptural material into Anglo-Saxon writings, see Arthur, Skemp, "The Transformation of Scriptural Story, Motive, and Conception in Anglo-Saxon Poetry," Modem Philology, 4 (1906-1907), 423-470. 38 reflect the syntactic polish of the Latin originals, yet to use felicitously the vernacular poetic diction to breathe life into his rather abstract models.

The Runes

Beside the question of Cynewulf's identity, his dates, and what poems he wrote, provocative questions relating to his runic "signature" have occupied Cynewulfian scholars since George Hicks reproduced facsimiles of the two runic signatures in the Exeter Book in his 73 Thesaurus in 1703- Especially puzzling is Cynewulf's reason for employing an ancient and pagan Germanic script that had little communica­ tive value to reveal his name to his readers in the hope of gaining 74 their prayers. The origin of the runes is lost in antiquity, although some scholars posit a North Italic provenance. 75 The meanings of the Old English word run, "mystery" and "secrecy," reveal its magical, religious, and ritualistic context in Anglo-Saxon England. The Old

English futhorc (the name of the runic alphabet from its first six letters) as it was used in England ranged from twenty-eight to thirty- three characters, and the Old English names for the individual runes varied to the extent that determining the meanings for the runes is difficult. The latter is important since "every rune had a name of which it was the first letter: for example, wyn was the name for the

73Sisam, Studies, p. 18. ^See Ralph W.V. Elliot, Runes: An Introduction. 2nd ed. (1963; rpt. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 197l), for a history of runes. ^Ibid., p. 6. 39 *7 A runic w," and furthermore, many rune names conveyed Old English words

as well: for example, wyn meant "joy" in Old English.

As will he discussed later, one explanation for the so-called

mixture of the pagan-Germanic and the Latin-Christian in Anglo-Saxon

England is the creation of an artistic tradition (including literature)

emhodying both cultures. This tradition can trace its origins to the

monastic scriptoria, which were established after the Conversion of

England, when monks had access to the writing materials and the libraries

of the scriptoria. Here, the monkish authors undoubtedly could find

references to rune lore, and in all likelihood, they had seen runic

script decorating such monuments as the Ruthwell and Bewcastle crosses.

At first, they might have used certain runes for purposes of shorthand;

thus, |X] , p-d , and were written in place of mon ("man"), daeg

("day"), and aepel ("native land"), respectively. Later, the runes 77 became a bookish antiquarian study, pursued for its own sake. Cyne­

wulf employs, this principle to reveal his name in three (Fates of the

Apostles,■Elene, and Ascension) of his four poems (in Juliana, the

runes representing his name are in three groups, C, Y, N; E, W, U;

and L, F). The runes for C, Y, N, E, W, U, L, F were called in Old

English cen ("torch"), yr ("bow"), ned ("necessity"), eoh ("horse")

[Ascension does not contain this rune], wynn ("joy"), ur ("bison"),

C^Sisam, Studies, p. 18. A modem parallel would be: ICYUR, "I see why you are." If a poet named CYRIL would embed his name in a poem, thus, "(i) (c) see (Y) why (U) you (R) are an (L) ell smaller," he would, in effect, be doing what Cynewulf did at the conclusion of his four signed poems. 40

lagu ("sea" or "water"), feoh ("wealth"), respectively. Five of these,

ned, eoh, wynn, lagu, and feoh were used as common Old English nouns;

the other three, cen, yr, and ur were perhaps only rune names, and

scholars have interpreted their meanings freely. For example, cen

"torch," and ur "bison" are sufficiently alike in spelling and sound

to the adjective cene "bold," and the pronoun ure "our," respectively,

so that cene and ure are sometimes substituted for cen and ur, respec­

tively, in Cynewulf's rune passage.

If Cynewulf's signing of his name to his four poems is taken as a

sincere attempt to solicit the prayers of his audience for his soul (and

there is a precedent for this desire expressed in scribal and authorial

names in such works as the Lindisfarne Liber Vitae' ), then it can be

assumed that Cynewulf would not want his name obscured by any sort of

ambivalencies about the meanings of the runes—the runes would have to

be free from any double meanings and conveyed clearly—since the eternal

peace of his soul depended upon his audience's hearing the runes being

spoken. Thus, Cynewulf was fortunate in having cen "torch," to begin

his runic passage; an JLnglo-Saxon audience could recognize that they

were hearing runes and would listen for successive runes in order to

solve the puzzle, in much the same way that they would listen to and

solve Old English runic riddles. In short, to insure that those

praying for him knew for whom they were praying, it was necessary that

Cynewulf present his name unequivocably and clearly; he could not have

78sisam, p. 23• 41

his name misunderstood and thus, salvation denied him. 79 However, as

will be pointed out later, it is possible that Cynewulf had more inter­

est in the artistic ingenuity of his rune passage than in its means for

preserving his soul. Therefore, cene "bold," might have been intended

as a clever pun on the rune cen "torch." Whether the C-rune is taken

as cen or cene, depends on Cynewulf's own perception as to the effects

the two words would have on his audience, and on the thematic interpre­

tation of the rune passage. If man's lonely nature is meant to be con­

trasted with the wrathful, omnipotent Judge at the Second Coming, then

cene would be appropriate: "then even bold men will tremble when they face Christ and hear Him speak." The formulaic fore onsyne eces deman

("before the presence of the eternal Judge"), which appears before the rune passage at 1. 357» and after at 1. 397, serves to remind the read­

er of the awfulness of this confrontation. If cen "torch" is taken, the flickering, quivering flame of the torch can be seen as symbolizing the 80 fires of Doomsday about to come.

In the translation of Ascension presented in this study, cene "bold," is taken for the C-rune, and yr ("bow"?), signaling the Y-rune, is given as the second letter of Cynewulf's name. The fact that the word "bow" does not fit the context of the rune passage indicates, in all likeli­ hood, that Cynewulf could not find any appropriate meanings for the Y- rune, and that he simply allowed yr to represent the Y in his name and nothing more. The U-rune ur is interpreted as the pronoun ure "our."

The other runes are given their usual Old English meanings.

79Sisam, pp. 24-26. 80 Elliot,p. 55; however, some modification of punctuation is required. 42

Analysis

I

Sir Israel Gollancz's subtitle for his 1892 edition of the Christ

"trilogy," An Eighth Century Epic, might seem grandiose and out-of-place since the term "epic" is normally reserved for such works as Beowulf,

Vergil’s Aeneid, and Milton's Paradise lost. If, however, one con­ siders the three parts' panoramic sweep of Christ's birth, His Ascension and the Second Coming, there are certain features that the so-called trilogy shares with these well-known epics—the lengthy narrative re­ lated in an elaborate and dignified tone, the theme treated in a heroic, grand style, with the unifying subject being the story of the hero. Even Cynewulf's Ascension alone exhibits epic qualities, as

S.K. Das, in proposing as the subject for the Ascension the various struggles Christ has in bringing peace to mankind, points out:

"The subject, of engrossing human interest as it is, has all the possibilities of epic grandeur in it, and the masterliness, dignity and intense seriousness of the presentation, short as it is, claim for it the rank of a Miltonic Epic" Das' associations serve the useful purpose of enlarging the bases for discussion of the poem so that one need not feel confined in comparing the Ascension to its Latin sources, or in observing the ways Cynewulf adapts his originals to his own materials; by relating the Ascension to the Miltonic epic, Das points the way to bringing it out of its homiletic, medieval Christian

b-i-Cynewulf and the Cynewulf Canon, p. 200. 43 tradition, and raising the larger questions of literary style, structure, imagery, and theme. In short, seeking to discover what the poem is "about" will prove more profitable than analyzing the poet's relationship with his sources; while the latter effort is un­ doubtedly valuable in uncovering the significances of his dependence on or independence from antecedent works, it detracts, in a sense, from a view of the creative forces that have produced a singularly distinc­ tive poem. Furthermore, it should be realized that regardless of a poet's reliance upon source materials and regardless of the age in which a poem is written, it is, in the end, the responsibility of its creator. The poet might have selected certain passages from his sources for use in the poem (in fact, an investigation into the reasons for the poet's choosing or not choosing particular materials for use can lead to a greater awareness of his creative talents); however, the completed work is the product of the creative genius of the poet, not of those who provided the sources.

II

Kenneth Sisam points out that the subject-matter of Ascension belongs to a later stage in the Christianization of England, "when the foundations are laid, and the demand is for works of devotional interest," 82 whereas Caedmon's lost works, as well as Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel, are pieces composed at an earlier stage which made key elements of the Scriptures plain to men who were unlettered in Latin.

If the Ascension poem was composed for Christianizing pagans or for

^studies, p. 13 ■ 44

re-converting those who had. reverted, to paganism, it can he assumed

that the subject of the poem would have dealt with more fundamental

Christian themes such as the Incarnation, the Passion, Pentecost, or

the Resurrection. However, Cynewulf's extant works are either

martyrological (Elene, St. Juliana, and Fates of the Apostles) or, as

Qq in the case of Ascension, a "special exposition," and all "are 84 associated with and explain special occasions in the Church calendar."

It is conceivable that Cynewulf wrote his poems for devotional use by

monks on or near special days in the Church year which the poems

commemorated; hence Ascension might have been read, as a devotional-

piece for the Feast of the Ascension, celebrated forty days after Easter

Sunday. This suggestion does not explain wholly Cynewulf's reasons

for choosing this moment in Christ's life as the subject for his

"special exposition1'; however, Cynewulf did choose an excellent and

appropriate subject for his poem. Almost no aspect of Christ's ministry

carried with it such symbolic importance as His Ascension into heaven.

Unlike the Passion or the Resurrection, the Ascension connotes a

finality and completeness that the other two do not. While the

essential act of the Passion signaled eternal life for mankind, man

could not claim victory from death until Christ's Resurrection. Yet

even the Resurrection seems singularly inglorious and private; no one, including the disciples, witnessed His rise from the tomb. The Ascen­ sion, on the other hand, allowed man to participate in Christ's glory

b3Sisam, p. 13• 84 Ibid., p. 14. 45

and. triumph vicariously through the disciples, who can be seen as

surrogates for the rest of mankind; furthermore, since Christ took

on a human form when He was bom, man’s humanity became glorified

and aggrandized through Christ’s ascent into heaven in a human shape.

For the apostle Paul, the act of the Ascension becomes an integral

part of man’s salvation, and for him salvation is the God-man

personified in the Son who agrees to submit to the power of death,

but who achieves victory over it through His Resurrection. Furthermore,

for Paul "His Ascension renders this victory definitive. Mankind thus

enters into the sphere of the Trinity once and for all in the Person

of the Word incarnate. . . . Nothing henceforth will be able to

separate from God the human nature that has entered into heaven. The

Ascension of Christ, then, is the ascension of man, united to the

divinity, arriving substantially at its goal, substantially saved Or forever." '' Cynewulf recognizes this glorification of man by God when

he includes in his poem, after Job’s song of the Bird-as-Christ, the

passage from I Corinthians, 12:4-11, in which God honors mankind by

granting him gifts that make man wiser in various jobs (ll. 220-243a).

Finally, the Ascension, unlike the Passion and the Resurrection, is

chronologically the last act of Christ on earth, and all other events

in Christ's life as man might be seen, if desired, as simply anti-

climactic steps in preparation for this final deed. It is probable,

therefore, that Cynewulf did not choose the subject for his devotional

85John Clifford Murray, "Ascension of Jesus Christ," New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1 (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, WX), p. 934. 46

piece haphazrdly: a feast day that commemorated the final act of

Christ as man on earth, an act that sealed mankind's salvation and

glorified his human form would truly he an important subject for his

p™oe m. 86

Ill

In meeting Ascension for the first time, a modem reader might be

struck by Cynewulf's use of pagan-Germanic elements in relating a

crucial episode in Christ's life on earth. The relevancy of these

elements had probably begun to dwindle soon after the Anglo-Saxons

settled in England in the fifth century, but for reasons not histori­

cally discoverable Cynewulf resurrected them when he composed his poem.

After being introduced to Christianity by missionaries sent by Pope

Gregory I in the sixth century, England continued being converted

throughout the seventh century. This century was a time in which

paganism, still a vigorous and active force, had the wherewithal to

meet the challenge of Christianity, and the new faith wisely did not

seek to overthrow the old religion, nor to isolate the newly-converted

from others in their tribe; to have done so would have aroused con­

siderable political and religious opposition from tribal leaders.

°6"ln the liturgies generally the day is meant to celebrate the completion of the work of our salvation, the pledge of our glorification with Christ, and His entry into heaven with our human nature glorified": John J. Wynne, "Feast of the Ascension," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1, ed. Charles G. Herbermann, et. al. (New York: Robert Appleton, 1907), p. 767. Wynne also points out that "in the Eastern Church this feast was known as r . , the taking up, and also as the £ V tj . , the salvation, denoting that by ascending into His glory Christ completed the work of our redemption." 47

One key, therefore, in the conversion was the king, and wherever in

Anglo-Saxon England the new religion secured the allegiance of the On local ruler, the process of Christianization was made smoother.

Also, the new faith attempted at every turn to integrate local, hea­ then, religious customs into Christian doctrine, and in Pope Gregory's famous letter to Mellitus in A.D. 601, can be seen the Church's impulse toward conciliation in its whole missionary program in England:

Therefore, when by God's help you reach our most reverend brother, Bishop Augustine, we wish you to inform him that we have been giving careful thought to the affairs of the English, and have come to the conclusion that the temples of the idols in that country should on no account be destroyed. He is to destroy the idols, but the temples themselves are to be aspersed with holy water, altars set up, and relics enclosed in them. ... In this way, we hope that the people, seeing that its temples are not to be destroyed, may abandon idolatry and resort to these places as before, and may come to know and adore the true God. And since they have a custom of sacrificing many oxen to devils, let some other solemnity be substituted in its place, such as a day of Dedication or the Festivals of the holy martyrs whose relics are enshrined there. . . . For it is certainly impossible to eradicate all errors from obstinate minds at one stroke, and whoever wishes to climb to a mountain top climbs gradually step by step, and not in one leap.88

The upshot of this integration process was that for many years after initial contact was made with Gregory's missionaries, the Anglo-

Saxon tribes interpreted Christianity in terms of the political, cultural, and to some extent religious, nature of their native socie­ ties. Pope Gregory's willingness to concede to the newly converted

8?William A. Chaney, The Cult of Kinship in Anglo-Saxon England: The Transition from Paganism to Christianity (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970), p. 156. OQ °Bede, A History of the English Church and People, trans. Leo Sherley-Price (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1955). PP« 86-87• 48

Anglo-Saxons the freedom of perceiving Christian doctrine through na­ tive eyes set in motion the inclusion, in Christian art and literature, of pagan culture. What began as a pragmatic, substitutive policy towards native paganism, became an artistic tradition that saw as its goal the blend of pagan and Christian. Thus, what has appeared to scholars for many years as a confusing mixture of two antithetically opposed cultures, might very well have been the subsuming of the pagan, with its emphasis on an oral transmission of knowledge and the decora­ tive arts, by the Christian, with its emphasis upon a written trans­ mission of knowledge and the making of images of its deities. The literary result, then, of this assimilation begun by Pope Gregory, wan the creation of a new kind of literary tradition, called by its modem name, "Christian heroic poetry." By the ninth-century, it is likely that the pagan, native-Germanic culture, absorbed into the new order, ceased to function as a living force, but basic elements of this culture "continued . . . under Christian guise throughout Anglo-Saxon 89 history."

Also, the native, pagan traditions might have been preserved artificially as a bookish pursuit by men like Cynewulf who had been trained in Latin learning, yet who wanted to give attention to the native culture they had been bom into. Since, as Kenneth Sisam points out (p. 43), the subject-matter of Ascension belongs to a later stage in the conversion of England when works of devotion, not works of proselytization were in demand, it is unlikely that Cynewulf

89chaney, p. 2. 49

in the ninth-century would, he writing his poem to convert heathen

Englishmen. It might he argued, therefore, that the poet had an

antiquarian interest in a culture that by his time must have been

receding into the past, and had a desire to maintain some of the

artifacts (at least those—like the Germanic runes, the comitatus

relationship, and the heroic epithets—that could be set down and

described in writing) of this fading culture. However, in this light,

it might appear inconsistent to interpret Cynewulf's use of runes in an

acrostic signature as a not-so-subtle method of revealing his name to

his readers so that they could pray for his soul's eternal peace. Any

antiquarian interest in runes, it might be argued, would destroy the

efficacy of their almost talismanic quality; that is, the sincerity

of the man who writes his name in runes with the hope that others will

pray for him,is called into question by his treating the runes as

objects of collection and analysis. Whether Cynewulf risked losing

the prayers of others through such an antiquarian interest, or whether

there would be an inconsistency in a cleric's treating a devotional piece as an artistic creation, is impossible to determine. Therefore, the seeming ironic tone of Ascension, created by Cynewulf the scholar and Cynewulf the cleric, seems to be out of keeping with the medieval consideration that virtually every artistic activity had as its goal the glorification of God. Yet Asser's biography of King Alfred in the tenth century, Alfred's translation of Orosius' Universal History in the ninth century, and even Bede's Ecclesiastical History in the eighth century, evidence an interest in historicity and scholarship that were by-products of the Christian religion (see n. 49, p. 2l). Although 50 it is not possible to know whether Cynewulf would have been damning his soul by treating his name and his request for prayers as anything else but as a straightforward, unscholarly appeal for prayer, it is possible to speculate that the appeals at the end of his four poems are rhetorical and artistically created. "It is true that he makes a heavy count of his sins and miseries in the Epilogue to Elene, but one must not forget the forms of humility that were then current, or miss in the same passage an oddly contrasting tone of self-satis­ faction. ... In Cynewulf it is perhaps no more than an artist’s pride which naturally comes to the surface when he asks for prayers as a result of his finished work: 'This poem', he seems to say, 'is a 90 work of research, piety, and art, which deserves your prayers.'

Whatever reason Cynewulf had for using native, pagan materials in

Ascension, their presence in the poem places it in the same tradition as the so-called religious heroic poems Andreas, Judith, Exodus, and

Genesis, and Ascension even shares some similarities with the earlier, more purely Germanic epic, Beowulf. At no time in Ascension are the twelve disciples referred to as such; they are called feegna gedryht

(l. 18), leof weorud (l. 19), haele/ (l. 22), leofum gesifrum (l. 3^)» feegnas gecorene (l. 58), haele/ hygerofe (l. 95)» feegnas brymfulle

(l. 102). Christ is variously termed brega maera (l. 1?), feeoden brymfaest (l. 18), sincgiefan (l. 2l), tires brytta (l. 23), wuldres helm (l. 24), aefreling (l. 64), sigores agend (l. ?4), sigebearna

(l. 8l), wuldres weard (l. 88), wilgifan (l. 98). Even epithets which

9uSisam, Studies, p. 24. 51

refer to Christ as a deity have overtones of the Germanic hero:

hlaford (l. 22), leofes (l. 57)> haligra helm (l. 90), eorla eadgiefan

(l. 107), heofonrices helm (l. 127), helm wera (l. 195)« It might he

argued that there were no other words available in the native Old Eng­

lish word-stock; this view is supported by Bosworth-Toller who cite

three specimens of the Latin-derived discipul (meaning a "scholar" or

"learner" in Old English), as opposed to the six examples of Old English

fregen, meaning "disciple." This is reinforced by the Oxford English

Dictionary which points to the use of discipul, meaning one of the

followers of Jesus Christ, especially one of the Twelve, as being rare

in Old English; the word more often used was peg(e)n or leoming-cniht.

In short, what appears to be a conscious attempt at formulating a body

of Christian heroic poetry with allusions to the political and social

relationships of the native culture, might simply be that the Anglo-

Saxon Christian poets were attempting to employ a language (Old English)

to describe new religious concepts that were foreign to it; these con­

cepts already had a ready vehicle for expression, Latin. Since the

poets lacked a vocabulary with which to relate their stories in

Christian terms, they were compelled to extend and generalize the

native Old English vocabulary that was at hand in order to incorporate

the new ideas that were coming to England from the Latin-Christian continent. It can be further argued that the new extended vocabulary— along with inflections, syntax, and perhaps even pronounciation—was a part of a poetic koine that developed in Anglo-Saxon England:

More attention should be given to the probability that there was a body of verse, anonymous and indep­ endent of local interest, which was the common stock 52

for the entertainment or instruction of the English peoples. ... A poet might prefer to take his models from the common stock rather than from the less-known work of his own district. In this way poems could he produced that do not belong to any dialect, but to a general Old English poetic dialect, artificial, archaic, and perhaps mixed in its vocabulary, conservative in inflexions that affect the verse-structure, and indifferent to non-structural irregularities, which were perhaps tolerated asppart of the colouring of the language of verse.91

Even though an extended and generalized vocabulary and a poetic koine might explain to some extent the reasons for the use of native-

Germanic materials in Christian heroic poetry, they do not explain' the seeming conscious attempt at cultivating the production of an art form that frequently reaches a high order of aesthetic sense: the very fact that the phrase, "Christian heroic poetry" is used implies a body of literature, with its own traditions and values, and its own conventions for the creation of individual works. Thus, when Ascension is studied, the native-Germanic elements that appear could very well represent the creation of a literature that used an archaic language to relate it.

In Ascension, Cynewulf molds the relationship between Christ and

His disciples into the conventional Germanic comitatus: the mighty

Chief summons His band of thanes to Bethany (ll. 17ff.); the disciples are ready, haslet mid hlaford ("heroes with their Lord" ¡^cf. Beowulf,

1. 3142]), to go to Bethany; they praise Him and He nobly gives them reward (ll. 31i’f'-)1 Christ also exhorts the disciples to go out and spread God’s word in much the same manner that Byrhtnoth exhorts his warriors to fight the Vikings in The Battle of Maldon (ll. 17ff.)i

91Sisam, Studies, p. 138. 53

and. the feasting and celebration that takes place when Christ and the

newly-released Old Testament saints arrive in heaven (ll. 111b ff.),

resemble Hrothgar's reception for Beowulf and his men in Heorot

(Beowulf, 11. 491ff.). But Cynewulf does not solely use heroic

epithets or present the veneer of the comitatus relationship; the

native culture is deeply ingrained in his poem, and is significant in

its use as well. For 11. 94-106a, the account of the disciples' return

to Jerusalem, Cynewulf follows no Latin source, but apparently follows

Scripture (Luke 24:52). However, in Scripture there is no mention of the "sad-spirited" and grief-stricken disciples; in fact, in Luke 24:52, the disciples are described as returning from Mount Olives to Jerusalem with great joy. Very likely Cynewulf wished to depict in the Ascension- disciples' sorrow the melancholic, hopeless feeling that was convention­ ally expressed by the Germanic warrior or the ministrel who, through death or banishment, had been bereft of lord and patron. This sense of loss is best exemplified in the Old English elegies Deor, The Wanderer,

The Wife's Lament, The Seafarer, The Husband's Message, The Ruin, and the

"Lament of the Last Survivor" from Beowulf (ll. 2231-70). Thoughout these poems, the wretchedness of exile recurs thematically, and possi­ bly reflects real life circumstances. Since the comitatus as a social system was of prime significance in the Anglo-Saxon culture, exclusion from it caused the outcast to feel alienation, loneliness, and pessimism about what lay in the future. There is need, of course, to cite here the real dangers of one's being without economic and social protection 5^

92 in Anglo-Saxon England. In modern society, man depends upon economic

security through contractual arrangements with institutions; in Anglo-

Saxon England a similar relationship was established between a man and

a powerful tribal figure; but the comitatus signalled more than a mere

job. The man who became a part of this arrangement obtained the

necessary social values of fellowship, a feeling of belonging to a

group, comradeship, and a sense of identity. The poem The Wanderer

reveals what happens when one is without a lord and deprived of these

values: bereft of the goldwine (l. 22), the wanderer needs to seek

another "giver of treasure" (sinces bryttan [l. 25; cf. Ascension, 1.

2l]) who can give him a sense of identity and re-establish his position

in the mead hall (ll. 23b ff.); without a "beloved" (leofra T1- 31» cf.

Ascension, 1. 57]) friend there is only exile. The wanderer thinks of

the "hall-warriors and the receiving of treasures" (selesecgas and

sincbege El» 3^]), and bow in his youth his lord "always feasted Ehim]"

(wenede to wiste El» 36])» The Germanic comitatus had at its heart

the mutual loyalties and obligations of leader and retainer; and the

"retainer who had lost his lord was of all men most wretched, a lonely

exile who could find no solace for his loss, no substitute for the tie

that had been broken." 93 It is this powerful sense of the loss of

one's lord that Cynewulf evokes when he describes the disciples'

reaction to Christ's leaving them to ascend into heaven: Him wass

* geomor sefa / hat set heortan, hyge mum end, e, / bass be ni swa leofne

92See Dorothy Whitelock, The Beginnings of English Society. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1952, pp. 29ff» ^Kennedy, The Earliest English Poetry, p. 5» 55

leng ne mostun / geseon under swegle. . . . paer waes wopes hring: /

torne bitolden waes seo treowlufu; / hat aet heortan hregfer innan ..

weoll / beom hreostsefa" (ll. 60b-63a; 98b-101a). Even the poem's

final metaphor, which depicts life as a sea voyage, evokes a similar mood to the elegies and reinforces the sense of loss felt earlier in the poem by the disciples:

Nu is pon gelicost swa we on laguflode ofer cald waster ceolum lij^an geond sidne sae, sundhengestum, flodwudu fergen. Is past frecne stream, y^a ofermasta pe we her on lacapf geond pas wacan woruld, windge holmas ofer deop gelad. Waes se drohta^ strong aerpon we to londe geliden haefdon ofer hreone hrycg (ll. 4ll-4l9a).

Although Cynewulf employed elements from the archaic, native-

Germanic culture for artistic purposes, much as Lord Tennyson utilized 94 the Arthurian legend for Idylls of the King,7 there is another, perhaps more practical reason for their use. Cynewulf's audience must have had at least some acquaintance with the ideals and values

94phere is a difference between the two authors' use of their respective source materials, however: Tennyson was relying upon half legendary stories that predated the Victorian period by 500 to 1000 years. Cynewulf, on the other hand, used material from a real culture that might have ceased to exist only 200 or 300 years earlier; thus this material would have had more immediacy to his audience. Also, it is interesting to speculate whether Cynewulf and other Anglo-Saxon Christian heroic poets romanticized the earlier Germanic culture as Tennyson and Sir Walter Scott did the Middle Ages. Since any given age tends to paint a rosy picture of preceding ages, and since the Anglo-Saxons in general, from the earlier invaders who saw in the decaying Roman ruins, enta geweorc "the work of giants," to King Alfred, who in his Preface to his translation of Pope Gregory's Cura Pastoralis, lamented the disintegration of learning in his time, thought of their own period as having degenerated from an earlier, "Golden Age," there is a likelihood that some romanticizing took place. 56

that had. been admired, by the earlier pagan-Germanic society, and his

audience would have found the disciples' plight more vivid than if

he had omitted the references to these ideals and values. Thus, with

one stroke, Cynewulf uses an archaic tradition to create art, yet he

has also chosen a tradition that is near enough so that there is a

relevancy that intensifies for his audience the meaning of the act

of Christ's ascending into heaven. It has already been observed how

Cynewulf secularizes the list of God's gifts to men (ll. 225ff.),

making the passage from I Corinthians 12:4-11, more relevant to his

Anglo-Saxon audience. These gifts are revealed in Scripture as rather

abstract abilities, but in Ascension, they become real-life tasks that

men actually could have done in early medieval England. This desire

for making Scripture and church teachings more relevant and immediate

to medieval man can be seen as part of the reason for creating images

in the form of stained glass windows, statuary, manuscript illuminations,

carvings, and later, of liturgical plays. Through such imagery, the

average man learned what he knew of human history and Scripture; and

since the Middle Ages perceived time in terms of events occurring

either before or after the Incarnation, human history and Scripture merged into a symmetrical continuum with creation at one end, the Last

Judgment at the other, and the Incarnation occupying the middle. Not

only could the images teach man to "read" about major events from

scriptural history, they could indoctrinate him so that he would make

appropriate responses regarding his soul: horrible, ugly images of sins or figures of the damned from Last Judgment scenes made him avoid sin; virtuous, glorious, and beatific pictures of the blessed 57

in heaven led. him to the path of salvation. This notion of teaching

through images seems not to have escaped. Cynewulf, since (as will he discussed, in greater detail later) he fashions his poem around a se­ quence of very powerful images which he constructs by using words denoting such things as light and movement, among others. Whereas modem man would perceive distinctions between the sacredness of

Christian doctrine and the secularity of artistic creativity, medieval man would see the latter as a gift from God and a means of expressing the former. Also, the frequent use of the plastic arts and manuscript illuminations in Anglo-Saxon England to portray the Last Judgment

(Ascension, 11. 3^3b-4l0) can be seen as part of a larger attempt to make Christian eschatology of immediate concern to ninth- and tenth- century Englishmen. This attempt may have been induced by the expec- tationr-expressed in England in such works as the Blickling Homilies and Bishop Wulfstan's Sermo lupi ad Anglos—that the end of the world would come in the year A.D. 1000. This belief, suggested by Revelation

20:2-7, was the subject of many sermons and homilies throughout 95 medieval Europe.

IV

A Christological event that was important in Anglo-Saxon Christi­ anity is the episode of Christ's Harrowing of Hell (Ascension, 11. 119-

146). This episode grew by accretive process from vague Scriptural

95see Pope Gregory's letter to King Aethelberht of Kent (ex­ plaining what would be occurring and how one had to be prepared for the eventuality to come) in Bede, A History of the'English Church and People, trans. Leo Sherley-Price, p. 90. 58

references in I Peter 3:19-20 and 4:6, to the idea that Old Testament

saints should have the benefits of Christ's ministry, to the full­

blown doctrine that these souls were released from hell's prison

between the time that Christ was crucified and rose from the dead;

ultimately, the episode came to symbolize an act through which men 96 achieved salvation through Christ's defeat of evil. As much as the

Ascension, the story of Christ's descent into hell allowed the vigorous

nature of the pagan-Germanic culture to surface. Christ, the "Guardian

of the heavenly kingdom" (heofonrices helm [l. 127a]), the "King of

glory" (wuldres cyning [l. 126b]), battles in "war-play" (gugfplegan

[l. 134a]) His "ancient foes" (ealdfeondum [l. 128a]), Satan and his

cohorts, who cannot "win at battle by throwing weapons" (wige spowan / waspna wyrpum [ll. 125b-126a]), because He "makes war" (hilde gefremede

[l. 127b]) against them. Beside the heroic diction of the passage are the references to the Germanic concept of retribution: each member of the family or clan had the responsibility of avenging wrongs done to his kinsmen by enemies against whom a continuing enmity grew until revenge was attained or the wrong settled through peaceful means by the payment of wergeld ("man-money"). Thus, Christ, who through the

Incarnation assumed the bodily form of mankind, becomes a member of the family of man and as such bears the responsibility for avenging the wrongs done to the family of man by the hateful enemy, Satan. It is in this aspect of Germanic life—with its connotations of Old

Testament vengeance and righteous sense of right and wrong—that

96]v[cGatch, Loyalities and Traditions, pp. 138-140. 59

Cynewulf finds the means of relating Christ's descent into hell. His

emphasis on the Harrowing of Hell (it should he noted that the poet

added to Gregory's list of Christ's "leaps," the fifth "leap," Christ's descent into hell Ell» 291b-297a]), and his seeming lack of concern about the Crucifixion and Resurrection might appear puzzling to the reader. Since religious art reflects the theology of its own period, several assumptions about the early medieval view of the Crucifixion can be drawn. From painting and iconography of the period, one of the earliest Crucifixion scenes in the West is to be found in an eighth- century Irish Gospel Book of St. Gall (MS. 5l) in "the form of the triumphant, risen Christ. All early Crucifixion scenes are of this type; not until the twelfth-century are there examples of the dead, crucified Christ, and not until the mid-thirteenth-century are there crucifixes which depict Christ-the-dead supplanting those which portray 97 Christ-the-triumphant. Thus, judging from pictorial representations of the Crucifixion during Cynewulf's time, it would appear that the glory inherent in the Resurrection became transferred to the Crucifix­ ion, and that the scene itself was not expressed frequently in the

Anglo-Saxon period. Germanic warriors, like those exemplified in

Beowulf and Bryhtnoth, persevered to the end of the last and greatest struggle of their life, and the Crucifixion might have appeared to

Anglo-Saxon Christians as a giving up and yielding to Wyrd ("Fate ").

It seems then that Anglo-Saxon Christian artists and poets turned to

97a.A. Schacher, "Crucifixion (in Art)," New Catholic Encyclo­ pedia, vol. 4, p. 491. A significant reason for the absence of Crucifixion scenes in late Antiquity and the very early Middle Ages was the Hebraic prohibition against worshipping graven images. 60 the Harrowing of Hell motif (along with the Ascension) for expressing

Christ's divine triumph and not to the Crucifixion or the Resurrection

Even in Dream of the Rood, one of the finest poems on the Passion in

English, there is an extended reference to Christ's descent into hell at the end of the poem:

He us onlysde ond us lif forgeaf, heofonliche ham. Hiht wæs geniwad mid hledum ond mid hlisse pam pe paer hryne polodan. Se sunu wæs sigorfæst on pam si^fate, mihtig ond spedig, pa he mid maniges com, gasta weorode, on godes rice, anwealda ælmihtig, englum to hlisse ond eallum j^am halgum pam pe on heofonum ær wunedon on wuldre, pa heora wealdend cwom, ælmihtig god, pær his e^el wæs (11. 147-156).

The hope expressed at the end of this poem is in terms of Christ's descending into hell, and His subsequent raising of the Old Testament saints with Him at His Ascension. Cynewulf’s description of the hope expressed at the Ascension echoes that hope expressed at the Harrowing of Hell as described above in Dream of the Rood: Hyht waes geniwad, / blis in burgum, purh paes beornes cyme (ll. 908-91). Allowing for the stock phrases of Anglo-Saxon poetry there is a striking parallel in the idea expressed that what Christ accomplished through His Ascension 98 and descent into hell caused man to be happy once again. In addi­ tion, the Harrowing of Hell motif carries with it the same dramatic possibilities that the famous pandite portas has in the Ascension

(ll. 137ff.): Christ breaks through the gates of hell, confronts and

98Cyme can be taken either as Christ's Advent, or His coming into heaven at His Ascension. In either case, it is through the Ascension that Christ's mission of saving mankind is completed and God's covenant with man is sealed. 61

defeats Satan, and seizes the imprisoned patriarchs. This inherent

drama is, in fact, treated more fully in the Old English poems, The

Descent into Hell (the Exeter Book), Christ and Satan (Junius MS), in

an Anglo-Saxon manuscript illustration, "Christus infemum despoliat" from a Psalter (Cotton MS Tiberius C. vi.), and in such later works

as the C-text of William Langland's Piers Ploughman (Passus 2l), and several mystery plays. Thus, these two acts—the Ascension and the

Harrowing of Hell—with their dramatic possibilities for confrontation, dialogue, and physical movement, seemed to appeal to a society that still delighted in courage, in challenging the unknown, fighting over­ whelming odds, and supporting one's lord to the death. And at a time when doctrinal issues in Christianity continued unsettled and in a state of flux, these two episodes could taka their place alongside, and perhaps even replace for a time, the Crucifixion and the Resurrec­ tion as the central events in Christian history.

V

A theme of Ascension which unifies the poem is "the various struggles of Christ for securing the everlasting bliss of mankind."99

This struggle, intensified as it is by the physicality and dramatic confrontation inherent in the acts of the Ascension and the Harrowing of Hell, also provides a tension with the intellectuality present in the poem, an intellectuality that reveals the scholarship and learning of the cleric-poet. Throughout Ascension, Cynewulf asks the reader to understand and perceive the truth with all the God-given skills of the

99Das, Cynewulf and the Cynewulf Canon, pp. 199-200. 62

mind, while contrastively, he portrays Christ’s physical battles.

Christ's struggles center on His dual function in the poem: His role

as mediator between God and man, and His role as a warrior fighting the

forces of evil for man's salvation and his loyalty to God. The role

of reconciler between God and man might be seen as involving a

"smoothing process" with which He countermands God's order that mankind must live in torment on earth for disobeying Him in the Garden of Eden.

The warrior-mediator is introduced in the opening lines of the poem as

Cynewulf charges an unidentified mon se maera ("famous man") to know why the Scriptures do not say that angels wore white robes at the

Nativity, whereas they mention the angels being so garbed at the Ascen­ sion. The answer, known to any Bible exegete, is that Christ had humbled himself as a child at His Nativity, while at His Ascension He was brought into glory with legions of angels. The intellectuality of the theological question posed by Cynewulf is suggested by the use of gaestgerynum ("mystery of the mind" Cl» l]), modcraefte ("mental skill" El- 2]), sefan ("mind" El- 3]), snyttro ("understanding" El- 3]), and wife ("know" or "understand" El- 3])- The culminative effect of these words is to give a sense of the ability of the mind to grasp and comprehend all things. Moreover, a man possessed with an inquiring mind—a mind capable of looking to the past or to other cultures, and in a scholarly way becoming interested in fashioning acrostic puzzles out of runes and composing new poems out of old material—would pose the question he does to the reader. Cynewulf is not Socratic in his questioning; indeed, he hardly seems to be asking for an answer to his question (which may point to a rhetorical use of the question to intro­ 63

duce the poem).^^^ However, throughout the poem the" reader is confront­

ed with a series of challenges that force him to reckon with the

seminal issues of the Christian faith. These challenges express the

spirit of inquiry and understanding that is introduced at the begin­

ning, and that becomes another theme in the poem.

At 1. 152, and for five lines following, the reader is faced with

a series of twelve choices (the swa . . . swa series might be based

upon Latin coordination) that every mortal man must make: the disgrace

of hell or heaven’s glory, the shining day or the loathsome night, the

force of majesty or the gloom of darkness, joy with the Lord or the

shriek of agony among devils, torment with demons or glory with angels,

and finally, life or death. The spirit of inquiry and understanding

that is introduced by the opening question is maintained in this

sequence: these choices demand careful reflection and contemplation

since man is not forced or predestined to choose (the modal mot £inf. motan~| at 1. 151, is cited by Bosworth-Toller as meaning "to be allowed,

"may"; the word generally had these meanings in Old English rather

than "must") good over evil, or evil over good. The swa . . . swa coordination structurally forces the innately antithetical ideas into contrastive pairs, and the pairs themselves become vivid phonologically by means of alliteration and rhyme,.the latter appearing in the original

Anglian version of the poem: helle hienpu . . . heofones masrpu ; leohte leoht . . . lapan niht; prymmes prsece . . . pystra wraece; dryht'eh dream . . . deoflum hream; wife mid wrapum . . . wuldor mid

lOOThe answer is alluded to in 11. 106b-ll8. 64

arum; lif . . . deagt. The first five lines of the sequence (ll. 152-

156) contain swa initially in each half-line, producing symmetrically-

balanced, contrastive phrases. As the passage comes to an end, Cyne­

wulf quickens the rhythm of his narrative by breaking up the swa . . .

swa pattern and compressing the last contrastive pair and its coordi­

nation into 1. 157a. This "narrowing down" and "dove-tailing" of the

swa . . . swa pattern causes the reader to feel a sense of urgency for

making the proper choices for his own salvation. The urgency is

intensified by the appearance of another swa in 1. 157b completing the

notion of man's freedom of choice: swa him leofre bigf / to gefremmanne

penden flaesc ond gaest/ wunia^ in worulde ("whichever he thinks dearer

to have while flesh and soul remain in the world," 11. 157b-159a)•

At 1. l6l, and continuing to 1. 179a» Cynewulf confronts his reader with the Lord's mercy, made manifest through the earthly abundance He gives to mankind. As with the "Gifts to Men" sequence

(ll. 225-242a), this earthly abundance is made relevant by actualizing the abundance into specific examples: weder libe / under swegles hleo

(ll. I66b-l67a); sunne ond mona, / . . . eallum scina^, / . . . haelebum on eorgfan (ll. l67b-l69b); dreose^ deaw ond ren, which dugugie weccab / to feorhnere fira cynne, / iecaX eor^welan (ll. 170-172a)•

Cynewulf contrasts the "manifold strengths" (monigfealdra maegna

[l. 164]) of God, which are geryno ("unfathomable" or "beyond human comprehension"), with the above concrete results of the maegna, which man can perceive and understand with his mind. Beside the intellectual challenge, Cynewulf here reveals to his reader the need for giving thanks to the Lord. At the beginning of the passage, he charges: Hast 65

is foaes wyr/e baeffe werbeode / secgan dryhtne bone dugu/a gehwylcre.

• . (ll. 161-162); at the end of the passage he also charges his reader that thanks should he given, hut he enlarges the praise and thanks to he given for earthly prosperity to that which should he given for the salvation assured to mankind through the Ascension when

Christ made peace between man and God: baes we ealles sculon / secgan b°nc ond lof beodne ussum / ond huru baere haelo be he us to hyhte forgeaf / /a he ba yrmpgfu eft oncyrde / aet [h]is upstige be we aer drugon / ond gebingade beodbuendum / wi/ faeder swaesne faehba maeste, / cyning anboren (ll. 172b-179a)• The role of the Ascension in man’s salvation (see pp. 44-46) as it was understood by early medieval theologians is revealed here, and also revealed is Cynewulf’s extending the concept of the Germanic comitatus to account for Christ's peace­ making abilities: like the warrior of a tribal family, Christ must maJce amends (His Ascension, representing the completion of His ministry on earth) to God for the wrong (Original Sin) done Him by Christ's family—the family of mankind. To say that Cynewulf makes this theological point clear and relevant to an audience not firmly knowl­ edgeable about Christian doctrine by dressing it up in the pagan-

Germanic is to see Cynewulf's effort too narrowly; rather, his effort should be seen as opening up a theological issue to new dimensions of interpretation and discovery. The Germanic comitatus and family unit carry with them many associations, among them a fanatic sense of loyalty-to-leader, avenging wrongs done to family members, and making 66 payment (wergeld) to others because of wrongs done by family members.

Cynewulf did not need to invent new metaphors for describing Christ’s activities; they are already present in the Germanic family and comitatus. Thus, in an artistic sense, Cynewulf achieves an economy of effort by associating his subject with known entities.

The next challenge that asks the reader for an intellectual grasp of a theological "problem" occurs at 1. 365, and- continues until 1.

312a. After narrating the series of six leaps that Christ performed on earth (except for leap five, the Harrowing of Hell which Cynewulf added, the passage is taken from Gregory's Homily), Cynewulf relates the leaps to what man must do on earth: pus her on grundum godes ece beam / ofer heahleopu hlypum stylde, / modig aefter muntum, swa we men sculon / heortan gehygdum hlypum styllan / of maegne in maegen, maerpum tilgan / paet we to pam hyhstan hrofe gestigan / halgum weorcum paer is hyht ond blis gepungen pegnweorud (ll. 305~312a). The tension between the intellectual and the physical that exists in the poem is seen here in Cynewulf’s challenging the reader, who in his

"thought" and "meditations” can "spring in leaps £like Christ] from strength to strength, striving after glorious deeds Qeditor's italics]."

Cynewulf makes it clear that striving after deeds, that is, doing good works, is as important as the intellectual grasp of Christian truths.

In his description of what it will be like when Christ comes to judge

:—w can be seen that this reference to Christ’s making amends to God for man's wronging Him is as much a part of the responsibility of the family as it is for kinsmen to avenge the wrongs done to his family; this is what Christ does when He descends into hell to gain revenge for Satan's wrongdoing to man. 67 men at His Second. Coming, Cynewulf makes the point: basr sceal forht monig / on foam wongstede werig hidan / hwaet him aefter daedum deman

wille / wrabra wita (ll. 362-365=1) • Man will be judged according to his acts and deeds, not (by implication) merely his comprehension of

Christian verities. Furthermore, the intellectual abilities that allow man to do these deeds have already been granted to him by God

(ll. 225-242a), and it is man’s responsibility to use these gifts for God's work, as well as for fulfilling his own earthly occupation.

If man does not, at the Last Judgment "the glorious King will repay those on earth who lived by evil actions and were guilty of sinning"

(beorht cyning leana^ / bses be hy on eorban ear gum daedum / lif don, leahtrum fa [ll. 388b-390a]), and "the wicked—those who trust feebly in their works—will grieve before the presence of the eternal Judge"

(cerge reota^ / fore onsyne eces deman, / ba be hyra weorcum wace truwiagf [ll. 396b-398]). If this tension between the intellectual and the physical is intentional it indicates that Cynewulf was interested in more than just creating a devotional piece from Latin sources. He purposely contrasts the mental, attainment of knowing

Christ, with the physical, attainment of doing good works; more than merely mimicking the Germanic heroic in relating Christian life, Cyne­ wulf stresses the need for man to seek after truth, intellectually and physically.

Cynewulf reveals his goal (perhaps "mission" is more accurate) in writing Ascension at 1. 376f f.: forbon ic leofra gehwone laeran wille / bset he ne agaele gaestes besirfe. . . . scyle gumena gehwylc / on his geardagum geome bibencan / £aet_ us milde bicwom meahte 68 waldend / aet aerestan burh bass engles word (ll. 376—377; 381b-384).

Cynewulf has preceded this with his narrative of the horrors awaiting those unprepared for Christ's Second Coining (along with his "signed" solicitation for prayers Ell. 3^0-375]), so that his statement of purpose assumes an urgency for accepting what he has .to say. The role of teacher—teaching the things necessary for the salvation of the reader's soul—is appropriate for the cleric who wishes his mon se maera to "seek earnestly with meditations and intelligence through the mind's wisdom" so that he can know and understand Christian thought.

The early medieval monk (as it is sometimes suggested that Cynewulf was) led a life of physical labor combined with intense, study of

Christian learning; the latter revealed itself in monastic life through the composition of books, manuscript copying, and the maintenance of schools and libraries. It would be appropriate, then, for the monk- poet, who strove after the perception, understanding, and acceptance of .Christian truths, to desire those reading his poem to seek these truths intellectually and with wisdom of the mind.

The last challenge Cynewulf maikes to his reader occurs after the second reference to Christ's Judgment Day, near the end of the poem

(ll. 385-410), when again the poet juxtaposes a horrible view of the

Second Coming with a call for his reader to contemplate his soul: is us bearf micel / bast we gaestes wlite aer bam gryrebrogan / on bas gaesnan tid georne bibencen (ll. 408b-4l0). The georne bibencen, which carries with it the sense of intense spiritual meditation that mairked the life of the monastics echoes the opening charge to the mon se maera : nu . . . geomlice gaestgerynum / . . . modcraefte sec / 69

purh sefan snyttro . . . (ll. l-3a); thus, this spirit of inquiry which

informs the poem with the rational attainment of salvation, provides

a unifying theme for it.

Thus, Cynewulf was a man given over to the scholarly study of a

past culture, and foreign lands (if his use of Ahhot Adamnan's book

on the Holy Land for the references to the temples hrof, 1. 56 and

ofer hrofas upp, 1. 89, is accepted; see Notes and Commentary, pp. 109-

lio), and a man interested in placing high value on using the mind to

perceive, know, and understand the eternal truths of Christ. In

modem society, a scholar who seeks after truth must exclude religious

faith from his realm of understanding because he cannot verify it; in

Cynewulf's time, the mind, reaching out with its senses, served to gain knowledge about God's existence and His plan for mankind. It is fitting that the gifts that God sends to man in 11. 220-242a (based upon I Corinthians 12:4-11), are monigfealde modes snyttru ("many kinds of intellectual skills"); these abilities are mentioned in

Scripture only as being "various," not as being "intellectual." For

Cynewulf, too, these gifts of monigfealde modes snyttru given by God become the means (sefan snyttro, 1. 3a-) whereby his mon se maera will be able to comprehend the question put to him concerning the symbolic nature of the dress worn by angels at Christ's Nativity and Ascension.

Cynewulf's commitment, then, to knowledge about human experience, as well as to the intellectual search for Christian truths, reveals a universality that appears unexpected in the medieval world. 70

vi

The last section, which dealt with the theme of Christ's struggles for obtaining eternal happiness for man, raised the point that this struggle, implying as it does a confrontation between two forces, suggests a tension between the intellectual that Cynewulf demands of his readers for seeking the truth about Christian thought, and the physical that is necessary for doing good works. This tension, later in the Middle Ages to become a debate between the contemplative and the active Christian life, is indicative of other tensions that appear in the poem.

As has been pointed out, Cynewulf has a cleric's interest in the intellectual pursuits that reveal God's truths to man. This interest finds expression in the opening lines of the poem as Cynewulf calls upon his reader to gain a perception and awareness of a specific theological problem. However, these insights do not stop here; they become a common thread running through the poem. The words in the poem that exhibit this theme of perception and awareness are: gaestgerynum

(l. l), modcrasfte (l. 2), sefan snyttro (l. 3), ongieten (l. 198), gewit (l. 20l), oncnawan (l. 203), gecnawan (l. 215), modes snyttru

(l. 223), modes gemynd (l. 226), ondgiet (l. 22?), snyttrucraeft / bifolen on fer^e (ll. 228b-229a), godcunde (l. 231), gasstes snyttru

(l. 245), witga (l. 252), synsceafffan sopes ne giemdon (l. 267), giedda gearosnottor gaestgerynum (l. 274), and oncnawan (l. 422). Yet, this motif consists of more than simply repeated words or phrases repre­ senting perception and awareness (although such repetition does serve to unify the poem): images referring to light, sight, and visual 71

perception, reveal and actualize the motif. At 11. 59^.» while the

sad-hearted disciples watch Christ ascend into heaven, angels on high

sing the praises of the Lord and "rejoice in the light that gleams from the Savior's head" (leohte gefegun / be of bses haelendes heafelan lixte [ll. 65a-66]). The disciples also see two angels by-

Christ, "shining beautifully and sparkling in adornments" (aelbeorht- e • • • / faegre . . . fraetwum blican [ll. 66a-68b]). These angels call out, "clear-voiced" (beorhtan reorde [l. 7l]), and challenge the disciples with the visual reality of the Ascension: . nu ge sweotule geseogf sojine dryhten / on swegl far an. ... We . . . willagf / . . . hlaford fergan / to baere beorhtan byrg . . . / [hlaford] be ge her on stariagf / ond in frofre geseo^ fraetwum blican (ll. 73~74a; 78-83).

The accumulation of adjectives (aelbeorhte, beorhtan [twice], adverbs

(faegre, sweotule), verbs (lixte, blican [twice], geseog( [twice], stariagf ), and a noun (leohte), all denoting explicitly light and sight, reinforce the central meaning of the Ascension's being the path to a figurative light and sight for mankind, and point to the need for man to see clearly the brilliance and radiance of the risen, triumphant

Lord. In addition, the profusion of light suggested by these images extends to the words heafelan, fraetwum (twice), reorde, and byrg so that they come to denote implicitly light and sight by means of their grammatical association with leohte and lixte, blican (twice), beorhtan and beorhtan, respectively. The almost-tautological effect of sweotule geseogf heightens the perception of the act taking place before human eyes; even the announcement by the angels of what Christ is doing is said in a beohrtan reode. Both the perception of and revealing of the 72

Ascension require a clarity that is suitable to the importance of the event. The earth-bound, disciples can only "watch" (segun) over the footprint of the departed Lord and only "gaze" (staria/) up at the ascending Christ; they are incapable of doing either sweotule or beorhte. The modem reader is almost tempted to describe their watching and gazing as being ungelaered ("ignorant") or uncwe/ende

("speechless"). Other light images occur at 11. l46ff., waer is aetsomne / godes ond monna: . . . ealles leohtes gefea, which echoes the choice man has at 1. 153, swa bast leohte leoht swa /a laban niht.

At 11. l6?ff., as two of the good things that man should thank God for,

Cynewulf mentions the "sun and moon, noblest of stars" (sunne ond mona,. aebelast tungla) and "heaven's candles" (heofoncondelle), which "shine upon all men on earth" (eallum scina/ haelebum on eorgfan); at

11. 255b ff., Cynewulf identifies these heavenly bodies: hwaet sindan ba / gimmas swa scyne buton god sylfa? / He is se so/faesta sunnan leoma, / englum ond eor/warum aebele scima. / Ofer middangeard mona lixe/, / gaestlic tungol: swa seo godes circe / bu*~h gesomninga so/es ond ryhtes / beorhte blice/ . . . sibban of grundum godbeam astag. . .

However, the vivid images portraying the light of Christian knowledge and the meaning of the Ascension do not exist in isolation, but contrast with images of darkness; the resulting juxtapositions create new ways of viewing the poem's meaning. The light images mentioned above that relate the light of Christian truth contrast with the darkness that men, who reject the ministry of Christ, live in. In what is perhaps the most aesthetically satisfying passage in the poem,

Cynewulf relates Job's song about Christ-as-a-Bird winging His way 73

between heaven and earth. The flight, which can be seen as a metaphor 102 for Christ's glorious Ascension, as well as for His descent into

the world as a Babe, appears only as a metaphor to those who live in

darkness (wæs pass fugles flyht feondum . . . / dyrne ond degol pam

pe deorc gewit / haefdon on hrepre Ell- 200-202a]), those who:

ondgieten ne meahtan (l. 198b); noldan ... pa torhtan tacen oncnawan

(1. 203); ne meahtan pa pæs fugles flyht gecnawan (l. 215). The

images evoked by dyrne, degol, deorc gewit, and reinforced by heortan

We curious sentence, swa se fæla fugel flyges cunnode: / hwilum engla eard up gesohte, / modig meahtum strang, pone maran ham; / hwilum he to eorpan eft gestylde, / purh gæstes giefe grundsceat sohte,~7 wende to worulde (il. 20é-211a), with its implication that Christ came and went from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven, might have its ultimate source in early Christian theology. The earliest preachings of the Church did not include the details of Christ's actual ascent into heaven: the fact of His Incarnation was of prime significance, not His departure from earth. The wish of the second generation of believers to know more about visual evidence of Christ's leave-taking prompted St. Luke to examine first-generation documentation of the event so that he might discover something of the departure of Christ. The results (Luke 1:1-4, and 24:13-49), place the Ascension during Easter night after Christ had brought the disciples from Jerusalem over Mt. Olivet to Bethany. Forty—the number of days given in Scripture (Acts 1:3) as being the time separating the Resurrection from the final departure—may be an arbitrary number suggestive of a long period of time. Since Christ's visible presence had been discontinuous after the Resurrection (he had appeared to the disciples, and then vanished again ELuke 24:3l]), it is likely that He ascended and returned to His Father's glory after His every appearance to the disciples as the risen Christ. No longer confined to earth, He ascended and descended at will during the time immediately following the Resurrection; thus, the "Ascension was linked immediately with His Resurrection as part of a single move­ ment from the grave to glory. Eventually the term Ascension was reserved for what had proved to be the final leave-taking of Jesus" (Murray, "Ascension of Jesus Christ," New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1, p. 932). From this it may be seen that the hwilum . . . hwilum coordination of the passage from Ascension (with Gregory's Homily as the source) might be giving recognition to this Christian doctrine of Christ's continued ascending and descending following His rise from the grave. 74

staenne (l. 202), not only suggest the ignorance and evil of the

infidels, but contrast with the: beorhtne geleafan (l. 44); the

leohte ... ¿e of baes haelendes heafelan lixte (l. 65b-66); the

angels, who "sparkle in adornments" (fraetwum blican [l. 68]) and

call "clear-voiced" (beorhtan reorde [l. 7l])» Christ's going to the

"bright city" (beorhtan byrg [l. 80]), "gleaming with treasures"

(fraetwum blican [l. 83]). The choices confronting man regarding

his salvation (see pp. 63-64) are revealed through contrasting images

of light and dark: swa baeb leohte leoht swa ¿a laban niht (l. 153)*

Those accepting the truth of the Ascension will find themselves in the

"shining day" (leohte leoht), and those, like the unbelievers, men­

tioned above who denied the Ascension "and who did not believe that

the Lord of life, in man's form, might be raised up, holy from the

earth, upon the glory of [angelic] hosts" (ond bast ne gelyfdon baette

liffruma / in monnes hiw ofer maegna brym, / haJ-ig from hrusan, ahafen

wurde [11. 2l6b-219]), will discover themselves in the "loathsome

night" (laban niht). Even at 1. 369» in bis description of the fires

of the Day of Judgment, which will in that day burn brightly, Cynewulf

significantly does not select the word beorhte for "brightly," but

rather blac (which has come down to modern English as "bleak"; see

Glossary): bonne fraetwe sculón / byrnan on baele ; blac rasettegf /

recen reada leg, rebe scribe^ / geond worulde wide (ll. 368b~371a);

and this fire will "pitilessly consume the ancient treasures which men once held dear while pride was theirs upon the earth" (aele¿_

ealdgestreon uhmurnlice, / . . . bseb geo guman helódan / benden him

on eorban on media waes [ll. 373-375])• As in Beowulf, fire consumes 75

the very things that men (sinful men in Cynewulf's poem) put too much

stock in; in Ascension, the fire is not the fire of the Pentecost, or

even the fires of Purgatory (which Cynewulf mentions in Elene), it

is the final conflagration, symbolizing Christ's wrath that will 103 devastate all the sinners at the end of the world. And it is the selection of one synonym over another, revealing the contrast between the two synonyms, that is significant: beorhte is reserved for Christ and His followers, and blac for Satan and his followers. Thus, such contrasting visual images in the poem suggest the separation of the poem's "characters" into two groups—believers and non-believers, the saved and the damned 3^

Beside the contrasting visual images are aural images, which also serve to divide believer from non-believer. Angels, "through song"

(£urh hleoborcwide Ql. ll]), reveal Christ's Birth. Christ, ready to depart into heaven "speaks words" (word acwae/ El- 35a]) to His dis­ ciples; as He rises to His Father in heaven, "there is a loud sound heard in the air" (wear/ semninga sweg on lyfte / hlud gehyred

Ell. 52-53a]). In contrast to the silent, mourning disciples, the angels from above "raise a song" (song ahofun El- 63b]), and two other angels "call from on high, clear-voiced, with wonderous words"

(cleopedon of heahbu / wordum wraetlicum . . . beorhtan reorde

IGJcf. 11. 390b-392: fraes hi longe sculon / fer/ werige onfon in fyrba/e, / waelmum biwrecene, wrablic ondlean■ 10\)ne is reminded of Michaelangelo*s mural at one end of the Sistine Chapel which depicts Christ on the Day of Judgment dividing the saved on His right from the damned on His left. 76

Ell. 69b-71a]); the disciples can only muster up a "ring of weeping"

(wopes hring [l. 98]). God sends intellectual gifts to mankind,

among them: wordlape wise (l. 225), modes gemynd purh his mupes gaest

(l. 226), singan ond secgan (l. 228), fingrum wel / hlude fore haelepum

hearpan stirgan, / gleofoeam gretan (ll. 229b-231a), searolice /

wordcwide writan (ll. 2338-234a). At 1. 273^-, Solomon "sang, well-

versed in parables, and uttering words" (song . . . /giedda

gearosnottor . . . / ond paet word acwae/ ), concerning the leaps that

Christ will take: His sixth leap, the Ascension, causes the angels

"to grow joyfully glad in jubilation" (hleahtre blipe / wynnum geworden E^l- 300b-301a]). Even Cynewulf responds to the aural image in his narrative: paet is wel cweden, swa gewritu secga/ (l. 108); hwaet, we nu gehyrdan . . . (l. 147a). These are the sounds of rejoicing, glad noises^^ that result from being in harmony with

Christian truths.

However, as with the dark images that contrast with the light, there are cacophonous opposites to the joyous, almost-boisterous sounds of the community of God in the poem. With two exceptions, these evil, disharmonious sounds accrue around Christ’s Second Coming and Day of Judgment. Before, in the series of choices (ll. 152-157) for which he must make proper decisions, man is faced with: dryhten dream swa mid deoflum hream (l. 155)- Hream, with the implication

BcpWopes hring might prove an exception; however, the disciples' lamentations merely result from being separated for a time, from their Lord. In their human frailty, they have forgotten Christ's words at 1. 37ff•: naefre ic from hweorfe, / ac ic lufan symle laeste wi/ eowic. . . . See Notes and Commentary, 1. 98 (wopes hring). 77

of a "cry of anguish," contrasts sharply with the "jubilation"

(hleahtre Rl. 300B] and. "sang" (song T1- 273a]) associated, with the

Godhead; at 11. I82ff., Cynewulf notes God's decree that Christ reverses by means of His Ascension: Ic bee ofer eor/an geworhte on baere bu scealt . . . feondum to hrofor fusleo/ galan. . . . This latter aspect of the edict is cruelly ironic since the "songs of death"

(fusleo/) are sung "as a pleasure" (to hrofor) for the "demons"

(feondum). The phonologically-similar synonym frofor ("solace"), which echoes hrofor, is used at 1. 5®, as Christ tells His disciples that He will abide with them on frofre ("as a refuge"); at 1. 83, the angels identify the ascending Christ upon whom the disciples in frofre geseo/

("behold with joy"); and, at 1. 283ff«, the narration of the first leap of Christ reveals that Christ came into the Virgin, and assumed man's body to frofre . . . eallum eor/warum ("as a solace for all men on earth"). In Cynewulf's apocalyptic vision of Judgment Day, the sinners are dealt with intensely with aural images: bonne Ccen(e)] cwaca/ gehyre/ cyning mae/lan / . . . sprecan rebe word / bam bo him aer in worulde wace hyrdon. The shepherds and disciples hear Christ's orders and the angels' directives concerning their hope for salvation; the sinners hear now only Christ's proclamation of death. The difference, of course, lies in hyrdon "to hear, obey": the sinful are facing the

Judge because they did not; the believers are in eternal glory because they did. At 11. 386b ff., the cries of doomed sinners accumulate into a cacophonous sound that befits the destruction of the earth and the everlasting severing of ties between Christ and the sinful: rodor bi/ onhrered / ond bas miclan gemetu middangeardes / beheofia/ 78 bonne■ . . . beodegsa bi^ / hlud gehyred bi heofonwoman / cwaniendra cirm; cerge reotagf . . . (ll. 386b-388a; 394b-396). This terrifying din intensifies the final apocalyptic vision of the poem: ¿aer bib

Qj^ywed egsa mara / bonne from frumgesceabe gefraegen wurde / aefre on eorgfan (ll. 399-401a).

The tensions that appear in the light-dark, euphony-cacophony images, suggest other, non-imagery, tensions. A number of nouns, verbs, and adverbs, expressing vertical movement exist in the poem: styllan, "to leap" (ll. 306, 308); gestyllan, "to descend, ascend"

(l. 209, 277); ahebban, "to raise, lift up" (ll. 63, 219» 253)» stigan,

"to ascend" (ll. 25, 59, 97, 105, 315); sigan, "to descend, sink"

(l. Ill); gehleapan, "to leap" (l. 278); hlyp, "leap, jump" (ll. 281,

287, 291, 297, 306, 308); upstige, "ascension, ascent" (ll. 176, 216,

272); styll, "leap, jump" (ll. 280, 281, 289); hideryme, "advent, arrival" (l. 148); arisan, "to arise, rise up" (ll. 28); astigan, "to ascend, descend" (ll. 263, 281, 288, 298, 347, 427); forbygan, "to cast, bend down" (l. 292); gestigan, "to ascend, descend" (ll. 75, 191,

240, 310); hebban, "to rise, lift up" (l. 212); up, "upwards" (ll. 25,

75, 89, 97, 105, 191, 207, 212, 254, 315; and uppe, "up, above"

(l. 222). In addition, there are several verbs that while not specifically denoting vertical movement, imply such movement in their contexts: raes , "rush" (l. 288); wendan, "to go, wend" (l. 21l); gebugan, "to bend, bow down" (l. 329); fyllan, "to strike, cut down"

(ll. 47, 270)5 and hreosan, "to fall" (l. 371). All of these words not only effect a sense of vertical movement, but they also suggest the tension that is present among heaven, earth, and hell. The three 79 worlds, metaphorically seen as three separate, parallel planes, are

bridged by a series of ascents and descents made by Christ. The three planes cease to exist and are resolved into one celestial plane by the tumultuous descent, Christ’s Day of Judgment. These descents and ascents signal Christ's struggles to obtain man's loyalty to God, his peace with Him, and man's salvation, by settling the feud between God and man (through His Passion), and by gaining victory over Satan and the forces of evil (through the Harrowing of Hell).

The earth, the plane of existence occupying the middle ground between heaven and hell, and the object of the Psychomachian struggle between Christ and Satan, is the setting for the opening lines of the poem. This earthly setting affords a suitable perspective for the poem's beginning: at 1. 2, the mon se maera , "famous man" (who might be seen as representing mankind) has a "neutral" position from which to contemplate the theological question put to him; in this position, he is able to look heaven-ward and hell-ward "so that as long as every breathing man lives here he may choose" (past nu monna gehwylc / cwic pendan her wunat geceosan mot E H• lplb-152]). From this earthly perspective, the poem shifts heaven-ward as Christ, in making a choice, too, "when He sought out a shelter in Mary, the best of maidens, the celebrated Virgin" (sippan he Marian, masggfa weolman, / maerre meowlan, mundheals geceas . . . Ell. 6-7]), exhibits a commonality with man

(cf. 11. 188-I91a; 215-219; 284b-287a)• His descent to earth is described at 11. 9b ff.: "Christ, the Prince, came into Bethlehem"

(pe se aepeling cwom, / beorn in Betlem)■ For the next 13? lines (to

1. 146), Cynewulf shifts the narrative back and forth among heaven, 80

earth, and hell: in these lines are presented the details of Christ’s

ascent into heaven (ll. 25-28, 52-69a, 88-93, 106b-ll8), His setting

up the priesthood and His Church with the disciples (ll. 19b-24, 29-

51), the angels' pointing out to the disciples what it is the disciples

are observing (ll. 69b-87), their reaction to Christ's ascent (ll. 94-

106a), Christ's defeat of Satan in hell, His deliverance of the Old

Testament saints, and His taking up of these saints to heaven. The

tension among the three planes becomes tentatively resolved at 1.. 142b:

sib sceal gemsene / englum ond seldum / a for/ heonan / wesan wideferh.

Waer is aetsomne / godes ond monna: gaesthalig treow / lufu; lifes

hyht; ond ealles leohte gefea (ll. I42b-l46).

At 1. 147, the events involving the Ascension end, and Cynewulf

embarks on a series of episodes that develop in a less-chronological

and more thematic way than in the first 146 lines Christ's

descending and ascending the three planes to fulfill his mission:

Christ "through His Advent" (burh his hydercyme El- 148a]), has saved mankind so that he must choose good or evil (ll. 152-160); man is given plenty on earth, and must give thanks for this bounty, especially for the salvation "which He gave us as a hope when at His Ascension He revoked suffering for evermore" (pe he us to hyhte forgeaf / /a he pa yrmp/u eft oncyrde / aet Eb~|is upstige . . . Ell. 174b-176a]); God has uttered an awful decree (echoed by Christ Himself at the Day of

Judgment, 11. 357ff-), which Christ has reversed by His descent to earth as man (ll. I88-I93); Job sings about Christ's winging His way as a Bird between heaven and earth (suggesting the dove of the Holy

Spirit) so that He might bring salvation to mankind on earth (ll. 194- 81

219); the gifts granted to man on earth—not only eternal seats with

angels on high, but also intellectual abilities here on earth (ll. 220-

246); the enmity between God and man begins to appear "smoothed over"

through the growing harmony between heaven and earth (¿us god

meahtig . . . craeftum weor^ab / eorban tuddor. Swylce eadgum blaed /

sele#( on swegle, sibbe raereb / ece to ealdre engla ond monna ...

[ll. 247-251]) as the narrative progresses; since Christ, the "Son

of God arose from the earth" (of grundum godbearn astag' [implying the

Resurrection as well as the Ascension]), God's Church (symbolized by

the moon) "shines brightly" (beorhte blice^), and even endures the

persecution of unbelievers (ll. 252b-272); Solomon sings of the "leaps"

of Christ--when He descended into the Virgin, was bora, ascended to the

Cross, descended from the Cross into the tomb, descended into hell to

bind Satan in eternal torment, and when He ascended into heaven (ll. 273

304); man, too, must match Christ's leaps by striving for good works

and ascend himself to his eternal glory with Christ (ll. 305-316); and

man has a comfort in heaven through the Trinity that will send angels

to him on earth to protect him against the wiles of demons (ll. 327-

343a). At 11. 343b ff., Cynewulf describes the Judgment Day which

resolves the struggle of Christ by settling the feud between God and man, and by rewarding man according to the choices he makes like those

in 11. 152-159a, and Cynewulf, in a personal message to his reader,

sees the need for close attentiveness to his soul in preparation for

this last descent of Christ (ll. 3^3^-410). The final Vergilian-like metaphor compares our lives to the sea upon which we travel in ships

(the Church) until we reach the harbor of salvation, "which the Lord 82

of the heavens prepared, for us when He ascended, to heaven" (¿a us

gerymde rodera waldend . . . pe he heofonum astag Ell. 426-42?]).

The poem, which opened on the earthly plane, and asked its reader to

intellectualize the act of Christ's Ascension, closes on the same plane,

and in a quiet, reflective mood, asks its reader to contemplate

intellectually (by means of the metaphors) his life on earth and his

expectation of ascending into eternal life, made possible by Christ's

Ascension.

While it is the motif of vertical descending and ascending that conveys the theme of Christ's struggles to gain mankind's salvation, it is the Ascension (with its early medieval theological significance), always kept by Cynewulf at the forefront of the poem, that gives it coherence. It represents the completion of Christ's ministry on earth and it is the subject toward which every episode in the poem leads.

In Ascension, Cynewulf uses the seminal event in Christ’s mission on earth, and fashions it into an epic-like adventure that deals with no less than the cosmic struggle of Christ to save mankind from eternal damnation. V NOTE ON THE TEXT

Since the guiding principle of this edition is that variant forms should he explained, not destroyed through normalization, the number of emendations made have been kept as small as good textual sense will allow. Those textual emendations made are indicated by footnotes which present the manuscript form followed by the emended form. Names of scholars who have proposed principal emendations, whether adopted or not, follow. The principal emendations have been collated from the editions and articles listed below in the "Abbreviations" (except, of course, for "B-T.Suppl."). Commas separate the same proposed emenda­ tions; semi colons separate different suggested emendations. "MS" refers to the manuscript form as the editor noted in the apparatus read it; when such a reading of the MS is inaccurate, no note is made since a comparison with the correct MS form listed will easily reveal the error. At the risk of appearing inflated, the apparatus includes the unadopted, suggested emendations in order to reveal the nature of the textual analyses that the poem has received during the past one hundred and thirty years.

All suspensions and contractions have been expanded and italicized in the text; in the apparatus, italicized forms indicate letters and words in the text. Additions to the text itself are shown in square brackets.

Punctuation is kept to a minimum except where ambiguity would result. Since the addition of commas, periods, colons, semi-colons, 84

quotation marks, capital letters, and even paragraph indentations,

affects the interpretation of the poem, the text and the translation

have been punctuated similarly insofar as the exigencies of syntax,

grammar and meaning of the Old and Modem English allow. Only proper

names are capitalized; epithets and pronouns referring to Christian

deities are not.

The text is numbered at five-line intervals; numbers given in

brackets refer to the traditional treatment of the poem as the second

part of a three-part trilogy. Folio numeration may be found in the right-hand margin with the folio division being indicated by a double virgule (//).

Along with commentaries on difficult passages, substantive variations, whether demanding emendation or not, are discussed more fully in the "Notes and Commentary," which follows the Text. Expanded forms of works cited in the "Notes and Commentary" will be found in the Bibliography.

All readings of this edition were made from the facsimile of the

Exeter codex, The Exeter Book of Old English Poetry, edited by R.W.

Chambers, Max Förster, and Robin Flower. London: Percy Lund, Humphries and Co., Ltd., 1933*

Abbreviations Used in the Textual Notes and the Notes and Commentary

A. Bruno Assman, ed., Die Handschrift von Exeter, Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie, ed. Richard WUlker. vol. Ill, pt. 1. Leipzig: Georg H. Wigand's Verlag, I898.

B-T.Suppl. Joseph Bosworth, ed., An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, rev. T. Northcote Toller. London: Oxford University Press, 1898; and Supplement, London: Oxford University Press, 1921. 85

Cook A.S. Cook, ed., The Christ of Cynewulf. Boston, 1900; rpt. New York: Archon Books, 1964.

EttmUller Ludwig EttmUller, ed., Engla and Seaxne Scopas and Boceras. Quedlinburg und Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von Gottfried Basse, 1850.

Go. 1 Sir Israel Gollancz, ed., Cynewulf's Christ: An Eighth Century English Epic. London: David Nutt, 1892.

Go. 2______, The Exeter Book, Part II, Early Eng­ lish Text Society, 104, London, 1895; Part II, ed. W.S. Mackie. Early English Text Society, 194. London, 1934-

Klipstein Louis F. Klipstein, ed., Analecta Anglo-Saxonice. 2 vols. New York: G.P. Putnam, 1849.

Kock, JJJ Ernest A. Kock, Jubilee Jaunts and Jottings. Lunds Universitets Arsskrift, N.F. Aud. 1, vol. XIV, no. 26. Lund [Sweden]: C.W.K. Gleerup, 1918.

K-D George P. Krapp and Elliott V.K. Dobbie, eds., The Exeter Book, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, III. New York: Columbia University Press, 1936.

Muinzer Louis A. Muinzer, ed., "The Signed Poems of Cynewulf," Unpub. Diss. Princeton University. Princeton, New Jersey, 1956.

Schipper Jacob Schipper, "Zum Codex Exoniensis," Germania, 19 (1874), 327-338.

Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe, ed., Codex Exoniensis . . . With An English Translation, Notes and Indexes. London: Published for the Society of Antiquaries of London, 1842.

T.BEV Moritz Trautmann, "Berichtigungen, Erklärungen und Vennutungen zu Cynewulfs Werken," Bonner Beiträge zur Anglistik, 23 (1907), 85-146. von der Warth Johann J. von der Warth, Metrisch-sprachliches und Textkritisches zu Cynewulfs Werken. Halle a. S.: Ehrhardt Karras, 1908. TEXT

Nu /u geomlice gaestgerynum, fol. 14a

mon se maera, modcraefte sec

purh sefan snyttro paet pu so/ wite

hu paet geeode pa se aelmihtiga

5 acenned wear/ purh claenne had,

[445] sippan he Marian, maeg/a weolman,

maerre meowlan, mundheals geceas,

past paer in hwitum hraeglum gewerede

englas ne o/eowdun pa se aepeling cwom,

10 heorn in Betlem. Bodan waeron gearwe,

[450] pa purh hleoporcwide hyrdum cy/don

saegdon so/ne gefean paette sunu waere

in middangeard meotudes acenned

in Betleme. Hwaepre in hocum ne ewi/

15 paet hy in hwitum paer hraeglum o/ywden [>55] in pa aepelan tid swa hie eft dydon

/a se brega maera to Bethania, //

peoden prymfaest, his pegna gedryht fol. 14b

gela/ade, leof weorud. Hy paes lareowes

20 on pam wildaege word ne gehyrwdon

C46o] hyra sincgiefan. Sona waeron gearwe

17 brega] a probably altered from o, so query K-D; Th., Klipstein: brego; Cook, Go. 1, Go. 2, A.: brega 87

haele/ mid hlaford to pære halgan byrg

pær him tacna felá tires brytta

onwrah, wuldres helm, wordgerynum

25 aerpon up stige ancenned sunu,

[465] efenece hearn agnum faeder,

pæs ymb feowertig pe he of foldan ær

from dea/e aras dagena rimes.

Hæfde pa gefylled swa ær biforan sungon

30 witgena word geond woruld innan

[4?o] purh his prowinga. pegnas heredon

lufedun leofwendum lifes agend,

feeder frumsceafta. He him faegre paes

leofum gesipum lean aefter geaf

35 ond paet word acwæ/ waldend engla

C475] gefysed, frea mihtig, to faeder rices

"Gefeo/ ge on fer//e! Naefre ic from hweorfe,

ac ic lufan symle laeste wi/ eowic

ond eow meaht giefe ond mid wunige

40 awo to ealdre paet eow æfre ne bi/

C480] purh gife mine godes onsien.

Fara/ nu geond ealne yrmenne grund,

geond widwegas. Weoredum cy/a/,

bodia/ ond brema/ heorhtne geleafan

45 ond fulwia/ fole under roderum,

43 widwegas] wid wegas d almost certainly corrected from /, so note K-D, A ; Th., Klipstein: wide wegas 88

[485] hweorfa¿ to heofonum. Hergas breotab,

fylla¿ ond feoga¿; feondscype dwaesca¿,

sibbe sawa¿ on sefan manna

burh meahte sped. Ic eow mid wunige

50 for¿ on frofre ond eow fri¿e healde

[490] strengjzfu stabolfæstre// on stowa gehware." fol. 15a

Ba wear¿ semninga sweg on lyfte

hlud gehyred. Heof on engla breat,

weorud wlitescyne, wuldres aras,

55 cwomun on cor¿re. Cyning ure gewat

[495] bU2?h bæs temples hrof bær hy to según,

ba >e leofes ba gen last weardedun

on ba111 binSstede, begaas gecorene.

Gesegon hi on heahbu hlaford stigan,

60 godbearn of grundum. Him wæs geomor sefa,

[500] hat aet heortan hyge murnende,

bæs be hi swa leofne leng ne mostun

geseon under swegle. Song ahofun

aras ufancunde, æbeling heredun,

65 lofedun liffruman, leohte gefegun

52 lyfte] lyste Th., Go. 1, Go. 2, A., Cook: lyfte (but without noting emendation) K-D: MS lyste

55 cor¿re] ¿ altered from d. cf. cor¿re, 1. 139

57 weardedun] wearde dum Klipstein: weardedon; Go. 1 Go. 2, A., Cook, K-D: weardedun. cf. heredum, 1. 64

64 heredun] heredum Th.: MS heredum; Klipstein: heredon; Go. 1, Go. 2, A., Cook, K-D: heredun. cf. weardedum, 1. 57 89

E'5O5] pe of paes haciendes heafelan lixte.

Gesegon hy aelbeorhte englas twegen

faegre ymb paet frumbearn fraetwum blican,

cyninga wuldor. Cleopedon of heahpu

70 wordum wraetlicum ofer wera mengu

□io] beorhtan reorde: "Hwaet bida/ ge

Galilesce guman on hwearfte?

Nu ge sweotule geseo/ so/ne dryhten

on swegl faran, sigores agend.

75 Wile up heonan eard gestigan, 1-515] aepelinga ord mid pas engla gedryht,

ealra folca fruma, faeder epelstoll.

We mid pyslice preate willa/

ofer heofona gehlidu hlaford fergan

80 to paere beorhtan byrg mid pas bli/an gedryht,

[520] ealra sigebearna paet seleste// fol. 15b

ond aepeleste, pe ge her on staria/

ond in frofre geseo/ fraetwum bli c an.

Wile eft swa peah eor/an mæg/e

85 sylfa gesecan side herge

C525] ond ponne gedeman daeda gehwylce

para /e gefremedon fole under roderum."

79 gehlidu] d altered from /

80 gedryht] gedryt Th., Go. 1, Go. 2, A.: MS gedryt; Cook, K-D: gedryht 90

Ba wæs wuldres weard wolcnum bifongen,

heahengla cyning, ofer hrofas upp,

90 haligra helm. Hyht wæs geniwad,

C530] blis in burgum, purh pæs beornes cyme.

Gesæt sigehremig on pa swipran hand

ece eadfruma agnum faeder.

Gewitan him pa gongan to Hierusalem

95 hæle/ hygerofe, in pa halgan burg,

[535] geomormode, ponan hy god nyhst

up stigende eagum según,

hyra wilgifan. Pær wæs wopes hring:

torne bitolden wæs seo treowlufu;

100 hat æt heortan hre/er innan weoll

[540] beorn breostsefa Bidon ealle Pær

88 bifongen] bifengun Th.: MS bifengun (but queries bifangen); Go. 1, Go. 2, A.: bifangen; Cook, K-D: bifongen

92 sigehremig] sige hre mig with a letter erased between the second e and the m, so note K-D. The scribe has closed the erasure-gap by extending the bottom stroke of the second £ diagonally across the gap (?)

100 hre/er] hreder so the editors follow Th.'s emendation. Scribal confusion between d// is frequent, cf. widwegas, 1. 43, cor/re, 1. 55, la/um, 1. 407

101 beorn] beorn with an erased letter between b and o and the e added above the erasure, so note Go. 2, A., Cook, K^ (who query whether or not the erased letter is ani); Go. 1: MS born

101 bidon] bidan The editors emend so 91

pegnas prymfulle peodnes gehata

in paere torhtan byrig tyn niht pa gen

swa him sylf bibead swegles agend,

105 aerpon up stige ealles waldend,

[5^5] on heofona gehyld. Hwite cwoman

eorla eadgiefan englas togeanes.

Baet is wel cweden, swa gewritu secga/,

paet him albeorhte englas togeanes

no in pa halgan tid heapum cwoman,

[550] sigan on swegle. Pa waes symbla maest

geworden in wuldre. Wel paet gedafena/

paet to paere blisse beorhte gewerede

in paes peodnes burg pegnas cwoman,

115 weorud wlitescyne. Gesegon wilcuman

on heahsetle heofones waldend,

folca feorhgiefan, fraetwum//ealles waldend fol. l6a

middangeardes ond maegenprymmes.

"Hafa/ nu se halga helle bireafod

120 ealles paes gafoles pe hi geairdagum

[560] in paet orlege unryhte swealg.

Nu sind forcumene ond in cwicsusle

gehynde ond gehaefte, in helle grund

dugupum bidaeled, deofla cempan.

109 aelbeorhte] ael beorhte Th.: ael-beorhte; Go. 1 Go. 2, Klipstein: al-beorhte; A., Cook: aelbeorhte; K-B: albeorhte 92

125 Ne meahtan wiberbrogan wige spowan

C565] waepna wyrpum sibban wuldres cyning,

heofonrices helm, hilde gefremede

wib his ealdfeondum anes meahtum,

bser he of haefte ahlod huba maeste,

130 of feonda byrig folees unrim,

[570] bisne ilcan breat be ge her on stairia¿.

Wile nu gesecan sawla nergend

gaesta giéfstol, godes agen bearn,

aefter gu¿plegan. Nu ge geare cunnon

135 hwaet se hlaford is se bisne here laede¿

[575] nu ge fromlice freondum togeanes

gonga¿ glaedmode. Geatu ontyna¿!

Wile in to eow ealles waldend,

cyning on ceastre, cor¿re ne lytle,

140 fymweorca fruma, folc gelaedan,

[580] in dreama dream, ¿e he on deoflum genom

burh his sylfes sygor. Sib sceal gemaene

englum ond aeldum a for¿ heonan

wesan wideferh. Waer is aetsomne

145 godes ond monna: gaesthalig treow

[585] lufu; lifes hyht; ond ealles leohtes

Hwaet, we nu gehyrdan hu bast haelubeairn

burh his hydercyme hals eft forgeai,

125 Ne meahtan] neahtan 93

gefreode ond gefreopade fole under wolcnum,

150 maere meotudes sunu, paet nu monna gehwylc

[590] cwic // pendan her wunat geceosan mot: fol. 16b

swa helle hienpu swa heofones maerpu;

swa paet leohte leoht swa /a lapan niht;

swa prymmes praece swa pystra wraece;

155 swa mid dryhten dream swa mid deoflum hream;

[595] swa wite mid wrapum swa wuldor mid arum;

swa lif swa dea/ swa him leofre hi/

to gefremmanne penden flaesc ond gaest

wunia/ in worulde Wuldor paes age

l60 prynysse prym, pone butan ende!

[óOO] Baet is pæs wyr/e paette werpeode

secgen dryhtne pone dugu/a gehwylcre

pe us si/ ond ær simle gefremede

purh monigfealdra mægna geryno.

165 He us æt giefe/ ond aehta sped,

[605] welan ofer widlond ond weder lipe

under swegles hleo. Sunne ond mona,

æpelast tungla eallum scina/,

heofoncondelle hælepum on eor/an.

170 Dreose/ deaw ond ren: dugu/e weccap

[610] to feorhnere fira cynne,

ieca/ eor/welan. pæs we ealles sculon

secgan pone ond lof peodne ussum

ônd huru pære hælo pe he us to hyhte forgeaf 94

175 /a he pa yrmp/u eft oncyrde

[-615] aet [h]is upstige pe we aer drugon

ond gepingade peodbuendum

wi/ faeder swaesne faehpa maeste,

cyning anboren. Cwide eft onhwearf

180 saulum to sibbe se pe aer sungen [waes]

[620] purh yrne hyge aeldum to sorge:

"Ic pec ofer eor/an geworhte, on paere pu scealt yrmpum lifgan

wunian in gewinne // ond wraece dreogan, fol. 17a

feondum to hropor fusleo/ galan

185 . ond to paere ilcan scealt eft geweorpan,

[625] wyrmum aweallenj ponam wites fyr

of paere eor/an scealt eft gesecan.

Hwaet, us pis se aepeling y/re gefremede

pa he leomum onfeng ond lichoman

190 monnes magutudre. Sippan meotodes sunu

□30] engla epel up gestigan

wolde, weoroda god, us se willa bicwom

heanum to helpe on pa halgan tid.

Bi pon giedd awraec lob swa he cu/e:

195 herede helm wera, haelend lofede

[635] ond mid siblufan sunu waldendes

176 his] is following Th., the editors emend so. is does not fit the grammatical or semantic context here

178 faehpa] with p corrected from

180 waes] Th., et. al. 95

freonoman cende ond hine fugel nemde

pone Iudeas ongietan ne meahtan.

In /ære godcundan gæstes streng/u

200 wæs pæs fugles flyht feondum on eorpan

[64o] dyrne ond degol pam pe deorc gewit

hæfdon on hrepre, heortan stænne.

Noldan hi pa torhtan tacen oncnawan

pe him heforan fremede freoheam godes,

205 monig mislic, geond middangeard.

[645] Swa se fæla fugel flyges cunnode:

hwilum engla eard up gesohte,

modig meahtum strang, pone maran ham;

hwilum he to eorpan eft gestylde,

210 purh gæstes giefe grundsceat sohte,

[650] wende to worulde. Bi pon se witga song:

"He wæs upp hafen engla fæ/mum

in his pa mielan meahta spede,

heah ond halig ofer heofona prym."

215 Ne meahtan pa pæs fugles flyht gecnawan / / fol. l?b [655] pe pæs ups tiges ondsæc fremedon

ond pæt ne gelyfdon pætte liffruma

I99 streng/u] stren/u with a small g written in at the bottom of the space^between the n and the / 215 flyht] fly^t with the added h probably written in by the Exeter scribe. While Go. 2, K-D record MS correctly, Go. 1, Cook report MS flyt. A. notes MS as "h in flyht darUbergeschrieben" 96

in monnes hiw ofer maegna brym,

halig from hrusan, ahafen wurde.

220 Ba us geweorjzfade se bas world gescop

[66o] godes gaestsunu ond us giefe sealde

uppe mid englum ece stabelas

ond eac monigfealde modes snyttru

seow ond sette ¡ geond sefan monna.

225 Sumum wordlabe iwise sende¿;

[665] on his modes gemynd burh his mubes gaest

ae¿ele ondgi et: se maeg eal fela

singan ond secgan bam bi¿ snyttrucraeft

bifolen on fer¿e. Sum maeg fingrum wel

230 hlude fore haelebum hearpan stirgan,

[670] gleobeam gretan. Sum maeg godcunde

reccan ryhte ae. Sum maeg ryne tungla

secgan, side gesceaft. Sum maeg searolice

wordcwide writan. Sumum wiges sped

235 giefe¿ aet gube bonne gargetrum

[675] ofer scildhreadan sceotend sendajzf

flacor flangeweorc. Sum maeg fromlice

ofer sealtne sae sundwudu drifan,

hr eran holmbraece. Sum maeg heanne beam

240 staelgne gestigan. Sum maeg styled sweord

234 Sumum] Sum U with the added u apparently made by the Exeter copyist. However, A., Schipper attribute it to another hand 97

[680] waepen gewyrcan. Sum con wonga bigong,

wegas widgielle. Swa se waldend us,

godbearn on grundum, his giefe brytta/.

Nyle he aengum anum ealle gesyllan

245 gaestes snyttru, py laes him gielp sceppe

[685] purh his anes craeft ofer opre for/. // fol. 18a

Bus god meahtig geofum unhneawum,

cyning alwihta, craeftum weor/ap

eorpan tuddor. Swylce eadgum blaed

250 sele/ on swegle, sibbe raerep

[690] ece to ealdre engla ond monna:

swa he his weorc weorpa/. Bi pon se witga

paet ahaefen waeren halge gimmas,

haedre heofontungol, healice upp,

255 sunne ond mona. Hwaet sindan pa

[695] gimmas swa scyne buton god sylfa?

He is se so/faesta sunnan leoma,

englum ond eor/warum1 aepele scima.

Ofer middangeard mona lixe/,

260 gaestlic tungol: swa seo godes circe

[7OO] purh gesomninga so/es ond ryhtes

beorhte blice/, swa hit on bocum cwip,

243 brytta/] with / corrected from t, so note Th. and subsequent editors emend so

259 lixe/] lixed Th., et. al. The confusion between //d. is not infrequent, cf. widwegas, 1. 43, hre/er, 1. 100, cor/re, 1. 55 98

sippan of grundum godbearn astag,

cyning claenra gehwaes. Pa seo circe her

265 æfyllendra eahtnysse bad

[705] under hæpenra hyrda gewealdum.

paer ¿a synscea¿an sopes ne giemdon,

gaestes pearfe, ac hi godes tempel

braecan ond baerndon, blodgyte worhtan,

270 feodan ond fyldon. Hwaepre for¿ bicwom

[710] purh gaestes giefe godes pegna blae¿

aefter upstige ecan dryhtnes.

Bi pon Salomon song, sunu Dauipes,

giedda gearosnottor gaestgerynum,

275 waldend werpeoda ond paet word acwae¿:

[715] "Cu¿ paet geweor¿e¿ paette cyning engla,

meotud meahtum swi¿, munt gestylle¿,

gehleape¿ hea dune, hyllas ond cnollas

bewri¿ mid his wuldre, woruld alyse¿,

280 ealle eor¿buend, purh pone æpelam styll." fol. 18b

[720] Waes se forma hlyp pa he on faemnan astag,

maege¿ unmaele, ond paer mennisc hiw

onfeng butan firenum; paet to frofre gewear¿

eallum eor¿warum. Wæs se oper stiell

285 bearn es gebyrda pa he in binne wæs

[725] in cildes hiw clapum bewunden, feodan] with a letter erased between o and d, so note Go. 1, Go. 2, A., Schipper, Cook, K-D 99

ealra prymma prym. Waes se pridda hlyp

rodorcyninges raes pa he on rode astag,

faeder, frofre gaest. Wæs se feor/a stiell

290 in byrgenne pa he! pone beam ofgeaf,

[730] foldaeme faest. Waes se fifta hlyp

pa he h'ellwerena heap forbygde

in cwicsusle, cyning inne gebond,

feonda foresprecan, fymum teagum,

295 gromhydigne, paer he gen lige/

[735] m carceme clommum gefaestnad,

synnum gesaeled. Waes se siexta hlyp,

haliges hyhtplega, pa he to heofonum astag

on his ealdcy//e. pa waes engla preat

3OO on pa halgan tid hleahtre blipe

[740] wynnum geworden. Gesawan wuldres prym,

aepelinga ord, e/les neosan,

beorhtra bolda. pa wear/ burgwarum

eadgum ece gefea aep elinges piega.

305 Pus her on grundum godes ece beam

[.745] ofer heahhleopu hlypum stylde,

modig aefter muntum , swa we men sculon

heortan gehygdum hlypum styllan

of maegne in maegen., maerpum tilgan

310 paet we to pam hyhstan hrofe gestigan

303 burgwarum] burg waru with a u (?) begun instead of a b, and corrected to b by additional strokes 100

Ü750] halgum weorcum pær is hyht ond blis

gepungen pegnweorud. Is us pearf micel

pæt we mid heortan hælo sec en,

pær we mid gæste georne // gelyfa/, fol. 19a

315 pæt pæt hælobeam heonan up stige

mid usse lichoman, lifgende god.

Forpon we a sculon idle lustas,

synwunde forseon, ond pæs sellran gefeon.

Habba/ we us to frofre faeder on roderum

320 aelmeahtigne. He his aras ponan,

[760] halig of heah/u, hider onsende/

pa us gescildap wi/ sceppendra

eglum earhfarum, pi læs unholdan

wunde gewyrcen ponne wrohtbora

325 in folc godes for/ onsende/

[765] of his braegdbogan biterne stræl.

Forpon we faeste sculon wi/ pam faerscyte

symle waerlice wearde healdan,

py laes se attres ord in gebuge,

330 biter bordgelac under banlocan,

318 sellran] sellan Go. 1, Go. 2 record MS sellan; Cook, K-D record MS sellran. A., Schipper note that the added r is by another hand

323 eglum] englum Th.: MS englum, but queries eglum. Succeeding editors emend to eglum; Muinzer suggests engum

327 faerscyte] fae^seyfe with the smallness of the r apparently indicating its being crowded in between the ae and s 101

[770] feonda faersearo. Paet bi/ frecne wund,

blatast benna. Utan us beorgan pa

penden we on eor/an eard weardigen;

utan us to faeder freopa wilnian,

335 biddan beam godes ond pone bli/an gaest

[775] paet he us gescilde wi/ sceapan waepnum,

lapa lygesearwum; se us lif forgeaf,

leomu, lie, ond gaest. Si him lof symle

purh woruld worulda, wuldor on heofnum.

340 Ne pearf him ondraedan deofla straelas

[78O] aenig on eor/an aelda cynnes,

gromra garfaire, gif hine god scildep,

dugu/a dryhten. Is pam dome neah

paet we gelice sceolon leanum hleotan

345 swa we widefeorh weorcum hlodun

E'785] geond sidne grund. Us seega/ bee

hu aet aerestan eadmod astag fol. 19b

in middangeard maegna goldhord,

in faemnan fae/m freobeam godes,

350 halig of heahpu. Huru ic wene me

338 si] se Th.t et. al. Go. 1 records MS s1; Go. 2 notes MS s®; A., Schipper, Cook surmise i by another hand

339 woruld] with o apparently altered from u

344 leanum hleotan] leanüjpleotan with a small h added between the ü and the second 1 102

[790] ond eac ondræde dom /y repran

/onne eft cyme/ engla peoden

pe ic ne heold teala paet me hælend min

on bocum bibead. le pæs brogan sceal

355 geseon synwraece, pæs pe ic so/ talge,

[795] pær monig beo/ on gemot læde/

fore onsyne eces¡ deman.

ponne • cwaca/ gehyre/ cyning mae/lan

rodera ryhtend, sprecan repe word

360 pam pe him ær in worulde wace hyrdon [800] pendan. ond S-■ ypast meahtan frofre findan. Pær sceal forht monig

on pam wongstede werig bidan

hwæt him aefter dædum deman wille

365 wrapra wita. Bip1 se < Y* scæcen

[805] eorpan fraetwa. • P| • wæs longe

• P* flodum bilocen, lifwynna dæl,

* P’’« on foldan. ponne frætwe sculon

byman on bæle; blac rasette/

370 recen reada leg, repe scripe/

[810] geond woruld wide. Wongas hreosa/,

burgstede bersta/. Brond bi/ on tyhte;

æle/ ealdgestreon unmumlice,

gaesta gifrast, pæt geo guman heoldan

351 /y repran] dy repran 103

375 penden him on eorpan onmedla wæs.

[815] Forpon ic leofra gehwone laeran wille

paet he ne agaele gaestes pearfe

ne on gylp geote penden god wille

paet he her in worulde wunian mote,

380 somed sipian sawel in lice,

[820] in pam gaesthofe. Scyle gumena gehwylc

on his geardagum georne bipencan

paet us milde bicwom meahte waldend

aet // aerestan purh pees engles word. fol. 20a

385 Bijif nu eomeste ponne eft cymejzf,

[825] rejZe ond ryhtwis. Rodor bijzf onhrered

ond pas miclan gemetu middangeardes

beheofiaiji ponne. Beorht cyning leana^

paes pe hy on eorpan ear gum daedum

390 lifdon, leahtrum fa. Pass hi longe sculon

[830] ferpfwerige onfon in fyrba^e,

waelmum biwrecene , wraplic ondlean.

Ponne maegna cyning on gemot cymeçzf

prymma maeste, peodegsa bi^

395 hlud gehyred bi heofonwoman

[835] cwaniendra cirm; cerge reota^

391 fyrPajie] £ altered from i, so note A., Schipper, Cook, K-D

392 wraplic] with apparently corrected from 1

396 cwaniendra] cwan’endra 104

fore onsyne eces ¿Leman,

pa pe hyra weorcum wace truwia/.

Bær bip o/ywed egsa mara

400 ponne from frumgesceape gefrægen wurde

[84o] æfre on eor/an. pær bi/ æghwylcum

synwyrcendra on pa snudan tid

leofra miele ponne eall peos laene gesceaft

pær he hine sylfne on pam sigepreate

405 behydan mæge ponne herge fruma,

[845] æpelinga ord,, eallum deme/,

leofum ge la/um, lean æfter ryhte,

peoda gehwylcre. Is us pearf micel

pæt we gæstes wlite ær pam gryrebrogan

410 on pas gæsnan tid georne bipencen.

[850] Nu is pon gelicost swa we on laguflode

ofer cald wæter ceolum li/an

geond sidne sæ, sundhengestum,

flodwudu fergen. Is pæt frecne stream,

415 yy//aa ooffeerrmmæættaa pe we her on laca/

[855] geond pas wacan woruld, windge holmas

ofer deop gelad.. Wæs se drohta/ strong

ærpon we to londe geliden // hæfdon fol. 20b

ofer hreone hrycg. Pa us help biewom

40? la/um] with d altered to /

415 her] h altered from r? 105

420 pæt us to hælo hype gelædde,

[86o] godes gæstsunu, ond us giefe sealde

pæt we oncnawan magun ofer ceoles bord

hwær we sælan sceolon sundhengestas,

ealde y/mearas, ancrum fæste.

425 Utan us to pære hy/e hyht stapelian

[865] /a us gerymde rodera waldend,

halge on heahpu, pa he heofonum astag.

421 gaestsunu] gaestsunu with the t reduced in size added between the s’s lÌQ

NOTES AND COMMENTARY

?ff Cynewulf takes the theological question concerning the garb of

the angels in attendance at Christ's Nativity and Ascension from

Gregory's twenty-ninth Homily on the Gospels, and the poem opens with

the following passage from Gregory: Hoc autem . . . apparuisse.

Cynewulf turns the rather stiff nobis quaerendum of Gregory into the more personal mon se maera, a seeming conventionalized opening simi­

lar to the "Gentle Reader. ..." It is unlikely, therefore, that mon se maera refers to a specific personage. Typical, however, of the questions raised concerning the unknown mon se maera is Charles W.

Kennedy's (The Earliest English Poetry, p. 224) query:

If only we had. information by which to identify the 'illustrious man' for whom this question [regarding the angels being clothed in white] is posed, what a flood of light might well be thrown upon the circum­ stances of Cynewulf's life'. Was his unknown friend Mercian or Northumbrian, layman or cleric, noble patron or youthful protege? We do not know—that he could have been a high church dignitary, or distin­ guished scholar, seems unlikely, since the question he is asked to ponder should present little difficulty to one trained in Scriptural exegesis. Beyond that we have no hint.

If the whole Exeter Book was collected for the religious and moral edification of a great man (of which the reference to mon se maera is an indication), his identity is likely to remain forever unknown, since the opening of the codex, which might have contained a formal dedication to him, is damaged. It is perhaps fallacious to reason, as Kennedy does, that the "famous man" was from a clerical background, 107

since it is likely that the mon se maera is a rhetorical address.

See pp. 3^-38 for a brief discussion of the poem's sources. For a

more complete account of sources, see S.K. Das, Cynewulf and the Cyne­

wulf Canon (Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1942), pp. 198ff.,

Marguerite M. DuBois, Les Elements latins dans la poesie religieuse

de Cynewulf (Paris: Librairie E. Droz, 1943), A.S. Cook, ed. The

Christ of Cynewulf (Boston, 1900; rpt. New York: Archon Books, 1964),

pp. 115ff, and Claes Schaar, Critical Studies in the Cynewulf Group

(Lund and Copenhagen, 1949; rpt. New York: Haskell House, 1967)-

4l onsien. Translate as "lack" or "want" not "face" or "countenance."

Th. misinterprets onsien as being the latter, and hence makes no sense

of the passage: "Here two or more lines are obviously wanting."

46 heofonum■ Strunk, MLN, 17, 371-72, T. BEV, p. 87, and K-D un­

necessarily emend to haepnum. Th., Go. 1, Go. 2, A., Cook retain MS

heofonum, as does the present edition. Strunk assumes hweorfa/ to be

intransitive (cf. naefre ic from hweorfe, 1. 37), thus hweorfa/ to heofonum "go to heaven," to have no sense. He proposes, therefore,

emending heofonum to hae/num ("[both words] are sufficiently alike in sound for the one to have been substituted for the other in a manu­ script copied from dictation") and placing a semi colon at the end of the preceding line, a comma after hse/num (thus making hweorfan transitive), and reading hweorfa/ to haepnum "go to the heathen."

B-T.Suppl., noting that hweorfan is transitive in the passage, trans­ late fulwia/ folc hweorfa/ to heofonum as "baptize people and turn them to heaven." 108

52 lyfte. Muinzer incorrectly notes MS error as resulting from the

scribe's not cross-stroking the insular f, hence leaving an insular

£• The facs. shows that the st combination here conforms to scribal

practice in making the st elsewhere in the codex. The error rests

not with the Exeter scribe's forming the letters, but with his mis­

copying, or his copying correctly a form that was incorrect in his

copy-text. Thus, it is possible that lyste was written for lyfte

sometime between the composition of the poem and the copying of the

Exeter MS. Since the attested meanings (incl. "skill, art, fringe,

border") have no sense in the context (Ba wear/ semninga sweg on

lyste / hlud gehyred), lyfte is followed as the reading here. For an

example of the confusion between lyste and lyfte (in particular,

between st and ft) in ME, see Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed.

J.R.R. Tolkien and E.V. Gordon, 2nd ed. rev. by Norman Davis. London:

Oxford University Press, 196?, pp. 122-23, H* 1878.

56 purh pæs temples hrof. James Bright, MLN, 13 (1898), 27, first

suggested that this unusual expression, and the one at 1. 89, ofer

hrofas upp, might refer to the actual conditions as they existed in

the Holy Land at the time they were described and the description

brought to England. Thus, the following is a seventh-century descrip­

tion of the monument built in the fourth century around the rock where it was believed Christ had left the imprint of his feet as He ascended into heaven:

'On the very top of the hill [the Mount of Olives], where our Lord ascended into heaven, stands a lofty circular church, with three roofed-in porches on the outside. The interior of the building could not be 109

roofed and vaulted because our Lord’s body passed upwards, but it has an altar on the east side, protected by a narrow canopy. In the centre of the Church, where our Lord ascended, can be seen His last footprints, exposed to the sky above. And though the earth is daily removed by the faithful, it remains undiminished and still retains these marks resembling footprints [cf. 11. 5?b-58a: last weardedun / on pam pingstede]■'

This passage from Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica (translated by Leo

Sherley-Price as A History of the English Church and People [Balti­ more: Penguin, 1965], p. 297), Book V, chapter 17, is quoted by Bede from Abbot Adamnan, the ninth Abbot of the monks on the Isle of Iona

(A.D. 679-704), who wrote a book about the Holy Places from a dictation given him by Arculf, a bishop from Gaul, who had visited the Holy Land. This account of the Ascension is also found in De

Locis Sanctis, which is attributed to Bede. The theory—that Cynewulf had read Adamnan's account of the Holy Place—is strengthened by noting from Bede’s account Adamnan’s presentation of his book to King

Aldfrid, King of Northumbria, at the end of the seventh-century:

"[Adamnan] compiles a work of great value to many people, especially those who live at a great distance from the places where the patriarchs and Apostles lived, and whose only source of information about them comes from books. Adamnan presented this book to King Aldfrid, and through his generosity it was circulated for lesser folk to read"

(V, 15, Sherley-Price, p. 295)- Bede’s remarks about the apparent wide circulation of Arculf*s account of the Holy Land makes it probable that Cynewulf had read about the Ascension Church and followed this description in writing 11. 56b-58. Ofer hrofas upp seems to refer to the cities over which Christ ascended; the student of medieval no

literature is, of course, familiar with the practice of painters

depicting Biblical scenes in medieval cities, cf. also: Hyht wæs

geniwad,/ blis in burgum purh pas beornes cyme (ll. 90b-9l). In

describing the Ascension of Christ, Cynewulf frequently concentrates

on the relationship between man on earth and Christ and His Host above (see Introduction, pp. 78-80), and this relationship is made more real by localizing the place from which Christ ascended. Inter­ estingly, the above-mentioned Church of the Ascension might have served as a model for the Islamic Dome of the Rock (built in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah by Caliph Abd-al-Malik in A.D. 691) which surrounds the traditional spot where Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice, and the rock from which Mohammed was believed (in suc­ ceeding years after the construction of the shrine) to have made his miraculous ascent into heaven.

80 Since the omission of the h (the sound W) in gedryt does not signal a simple allophonic variant such as ae-/a - beorhte (l. 67 and

1. 109), a sight error rather than a phonetic confusion might have taken place here.

88 Go.l calls MS bifengun a "scribal error for bifangen, due proba­ bly to the Northern bifen of the .archetype." Perhaps the word has suffered in transmission since the error involves a confusion between the past participle and preterite plural forms, and more than scribal irregularity seems likely here; cf. MS segun, 1. 97•

98 wopes hring. This much-discussed phrase, which also appears in Ill

Andreas, 1. 1278, Elene, 1. 1131, and Guthlac, 1. 1339, is rendered hy Cook, pp. 126-127, as a "circling fountain of tears" (but also who queries "pearls upon a string"); Kock, JJJ, p. 5, as the "globe of wailing"; Klaeber (review of Cook, The Christ of Cynewulf), JEGP,

4, p. 109, as the "sound of lamentation, i.e. loud lamentation";

T.BEV, pp. 87-89, would emend to wopes bring, "die gäbe des -Weinens, was das weinen bringt, die träne (p. 89)-" The apparent difficulty with wopes hring comes in whether hring means "ring = circle" or

"ring = sound." This same double meaning exists, of course, in

Modern English ring. There is a strong possibility that the double meaning is intentional, and that Cynewulf here reveals a sensitivity to the linguistic richness that is yielded through ambiguity. For the reason that this ambiguity is taken as intentional, hring is trans­ lated as "ring" in this edition. The colon after 1. 99b (pæt wæs wopes hring) provides a setting in which all material following the colon (ll. 99-101a) elaborates and expands what the wopes hring is.

Unlike K-D, the present edition does not take tome bitolden as being parallel with wopes hring, but rather 1. 99 (torne bitolden wæs seo treolufu) is considered to be parallel to hre/er in 1. 100.

100 hreder, adj., "quick, swift, sudden," seems unlikely in the context here; therefore, hre/er is proposed as the reading.

101 beorn■ The added e, decidedly unlike the usual e of the Exeter scribe, is noted by A., Schipper, as probably having been added by another hand. 112

101 bidon. Whether the Exeter scribe has added, the o is not readily apparent since the insular £ lacks the distinctive features of the added e in beorn (l. 101, above); A. notes the added o "wohl von derselben hand geschrieben"; Schipper finds the o_ added likely by the same corrector of beorn■

109 Schipper takes the added a over ae in aelbeorhte as having been added by the same corrector of bidon, 1. 101. Since the corrected a does not have the same characteristics as the other insular a’s in the

MS, and since there is a precedence of aelbeorhte with ae- occurring at 1. 67, MS. ae - has been retained.

Ill on. Cook emends to of, an unnecessary emendation. "Angels descending in the sky" makes as much sense as the emended "Angels descending from the sky."

117b-l46 This passage, the most controversial in the poem, is seen by some scholars as having an unusual progression of ideas. Preceding these lines, Cynewulf describes the gathering of the disciples on

Mount Olivet, the appearance of the white-garbed angelic host, and the Ascension itself at 1. 55b. In accordance with Scripture, two angels remain to explain the act to the Galilean men; this explanation

(ll. 78-87) is an amplification of Acts 1; 11. At line 88, Cynewulf turns again to the narrative and gives the account of the disciples* return to Jerusalem and Christ’s triumphant entry into heaven. At this point, the reader might expect the narrative concerning the

Ascension to cease and Cynewulf to begin another subject. However, 113

at 1. 119, and. continuing until 1. 146, occurs the difficult passage:

the angels explain for the second time the Ascension to the disciples,

this time with an added reference to the Harrowing of Hell and the

implication that Christ is ascending with the souls He has just

rescued from hell. In other words, if 11. 71b-87, and 11. 119-146

consist of the two angels’ speeches, addressed to the disciples who

stand gazing after the risen Christ, why are these speeches separated

by a sequence of events (ll. 88-118) that occur after the two speeches?

Cook, p. 131, and Kennedy, The Earliest English Poetry, p. 225,

question whether 11. 119-146 should not be placed immediately after

1. 87, although Cook observes "that strict chronological order is

hardly to be expected in lyrico-dramatic writing" (p. 13l). Also

arguing for such a continuation is Adeline Jenney ("A Note on Cyne­

wulf’s Christ," MLN, 31, 91-93), who points out that these "displaced"

lines may have been transposed for artistic purposes. She- cites the

Frankfurter Dirigierolle, a manuscript of stage directions and

incipits of speeches from a fourteenth-century Passion play, in which prior to the scene of the Crucifixion, the patriarchs and prophets, newly-released from hell, are summoned (in pantomime) by Christ who leads them to the place from which He is to rise to heaven. Although this explanation may have some merit, it does seem unadvisable to search out explanations for the sequence in a fourteenth-century

Germano-Latin play. Another approach to 11. 119-146 is taken by

Adolf Ebert in Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters im Abendldnde, vol. 3 (Leipzig: F.C.W. Vogel, I887), P- 47. There,

Ebert argues that these lines are a hymn of praise sung by the angelic 114

host in welcoming Christ, the conqueror of hell. Karl Jost ("Crist

558-585 [ll. 119-146]," English Studies, 2?, 175-179) finds a flaw

in both these theories. If, for example, 11. 71b-87 and 11. 119-

146 consist of one speech addressed to the awestruck disciples by

the angels, the interruption by the story of the disciples’ return

to Jerusalem and "the discussion of a theological problem [ll. 88-

118] is as pointless as it is confusing" (p. 175)• Even if these

lines are displaced, the question of the identity of the friends the disciples are to meet (see 11. 136-137a) is not, according to Jost, resolved, and moreover Jost finds it strange that the angels who remain behind with the disciples should speak the well-known pandite portas (l. 137b) rather than the angelic host who escort the ascending

Christ to the gates of heaven. Jost also finds Ebert’s hymn-of-praise theory unsatisfactory in that several introductory lines to explain the new situation are needed. Jost assumes a different tack in ex­ plaining the relationship of these lines to their context. Accepting

Trautmann's suggestion in T.BEV, pp. 89-90, that a leaf is missing between fraetwum (l. 117), the last word on folio 15b, and ealles waldend, the first words on folio l6a, Jost attempts to reconstruct the lost material by consulting Bede's hymn on the Ascension (reprinted by Cook, The Christ of Cynewulf, pp. 116-118), a secondary source used by Cynewulf in the Ascension. On the basis of Bede's hymn, Jost concludes that 11. 119-146 do not constitue the angels' Mount Olive speech to the disciples, nor do they consist of a hymn of praise sung in heaven by the angelic host after the Ascension. Instead, they are a "fragment of a dialogue between a herald-angel outside the gates of 115

Heaven and a spokesman of the angels inside, of which the first part, owing to a leaf missing from the manuscript, has . . . been lost"

(p. 179)* Thus, after Cynewulf gives the account of the disciples' return to Jerusalem (ll. 94-106a), and gives a solution to the theo­ logical problem of the white garb of the angels (ll. 106b-ll8), Jost surmises that Cynewulf returns again to the angels on Mount Olivet who have explained the Ascension to the disciples. After their mission, they join the angelic host and Old Testament prophets and patriarchs who are ascending upward. Reaching the heavenly gates, an angel demands that the gates be open for the King of Glory. An­ other angel from within challenges the command by asking who this

King of Glory is, since Christ has remained in heaven, and whose glory is being rejoiced. The reply comes that this man is a mighty and strong Lord. It is at this point, that Jost maintains that 1. 117 begins "The Ruler of all," etc. John C. Pope in "The Lacuna in the

Text of Cynewulf’s Ascension (Christ II, 556b [ll7b])," Studies in

Language, Literature, and Culture of the Middle Ages and Later, ed.

E. Bagby Atwood and Archibald A. Hill (Austin: University of Texas,

1969), PP- 210-219, turns to paleographic evidence to support Jost’s claim that a leaf is missing between folios 15b and l6a in the Exeter

Book. Pope suggests the possibility that the second gathering

(folios 15-2l) has lost a half-sheet between folios 15 and 16, and cites the frequency of eight leaves in the gatherings of the Exeter

Book and in other MSS of the period to support his argument. However,

K-D, p. xii, state that gathering [ll] in the codex does not appear to have had more than the present number of seven folio leaves. 116

The attempt to find, solutions for apparent illogicalities in

11. 117h-l46 is actually an attempt to fit an early Medieval progres­

sion of ideas into a twentieth-century mode. To modern sensibilities,

sequential progress in space and time is a matter of course, but to an early Medieval poet like Cynewulf, the essence of Christ's ministry, and the role of this ministry in effecting man's salvation, transcended any consideration of spatial or temporal sequence. It was vitally important for the poet to accumulate details that would drive home the crucial significance of the Ascension; thus, through repetition, Cyne­ wulf intensifies the event and is able to extend this act beyond the limits of natural, earthly phenomena. Indeed, had Cynewulf described the Ascension in a twentieth-century mode, the event would have been in danger of assuming no greater significance than an automobile accident. An automobile accident is logical because automobiles move according to natural laws in time and place. The Ascension, as well as other Christological events, on the other hand, is supernatural and demands a method of description that is not bound by logical, natural laws. This is not to say, of course, that Cynewulf did not make conscious artistic choices in describing Christ's ascent into heaven; he was primarily concerned in presenting the marvellous act of Christ's Ascension, and related it in the manner he knew would emphasize its marvel.

The sudden appearance of the Harrowing of Hell episode at 1. 119, should also not be construed as part of an unorderly sequence of events. For reasons not entirely clear, Cynewulf emphasizes the

Harrowing of Hell (and, of course, the Ascension) here and at 11. 291b- 117

297a (the fifth of the seven leaps of Christ), and. refers to the

Crucifixion and. Resurrection only in passing (ll. 2?b-28, 29~31a, 177-

179a, 287b-291a). The Harrowing of Hell episode may be seen as a

confrontation between Christ, the Germanic warrior, and Satan, the

supernatural monster of the underworld, who has caused man to shift

his loyalties from the Godhead to himself. The possibility for

interpreting this episode as a heroic struggle, not unlike Beowulf’s

fight with Grendel, does not seem to escape Cynewulf as 11. 119-146

testify. Moreover, the eighth-century Anglo-Saxon view of the atone­

ment was radically different from that of the later High Middle Ages

in that Christ's humanity was stressed over his divinity, and Christ-

on-earth was seen as the epiphany of God. The Arian heresy did much

to identify mankind with Christ and even in the eighth century,

Arianism had not yielded to orthodoxy, which in time tended to cause

the humanity of Christ to become diminished. Furthermore, as such

Old English writings as the Blickling Homilies and sermons of Bishop

Wulfstan testify, the Second Coming and Last Judgment were thought to

be near, and the topic of the Harrowing of Hell seems to have suited

better the Apocalyptic vision with its vengeful God than such themes as the Resurrection or the Crucifixion. In short, the theological conditions of the time produced an active, vigorous Christ, who was portrayed as the champion of mankind conquering Satan, the counter-

Paraclete, and battling for man's loyalty, rather than as the meek, suffering lamb of the thirteenth Or fourteenth centuries.

Moreover, if 11. 119-146 are not entirely "orderly," one must keep in mind that the doctrine concerning Purgatory, the Harrowing of 118

Hell, and. the raising of the patriarchs with Christ at the Ascension, were not clear and definitive in the eighth and ninth centuries. Al­ though the early Church Fathers affirmed the existence of purgatory, and Christ’s deliverance of the Old Testament saints after His descent into hell, it was not until the later Middle Ages, and even until modern times, that these concepts were codified. Thus, Cynewulf’s description itself may be somewhat vague and "disorderly" because these doctrines were still in a state of flux and Anglo-Saxon theolo­ gians were not in agreement about them (see New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 ["Purgatory"], pp. 1034-1039 [esp. p. 1035], and vol. 4

["Descent of Christ into Hell"], pp. 789-793 [esp. p. 789])« With this in mind, the troublesome passage (ll. 117b-l46) can be examined.

After the angels have delivered their message to the disciples, there is a curious shift in the narrative. At 1. 136, the angels (those with the disciples, or those accompanying Christ and the newly-freed prophets ?) say: Nu ge fromlice freondum togeanes / gonga^ glaedmode

(ll. 136-137b). Then the command is heard: Geatu ontynagf'. / Wile in to eow ealles waldend . . . (ll. 137b-138). If the angels speaking these words have been with the disciples, how could they shout up to the heavenly gates? Does perhaps fromlice refer to the redeemed prophets? If this is so, then why is there a shift in the narrative from the disciples to the prophets between 11. 135 and- 136? As mentioned before, Cynewulf would have been concerned with the crucial episodes that brought about man’s salvation rather than the sequential order of events within these episodes. Several clues that have been overlooked by previous scholars might provide a solution to these 119 questions. Unlike the account in Acts 1;10-11, which states ex­ plicitly that two men in white apparel stand hy the disciples and ask them why they gaze up into heaven, Cynewulf's poem as explicitly states that two angels "shining" (aelheorhte [connoting whiteness in

Old English]) "by the first-born" (ymb bset f rum beam [ll. 67-68]) call out "from on high" (of heahfru [l. 69]): Hwaet bida/ ge, /

Galilesce guman on hweorfte?" (ll. 71b-72). In other words, the messenger-angels have remained on high and have not come to earth at all. Moreover, at 1. 101b ff., the disciples return to Jerusalem where they wait for ten days the promise of Christ, as He has commanded them to do. It is in 11. 119-146, the "difficult" passage, that the promise given to the disciples by the angels on high is found:

Christ has harrowed hell, and hats turned man’s loyalty from Satan to the Godhead. Reinforcing the new "world" order is His deliverance from Satan of those people who rightfully belonged in heaven: Hafa/ nu se halga helle bireafod / ealles baes gafoles be hi geardagum / in baet orlege unryhte swealg (119-121). Finally, for man (for whom the disciples may be seen as surrogate figures) in this new order, there is the promise of peace and a covenant with God, a pledge of lufu, lifes hyht, ond ealles leohtes gefea (l. 146). It is this promise that Cynewulf concerns himself with, not with a modern con­ ception of a logical progression of ideas.

125 Ne meahtan. Go. 1, Go. 2, Cook, K-D, note MS: ne, me ahtan.

The (,) is not to be seen in the facs. A., Schipper, and Cook concur that me has been written by another hand. 120

125 wiperbrogah. Cook emends to wiperbreocan, and T.BEV suggests

either wiper-breocan or -brecan; both emendations are unnecessary.

151 wunat. Th., A., Cook, K-D emend to wuna/. Go. 1, Go. 2 retain

MS reading. Wunat is attested to by an eighth-century Latin-OE

vocabulary list in which Latin immovatur is glossed as OE wunat

(Thomas Wright, Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies, edited and

collated by R.P. Wtllcker, 2nd ed. [l884; rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaft-

liche Buchgesellschaft, 1968], I, 28, 2l). Scribal errors between

insular t and / are much rarer than between / and d; thus, the form

wunat can hardly be said to stem from a copyist’s error. However,

there is a MS example of a t corrected to /; see brytta/ at 1. 243,

below. Both brytta/ and wunat are third person singular indicative

forms.

153 leohte. Strunk, MLN, 17, 371-373, proposes emending MS leohte

to leofe, since the word appears in a series of "synonymous alterna­

tives" (ll. 152-157), which in four lines (the first, third, fourth,

and fifth) contain each two pairs of contrasting words (helle hienpu—

heofones masrpu, etc.). Only in 1. 153 Is there an "anomaly": leohte

leoht—lapan niht. If, as Strunk says, leofe is taken for leohte,

"uniformity and sense" are restored and hence "beloved light" can be

contrasted with "loathsome night." The emendation is unnecessary

since Cynewulf clearly wishes for intensification by near-repetition: man has the choice of accepting Christ and His "bright day" or Satan and his "loathsome night"; thus, the emendation does nothing to heighten the contrast between the choices. 121

154 frystra. Th. 1, Go. 1, Go. 2 misread. MS as brystra.

l?0 dreoseçi. Muinzer emends to dreosagf, noting that the verb

has a plural subject, deaw ond ren, that the plural verbs weecap

(l. 170), and iecagi (l. 172), are parallel to dreosegf, and have deaw

ond ren as the common subject. This emendation seems unnecessary,

however, if dreosegf is taken as the verb for deaw and the understood

verb for ren, hence: dreose^ deaw ond (dreose^) ren, "Dew falls and

rain (falls)." Cook, too, notes "the change of number in the verbs,"

yet the change seems to be a purposeful ellipsis.

176 his. For the emendation of is to his, K-D find that "the

evidence for the existence of double forms in Anglo-Saxon, with and

without initial h, as in later English is very slight."

180 wæs. Not in the MS, but proposed by Thorpe and followed by

subsequent editors. Go. 1, Go. 2 hold that the scribe simply omitted the word, posing a most likely solution to the difficult line. That wæs is needed is indicated by the past participial form of sungen, cf. other instances of wæs + past participle: 11. 88, 98, 111,

212, 285, 366.

182 ofer. Cook unnecessarily emends to of; T.BEV and von der Warth also suggest of. Since ofer can have the sense of "upon, on, through­ out" or "among" (B-T.Suppl.), ofer may be retained and the line rendered thus: "I made you upon the earth, you will live on it in wretchedness." 122

199 streng/u. Since the top cross-stroke of the added g touches

the bottom of n and /, K-D are somewhat inaccurate in describing g

as being crowded in after n.

205 mislic■ Cook, K-D emend to mislicu, Th., A., Go. 1, Go. 2

retain MS mislic■ T.BEV queries missenlic and monig on mislic, thus

emending the half-line. The MS reading is retained here.

208 maran. Cook unnecessarily emends to maeran.

234 Sumum. Although the second stroke of the added u rises higher

than the first, giving the appearance of being added by a later hand,

its extremely small size makes any definite statement about its provenance difficult.

239a-240a Sum maeg heanne beam staelgne gestigan. This line is contained in the "Gifts of God" passage (ll. 225-243), where Cynewulf enumerates the various abilities with which God has endowed mankind: as orator (a minstrel?), scribe, theologian, astronomer, author

(scop), warrior, tree-climber, weapons-maker, guide (wayfarer). The line has come in for much critical discussion and interpretation during the past fifty years. Out of this discussion have come two questions concerning this line: is one to assume that the line means

"some can climb the high, steep tree"?; and is tree-climbing a too- insignificant and undignified task in comparison with the other gifts mentioned in the passage? Gordon H. Gerould, MLN, 31» 403-404, proposes to emend gestigan to gestiepan, "raise" or "erect" (citing

Exodus, 1. 297, and Beowulf, 1. 2393)« This emendation would account 123 for the odd. position of staelgrie, which is, according to Gerould,

out of harmony as an attributive modifier of beam, and which is not really parallel in meaning to heanne; it would, moreover, change the meaning of the line to "one the high tree can raise aloft," i.e. carpentry, which seems more fitting as a gift sent from God than athletic prowess. However, Gerould withdraws his suggested emendation in JEGP, 28, I6I-I65, where he cites several dozen examples in which the proclitic ge- has a causative as well as perfective force. He proposes, therefore, that gestigan may mean "cause to rise," "raise aloft," or "advance" and reiterates his claim that carpentry is meant in the passage and not athletics (as Cook proposes in his edition, p. 137)- Gerould objects to C.W. Kennedy's interpretation (The Poems of Cynewulf, p. 173) of the line as "one ascendeth upon the steep, high Cross," because it would limit the reference to Christ's Passion..

F. Klaeber, Anglia, 4, 225-234, would reinstate gestigan as being perfective, and suggests that "skill in gymnastic entertainments" was no mean accomplishment-, and that we should "derive a certain satisfaction from finding an unexpected allusion to Anglo-Saxon frivolities." Like Klaeber, Edwin J. Howard, JEGP, 30» 152-154, retains gestigan and the notion of tree-climbing, although Howard

(supported by B.J. Whiting, JEGP, 31» 256-257) argues that the climbing mentioned was quite serious and possibly referred to men climbing trees to capture eyasses, young hawks taken from their nests for training for the popular Anglo-Saxon sport of falconry, or referred to soldiers who climbed trees as lookouts (cf. Beowulf, 11. 229-232; 240-243; 251-

254; 293-296; 1914-1916). Herbert Meritt, American Journal of Philol­ 124 ogy, 66, 1-12, taking 11. 239a-240a, as meaning "some can climb the high, steep tree," believes the lines refer to the climbing of oak trees to beat down acorns as mast for swine, an activity no less important in Anglo-Saxon England than sword-making, ship-navigating, etc. There is nothing to suggest in the whole passage that these attributes of men are to be taken as either dignified or undignified, a choice that most commentators assume must be made to make sense of the passage. Rather than describing the passage in terms of the un­ dignified or dignified status of these occupations, it would seem more useful to point out that they represent the kinds of jobs people did during the Anglo-Saxon period in England. It may be true that most of the occupations listed are those that were held by a small segment of the populace; for example, Cynewulf makes no mention of farmers, shoemakers, fishermen, soapmakers, beadles, etc. However, the ten occupations mentioned exist as a microcosm of the actual jobs that people did: half of the ten demand intellectual activity, which might be seen as appealing to a clerical mind—orator, theologian, astronomer, author, and guide; the other half require some sort of physical skill—scribe, warrior, sailor, tree-climber, and weapons- maker. At least one connotes a craftsman’s trade—the weapon’s maker; one, the use of pure intellect—the theologian; one combines the skill of the mind and of the hands—the scribe; and so on. Thus, whether the tree-climber is meant to be taken as a watchman, or one who takes eyasses from nests for purposes of hawking, or one who shakes oaks to bring down acorns for swine to eat is not to be easily discovered and probably is not significant; indeed all or several of 125 these interpretations might be accurate. What is important is that the tree-climber symbolizes a segment of Anglo-Saxon society that lives by its physical prowess, a skill that has been granted by God.

243 brytta/. The corrector of the final letter apparently altered t to form a d. and then added a stroke to signify an /; this stroke may have been the upstroke from the original t.

2?1 blse/. Most editors emend to blaed, although there is evidence for considering bl^/ a variant form for blaed. See, for example, ..The

Seafarer, 1. 79• Although scribal error can often account for the confusion between d / /, the occurrence of two examples of the same form in the codex would seem to justify the existence of the variant form. B-T.Suppl. also cite an instance of blae/ (in Leechdoms,

Wortcunning and Starcraft of the Anglo-Saxons, ed. 0. Cockayne, vol. 3,

274, 20. [London: Roll Series, 1864-66]).

318 sellran. The added r does not seem to exhibit any features common with the insular r form in the MS. Retaining MS sellan would be of little advantage here, since sellan does not fit the grammatical or semantic context.

323 eglum. Clearly, englum neither fits the grammatical or semantic context. The form needed is an adjective modifying earhfarum; MS englum, as a noun, does not fit with earhfarum■ Furthermore, it is unlikely that the poet would say that God sends his angels to shield us against angels; and since all seventeen occurrences of engel in the poem refer to heavenly angels, englum would not, in all likelihood, be 126 used with the sense of a hellish or evil angel. Since the word

"angel" occurs frequently in the poem, it is possible that the scribe unconsciously copied englum rather than eglum as he read from his text.

329 se attres ord. J.M. Hart, MLN, 17, 461-463, proposes attres orogf, "poisoned breath," but from the context (provided from such words as earhfarum, biteme strael, and faerscyte ) it is evident that an arrow or dart is meant. Von der Warth, p. 52, reads be rather than se.

333 weardigen. K-D emend to weardien since a subscript dot used for indicating a deleted letter is found below the g. All other editors read MS weardigen. Emending the word, however, destroys an interesting phonetic feature. Presumably, g was a velar consonant in OE, but later became palatalized when occurring between OE front vowels.

Perhaps the person cancelling the g (in the early ME period?) through expunction no longer spoke nor heard the velar sound in weardigen and thought the word to be in error, cf. werig, weary; Frigedaeg,

Friday. An inexact modem parallel would be writing "nite" for "night."

338 si. Whether the i is added by the Exeter scribe or by a later hand is difficult to determine since it is so small; however, it does not exhibit the distinguishing features associated with the other insular i's in the MS.

339 woruld. Evidently, the first stroke of an u was made, the error discovered, and an additional stroke made to finish the letter as an o. See bUrgwarum, 1. 3^3 above, where the scribe has made the same 127 kind of error between u/b.

5^ hleotan■ The similarity between the added h and the other insular h's in the MS points to a scribal correction. Go. 1, A.,

Schipper, Cook maintain, however, that another (Go. 1: "later") hand made the correction; Go. 2 more cautiously holds that the h was

"evidently added later."

351 /y rebran. An apparent scribal confusion of d//; see widwegas,

1. 43, cor/re, 1. 55, gehliden, 1. 79* Most editors emend to /y rebran; Ettmtlller emends to j?y re/ran. That d is not likely meant, and the / is probably correct, is revealed by the perfect sense that a modem literal rendering of 11. 350b-352 makes: "Truly, I expect and also dread doom, the sterner when again comes the chief of angels"; cf. Mod.Eng. "none-the-wiser," "more-the-merrier."

356 laeda/. Th., Go. 1, Go. 2, A., Ettmtlller, Cook, K-D emend to laeded. The grammatical context demands a past participle here since laeda/ is a transitive verb with no object, and since laeda/ has as an auxiliary the verb beo/; this apparently incorrect form might be of the same type as Dreose/ deaw ond ren (l. 170) in that a strict grammaticality might not have been desired. For example, perhaps the idea that the sinners lead themselves to the Last Judgment is meant.

388 beheofia/. Th., Go. 1, Go. 2, A., Ettmtlller retain MS beheofia/, while Cook and K-D emend to beofia/. Go. 1 cites Heora maedenu ne syrit beheofode from the Lambeth Psalter, 77, 63. Muinzer suggests that the emendation to beofia/ "improves the sense"; it is difficult 128 to see how the sense is improved, when we realize that Christ’s

"wrathful, severe" Second. Coming causes the guilty ones (Cynewulf's subject in this passage) to lament and. wail (beheofian) as well as tremble and. quake (beofian) ■ In 11. 376 to 410, Cynewulf is concerned, that his loved, ones "not neglect their soul’s welfare" (ne agaele gæstes foearfe [l. 377]), and. to realize that Christ will reward, man according to what he has done on earth; that those who do not live a goodly life will be repaid with terrible punishment: hi longe sculon/ f er/werige onfon in fyrba/e, / wælmum biwrecene, wrablic ondlean

(ll. 390b-392). In responding to this vivid, horrible picture, we should take bas miclan gemetu middangeardes as not only signifying a geographical region, but also as designating a personification of those, who in their evil ways, are not ready for Christ. Thus, beheofia/, in evoking an appropriate auditory response of those who are unprepared in that time, should be allowed to stand.

391 fer/werige. Cook emends to fer/werge, an unnecessary emendation,

391 fyrba/e. Th., Go. 1, Go. 2, EttmUller misread MS as fyr bade and emend to fyr ba/e. A. notes these editors' error.

394 mæste. Cook, misreading MS mæste as mæsta, emends to mæste.

Go. 1, Go. 2 likewise misread MS, however, retain mæsta in the text.

Th., A., EttmUller, K-D read MS mæste.

396 cwaniendra. Although it is difficult to discover the provenance of the added g, there can be noted an attempt to give the letter an insular appearance by making a stroke at the top: no such "insular" 129

stroke has been made at the bottom of the letter. Most editors

record MS addition and emend to cwaniendra; none comment on the

provenance of the added letter.

396 cerge. Cook emends to cearige, an unnecessary normalization,

cf. Modem English "chary."

404 baer. Following EttmUller, Cook emends to bast, an unnecessary

emendation, paer ("where") refers to the place dearer "than all this fleeting creation" (bonne eall be°s lsene gesceaft [l. 403b]), where the unprepared could have found refuge from Christ's terrible judgment.

This place is the shelter and protection that Christ affords those who are prepared to receive his judgment. Muinzer suggests that baer is the place where the unprepared soul can hide from the wrath of God, but this would make it necessary to take on in 1. 404 (on bam sigebreate) as meaning "from"; this meaning for on is not attested by

B-T.Suppl. In 11. 401b-408a, Cynewulf contrasts eall boos laene gesceaft with baer he [aeghwlycum /synwyrcendra (ll. 401b-402a)] hine sylfne on bam sigebreate /behydan maege (ll. 404-405b), making it clear that we men here on earth have a choice between the two places.

4l4 flodwudu. Following EttmUller (flodvudum), Cook unnecessarily normalizes to flodwudum.

427 heofonum. Cook,following EttmUller's query, unnecessarily emends to to heofonum. This sort of ellipsis should be expected in 130 poetic texts of any literary period. Moreover, the dative -um ending of heofonum carries with it the notion of movement that Modern

English "heaven" does not have (hence our need for directional prepositions such as "to"). TRANSLATION

[ll. l-5l] Now, famous man, you must seek earnestly with meditations

and intelligence through the mind's wisdom that you know truly how it

came about when the Almighty was born in purity, when He sought out a

shelter in Mary, the choice of maidens, the celebrated Virgin, that

angels did not appear wearing white garments when Christ, the Prince,

came into Bethlehem. Angels were ready there, who through song pro­

claimed and recited the true gladness to shepherds that the Son was to

be born of God on earth in Bethlehem. However, books do not say that the angels appeared there at that blessed time in white robes as they did later when the famous Prince, the mighty Lord, summoned His dis­ ciples, the beloved company, to Bethany. They did not disregard the words of the Master, their Lord, on that joyful day. The men hastened at once with their Lord to the holy city where the Giver of honor, the

Lord of glory, revealed many things to them in sacred words before the only-begotten Son, co-eternal with His own Father, would ascend, forty days after the time He arose out of the earth from death. Thus,through

His Passion He had fulfilled the prophets' words as they had formerly proclaimed throughout the world. His disciples praised the Lord of life, loving ardently the Father of creation. Later, He nobly gave reward to His beloved followers, and the Lord of angels, the mighty

Lord, ready to set out for His Father's realm, spoke these words:

"Rejoice in spirit'. I will never leave you, but will always love you and give you authority and abide with you forever and ever so that 132 through my grace you will never know a lack of good.. Go now through­ out the wide earth, over distant roads. Tell the multitudes, pro­ claim and celebrate the glorious faith,and baptizing people under the skies, turn them to heaven. Destroy idols, tear them down and vex them; stamp out enmity, sow peace in men’s hearts with your mighty authority. I will stay with you now and for ever as a refuge and will keep you secure with constant strength everywhere and in every place."

[ll. 52-87] Then suddenly there was a loud sound heard in the air. A troop of heavenly angels, a splendid host and messengers of glory, gathered in throngs. Our King departed through the roof of the temple where the chosen disciples, who still looked on in that place of assembly, watched over the footprint of the Beloved One. They saw the Lord, God’s Son, ascend from the ground into heaven. Their spirits were miserable—mourning souls burning in the heart—because they could no longer see their Beloved under the heavens. The heavenly angels raised a song, praised the King, glorified the Creator of life and rejoiced in the light that gleamed from the head of the Savior.

They saw two angels shining beautifully and sparkling in adornments by the First-born, the Glory of kings. Clear-voiced, they called from on high with wonderous words: "Why are you Galilean men waiting so in a circle? Clearly you see now the true Lord, the Master of victory, ascend into the sky. The Flower of princes, the Creator of all people, is rising up hence with this angelic host to His Father’s royal city.

With such a host, a blithe retinue, will we bear the Lord—the most excellent and splendid of all sons of victory, gleaming with treas­ ures—upon whom you gaze here and behold with joy, above the vaulting 133 heavens to the bright city. However, He Himself will come again to the races of the earth with a vast host and then judge each deed that mankind has performed under heaven."

[ll. 88-93] Then the Lord of glory, the King of archangels and the

Protector of saints, was engulfed above in clouds over the roofs.

Hope was restored, happiness in the cities, because of the Prince’s coming. The eternal Author of happiness sat rejoicing in victory on the right hand of His own Father.

[ll. 94-118] Then the valorous disciples, sad in heart, departed to the holy city of Jerusalem from the place where they had so recently seen God, their Dispenser of good, ascend. There was a ring of weep­ ing: their faithful love was overwhelmed by grief; their hearts moved strongly and fiercely within; and their minds burned. There in the splendid city the glorious disciples all still waited ten nights for the King’s promises as the Lord of heaven Himself, the Ruler of all, commanded before He might ascend into the keeping of'heaven.

Angels came in white to meet the bounteous Lord of men. It is truly spoken, as Scriptures say, that radiant angels at that holy time gathered to Him, coming with hosts and descending from the sky. Then the greatest feast took place in heaven. It was very appropriate that brightly clothed angels, a beautiful-throng, came to the merri­ ment in the city of Christ. Welcome they saw heaven’s Lord, the

Life-giver of people, the Ruler of all earth and of majesty, seated on the high seat in adornments.

[ll. 119-146] "Now has the Holy One harrowed hell of all the tribute that it in days of old wrongfully swallowed up in that place of strife. 134

Now the soldiers of the evil spirits are overwhelmed, humbled and

bound, and deprived of blessings are living in torment in the pit of hell. His adversaries could not win at battle by throwing weapons

after the King of fame, the Guardian of the heavenly kingdom, made war against His ancient enemies by His solitary might, when He freed from bondage the best plunder—countless numbers from the fiends’ city—this same host which you behold here. Now, after this battle,

God’s own Son, the Savior of souls, will seek the throne of grace. Now you certainly know who is the Lord who leads this host, since you are going joyously, boldly to meet friends. Open up, gates’. The Lord of all Creation, the King, with a large multitude, wants to pass into the city, the joy of joys, leading the people whom He seized from the demons by His own victory. Henceforth, there shall be peace in common for angels and men forevermore. A covenant unites God and men: a sacred pledge of lovej hope of life; and joy in all the light of day."

[ll. 147-160] Indeed, we have now heard how the Christ-child, the glorious Son of God, through His coming here gave salvation thereafter, freed and protected everyone under heaven so that now as long as every breathing man lives here he may choose: either the disgrace of hell or the glory of heaven; either the shining day or the loathsome night; either the force of majesty or the gloom of darkness; either joy with the Lord or the shriek of agony with devils; either torment with demons or glory with angels; either life or death, whichever he thinks dearer to have while flesh and soul remain in the world. Therefore, may the majestic Trinity have glory and thanks without end'. 135

[ll. 161-187] Thus, it is proper that nations give thanks to the Lord

for every good which He has ever made for us through His many, un­

fathomable powers. He gives us food, abundance of wealth, prosperity

throughout the spacious earth and mild weather under the protective

skies. The sun and moon, the noblest of stars and the candles of

heaven, shine upon all men on earth. Dew falls and rain: bringing

forth prosperity to the race of men, they increase earthly wealth.

For all this we must give thanks and praise to our Lord; especially

for the salvation which He gave us as a hope when at His Ascension

the only-begotten Son revoked for evermore the suffering we had

endured before and with His beloved Father settled for mankind the

greatest feud of all. As a peace for souls, he reversed thereafter the curse which had been pronounced before with purposeful anger to the sorrow of mankind: "I created you upon the earth, on it you will live in wretchedness, dwell in strife and suffer punishment, chanting songs of death as a solace for demons and you will again be turned to the same earth, swarming with worms; thus, from the earth you will once more find the fires of torture." [ll. 188-219] Indeed, the Lord made this easier for us when in limbs and body He took on the kinship of mankind. From the moment when the Son of the Creator, the Lord of hosts, wanted to ascend to the home of angels, our wish for succor for the wretched was fulfilled in that blessed time. As he well knew how, Job composed a poem about this: he praised the Protector of men, hailed the Savior and fashioned in love a surname for the Son of God and called Him a Bird whom the

Jews could not understand. Through the divine power of the Spirit 136 the Bird's flight was hidden and secret from its foes on earth, those who carried a dark spirit and a stony heart in their breasts. They would not recognize the many glorious and varied tokens which God's noble Son had performed before them throughout the world. So this faithful Bird attempted flight: sometimes courageous and powerfully strong, He sought the realm of angels above, that glorious home; some­ times descending again to earth, He sought the land of the earth through the grace of the Spirit and came to the world. Of this the prophet sang: "High and holy was He raised up by the embracing arms of angels within the fulness of His mighty powers above the majesty of heaven." They could not understand the Bird's flight who denied the

Ascension, and who did not believe that the Lord of life, in man's form, might be raised up, holy from the earth, upon the glory of

[angelic] hosts.

[ll. 220-246] Then the Son of God, He who shaped the world, honored us and gave us as gifts eternal seats on high with angels,and also He sowed and implanted in the minds of men many kinds of intellectual skills. To one He sends wisdom of conversation; he has keen insight by means of his voice and his memory: he who has spiritually grasped the force of wisdom can sing and tell a great many things. One can play well with fingers the harp, striking the glee-wood loudly before men. One can expound divine law correctly. One can tell the course of the stars, the spacious creation. One can skillfully write down uttered words. To one He gives success of war in battle when the archers send shooting the flickering arrows over the defending shields.

One can boldly drive the ship over the salt sea, stirring the tossing 137

waves. One can climb the tall, steep tree. Fashioning weapons, one

can temper a sword. One knows the wide plains, the far-reaching

roads. So the Ruler, God's Son, grants us on earth His gifts. He

will not give all the wisdom of the Spirit to just one man, lest pride

in his own skill, exalted beyond that of others, injure him.

[ll. 247-272] So, mighty God, King of all creation, endows the

children of the earth with the generous gifts of skills. Likewise,

He gives prosperity to the blessed in heaven and builds peace for

angels and men for all eternity; in this way, He honors His work.

Concerning this, the prophet said that holy gems, bright stars of

heaven—the sun and the moon—were raised up on high. What are these

gems so bright, but God himself? He is the veritable light of the sun,

the noble splendor for angels and for people on earth. The moon, a

spiritual star, shines over the world: in the same way, the Church

of God through the union of truth and right gleams brightly, so in

books it is written, since the Son of God, the King of all the pure,

ascended from the earth. Here the church of the faithful has endured

oppression under the rule of heathen shepherds. The sinful paid no attention to truth nor the good of the soul, but rather they demolished and burned God's temple, hating and destroying it, and caused blood­ shed. Yet through the grace of the Spirit,glory for God's servants came forth after the ascension of the eternal Lord.

[ll. 273-280] Concerning this, Solomon, the son of David, the ruler of nations and very proficient in parable and meditation, sang, utter­ ing these words: "It shall be made known that the King of angels, the Lord strong in might, shall mount the hill, leap the high downs 138

and. wreath the hills and. knolls with His glory, redeeming the world—

all the earth-dwellers—through the nohle leap."

[ll. 281-304] The first leap was when He descended into the Virgin,

the immaculate maiden, and there took a sinless human form; this

became a solace for all men on earth. The second leap was the Infant's

birth when He, the Glory of all glories, was in a manger in the form

of a child wrapped in clothes. The third leap was the jump of the

heavenly King when He, the Father, the Holy Comforter, ascended the

Cross. The fourth leap was into the sepulchre, fixed in the tomb,

when He left the tree. The fifth leap was when He hurled down the

band of hell's inmates into living torture and bound within their

fierce king, the advocate of fiends, with fiery bonds, where he still

lies in prison fastened with chains and shackled in sins. The sixth

leap—the Holy One’s promised joy—was when He ascended to heaven, His

former home. Then in that holy time the host of angels grew joyfully

glad in jubilation. They saw the Lord of princes, the Majesty of

glory, come to His home—the shining buildings. Then the Prince's victory became an everlasting joy for the blessed citizens of heaven,

[ll. 305-316] As here on earth the eternal Son of God sprang by leaps over the lofty hills, boldly along mountains, so must we men in the meditations of our hearts spring in leaps from strength to strength, striving after glorious deeds in order that by holy works we may ascend to the highest height where are hope and bliss and a perfect band of disciples. We urgently need to seek salvation with our hearts, while earnestly believing with our souls, so that the Christ- child, the living God, may ascend .from here with our body. 139

[ll. 317-339] Therefore, we should always scorn vain desires—the

wounds of sin—and rejoice in things that are better. We have our

Almighty Father in heaven as a comfort for us. From on high, He,

the Holy One, will send His angels who will shield us from our

enemies’ deadly flights of arrows, lest these demons cause wounds when

Satan sends forth from his drawn bow a painful arrow against God's people. Therefore, we must ever firmly and warily guard against a sudden shot, lest this poisonous tip—this bitter dart and insidious device of enemies—penetrate into the body. That is a dangerous and most ghastly wound. Let us then preserve ourselves while we have a home on earth; let us beg for peace from the Father, ask the Son of

God and the gentle Spirit that He defend us against our foes' weapons and the snares of the wicked; He gave us life, limbs, body, and a spirit. Glory in heaven and praise be to Him forever, world without end. [ll. 340-357] Not one man on earth need fear devils' arrows or an enemy's flight of spears if God, the Lord of hosts, defends him.

Judgment Day is near when we will be rewarded according as we have in life accumulated works throughout the spacious earth. Scripture tells us how in the beginning the Treasury of might, the noble Son of God, holy from on high, descended humbly to the earth into the womb of the maiden. Truly, I await and also dread a sterner doom when the

Lord of angels comes again because I did not obey well what my

Savior commanded me in the Scriptures. For this will I see terror and the punishment of sin—consider this as truth—where many shall be taken to a gathering before the presence of the eternal Judge. 140

[ll. 358-375] Then the (C) Bold will tremble when he hears the King

speak, the Sovereign of the skies uttering fierce words to those who

before in the world obeyed Him negligently when (Y)r and (n) Distress

could most easily find refuge. There many a one shall await, fearful

and miserable in that place, what wrathful punishments He will judge

him according to his acts. The (w) Joy of earth’s treasures is

gone. (U) Our share of the joys of life—our (F) Wealth on earth—was

long surrounded by (L) floods. Then treasures will bum in the fire;

the swift, red flame will rage brightly, rushing fiercely throughout

the world. Fields will fall into ruin and cities will crumble to

bits. The fire will be moving; the most greedy spirits will pitilessly

consume the ancient treasures which men once held dear while pride was

theirs upon the earth.

[ll. 376-410] Therefore, I yearn to teach each loved one not to

neglect his soul’s welfare nor to exude pride while God wishes that

he remain here in the transitory inn of this world and that the soul

fare in the body. Each man should earnestly reflect on his past life how the Lord of might first came in mercy to us according to the angel’s word. Truly, when He comes again, He will be severe, wrathful, and just. The heavens will be disturbed and the utter ends of the

earth will then lament. The glorious King will repay those on earth who lived by evil actions and were guilty of sinning. For this, the weary in soul, surrounded by surging fires, will receive cruel retri­ bution in a bath of fire. When the King of might comes to the Day I of Judgment with the greatest of hosts, wholesale terror and the cry 141

of mourning men will be heard loud amid the tumult of heaven; the

wicked—those who trust feebly in their works—will grieve before

the presence of the eternal Judge. A greater terror will appear

than was ever heard of on earth since the Creation. To each worker

of sin at that unexpected moment, it will be far dearer than all this

fleeting creation to find shelter in the triumphant host when the

Lord of hosts, the Prince of princes, will give all—every man, loved

and hated—reward according to what is just. It is utterly necessary

in this barren time, before that terror, to think carefully about the

beauty of the soul.

[ll. 411-427] Now it is very much as if we were sailing in ships on

the ocean across cold waters, going in vessels, "horses of the sea,"

upon the spacious ocean. That is dangerous water—those huge and

windy waves over the deep sea on which we toss here in this inconstant

world. The way was hard before we had sailed to land over the troubled

sea. Then help came to us when God’s spiritual Son led us to the

harbor of salvation and granted us grace to know where we should moor

the ships, ancient "mares of the sea," firmly with anchors over the

side of the ship. Let us fix our hope in the harbor which the Lord

of the heavens, holy on high, prepared for us when He ascended to heaven. GLOSSARY

Since the glossary aims to reveal as fully as possible the lan­ guage of the poem, all the words in the text are cited by line ref­ erence numbers under their respective headword entry forms. Only line references are supplied; with a few exceptions, the words them­ selves are not recorded. For example, following the infinitive form of the verb bidan are listed the line numbers ?1, 101, 265, and 3&3, which represent each appearance of this verb in the poem (bida^, bidon, bad, bidan, respectively). Headword entries reflect as closely as possible the forms found in the poem; where accuracy and correct­ ness are threatened, however, entries are supplied in the form as recorded by B-T.Suppl.

The definitions given for the headwords attempt to indicate not only accurate renderings of the word as it appears in the poem, but also as it occurred generally in Old English. Particularly interesting or useful meanings given by selected glossers of the poem are presented

(in quotes if taken directly) with the source given in [ ].

Following many line references are capitalized words in [ ] indicating selected cognates from Mod.Engl., ME, and other Gmc (and several non-Gmc) languages. Notations separated by cf. and a semi­ colon denote indirectly related words; those notations set off by commas indicate a direct relationship with the headword. To conserve space, virgules (/), parentheses, and [ ] have been used throughout. For example, the definition for the entry "saelan 143 v.," which is given as "to fasten/tie (with a cord/an anchor), moor" should, be read, in the expanded form, "to fasten, to tie, to fasten with a cord, to fasten with an anchor, to tie with a cord, to tie with an anchor, moor"; also, "[aux. w. £.£.]" which appears after

"to have," the first definition for the entry "habban v.," explains that this definition may be supplied when habban appears as an auxiliary with a past participle, as in line 29, "Hsefde . . . gefylled."

In the definitions virgules and commas separate synonymous meanings.

Semicolons set off different meanings. Conjectural emendations are marked with an asterisk (*), and such contractions as 7 and j? , already noted in the text as having been expanded, have been silently expanded in the glossary. Editorial additions to the text are marked by enclosing the line references in [ ].

The order of the words is alphabetical, initial ae coming between ad and af, medial and final ae being treated as a; / and ]? follow t; the prefix ge- of verbs has been taken into account in the arrangement of the words. As in the text, all Old English letters except ae, /, and £ have been normalized to their modern English equivalents.

Abbreviations Used in the Glossary acc. accusative adj. adjective adv. adverb Arch. Archaic art. article aux. auxiliary B-T.Suppl. Bosworth, Joseph, ed. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, rev. T. Northcote Toller, London: Oxford University Press, 1898; and Supplement, London: Oxford Uni­ versity Press, 1921. 144 cf. compare Cook Cook, A.S., ed. The Christ of Cynewulf. Boston, 1900; rpt. New York: Archon Books, 1964. comp. comparative degree conj. conjunction Dan. Danish Das Das, Satyendra K., "An Edition of the Old English Poem, Christ, A and B, Lines 1-866." Unpublished Dissertation. University of London, 1936. dat. dative dem. demonstrative Dial. Dialect Dut. Dutch EME Early Modem English f. feminine fig. figurative(ly) Fris. Frisian gen. genitive ger. gerund Gmc Germanic Goth. Gothic Hall Hall, J.R. Clark. A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed. London: Cambridge University Press, 1966. Icel. Icelandic includ. including inf. infinitive instr. instrumental It. Italian Lat. Latin lit. literal(ly) Lith. Lithuanian Low Ger. Low German m. masculine ME Middle English Med.Lat. Medieval Latin MHG Middle High German MLG Middle Low German Mod.Eng. Modem English Mod.Ger. Modem German MS Manuscript n. neuter N orthumh Northumbrian Norw. Norwegian num. number/num eral Obs. Obsolete OE Old English OED Oxford English Dictionary 145

OF Old French OFris. Old Frisian OHG Old High German ON Old Norse os Old Saxon part. participle pers. personal plur. plural Poet. Poetic(al) post. positive degree p.p. past participle prep. preposition pr .n. proper name pron. pronoun reflex. reflexive rel. relative Russ. Russian Sansk. Sanskrit Scot. Scots sing. singular Span. Spanish sth. something subj. subjunctive subst. s ubs tantive(ly) superl. superlative degree Swed. Swedish V. verb w. with 146

A, Æ a adv. ever, for ever, eternally, always: 143, 317- [cf. OE AWO, 0, Mod.Eng.Arch. AY(e); Goth. AIW, OS/OHG EO, Mod.Ger. JE.] ac coni• But, for, because, but also, but yet: 38, 268. [Goth./OS AK, OHG OH.] acennan v. to bring forth, beget, bear, produce: 5, 13- acwe/an v. to say, utter, speak, declare, pronounce: 35, 275- [cf. OE cwebanT]

æ f. law, statute, custom: 232. [cf. Sansk. EVA; OS EO, OFris. A, OHG EWA, MHG EWE, Mod.Ger. EHE.J

æfre adv. ever, at any time, always, at all times, in any case: 40, 401.

æfter prep, w. dat. after, according to, in accordance with, by means of, along, through, during: 134, 272, 307, 364, 407. [Sansk. APARA, Goth. AFTRA, OS/OHG AFTAR, OFris./Dan./Swed. EFTER; cf. Mod.Ger. AFTER noun.]

æfter adv. afterwards, later, then, after: 34.

æfyllende adj. law-fulfiller, following the law, faithful: 265.

æghwylc pron. every(one), all, each, every, whosoever: 401. aeht f. riches, wealth, possessions, goods: l6$. [Goth. AIHTS, ON A3TT, ehtT]

ælan v. to burn(up), consume, set on fire, kindle, light: 373-

ælbeorht adj. shining, radiant, resplendent, all-bright: 67, 109- [cf. Mod.Eng. ALBRIGHT family name.] aside m.plur. men: 143, 181, 341.

ælmihtig adj. almighty: 4, 320.

ænig pron.!adj./subst. any, any one: 244 [pron.], 341 [subst.w.gen.]

ær adj. early, former, preceding [superi., first, in the phrase æt aerestan, at (the) first]: 347, 384.

ær adv. before, formerly, earlier: 27, 29, 163, 176, 180, 360. [Mod. Eng. Arch. ERE, Goth. AIR, OS/OFris./OHG ER, ON AR, Mod.Ger. EHER.] aer prep, before: 409 [w.dat.]. [Mod.Eng.Arch. ERE.]

aerpon con j. before, before that: 25, 105, 418.

aet prep.w.dat. at, to, on, from, in, with, before: 6l, 100, 176, 235, 3^7, 384. [Goth./OS/ON AT, OFris. ET, OHG AZ.]

set m.f. food: I65. [os/ON AT, OFris. ET, OHG AZ.]

aetsomne adv. at once, together: 144. [cf. Mod.Ger. ZUSAMMEN.]

ae/ele adj. excellent, famous, noble, glorious, bright, illustrious, happy, blessed: 16, 82, 168, 227, 258, 280. [OS EDILI* OFris. ETHEL, OHG EDILI, MHG EDELE, Mod.Ger./Dut. EDEL, Dan./Swed. ADEL.]

ae/eling m. prince, "one of royal blood" [B-T.Suppl.], a king, God, Christ: 9, 64, 76, 188, 302, 304, 406.

agaelan v. to neglect, delay, hinder: 377■

agan v. to own, have, possess: 159« [Mod.Eng. OWE, OWN, OS EGAN, OFris AGA, ON EIGA.]

agen adj. own: 26, 93, 133* [cf. OE AGAN, AGEND.]

agend m. owner, possessor, master, the Lord: 32, 74, 104. [cf. OE AGAN, AGEN.]

ahebban v. to raise, lift up, heave up, exadt, elevate: 63, 219, 253> [cf. Mod.Eng. HEAVE, OS HEBBIAN, OFris. HEVA, Mod.Icel. HEFIA, Mod. Ger. HEBEN.]

ahladan v. to draw out/forth, lead out/forth, deliver: 129-

alwihta f.plur. all creatures, all beings: 248. [cf. Mod.Eng.Arch. WIGHT.J alysan v. to release, redeem, let loose, free: 279- an adj. one, sole, single, alone, only, another, a certain one, a, each, all: 128, 244, 246. anboren £.£. as adj. only-begotten, only-bom: 179« [cf. next word.] ancenned as adj. only-begotten: 25• [cf. OE ACENNAN.] ancor m. anchor: 424. [Sansk. ANKA, Lat. ANC0RA,Low Ger./Dut./MHG/ Mod.Ger./Dan. ANKER.] ar m. messenger, angel, herald: 54, 64, 156, 320. [Goth. AIRUS, ON 148

arisan v. to arise, rise, rise up (again): 28.

astigan v. to ascend, arise; to descend, come down to: 263, 281, 288, 298, 347, 427- [Goth. USSTEIGAN, OHG ARSTIGAN; cf. Mod.Ger. AUFSTEIGEN.]

attor n. poison, venom: 329- [OS ETAR, ON/Norw. EITR, OHG EITAR, MHG/Mod.Ger. EITER, Dut. ETTER.]

aweallan v. to swarm, fill, boil/bubble up, gush/break forth, stream: 186. [cf. Mod.Eng. v. WELL (UP).]

awo adv. always, ever, forever: 40.

awrecan v. to utter, compose, relate, sing, recite: 194.

B basl n. fire, flame: 369« bagman v. to burn (up), consume, kindle, set on fire, light: 269. [Goth. BRANNJAN, OS BRINNAN, OHG BRENNAN, MHG/Mod.Ger./Low Ger. BRENNEN, ON BRENNA, Dan. BRÄNDE.]

•banloca m. a bone enclosure, the skin, body: 330. beam m. tree, cross: 239» 290. [Mod.Eng. BEAM, Goth. BAGMS, OS BOM, OFris. BAM, OHG POUM, MHG BOUM, Mod.Ger. BAUM, Dut. BOOM; adopted from last word is Mod.Eng. BOOM a ship-spar.] bearn n. child, offspring, son (of man), Christ: 26, 133» 285, 305, 335-"[Mod.Eng.Arch./Scot./Northumb. BAIRN, Goth./OS/ OHG/MHG/ON/ Dan./Swed./lcel. BARN, OFris. BERN; lost in Mod.Ger. and Dut.] beheofian v. to lament, bewail: 388. behydan v. to hide, conceal, cover, shelter: 405. benn f. wound: 332. [cf. OE BANA a slayer; Goth. BANYA, OHG BANA.] beon v. to be, exist, become, happen: 40, 157, 228, 331, 356, 372, 385, 386, 394, 399, 401. beorgan v. to guard against, avoid, defend, secure: 332. [Goth. BAIRGAN, OHG PERKAN, MHG/Mod.Ger. BERGEN.] beorht adj. bright, splendid, brilliant, clear, radiant, glorious, illustrious, divine, holy: 44, 71, 80, 303, 388. [cf. Mod.Ger. ULBRECHT proper name.] 149

beorhte adv. brightly, splendidly, distinctly, clearly: 113, 262.

beorn m. man, hero, prince, nobleman, chief: 10, 91-

beornan v- to burn, be ardent/vehement, have ardent/vehement feeling [B-T.Suppl.]: 101. [os/OHG/mHG BRINNAN, ON/Swed. BRENNA, Mod.Ger. BRENNEN.]

berstan v. to burst, break to pieces, crash, fail, fall: 372. [OS/ OHG BRESTAN, MHG BRESTEN, OFris. BERSTA, Dut./Mod.Ger. BERSTEN, Low Ger. BARSTEN, Swed. BRISTA.]

Bethania pr.n. Bethany: 17.

Betlem pr.n. Bethlehem: 10, 14. bewindan v. to surround, encircle, wrap around, encompass, wind: 286. bewri/an v. to encompass, bind round, begird: 279• bi prep, by, by means of, near to, at, in, upon, of, about, concerning through, because of, on account of, after, according to, for: 194, 211, 252, 273, 395. bibeodan v. to enjoin, order, command, bid: 104, 354. bicuman v. to come, come to (be), become, happen, befall: 192, 270, 383, 419. [Mod.Eng. BECOME.] bidaslan v. to bereave, deprive, free, deliver: 124. [cf. Mod.Eng. DEAL.] bidan v. to (a)wait, expect, wait for, endure, continue, remain: 71, 101, 265, 363. [Mod.Eng. BIDE, Goth. BEIDAN, OS BIDAN, OFris. BIDIA, OHG BITAN, MHG BITEN, ON BIDA, Dan. BIE.] biddan v. to ask, pray, implore, entreat, beseech, order: 335• [cf. Mod.Eng. BID; Goth. BIDYAN, OS BIDDEAN, OFris. BIDDA, OHG BITJAN, MHG BITTEN, ON BIBJA, Dan. BEDE.] bifeolan v> bo assign, allot, commit, entrust, commend, deliver: 229- bifon v. to envelop, clasp, encase, clothe, catch, comprehend, receive: *88. biforan adv. before, of old, in time past: 29. biforan prep.w.dat. before, in the presence of : 204. bigong m. "a vast expanse" [Das], extent, way, course: 241. 150

bilucan v. to enclose, lock (up), close, encompass, shut up: 36?. LOS BILUKAN, OHG PILUHHAN.]

binn f. manger, crib: 285- [Mod.Eng. BIN.]

bireafian v. to despoil, bereave, harrow: 119-

biteldan v. to cover (over), fill, surround, hem in, overload, over­ whelm, "drown" [Cook]: 99•

biter adj. sharp, severe, dire, bitter, painful: 326, 330> [Goth. BAITRS, OS/OHG; BITTAR, MHG/Mod.Ger./Dut. BITTER.]

bi/encan v. to think about, bear in mind, consider, ponder, reflect upon, take thought for: 382, 410. [Mod.Eng.Arch. BETHINK, Goth. BIpAGGKJAN, OS BITHENKJAN, OFris. BITHANKA, OHG BIDENCHEN, MHG/Mod. Ger./Dut. BEDENKEN.]

biwrecan v. to surround, strike/beat around: 392 [£•£•]■

blac adj. livid, pale; bright, shining: 369« [Mod.Eng. BLEAK.]

blaed m. blessedness, glory, prosperity, success, abundance, benefit, riches: 249, 2?1 [bias/].

blat adj. ghastly, livid pale, wan: 332 [superl.].

blican v. to glitter, sparkle,, gleam, shine: 68, 83, 262. [Sansk. BHRAJ, OS BLICAN, OFris./ON/lcel. BLIKA, Mod.Fris. BLYCKJEN; cf. Mod.Ger. BLICKEN.]

blis f. bliss, joy, happiness, gladness, pleasure: 91 > H3, 311« [cf. OE BLIBE.]

bli/e adj. joyful, glad, cheerful, merry, kind, friendly, blithe, pleasant: 80, 300, 335.

blodgyte m. bloodshed: 269.

boc f. book: 14, 262, 346, 354. boda m. messenger, herald, angel, ambassador: 10. [cf. OE BODIAN; Swed. BUD, Dut. BODE, Mod.Ger. BOTE.]

bodian v. to preach, proclaim, announce, tell, boast: 44. [cf. OE BODA; OFris. BODIA.] bold n. dwelling, building, house, castle, palace, hall, town: 3®3. [cf. OE BOTL.] 151

bord n. "side of a ship" [Das], "deck of a ship" [B-T.Suppl.], board of a ship: 422. [Fr. BORD, Span./it. BORDO.]

bordgelac n. weapon, dart, missile: 330. [BORD board + LAGAN to fly.]

braegdboga m. bow of deceitfulness; a drawn/bent bow: 326.

brecan v. to break/burst (forth/through), shatter, demolish: 269« [Goth. BRIKAN, OS BREKAN, OFris. BREKA, OHG BRECHAN, MHG BREGHEN, Mod.Ger. BREGHEN, Low Ger. BROEKEN, Dut. BREKEN, Dan. BRXKKE.]

brega m. chief, king, prince, leader, ruler, Lord: 17.

breman v. to extol, honor, fulfill, celebrate, praise: 44.

breostsefa m. heart, mind, soul: 101. [cf. Mod.Eng. BREAST.]

breotan v- to hew down, destroy, kill, demolish, break: 46. [OHG BRETON, Swed. BRYTA; cf. Norw. BRUDD.]

broga m. terror, fear, dread, danger, horror: 354.

brond m. fire, flame, burning, conflagration, torch: 372. [Mod.Eng. BRAND, OHG/MHG BRANT, Mod.Ger./Low Ger./Dut./Dan./Swed. BRAND.]

brytta m. giver/dispenser (of gifts in a comitatus), prince, lord, the Lord: 23•

bryttian v* to distribute, dispense, divide, "grant a share of" [b-T. Suppl.]: 243. [cf. OE BRYTTA.] burg f. city, stronghold, fortress, castle, walled town: 22, 80, 91» 95, 103 [byrig], H4, 130 [byrig]. [Mod.Eng. BOROUGH; cf. BURROUGHS proper name.] burgstede m. city, "city-place" [B-T.Suppl.], castle: 372. burgware m.pl. burghers, citizens, "inhabitants of a city" [B-T.Suppl.]: 303. butan prep. without, except, out of, against, outside of, off, round about: 160 [w.dat.], 283 [w.dat.]. butan conj. but, except (that), unless, beside: 256. byrgen f. sepulchre, tomb, grave: 290. byman v. to bum, be on fire, consume: 369- 152

C

cald adj. cold.: 412.

carcern n. prison, dungeon: 296. [Lat. CARCER prison + OE TERN place.]

ceaster f. city [heaven], town, fort, castle: 139« [Lat. CASTRA, Mod. Eng. CHESTER city name; cf. LANCASTER.]

cempa m. warrior, soldier, champion: 124. [Mod.Eng.Arch. KEMP, OFris. CAMPA, OHG CHEMPH(l)O; cf. Mod.Ger. KÄMPFEN.]

cen m. the OE rune {•> , and the OE letter C, meaning "torch"; the rune possibly expresses the OE word CENE, adj., bold: 358 [representing the first letter in Cyn(e)wulf's name]. [¿HG KEN, MHG/Mod.Ger. KIEN resinous pine-wood, Low Ger. KEEN.]

cennan v. to create, declare, bring forth, beget, choose, prove [the verb has the sense of bringing forth life from the body or (e.g.) ideas from the mind]: 197. LGoth. KANNYAN, OS KENNIAN, OFris. KANNA, OHG KANNJAN, MHG/Mod.Ger./üut. KENNEN.]

ceol m. ship, vessel: 412. 422. [Mod.Eng./Low Ger. KEEL, MHG/Mod.Ger. KIEL.]

cerge adj. sorrowful, sad, grieving, joyless; wicked [in the sense of sinners who are sorrowful . . . joyless]: 396 [subst. nom.plur.]. [Mod.Eng. CHARY.]

cild n. child, infant: 286. [Goth. KILpEI.] circe f. church: 260, 264. [Mod.Ger. KIRCHE.] cirm m. clamor, uproar, shout, noise: 396. claene adj. pure, chaste, innocent, clean, clear: 5» 264. [OFris./Swed. KLEN, OHG KLEINI, MHG KLEINE, Mod.Ger./Dan. KLEIN.] clap m. [in plur.] clothes: 286. [OFris. KLATH, Low Ger. KLEED, Mod. Ger. KLEID.] cleopian v. to call, cry out, exclaim: 69. [ME CLEPE.] clomm m. fetter, bond, chain, band: 296. [Mod.Eng. CLAM; cf. Mod.Ger. KLEMME.] cnoll m. knoll, hilltop, peak, summit: 278. [Low Ger. KNÜLLE, OHG KNOLLE, Mod.Ger. KNOLLEN, Dut./Norw. KNOL.J cor/er n. troop, band, retinue, multitude: 55, 139- [bat. gen. COHORTIS.] 153

craeft m. power, strength, excellence, art, skill, trade, craft (of mind), cunning, faculty, knowledge, talent, ability: 246, 248. LOS/OHG/MHG/Mod.Ger./Low Ger./Swed./Dan. KRAFT, OFris. KREFT.]

cuman v. to come (together), assemble, arrive, go, happen: 9, 55, 106, 110, 114, 352, 385, 393- [Goth. QIMAN, OS KUMAN, OFris. KUMA, OHG QUEMAN, MHG KOMEN, Mod.Ger. KOMMEN, Low Ger. KAMEN.]

cunnan v. to know, comprehend, be/become acquainted with, can, be able, know how to do: 134, 194 , 241. [Goth./OHG KTJNNAN, OFris./ON KUNNA, Fris. KUNNEN, OS CUNNAN, Mod.Ger. KÖNNEN.]

cunnian v. to attempt, make a trial of, test, try: 206 [w.gen.].

cu/ adj. known, clear, manifest, plain: 276. [CUB £■£• of OE CUNNAN; Mod.Eng. Obs. COUTH, Goth. KUNpS, OHG/Mod.Ger. KUND, Dut. KOND, Icel. KUNNR.J

cwacian v. to quake, tremble, shake: 358.

cwanian v. to lament, bewail, mourn: 396 [part.]■ [Goth. KWAINON, Low Ger. KWINEN, Dut. KWIJNEN.J cwe/an v. to say, speak, proclaim: 14, 108, 252, 262. [EME past tense QUOTH, Goth. QIPAN, OS QUEBAN, OFris. QUETHA, ON KVEBA, OHG QUEDAN.]

cwic adj. alive, living: 151. [Mod.Eng. QUICK, Goth. QJUS, OS/OFris./ Low Ger./Dan. QUIK, Swed. KWICK.]

cwicsusl n. living torment/punishment, hell torment, pit of hell: 122, 293.

cwide m. decree, sentence, commandment: 179*

cyme m. coming, advent: 91-

cyning m. king, ruler, God, Christ: 55, 69, 89, 126, 139, 179, 248, 264, 276, 293, 358, 388, 393. [OS/OHG KUNING, OFris. KINING, MHG KÖNIG, Mod.Ger./Low Ger. KÖNIG, Dan. KÖNNING, Swed. KONUNG.J cynn n. race, nation, people, tribe, family, kind: 171, 3^1- [Mod.Eng. KIN, Goth. KUNI, OS KUNNI, OFris. KIN, ON/lcel. KYN, OHG CHUNNI, MHG KÖNNE, Dan./swed. KÖN.] cy/an y. to proclaim, make known, utter, tell, relate, announce: 11, 43. LGoth. KUNpJAN, OS CUTHIAN, OHG CHUNDEN, Mod.Ger. KÜNDEN, Norw. KUNNGJ0RE.] 154

D

dsecL f. deed, act(ion): 86, 364, 389. [Goth. DEDS, OS DAD,o0Fris. DEDE, OHG TAT, MHG/Mod.Ger. TAT, Dut./Dan. DAAD, Swed. DAD.]

dasg m. day: 28. [Mod.Ger. TAG, Low Ger./Dut./Dan./Swed. DAG.]

dael m. a (great) deal/quantity, portion, share, part: 367. [Mod.Ger. TEIL.]

DauiJ? pr.n. David: 273*

dea/ m. death, state of being dead: 28, 157-

deaw m.n. dew: 170. [OFris. DAW, OHG/MHG TOU, Mod.Ger. TAU, Low Ger. DAU, Dut. DAUW, Dan. DUG, Swed. DAGG.]

degol adj. unknown, secret: 201.

dema m. Judge: 357, 397•

deman v. to (ad)judge, assign a reward or punishment; think, consider: 364, 406. [Mod.Eng. DEEM, Goth. DOMYAN, OS DOMAN, OFris. DEMA, OHG TUOMIAN, MHG TttEMEN, Icel. DASMA.]

deofol m.n. a/the devil, "an evil spirit" [B-T.Suppl.]: 124, l4l, 155, 340. [Lat. DIABOLUS, OFris. DIOVEL, Mod.Ger. TEUFEL, Dan. DIJEVEL.J

deop adj. deep, profound: 417- [Low Ger. DEEP.]

deorc adj■ dark, gloomy, obscure, sinister, dreadful, wicked: 201.

dom m. judgment, sentence, decree, Last Judgment; glory, power, honor: 343» 351. [’Mod.Eng. DOOM, Goth. DOMS, OS/OFris. DOM, OHG/MHG TUOM, Dan./Swed. DOM.] don v. to do, perform, make, cause, ["representing a preceding verb" (B-T.Suppl.)]: 16. [OS DON, OFris. DUA, OHG TUOAN, MHG TUON, Mod. Ger. TUN, Low Ger. DOON, Fris. DWAEN, Dut. DOEN.] dream m. joy, felicity, gladness, pleasure, rejoicing; a musical sound of voice or instrument [B-T.Suppl.]: l4l (2), 155« [no connection w. Mod.Eng. DREAM; OS DROM.] dreogan v. to bear, endure, suffer: 176, I83. [cf. Mod.Eng.Arch. DREE.] dreosan v. to fall, drop: 170. drifan v. to impel, drive (forward/backward), force: 238. [Mod.Ger. 155

TREIBEN, Dan. DRIVE, Dut. DRIJVEN.]

drohta/ m. condition, manner/way of life, experience, society: 41?.

dryhten m. ruler, lord, king, chief, the Lord, God, Christ: 73, 155, 162, 272, 343-

dugu/ m.f. riches, prosperity, power, majesty; good, benefit, blessing; a/the [heavenly) host, troops (of men), man(hood): 124, 162, 170, 343, [OFris. DUGED, OHG TUGAD, MHG TUGENT, Mod.Ger. TUGEND, Low Ger. LÖGT.J

dun f. down, hill, mountain: 278. [cf. Mod.Eng. DUNE, OHG DUN, Mod.Ger. DÜNE, Low Ger. DÜNEN, Fr. DUNE, Itai. DUNA.]

dwaescan v.' to abolish, extinguish, destroy, put out: 47.

dyme adj. hidden, secret, obscure, concealed: 201. [Mod.Eng.Arch. DERN, OS DERNI, OFris. DERN, OHG TARNI.j

E

eac adv. also, likewise, moreover, in addition, and: 223, 351- [Mod. Eng.Arch. EKE, OS OK, OFris. AK, ON AUK, OHG OUH, MHG OUCH, Mod.Ger. AUCH, Low Ger. 00K.]

eadfruma m. giver of prosperity, author/source of happiness: 93- [cf. OE EADGIEFA.]

eadgiefa m. giver of prosperity/happiness, bounteous lord: 107- eadig adj. blessed, perfect, happy, prosperous, rich: 249, 304. [Goth. AUDAGS, OS ODAG, OHG OTAG.]

eadmod adj. humble, lowly, obedient, submissive: 347« [OHG OTMOT.]

eage n. eye: 97• [Mod.Ger. AUGE, Low Ger. OOGE, Dut. 00G.]

eahtnys f. persecution: 265. eal adv. all, full(y), very, quite, altogether, completely, wholly, entirely: 227• eald adj. old, ancient: 424. [OHG/MHG/Mod.Ger. ALT.] ealdcy//u f. old/native country, former dwelling: 299* ealdfeond m. ancient foe, old enemy, Satan: 128. [Mod.Eng. OLD + FIEND.] 156

ealdgestreon n. old treasure/wealth: 373. ealdor n. age; eternally/forever/always [in phrases with to]; 40, 251. [Goth. ALDS, OS ALDAR, OFris. ALDER, OHG ALTAR, MHG/Mod.Ger. ALTER.] eall adj. all, entire, any, every(one): 42, 77, 81, 101, 105, 117, 120, 138, 146, 168, 172, 244, 280, 284, 287, 403, 406. eard m. native place/country, region, abode, dwelling-place, home: 75» 207, 333- [OHG/MHG ART, Dut. AARD.J earg adj. vile, evil, wicked: 389- [OFris. ERCH, OHG/Mod.Ger./Dan. ARGTFris./Dut. ERG.] earhfaru f. a flight of arrows: 323- [OE EARH arrow + FARU journey.] ea/e adj. easy, smooth, mild, agreeable: 188 [y/re comp.]. ea/e adv. easily, readily: 361 [yfcast superl.]. ece adj. eternal, everlasting, to all time: 93, 222, 251, 272, 304, 305, 357, 397- [Mod.Ger. EWIG.] efenece adj. co-etemal: 26. eft adv. afterwards, again, a second time, hereafter: 16 [afterwards: referring to the past (B-T.Suppl.)], 84, 148, 175, 179, 185 [(of return, reversal) again: to a condition (B-T.Suppl.)], 187, 209 [again: "where there has been a sequence of propositions, state­ ments" (B-T.Suppl.)], 352, 385'

*esle adj. grievous, painful, deadly, loathsome, troublesome: 323- [Mod.Eng. AIL.] egsa m. terror, fear, dread, horror: 399- [Goth. AGIS, OS EGISO.] ende m. end: l60. [Mod.Ger./Dan. ENDE.] engel m. angel, a messenger: 9, 35, 67, 76. 107, 109, 143, 191, 207, 212, 222, 251, 258, 276, 299, 352, 384. [OS ENGIL, OFris. ANGEL, MHG/Mod.Ger./Dut./Dan./Swed. ENGEL.] eorl m. man (of noble rank), nobleman, hero, chief, warrior: 107- ['Mod.Eng. EARL.] eorneste adj. earnest, serious: 385• eor/buend m. earth-dweller, inhabitant, man: 280. eor/e f. earth, the ground, a country: 84, 169, 182, 187, 200, 209, 249, 333, 341, 366, 375, 389, 401. 157 eor/ware m.plur. earthdwellers, population of the earth: 258, 284. eor/wela m. earthly wealth: 172. epel m. native country, fatherland, home [of angels, i.e. heaven]: 191, 302. [OFris. ETHEL.] epelstol m. royal/hereditary/patemal/native seat, habitation, royal/ chief city, metropolis: 77• [cf. Mod.Eng. STOOL; OFris. ETHELSTOL.J

F faeder m. father, Father [i.e. God]: 26, 33, 36, 77, 93, 178, 289»’ 319, 334. [OS FADER, OHG FATAR.] faegre adv. kindly, beautifully, sweetly, fairly, nobly: 33, 68. [Mod. Eng. FAIR.] fah adj. guilty, damned, criminal: 390. [Goth. FAYAN, OHG FEH, MHG vechT] faeh/ f. enmity, feud, hostility, vengeance: 178. [OFris. FEITHE, MHG VEHEDE, Mod.Ger. FEHDE, Dut. VEETE, Low Ger. VEDE, Dan. FELDE.] fasle adj■ faithful, good, true, dear: 206. [Mod.Eng. Obs. FELE; cf. OHG FEILI, Mod.Ger. FEIL.] faemne f. virgin, maiden, Mary: 281, 3^9- [Lat. FEMINA, OS FEMEA, OFris. FAMNE, Icel. FEIMA.] faran v. to go, depart, come, ascend, proceed, travel: 42, 74. [cf. ■ Mod.Eng. FARE; MEFARE(n), Goth./OS/OHG FARAN, OFris./ON/lcel./Swed. FARA, MHG VAR(e)N, Mod.Ger. FAHREN, Dut. VAREN, Dan./Norw. FARE.] faerscyte m. sudden shot: 327- faersearo n. sudden/insidious artifice, sudden device: 331• faest adj. fast, firmly fixed/attached, closely bound, immovable, steadfast, constant: 291, 424. [0S/Low Ger./Dan./Swed. FAST, OFris./ Fris./Mod.Ger. FEST.] fæste adv. firmly, fast: 327« fæ/m m. embracing arms, womb, bosom: 212, 3^9- [cf. Mod.Eng. FATHOM.] fela subst.n./adj. many, much, many (a) thing(s): 23 [w.gen.plur.], 227. [Mod.Eng. Obs. FELE, Goth./OHG FILY, OS FILO, ÔFris. FELO, MHG 158

VIL, Mod.Ger. VIEL, Low Ger./Dut. VEEL, Fris. FOLL.]

feogan v. to hate, persecute, vex: 47, 270. [Goth. FIYAN.]

feoh n. wealth, property, money, goods; cattle [medium of exchange in AS England, hence a valuable commodity]; the OE rune , and the OE letter F, having the above meanings: 368 [representing the seventh, and last, letter in Cyn(e)wulf's name]. [Mod.Eng. FEE; the following denote cattle/property/money: Goth. FAIHU, OS FEHU, OFris. FIA, ON FE, OHG FIHU, MHG VIHE, Mod.Ger. VIEH, Low Ger./ Dut. VEE, Dan. FAS, Swed. FÄ.]

feond m. hostile spirit, devil, fiend, enemy, foe, malevolent person: 130, 184, 200, 294, 331. [Mod.Ger. FEIND.]

feondscype m. enmity, hatred, hostility: 47. [Mod.Eng. FIEND + SHIP.]

feorhgiefa m. giver of life, the Lord: 11?.

feorhner n. [Hall/Das/Cook: f.], preservation of life, salvation, a refuge, nourishment, sustenance: 171.

feor/a adj. fourth: 289- feowertig adj. forty: 27 [subst.]. fergan v. to lead, conduct, steer, carry, bear, convey: 79» 4l4. fer/ m.n. spirit, soul, mind, heart, life: 37, 229- fer/werig adj. soul-weary, sad: 391- fifta adj. fifth: 291. findan v. to find, obtain by search or study, discover, ascertain, determine, imagine: 362. [Goth. FINpAN, OS/OHG FINDAN, OFris./Swed./ Icel. FINNA, Mod.Ger. FINDEN.] finger m. finger: 229. [os/OHG FINGAR, OFris./MHG/Mod.Ger./Fris./Dan./ Swed. FINGER.] firas m.plur. men, mankind, human beings: 171. [icel. FIRAR.] firen f. sin, crime, offence, wicked deed: 283- [Goth. FAIRINA, OS/ OHG FIRINA, OFris. FIRNE, Icel. FIRN.] flacor adj. flying/fluttering/flickering/quivering (of arrows): 237- [cf. Mod.Eng. Dial. FLACKER, Mod.Ger. FLACKERN.] flangeweorc n. arrows, arrow-work: 237• 159

flaesc n. flesh, body: 158 [the body, in contrast with the soul]. [Mod.Ger. FLEISCH.]

flodwudu m. flood-wood, ship: 414. [cf. OE SUNDWUDU.]

flyge m. flight, flying: 206. [Mod.Ger./icel. FLUG.]

flyht m. flight: 200, 215. [Mod.Ger. FLUCHT.]

folc n. men, people, nation, mankind, folk: 45, 7?, 87, 117, 130, 140, 149 , 325. [OS/ON/OFris./Dan./Swed. FOLK, OHG FOLC, MHG VOLC, Mod. Ger./Dut. VOLK, Fris. FOLCK; cf. Russ. TTO7TK regiment.]

foldaern n. sepulchre, tomb, grave, cave: 291« [OE FOLD earth + TERN place.]

folde f. earth, world, (dry) land, region: 27, 368. [ON FOLD.] forbygan v. to cast/bend/bow down, humiliate: 292. forcuman v. to vanquish, wear out, exhaust, overwhelm, destroy: 122. [Mod.Ger. VERKOMMEN.] fore prep, before, "within sight or hearing of" [B-T.Suppl.], in(to) the presence of, on account of, because of: 230 [w.dat.], 357 [w.acc.], 397 [w.dat■]■ forespreca m. spokesman, advocate: 294. [cf. Mod.Ger. FÜRSPRECHER.] forgiefan v. to give, bestow, grant (permission), permit, dispense, forgive: 148, 174, 337. ['Goth. FRAGIBAN, OHG FERGEBAN, Mod.Ger. VERGEBEN.] forht adj. afraid, fearful, feeling fear, affrighted, timid: 362. [OS FORAHT, OHG FORHT.] forma adj. first: 281. [Goth. FRUMA, OS F0RM0, OFris. FORMA.] forseon y. to despise, scorn, reject (with scorn), hold in contempt: 318. [OHG FERSEHAN, Mod.Ger. VERSEHEN.] for/ adv. (hence)forth, thence, further, still, on [expressing continuity of movement, direction, or action (B-T.Suppl.)], forth/ out ("so as to be seen or known" [b~T.Suppl.]): 50, 143, 246, 270, 325. for/on adv. [OED/Cook: conj.] for that cause, therefore, consequently: 317, 327, 376. fraetwe f.plur. treasures, ornaments, trappings, adornments: 68, 83, 117, 366, 368. 160

frea m. ruler, lord., king, master, the Lord.: 36. [Goth. FRAUYA, Icel. FREYR.]

frecne adj. dangerous, perilous, horrible, savage: 331, 4l4. [cf. OS frokanTJ

fremmanv. to perform, make, effect, do commit, advance, get on: 204, 216. [cf. Mod.Eng. subst. FRAME; OS FREMMIAN, OFris. FREMMA, ON/ Icel. FREMJA, OHG (GI-) FREMEN, Dan. FREMME.j

freobearn n. noble child, glorious son: 204, 3^9-

freond m. friend, associate: 136. [Goth. FRIJONDS, OS/OFris. FRIUND, ON FRffiNDE, OHG FRIUNT, MHG VRIUNT, Mod.Ger. FREUND, Icel. FRZENDI.]

freonoma m. surname: 197-

Tri/ m.n. peace, security, protection, "freedom from molestation" LB-T.Suppl.]: 50, 334. [Mod.Ger. FRIEDE.]

frofor f. joy, consolation, refuge, help, comfort, solace: 50, 83, 283, 289, 319, 362. [OS FROBHRA.]

from prep.w.dat. from; since: 28, 219, 400 [temporal].

from adv. away: 37-

fromlice adv. promptly, confidently, boldly, speedily, strongly: 136, 237.

fruma m. originator, author, chief, ruler, prince, Lord, origin, beginning, source: 77, 140, 405- [Goth. FRUMS.]

frumbearn n. first-born child, a firstborn: 68.

frumgesceap n. (first) creation [of the world], beginning: 400. [OE FRUM first + GESGEAP creation.] frumsceaft m. created being, creature, creation of the world: 33- fugel m. bird: 197, 200, 206, 215: [Mod.Eng. FOWL, ME FOULE, Goth. FUGLS, OFris. FUGEL, OHG FOGAL, Mod.Ger. VOGEL, Low Ger. VAGEL, Dan. FUGL.] fulwian v. to baptize: 45- fusleo/ n. death-song, parting song: 184. fyllan v. to strike down, fell, defeat, kill, cut down, destroy, tumble, throw down, cast down: 47, 270. [OS FALLIAN, OFris. FELLA, OHG FALLAN, MHG FALLEN, Mod.Ger. FÄLLEN, Dut. VELLEN.] l6l

fyr n. fire: 186. [Mod.Ger. FEUER, Dan./Swed. FYR.]

fyrbae/ n. fire-bath, hell-fire: 391-

fyren adj. fiery, burning, flaming; fire-bearing: 294. [OHG FIURIN.]

fyrnweorc n. creation, created things, old/ancient work: 140. [cf. Mod.Eng. Obs. FERN former, ancient, OS FERN; OHG FIRNI, MHG VIRNE, Mod.Ger. FIRNE.]

G

gafol n. tribute, tax: 120. [Possible Celtic origin; Med.Lat. GABLUM, OF GAULE, Fr. GABELLE.]

galan v. to sing, chant, call: 184. [cf. Mod.Eng. NIGHTINGALE, YELL; OS/OHG GALAN, ON GALA.]

Galilesce adj. Galilean: 72.

garfaru f. flight of spears: 342. [cf. OE EARHFARU flight of arrows.] gargetrum n. armed company, a troop armed with spears/javelins, storm/ shower of darts/missiles: 235- gaesne adj. barren, unfruitful, sterile: 410. gaest m. soul, (divine/good/bad) spirit; life: 133, 158, 199, 210, 226, 245, 268, 271, 289, 314, 335, 338, 374, 377, 409- [Mod.Eng. GHOST, OS GEST, OFris./Swed. GAST, OHG/MHG/Mod.Ger. GEIST, Fris. GzEST, Low Ger./Dut. GEEST, cf. Sansk. HEDAS anger.] gasstgeryne n. spiritual mystery, mystery of the mind, meditation, thought: 1, 274. [cf. Mod.Eng. GHOST + RUNE, Mod.Ger. GEIST + RAUN.] gaesthalig adj. holy, spiritual, sacred, holy in spirit: 145- gaesthof n. guesthouse, place of lodging: 381. [Mod.Ger. GASTHOF.] gaestlic adj. spiritual, ghostly; "terrible, ghastly" [B-T.Suppl.]: 260. gaestsunu m. spiritual son, spirit-son, Christ: 221, 421. ge conj. and, also: 407- [OS GE.] geardagas m.plur■ former times, old times, days of old, lifetime: 120, 382.Tcf. Mod.Eng. YORE.] 162

geare adv. (very) well, certainly, entirely: 134. [Mod.Eng.Arch. YARE, ON G[j]ORVA.]

gearo adj. ready, prepared: 10, 21. [Mod.Eng.Arch. YARE, OS GARU, OHG GAROTMHG/Mod.Ger. GAR.]

gearosnottor adj. very wise, proficient, "quite sagacious" [Das]: 274.

geat n. gate, door: 137- [OS/OFris./ON/MHG/Fris./Low Ger./Dut./Dan./ Icel. GAT, Mod.Ger. GASSE.]

gehindan v. to wrap (round), hind, tie (up), fetter: 293- [Goth. GABINDAN, OS GIBINDAN.]

gehugan v. to bend, turn (a thing), penetrate, bow (down ones elf), submit (to): 329- [Goth. GABIUGAN, OHG GEBIUGAN.]

gebyrdu f. birth, descent, parentage, family, origin: 285- [Goth. GABAURpS, OS GIBURD, Mod.Ger. GEBURT.]

geceosan v. to choose, decide, approve, seek out: 7, 58 [£■£•]» 151« [Goth. GAKIUSAN, OHG GICHIOSAN.] gecnawan v. to recognize, understand, know, perceive, acknowledge, declare, make known: 215« gedafenian v. to be fitting, be proper, be becoming: 112. gedeman v. to judge, deem, decree, condemn, pass judgment upon: 86. [cf. Mod.Eng. DOOM, Goth. GADOMJAN.] gedryht f. band (of retainers), company, host: 18, 76, *80. gefasstnian v. to fasten, fix, secure: 296. gefea m. joy, gladness: 12, 146, 304. [OHG GEFEHO.] gefeon v. to rejoice, exult, be glad: 37, 65, 318. gefremman v. to effect, accomplish, make, do, act, commit, engage (oneself]" in, advance, further, promote: 87, 127, 158, 163, 188 ["as a verb of incomplete predication" (B-T.Suppl.).] gefreogan v. to (make/set) free, liberate: 149. gefreo/ian v. to protect, guard, preserve, shelter, defend, save, rescue: 1^9. [cf. OE FRIB.] gefrignan v. to learn by inquiry/asking, ask, hear (of): 400 [£.£• of 0E *GEFRAGEN?]. [cf. Mod.Ger. FRAGEN.] 163

gefyllan v. to (ful)fill, accomplish, (make) complete, finish, satisfy: 29. [Goth. GAFULLJAN, OHG GEFULLEN.]

gefysan v. to he ready to set out, make ready, hasten: 36- [cf. OE FUS,]

gegan v. to happen, come to pass, go: 4.

gehaeftan v. to hind, confine, fetter, imprison, condemn: 123« [cf. Goth. HAFTJAN, OS HEFTIAN, Mod.Ger. HEFTEN.]

gehat n. a promise, "what is promised, a promised good" [B-T.Suppl.], a vow: 102.

gehleapan v. to leap/jump upon, jump: 278.

gehlid n.plur. roof, vault, covering, arch: 79- [cf. Mod.Eng. LID.]

gehwa pron. each one, every [w.gen.], all. everyone, some/any one/thing each/every thing: 51 [adj. every], 264 [gen; used subst.], 376.

gehwylc pron. each, every [w.gen.plur.], all, everyone: 86, 150, 162 [gen.plurT], 38I, 408 [gen.giLr^ gehygd f.n. thought, meditation: 3O8. [Goth. GAHUGDS, OS GIHUGD.] gehyld n. protection, keeping, preservation: 106. gehynan v. to humble, afflict, destroy, scorn, disregard, oppress: 123- [cf. Goth. HAUNJAN, OFris. HENA, Fris. HUYNJEN.] gehyran v. to hear, obey, listen to: 53» 147, 358, 395* gehyrwan v. to despise, speak ill of, dishonor, disregard: 20. gelad f. (water)way, watercourse [fig. for sea, ocean]: 417» gelsedan v. to bring, lead, conduct: 140, 420. gela/ian v. to summon, call, ask, invite, call upon, assemble: 19- geleafa m. belief, faith: 44. [cf. Mod.Eng. BE+LIEF, Mod.Ger. GLAUBE.] gelic adj. (a)like, similar, equal: 4ll [superl. gelicost swa: most/ very similar to], [cf. OE LIC; Goth. GALEIKS, OS GELIC, OFris. GELIK, ON/lcel. GLIKR, OHG GELIH, Mod.Ger. GLEICH.] gelice adv. just as (if), in the same way as, according as, in like manner, similarly, likewise: 344 [gelice . . . swa: just as ]. geli/an v. to sail, arrive, come,' move: 418 [£.£. geliden]. 164

gelyfan v. to believe, trust, hope: 21?, 31^ • [Goth. GALAUBJAN, OS GILOBIAN, OHG GILOUBAN, Mod.Ger. GLAUBEN.]

gemaene adj. common: 142. [Mod.Ger. GEMEIN.]

gemet n. boundry, limit, end, measure; "power" [Das]: 38? [plur.: boundaries/limits; "powers" (Das).] gemot n. assembly, council, meeting: 356, 393- [cf. Mod.Eng. MOOT.] gemynd f.n. memory, recollection, thought, action/state of thinking, mind, intellect: 226. [OHG GIMUNT.] gen adv. still, yet, again, besides, moreover;[pa gen: yet, still]: 57, 103; 295. geniman v. to take (away), carry off, steal, accept, adopt as: 141. [Goth. GANIMAN, OS GINIMAN, OHG GENEMAN.] geniwian v. to renew, restore, change: 90- [cf. Mod.Eng. NEW.] geo adv. once, formerly, of old, already: 374. geomor adj. sad, troubled, sorrowful, miserable: 60. [Dut./Mod.Ger. jammerTJ geomonnod adj. sad of soul/mind, sad-hearted, sorrowful, gloomy: 96. geond prep.w.acc. throughout, through, upon, over, in, on, among, beyond: 30 [geond . . . innan: throughout], 42, 43, 205, 224, 346, 371, 413, 4l6. [cf. Mod.Eng.Arch. YOND.] georne adv. well, thoroughly, carefully, attentively, eagerly, earnestly, pressingly, gladly: 314, 382, 410. geomlice adv. earnestly, eagerly, diligently, zealously: 1. [cf. Mod.Eng. YEARN.] geotan v. to pour away, squander, pour out/forth, shed, cause to flow: 378. [Goth. GIUTAN, OS GIOTAN, OHG GIOZAN, Mod.Ger. GIESSEN.] geryman v. to clear (a space), open up, enlarge, make room: 426. [cf. Mod.Eng. REAM; Mod.Eng.Dial. RIME, OFris. REMA, Mod.Ger. RÄUMEN.] geryne n. mystery, what is beyond human comprehension [B-T.Suppl.], hidden meaning: 164 [geryno]. [cf. Mod.Eng. RUNE; Goth. GARUNI, OS GIRUNI.] gesaelan v. to bind, shackle, tie, restrain: 297- 165 gesceaft f. creation, world., earth, creature, created thing: 233» 403« [Goth. GASKAFTS, OS GISKEFTI, OHG GASKAFT.J gescildan v. to shield, defend (against), save, protect/preserve (from): 322, 336. gesceppan v. to create, shape, make: 220. [Goth. GASKAPJAN, OS GISKOP, OHG GESCAFAN.] gesecan v. to seek, visit, go to, come to, resort to: 85, 132, 18?, 207. geseon v. to see, perceive, behold: 59» 63, 67, 73» 83» H5» 301» 355- gesittan v. to sit (down), settle, occupy: 92. [Goth. GASITAN, OS GISITTIAN, OHG GESIZZEN.] gesip m. comrade, retainer, companion, thane: 34- [OS GISIB, OHG GISIND, Mod.Ger. GESIND.] gesomning f. congregation, union, association: 26l. gestigan v. to ascend, rise, mount, scale, spring up; descend: 75, ' 191, 240, 310. [cf. OE STIGAN.] gestyllan v. to descend; ascend, mount, to spring, move rapidly: 209 [descendJ, 277 [ascend, mount]. gesyllan v. to give, grant, bestow, deliver: 244. gepeon v. to prosper, be great, prevail, flourish, grow: 312 [£.•£• gepungen: "with highly developed powers" (Das)]. [Goth. GApEIHAN, OS GipTHAN, OHG GEDIHAN.] gepingian v. to mediate, intercede, reconcile, settle a dispute: 177« geweald n. power [over anything], control, rule, dominion: 266. [OS GIWALD, OHG GAWALT, MHG/Mod.Ger. GEWALT.] geweorpan v. to be, become, happen, be made, come to be/pass, exist, turn (into): 112, 185, 276, 283, 301. [OS GIWERBAN, OHG GEWERDAN.] geweor/ian v. to honor, "put in an honourable position or condition" [B-T.Suppl.], make worthy, esteem, venerate: 220. [OS GIWERBON, OHG GEWERDON.] gewerian v. to clothe, array, put on, cover, bedeck: 8, 113- gewinn n. toil, labor, strife, conflict, battle: I83. [OS GEWIN, OHG GAWIN, Mod.Ger. GEWINN.] 166

gewit n. intellect, understanding, mind: 201. [cf. Mod.Eng. WIT.]

gewitan v. to go (away), depart, proceed, set out towards: 55, 94.

gewrit n. Scripture, writ, writing, book: 108.

gewyrcan v. to make, create, cause, bring about (a result), perform: 182, 241, 324.

giedd n. a song, poem, parable, lay, riddle, "eloquent rhetorical speech" [Das]: 194, 274. giefan v. to give, grant, bestow: 34, 39, 165, 235- [ME 3IVEN/3EVEN, Goth. GIBAN, OS GEBHAN, OFris. GEVA, ON GEFA, OHG GEBAN, MHG/Mod. Ger. GEBEN, Dut. GEVEN.] giefstol m. gift-seat, throne (of grace): 133> [cf. Mod.Eng. STOOL, Mod.Ger. STUHL.] giefu f. gift, grace, favor: 4l, 210, 221, 243, 247, 271, 421. gielp m.n..vainglory, pride, glory, boasting, arrogance, ostentation: 245, 378. [Mod.Eng. YELP, OS GELP, OHG GELF.] gieman v. to care for, take care of, heed, regard: 267. [Goth. GAUMJAM, OS GOMEAN, Dan. GJEMME.] gif conj. if when: 342. [cf. OS/ON EF, OFris. IEF, OHG IBU, MHG OBE, Mod.Ger. OB, Dut. OF.] gifre adj. greedy, voracious, covetous, devouring: 374. gimm m. gem, jewel, [fig. as:] stars, sun, moon, the eye: 253, 256. glsedmod adj. cheerful, with joyful mind, joyous, glad-minded: 137- gleobeam m. harp, glee-beam: 231- god m. God: 96, I33, 145, 192, 204, 221, 247, 256, 260, 268, 271, 305, 315, 325, 335, 342, 349, 378, 421. [Goth. GUp, OS/OFris./Dut. GOD, ON GOB, OHG/MHG GOT, Mod.Ger. GOTT, Swed./Dan. GUD.] god n. "what is beneficial, advantageous" [B-T.Suppl.], good (thing/ deed), benefit, welfare, pleasant: 4l. godbearn n. Son of God, divine-child: 60, 243, 263. godcund adj. heavenly, celestial, spiritual, divine, religious, sacred, "of the nature of God" [B-T.Suppl.]: 199, 231. [OS GODKUND, OHG GOTCHUND.] 167

goldhord n.m. treasury, storehouse, repository, treasure: 3^8.

gongan v. to go, proceed, come, continue: 94, 137- [Goth. GAGGEN, OS/ OHG GANGAN, OFris. GUNGA, ON/lcel. GANGA.]

gretan v. to touch,handle, play: 231- [cf. Mod.Eng. GREET, Mod.Ger. GRÜSSEN.]

grom adj. fierce, furious, angry, hostile: 3^2. [Mod.Ger. GRAM.]

gromhydig adj. fierce, hostile, malignant: 295- [OS GRAMHUGDIG.]

grund m. earth, ground, land, country, depth, abyss, hell: 42, 60, 123, 243, 263, 305, 346. [Mod.Ger. GRUND.]

grundsceat m. region of the earth: 210.

gryrebroga m. terror, horror: 409.

guma m. man: 72, 374, 38I. [cf. Mod.Eng. BRIDEGROOM; Lat. HOMO, OS GOMO, OFris./OHG GOMA, ON/lcel. GUMI.]

gup f. battle, fight, combat, war: 235« gu/plega m. battle/war-play, struggle, contest, battle: 134. [OE GUB + PLEGA.]

H habban v. to have [aux.w.p.p.], have, possess, hold, keep: 29, H9, 202, 319, 418. [Goth. HABAN, OS HEBBIAN, OFris. HEBBA, ON HAFA, OHG/MHG HABEN, Mod.Ger. HABEN, Dut. HEBBEN, Dan. HAVE.] had m. character, form, manner, state, nature, condition, person, sex: 5. [Mod.Eng. -HOOD.] haedor adj■ bright, clear: 254. [Mod.Ger. HEITER, Icel. HEIBR.] haeft m. captivity, imprisonment, bondage: 129- [OHG/Mod.Ger./icel. HAFT?] haelend m. the Savior, Christ, Jesus, a healer [B-T.Suppl.]: 66, 195, 353. [OS HELIAND, OHG HEILANT, Mod.Ger. HEILAND; cf. OFris. HELA.] haele/ m. hero, man, warrior: 22, 95, 169, 230. [Mod.Ger. HELD.] halig adj■ holy, holy [of the Deity], saintly, godly, aholy/godly person, free from sin: 22, 90 [subst.], 95, HO, 119 [subst.], 168

193, 214, 219, 253 [pertaining to divine operations in the physical world (B-T.Suppl.)] 298 [subst.], 300, 311, 321, 350, 427. LOS HELAG, OFris. HËLICH, OHG HEILAG, Mod.Ger. HEILIG.] hælo f. salvation, deliverance, safety, health, prosperity, glory: 174, 313, 420. hals f. salvation, redemption, health: 148. hælubeam n. Savior, Christ, Christ-child: 147, 315* ham m. home, house, dwelling: 208. [cf. Mod.Eng. BUCKINGHAM; Goth. HAIMS, OS/OFris. HEM, 0N/lcel. HEIMR, OHG/MHG/Mod.Ger. HEIM, Swed. HEM, Dan. HJEM; cf. Lith. KEMAS.] hand f. hand, side [determining relative position]: 92. [OS/OFris./ Mod.Ger. HAND.] hat adj. fervent, ardent, revealing intense feeling, hot, fierce: 6l, ÎOÔTTOS HET, Mod.Ger. HEISS.] hae/en adj. heathen, pagan, gentile, profane: 266. [Goth. HEIpNO, OS HEBIN, ON/lcel. HEIBINN, OFris. HETHIN, OHG HEIDAN, MHG/Dut. HEIDEN, Mod.Ger. HEIDE, Swed./Dan. HEDEN. he pron. he: nom.sing.m.: he 6, 27, 33, 129, 141, 165, 174, 175, 189, 194, 209, 212, 244, 252, 257, 281, 285, 288, 290, 292, 295, 298, 320, 336, 377, 379, 404, 427; nom.sing.f.: hi 120; nom.sing.n.: hit 262; acc.sing.m.: hine 197, 342, 404 [reflex.]; dat.sing.m./n.: him 104 [reflex.], 109, 157, 245, 338, 340, 360, 364, 375; gen.sing.m./ n.s his 18, 31, 128, 142, 148, *176, 213, 226 (2), 243, 246, 252, 279, 299, 320, 326, 382; nom.plur.: hi 59, 62, 203, 268, 390; hy 15, 19, 56, 67, 96, 389; hie 16; dat.plur.: him 23, 33, 60, 94 [reflex.], 204; gen.plur.: hyra 21, 98, 398. heafela m. the head: 66. heah adj. high, exalted, lofty, tall: 214, 239, 278, 310 [superl.]. [Mod.Ger. HOCH.] heahengel m. archangel: 89. heahhlip n. high/lofty hill: 306 [plur. heahhleopu]. heahsetl n. throne, official/exalted/judgment/high seat, seat of honor: 116. heahpu f. on high, heaven, height, glory: 59, 69, 321, 350, 427- [cf. Mod.Eng. HIGH; Goth. HAUHipA.] 169 healdan y. to (up)hold, support, keep (watch), obey, have (possession of), contain, manage: 50, 328, 374. [Goth./OS HALDAN, ON/OFris./ Icel. HALDA, OHG HALTAN, Mod.Ger. HALTEN.] healice adv. on high, highly, greatly, excellent: 254. hean adj■ lowly, miserable, weak, humbled, wretched, rendered abject, poor, despised: 193. [Goth. HAUNS, OHG HON, Mod.Ger. HOHN.] heap m. band, company, armed troop, multitude, host: 110, 292. [Mod. Eng. HEAP, OS HOP, OFris. HAP, ON/lcel. HOPR, OHG/MHG HOUF, Dut. HOOP, Low Ger. HOP; cf. Mod.Ger. HAUFE.] hearpe f. harp: 230. [ON/Swed. HARPA, OHG HARPHA, Mod.Ger. HARFE, Dut. HARP, Dan. HARPE.] hebban v. to raise/lift up, bear aloft, exalt, extol: 212 [£•£•]• [Mod.Eng. HEAVE, Goth. HAFJAN, OS HEBBIAN, OFris. HEVA, ON/lcel. HEFJA, OHG HEFFEN, MHG/Mod.Ger. HEBEN, Swed. HÄFVA, Dan. HAVE.] hell f. hell, place of the dead: 119 [personified], 123, 152. hellwaran m.pl. dwellers in hell, "inmates of hell" [Das]: 292. helm m. protector, lord, the Lord, Christ, helmet, covering: 24, 90, 12?, 195. [Goth. HILMS, OS/OFris./OHG/Mod.Ger. HELM, Icel. HIALMR.] help f. help, succour, assistance, aid: 193, 419- [OS HELPA, OFris. HELFE, ON/lcel. HJALP, Swed./Dan. HJELP.] heofon m. heaven, sky, firmament: 46, 79, 106, 116, 152, 214, 298, 339, 427- [Goth. HIMMINS, OS HE£An/hIMIL, OFris. HIMUL, ON/lcel. HIMINN, OHG HIMIL, Mod.Ger./Dan./Swed./Norw. HIMMEL, Low Ger. HEBEN.] heofoncondel f. candle of heaven [fig. the moon, the sun, the stars]: 169. heofonengel m. heavenly angel, an angel from heaven: 53* heofonrice n. kingdom of heaven, "heaven as the abode of God and angels" [B-T.Suppl.]: 127- [OS HEÉANRTKI; cf. Mod.Ger. HIMMELREICH.] heofontungol n. heavenly body, star of heaven: 254. heofonwoma m. sound from heaven, "terrible noise from heaven" [Das], "the sound heard at the day of judgment" [B-T.Suppl.]: 395- heonan adv. hence, from hence: 75, 143, 315* [os/OHG HINAN, Mod.Ger. hennenT] l?0

heorte f. heart [as the seat of life, emotions, feeling, intellect], mind, character, disposition: 6l, 100, 202, 308, 313« [Goth. HAIRTO, OS HERTA, ON/lcel. HJARTA, OFris. HERTE, OHG HERZA, MHG HERZE, Mod. Ger. HERZ, Swed. HJERTA, Dan. HJERTE.]

her adv. here (in this place/country/world/life), on earth; [that which is present to the sight or mind ;(Das) 82, 131, 151, 264, 305, 379, 415. [Goth./OS/lcel. HER, OFris HER, Mod.Ger. HIER.]

here m. army, body of armed men, host [as an epithet of the Deity], multitude, predatory band [usually = the Danish army in the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle]: 85 [herge], 135, 405 [herge]. [cf. Mod.Eng., v., HARRY; Goth. HARJIS, OS HERI, OFris. HERE, ON/lcel. HERR, OHG HARI, Mod.Ger. HEER, Dut. HEIR, Low Ger. HER.]

herg m. idol: 46.

herian v. to praise, extol, commend, glorify: 31, *64, 195* [Goth. HAZJAN.]

hider adv. hither, to/on this side: 321.

hidercyme m. hither-coming, advent, arrival: 148.

Hierusalem pr.n. Jerusalem: 94.

hild f. battle, warfare, conflict, war: 127- [OS HILD, ON HILDR, OHG HILTJA, MHG HILT.]

hiw n. from, shape, image, appearance, kind, color, hue: 218, 282, 286. [Goth. HIWI.]

hladan v. to accumulate, heap up, pile up, load, lade: 3^5* [Goth. HLApAN, OS/OHG HLADAN, Mod.Ger. LADEN, Icel. HLABA.] hlaford m. lord, master, the Lord, God: 22, 59» 79» 135- [OE HLAF bread + WEARD keeper.] hleahtor m. laughter, jubilation: 300. [cf. Mod.Ger. GELÄCHTER.] hleo m?n? shelter, protection, protector, lord: 167« [Mod.Eng. LEE, OS HLEO, OFris. HLI, ON/lcel. HLE, Swed. LA, Dan. L®.] hleotan v. to gain, obtain: 344. [OS HLIOTAN, OHG HLIOZAN.] hleoporcwide m. speech, discourse, words: 11. hlud adj. loud, clamorous, strongly audible: 53, 395- [cf. Goth HLIUP; OS HLUD, OFris. (H)LUD, OHG HLUT, MHG LUT, Mod.Ger. LAUT, Dut. LUID.] hlude adv. loudly: 23O. 171

hlyp m. leap, jump: 281, 287, 291, 297, 306, 308. holm m. wave, ocean, sea, water: 4l6. [0S/Low Ger. HOLM hill; perhaps OE HOLM wave used. fig. arose out of OS; ON HOLMR islet.]

holm/racu f. restless/raging sea, the ocean: 239-

hraggl n. raiment, rohe, vestment, clothing, dress: 8, 15« hream m. (out)cry/shriek (of pain/agony), clamor, uproar: 155• [see OED REAM.]

hreoh adj. rough, tempestuous, fierce: 419-

hreosan v. to fall (down), go to ruin, perish: 371«

hreran v. to stir, move: 239- [OS HRORIAN, OHG HRUORIAN, Mod.Ger. RÜHREN, Icel. HRTERA.]

*hre/er m. breast, bosom, mind, heart, thought, spirit: 100, 202. hring m. ring, circle, globe, sound (?), "frenzy" [Das]: 98 [wopes bring = shedding of tears is idea to be conveyed (B-T.Suppl.)]. hrof m. roof (of a house), top, summit, apex, sky, heaven, vault, arch: 56, 89, 310. [OFris. RHOOF, Fris./Dut. ROEF, Low Ger. ROF.] hro/or m. delight, comfort, solace, benefit: 184. hruse f. the earth, ground: 219* hrycg m. an elevated surface (of the ocean), the back/spine of the ocean, "sea with high waves" [Das], the crest of a wave: 419- [Mod. Eng. RIDGE, OHG HRUCKI, Mod.Ger. RÜCKEN, Icel. HRYGGR, Dan. RUG.] hu adv. how: 4, 147, 347. [Goth. HWE, OS HWO, OFris. HU, Dut. HOE.] huru adv. above all, especially, indeed, certainly: 174, 350« hupe f. spoil, plunder, booty, prey: 129« hwaer adv. where, in what place: 423* [cf. Goth. HWAR; OS/OHG HWAR, OFris. HWER, MHG WA, Mod.Ger. W0, Low Ger./Dut. WAAR.] hwaet adv ./inter j. why, wherefore, surely, truly, indeed; what'. Io! behold! ah! ["calls attention to a following statement’’ (Hall)]: 71 [why], 147, 188. hwaet pron.n. who, what, of what nature/character/sort: 135» 255» 364. hwaepre adv. yet, however, nevertheless: 14, 270. 172

hwearft m. circle: 72.

hweorfan v- to depart, go, turn, change, return: 37, 46. [Goth. HWAIRBAN, OFris. (h)WERVA, OS HWERBHAN, OHG HWERBAN.] hwil f. (space of) time, a while, [hwilum . . . hwilum: sometimes/ now/at one time . . . sometimes/now/at another]: 207, 209- [OE HWILUM = Mod.Eng.Arch. WHILOM; Goth. HWEILA, OS/OHG HWIL, MHG WILE, Mod.Ger. WEILE, Fris. WIL; cf. ON/lcel. HVILA.] hwit adj■ white, bright, radiant, clear: 8, 15, 106. [Goth. HWEITS, OS/OFris. HWIT, ON/lcel. HVITR, OHG (h)WIZ, MHG WIZ, Mod.Ger. WEISS.] hyge m. thought, mind, heart, soul: 6l, 181, [Goth. HUGS, OS HUGI, OFris. HEI, Fris. HUWGJEN, Mod.Icel. HUGR.] hvgerof adj. stout-hearted, brave, valiant, strong of mind/heart [B-T.Suppl.]: 95. hyht m. joy, hope, trust: 90, 446, 174, 341, 425- hyhtplega m. joyous play, frolic, "joyful dance" [Das]: 298. hyll m.f. hill: 278. hynpu f. scorn, abasement, contempt, humiliation: 152 [hienpu]. hyran v. "to obey, follow, hear, be subject to, belong to: 360. [Goth. HAUSJAN, OS HORJAN, ON/lcel. HEYRA, OFris. HERA, OHG HORREN, MHG HQSREN, Mod. Ger. HOREN. ] hyrde m. shepherd, herdsman, keeper, pastor: 11, 266. hy/ f. port, haven, harbor, landing place: 420, 425- [Mod.Eng.Obs. HITHE; cf. LAMBETH (originally LAMB + HITHE)].

I ic pron. I; nom.sing: ic 37, 38, 49, 182, 350, 353, 354, 355, 376; dat. [includ.reflex.] sing.: me 350, 353; gen.sing.: min(e) 4l, 353; nom. plur.: we 78, W, 172, 176, 307, 310, 313, 314, 317, 319, 327, 333, 344] 345, 409, 411, 415, 418, 422, 423; acc.plur.: us 220, 322, 332, 334, 336, 420, 425; dat.plur.: us I63, 1^5? 174, 188, 192, 221, 242, 312, 319, 337, 3^6, 383, 408, 419, 421, 426; gen■plur.: ure 55; usse 316; ussum 173. [Goth./0S/0Fris. IK, OHG IH, Mod.Ger. ICH.] idel adj. vain, frivolous, idle, empty: 317. [Mod.Ger. EITEL.] iecan v. to increase, add to, augment: 172. 173 ilea pron. the same: 131, 185- [preserved in Mod.Eng.: "of that ILK".] in adv. in, within, inwards [expressing motion, direction]: 138, 329« in prep.w.dat./instr. in, on, within (the space of), at, among, with, in regard to, in the case/matter of, during: 8, 14.(2), 15, 83, 91, 103, 112, 122, 159, 183, 199, 285, 293, 296, 360, 379, 380, 381, 391- in prep.w.acc. into, in, to, with(in), before, at, during: 10, 13, 16, 95, 110, 114, 121, 123, 141, 213, 218, 286, 290, 309, 325, 348, 349. innan adv./prep, in, into, (from) within, inside: 30 [prep. geond . . innan: throughout], 100 [adv.]. inne adv. inside, within: 293• lob pr.n. Job: 194.

Iudeas pr■n■plur. Jews: 198.

L lacan v. to toss, to be tossed, swing (about), "move as a ship does on the waves" [B-T.Suppl.]: 415- [Goth. LAIKAN, Icel. LEIKA.] laedan v. to lead, conduct, "march at the head of" [B-T.Suppl.], take, carry: 135, 356. [OS LEDJAN, OFris. LEDA, ON/lcel. LEIBA, OHG LEITAN, MHG/Mod.Ger. LEITEN, Swed. LEDA.] laguflod m. sea, ocean, water: 3^7 [lAGU, the name of the OE rune I* (meaning "sea, water"), signifying the 0E letter L, and representing the sixth letter in Cyn(e)wulf*s name], 4ll. [Goth. LAGUS, OS LAGU; OHG LAGU and Icel. LÖGR, also names of the runic letter and the rune , respectively.] laene adj. transitory, fleeting, temporary, frail, what is granted as a loan [B-T.Suppl.]: 403- [cf. Mod.Eng. LOAN.] laeran v. to teach, instruct, exhort, advise, persuade: 376. [Goth. LAISJAN, OS LERIAN, OFris. LERA, OHG LERAN, Mod.Ger. LEHREN.] lareow m. teacher, master: 19- [cf. Mod.Ger. LEHRER.] last m. track, step, footprint, sole of the foot [B-T.Suppl.]: 57.[cf. : Mod.Eng. LAST shoemaking, Mod.Ger. LEISTEN.] laestan v. to continue, remain, attend, carry out: 38. [Mod.Eng. LAST, Mod.Ger. LEISTEN.] 174 lap adj. hateful, hated, loathed, loathsome, causing hate/evil/ injury/annoyance, "hearing hate to another" [B-T.Suppl.J, hostile, inimical: 153, 337, 407- [OS/OFris. LEB, OHG/Mod.Ger. LEID.] leahtor m. sin, crime, moral defect: 390. lean n. reward, recompense, retribution: 34, 344, 407- [Goth./ON LAUN, OHG/MHG LON, Mod.Ger. LOHN.] leanian v. to reward, recompense, requite, pay: 388* [OFris. LANIA, OS/OHG LONON, Mod.Ger. LOHNEN.] leg m.[sometimes n. flame, fire, lightning: 370. [OS LOGNA, OHG LOUGH, Icel. LOG.” leof adj■ beloved, dear, loved, [as subst.:] dear one, beloved one, friend: 19, 34, 57, 62, 157 [comp.], 376, 403.[comp.], 407- [Mod. Eng.Arch. LIEF, OFris./Dut. LIEF, Mod.Ger. LIEB.] leofwendum adj. amiable, pleasing, gracious: 32 [used adverbially: ardently, gratefully]. leoht n. light (of day), brightness, splendor: 65, 146, 153- [Goth. LIUHAp, OS/OHG LIOHT, OFris. LIAGHT, MHG LIEHT, Mod.Ger. LICHT.] leoht adj. light, bright, shining, clear, respendent: 153- leoma m. ray of light, beam, light, radiance, splendor: 257- [OS LIOMO.] lie n. body [living or dead], the flesh: 338, 38O. [cf. Mod.Eng. LIKE; Goth. LEIK, OS LIC, OFris./icel. LIK, ON/Swed. LIK, OHG LIH, MHG LICH, Mod.Ger. LEICHE, Low Ger. LICHE, Dut. LIJK, Dan. LIG.] liegan v. to lie (low), be at rest, be subject to: 295« [Goth./OHG LIGAN, OS LIGGIAN, OFris. LIGA, Mod.Ger. LIEGEN.] lichoma m. flesh, body ["generally of living person" (B-T.Suppl.)]: 189, 316. [OS LIKHAMO, OFris. LICCOMA, OHG LIHHAMO, Dut. LICHAAM; cf. Mod.Ger. LEICHNAM.] lif n. life, (in)animate existence, mortal/eternal existence [Das]: 32, 146, 157, 337- [OS/OFris./icel. LIF.] liffruma m. source or author of life, God, Christ: 65, 217- lifgan v. to live, exist, continue in life, abide, last: 182, 316, 390- lifwynn f. pleasure/joy of life, life-joy: 36/. 175

lim n. limb, member (of an animal body includ./not includ. the head), organ or part of the body, branch of a tree: 189 [leomum], 338 Lleomu].

li/an v. to sail, go [by sea]: 412. [Goth. GALEIpAN, OS LIBAN, OHG GALIDAN, Icel. LIBA.]

libe ad. j • gentle, soft, pleasant, calm, meek, serene, gracious: 166. [cf. Mod.Eng. LITHE; OS LITHI, OHG LINDE, Mod.Ger. LIND, Icel. LINR.]

lixan v. to shine, glitter, gleam, be bright/brilliant: 66, *259*

lof n. praise, song of praise, hymn: 173» 338. [OS/OFris./ON/lcel./ Dut./Swed. LOF, OHG/Mod.Ger. LOB, Dan. LOV.]

lofian v. to praise, laud, ascribe glory to: 65» 195-

lond n. (dry) land, earth, realm, region, domain: 418.

longe adv. long, for/during a long time: 62 [comp.], 366, 390«

lufian v. to love, adore, show love to, worship, cherish: 32-

lufu f. love, (warm) affection, act of kindness, attachment: 38» 146. lust m. (sinful) desire/appetite, lust, pleasure, delight: 317- [Goth. LUSTUS, OS/OFris./OHG/MHG/Mod.Ger./Dut. LUST; cf. ON LOSTE, Dan./ Icel. LYST.]

*lyfte m.f.n. air, sky, cloud, heavens, wind, atmosphere: 52. [Goth. LUFTUS, OHG/Mod.Ger. LUFT.] lygesearu n. false trick, wile, snare: 337- [cf. Mod.Ger. Lt)GE.] lytel adj. small, little: 139- [OS LUTTIL, OHG LUZZIL, Dut. LUTTEL.]

M magan v. to be able, may, can: 125, 198, 215, 227, 229, 231, 232, 233, 237, 239, 240, 36I, 405, 422. maegen n. strength, power, might, (military) force, virtue, ability, host: 164, 318, 309 (2), 348, 393- [Mod.Eng. MAIN, OS MEGIN, ON/ Icel. MAGU, OHG MAGAN.J maegenprymm m. glory, heaven, angelic/heavenly host, majesty: 118. maeg/ f. maiden, virgin, woman, girl: 6, 282. [Goth. MAGABS, Mod.Ger. magdT] 176

maeg/ f. nation, people, family, tribe: 84.

magutudor n. offspring: 190.

maere adj■ mighty, illustrious, famous, celebrated: 2, 7, 17, 150, 208.

Maria pr.n. Mary: 6.

maerpu f. glory, honor, fame, greatness, great action, famed exploit, glorious work: 152, 309. [Goth. MERITHA, OS MARIBA, OHG MARIDA.] mae/lan v. to speak, make a speech: 358. [ME MELL.] meaht f. power, might(iness), authority, virtue, ability: 39, 49, 128, 208, 213, 277, 383. [Goth. MAHTS, OS/OHG/MHG MAHT, OFris./Mod.Ger./ Dut. MACHT.] mengu f. multitude, crowd, throng, great number: 70. [cf. OE MONIG; Goth. MANAGEI, OS MENIGI, OFris. MENI, ON MENGI, OHG MANEGI, MHG MENEGE, Mod.Ger. MENGE; cf. Russ. MNOtUie.] mennisc adj.. human: 282. [Goth. MANNISKS, OS MENNISK, OFris. MANNISK, OHG MENNISC; cf. Mod.Ger. MENSCH.] meotud m. creator, God, Lord: 13, 150, 190, 277• meowle f. virgin, woman, maiden: 7« micel adj■ great, much: [post.:] 213, 312, 387, 408; [comp.:] 399» [superl.:] 111, 129, 178, 394. [Mod.Eng.Arch. MICKLE, Goth. MIKILS, OS MIKIL, ON MIKELL, OHG MIHHIL, MHG MICHEL, Swed. MYCKEN.] micel adv. greatly, much: 403« mid prep.w.dat.[includ.instr.]/acc■ with, at, in, among: dat.: 39 [?], ^9TU, 78, 155b, 156a, 156b, 196 [?], 222, 279, 313T?“I7"31^5 acc.: 22, 76, 80, 155a, 316. middangeard m. earth, world, "the earth as situated between heaven and hell" [0Ed]: 13, 118, 205, 259, 348, 387. [cf. Mod.Eng. MIDDLE + YARD; Goth MIDJUNGARDS, OHG MITTINGART; cf. ON/lcel. MIBGARBR, OS/ OHG MITTILGART.] mihtig adj■ mighty, powerful, able: 36, 247 [meahtig]. [Goth. MAHTEIGS, OS/OHG MAHTIG, OFris. MECHTIG, ON MATTEGR, MHG MECHTIC, Mod.Ger. MÄCHTIG, Icel. MATTIGR.] milde adj■ mild, benign, merciful, gentle: 383" mislic adj. various, manifold, diverse: 205- [Goth. MISSA-LEIKS, OS mislicTJ 177 mod. n. mind, heart, spirit, soul, disposition, courage: 223, 226. [Mod.Eng. MOOD, Goth. MODS, OS/OFris, MOD, ON/lcel, MOBR, OHG MUOT, Mod.Ger. MUT, Swed./Dan. MOD.] modcraeft m. mental skill, intelligence, shrewdness: 2. [Mod.Eng. MOOD + GRAFT.] modig adj. high/nohle spirit, high-spirited, noble-minded: 208, 30?. [Mod.Eng. MOODY, Mod.Ger. MUTIG.] mona m. the moon: 16?, 255, 259. [Goth. MENA, OS/OHG MANO, OFris. MONA.] monig adj. many, many a: 205, [subst.:] 356, 362. [Goth. MANAGS, OS/ OHG MANAG, OFris. MANICH, MHG MANEC, Mod.Ger. MANCH, Dut. MENIG, Dan. MANGE.] monigfeald adj. manifold, various, of many kinds: 164, 223- [Goth. MANAGFALpS, OS MANAGFALD, OFris. MANICHFALD, OHG MANACFALT, Mod. Ger. MANNIGFALT.] monn m. man, human being, mankind: 2, 48, 145, 150, 190, 218, 224, 251, 307. motan v. may, to be allowed: 62 [w.ellipsis of inf.], [w.inf.:] 151, 379-"[Mod.Eng.Arch. MOTE, Goth. GAMOT, OS/OFris. MOT, OHG/MHG MUOZ, Mod.Ger. MUSS, Dut. MOET.] mundheals f. protection, safety, shelter: ?. munt m. mountain, hill, mount: 277, 307- muman v. to mourn, bemoan, be anxious, sorrow, grieve: 6l. [Goth. MAURNAN, OS MORNON, OHG MORNEN.] mup m. mouth: 226. [Goth. MUNpS, OS/OFris. MUTH, ON/lcel. MUNNR, OHG/ MHG/Mod.Ger. MUND, Dut. MOND, Swed. MUN.]

N naefre adv. never: 37- ne adv. not: 9, 14, 20, 40, 62, 125, 139, 198, 215, 217, 267, 340, 353, 377- [Goth./OHG NI, OS/OFris. NE.] ne conj■ nor: 378. neah adv■/prep. near, lately, recently: 96 [adv.; superl.]. [Goth. 178

NEHWA, OS/OHG NAH, OFris. NEI, MHG NA, Mod.Ger. NAH, Dut. NA; cf. ON NABUI neighbor.] neah adj. near, nigh: 343- nemnan v. to name, give a name to [a person or thing], call (upon the name of/by a name): 197- l~Mod.Eng.Obs. NEMN, Goth. NAMNJAN, OS NEMNIAN, OFris. NAMNA, ON/lcel. NEFNA, OHG NEMNAN, Mod.Ger. NENNEN.] neosan v. to visit, come to: 302. [Goth. BI-NIUHSJAN, OS NUISIAN, OHG NIUSIAN.] nergend m. Savior, a preserver [B-T.Suppl.]: 132. nied f.n. need, necessity, distress, hardship; the name of the OE rime , having the above meanings, and signifying the OE letter N: 361 [representing the third letter in Gyn(e)wulf's name]. [Goth. NAUpS, OS NOD, OFris. NED, ON/lcel. NAUB, OHG/MHG NOT, Mod.Ger. NOT, Dut. NOOD.] niht f. night, darkness: 103 [day: an ancient Gmc method of reckoning time was by nights; cf. FORTNIGHT (OE FEOWERTYNE + NIHTE) and SENNIGHT (OE SEOFONNIHTE)], 153. nu adv. now, at this time, at present, immediately: 73, 132, 150, 385; [introducing commands, requests, arguments in the following:] 1, 42, 147, 411. nu conj. now (that), since, as, when, because; [nu . . . nu: now that, since:] 119-122, 134-136. nyllan [=ne willan] v. to refuse, be unwilling, not wish: 203, 244. [see WILLAN.]

0 of prep.w.dat. from, (out) of, by among, concerning about: 27, 60, 66, 69, 129, 130, 187, 263, 309, 321, 326, 350. ofer prep.w.dat. [w.gen.: idea of rest] above, over, upon, on, beyond, in, throughout, more than, after: 182, 246. ofer prep.w.acc. [w.gen.: idea of movement] across, among, throughout, over, above, upon, on from, to, more than, against, contrary to, after, through during: 70, 79, 89, 166, 214, 218, 236, 238, 259, 306, 412, 417, 419, 422. ofermaete adj. immense, beyond measure, excessive: 415- [cf. Mod.Ger. ÜBERMÄSSIG. I 179 ofgiefan v. to leave, give up, abandon: 290. [OHG ABAGABAN.] on prep.w.dat. on, in, at, with(in), among, during, in the course of, for: 20, 37, 48, 50, 51, 52, 55, 58, 72, 111, 116, 141, 169, 182, 200, 202, 229, 243, 250, 262, 305, 319, 333, 339, 3^1, 354, 363, 368, 369, 372, 375, 382, 389, 401, 404,4 11. on prep.w.acc. on, upon, to, into, among, together, at (once), against, in accordance with: 59, 74, 92, 106, 139, 193, 226, 281, 288, 299, 300, 356, 378, 393, 402, 410, 427- on adv. on, upon: 82, 131, 415- oncnawan v. to understand, recognize, know, identify: 203, 422. [ME ACKNOW.J oncyrran v. to revoke, reverse [a sentence], turn back: 175• ond con.j. and [represented in MS by abbreviation 7]s 35, 39 (2), 44, 45, b?, 50, 82, 83, 86, 118, 122, 123, 143, 145, 146, 149, 158, 163, 165, 166, 167, 170, 173, 174, 177, 183, 185, 189, 196, 197, 201, 214, 217, 221, 223, 224, 228, 251, 255, 258, 261, 269, 270, 275, 278, 282, 3H, 318, 335, 338, 351, 361, 386, 387, 421. ondgiet n. intellect, understanding, reason, knowledge, sense, meaning: 227- ondlean n. retribution, retaliation: 392. ondraedan v. to dread, fear: 3^0, 351« ondsaec m. denial, contention, refusal: 216. [ME ANDSECH.] onfon v. to take, accept, assume, have, endure: 189, 283, 391- [cf. Mod.Ger. ANFANGEN.] ongietan v. to perceive, understand: 198. onhreran v. to agitate, disturb, move (violently), shaie, stir up: 386. [cf. Mod.Ger. RUHREN.] ohhweorfah v. to change, reverse, turn, revert: 179- onmedla m. glory, pride, pomp, magnificence: 375- onsendan v. to send (off), throw forth, dispatch: 321, 325- onsien f. face, view, presence: 357, 397- [Mod.Ger. ANSEHEN.] onsien f. lack, want, need: 4l. 180 ontynan y. to open, disclose, reveal: 137- onwreon v. to reveal, uncover, make known, disclose, relate (to explain sth.): 24. ord m. point (of a weapon); chief, prince; beginning, source: 76, 302, 329, 406. ['OS/OFris. ORD, OHG ORT, cf. Mod.Ger. ORT.] orlege n. place of strife, war, hostility: 121. [OS ORLAG, OFris. ORLOGH, Fris. OARLOGE, Icel. ÜRLÜG.] o/eowan v. to appear, show one's self: 9- [see OBYWAN.] oper pron. (an)other, the rest, somebody else: 246. [Goth. ANpAR, OS OBAR, OFris. OTHER.] oper adj. second, next: 284. o/ywan v. to appear, show, show oneself, be shown/seen: 15, 399* [see OBEOWAN; cf. Goth. AT at, to + AUGJAN eye.]

P plega m. sport, game, play [used fig. for battle, fighting, struggle]: 304.

R ræran y. to establish, set up, ordain, originate, bring about: 250. [Mod.Eng. REAR.] rass m. rush, "swift or violent running" [B-T.Suppl.]: 288. rasettan v. to rage (of a fire): 369« read adj. red: 3?0. [Goth. RAUpS, OS ROD, OFris. RAD, ON/lcel. RAUBR, OHG/MHG ROT, Mod.Ger. ROT, Low Ger./Dut. ROOD.] reccan v. to explain, expound, set forth, interpret, unfold: 232. [OS REKKIAN, OHG RECKIAN, Icel. REKJA.] recen adj. swift, quick, "violent" [Das]: 370. ren m. rain: l?0. [Goth. RIGN, OS/OHG REGAN, OFris. REIN, ON/lcel./ Swed./Dan. REGN, MHG/Mod.Ger. REGEN.] reord f.n. voice, word, speech, language: 71- [Mod.Eng.Obs. RERD(e), 181

Goth. RAZDA, ON/lcel. RÔDD, OHG RARTA.] reotan v. to weep, wail, "lament, make a noise in grief" [B-T.Suppl.]: 396. lOHG RIUZAN.] re/e adj. stern, severe, cruel, fierce: 351 [comp.], 359, 370, 386. rice n. kingdom, realm, domain, nation, authority: 36« [cf. Mod. Eng. RICH, BISHOPRIC; Goth. REIKI, OS RIKI, OFris. RIK(E), ON RIKI, OHG RICHI, Mod.Ger. REICH, Fris. RYK, Dut. RIJK, Low Ger. RIK, Icel. RIKI.] rim n. number, counting, reckoning: 28. [OFris./OHG/lcel. RIM, ON RIM.] rod f. cross, rood, crucifix: 288. [cf. Mod.Eng. ROD, Mod.Ger. RUTE; OS RUODA, OFris. RODE, OHG RUOTA, Icel. RODA.] rodor m. sky, heaven, firmament: 45, 87, 319, 359, 386, 426. rodorcyning m. king of heaven, Christ: 288. ryht n. right, justice, equity: 26l, 407. [os/OHG REHT, OFris. RIUCHT, ON RETTR, Dut./Mod.Ger. RECHT.] ryht adj■ correct, true, just, equitable, right, upright, righteous: 232ÏLGoth. RAIHTS, OS/OHG REHT, OFris. RIUCHT, ON/lcel. RETTR, MHG/ Mod.Ger./Low Ger./Dut. RECHT, Fris. RJUCHT.] ryhtend m. ruler: 359- ryhtwis adj. righteous, just: 386. ryne m.n. course, orbit, path: 232. [Goth. RUNS, OFris. RENE, OHG RUN?]

S sae m. sea, lake: 238, 413» saelan v. to fasten/tie (with a cord/an anchor), moor: 423« [cf. Mod. Ger. SEIL rope, cord.]

Salomon pr.n. Solomon: 273• sawan v. to sow, disseminate: 48^ 224. [Goth. SAIJA, OS SAIAN, OFris. SEA, Fris. SIEDJEN, Mod.Ger. SÄEN, Icel./Dan. SA.J 182 sawel f. soul, spirit, life: 132, 180, 38O. [Goth. SAIWALA, OS SEOLA, OFris./MHG SELE, ON SALA, OHG SEULA, Mod.Ger./Low Ger. SEELE, Dut. ZIEL.] scacan v. to depart, he gone, flee: 3^5 scæcen]. [Mod.Eng. SHAKE, OS SKAKAN, Fris. SKAAKE.] sceapa m. fiend, devil, enemy: 336. [OS SKABO.] sceotend m. one who shoots, bowman, orcher, warrior: 236. sceppan v.[w.dat.] to harm, injure, do mischief: 245. [Mod.Eng. SCATHE; see OE SCEppEND.] sceppend m. foe, adversary, one who harms: 322. [see OE SCEppAN.] scildan v. to shield, defend, protect, guard: 342. scildhreada m. an arrangement of shields as in OE SCILDBURH [b-T. Suppl.], phalanx: 236. scima m. light, brightness, splendor: 258. [Goth. SKEIMA, OHG SCIMO, Icel. SKIMI.j scinan v. to shine: 168. [Goth. SKEINAN, OS SKINAN, OFris./ON/lcel. SKINA, OHG SCINAN, MHG SCINEN, Mod.Ger. SCHEINEN, Low Ger. SCHINEN, Dut. SCHIJNEN.] scripan v. to go (about), wander, spread itself, "stride" [Das]: 370. [OS SCRIBAN, ON/lcel. SKRIBA, OHG SCRITAN, MHG SCRITEN, Mod. Ger. SCHREITEN.] sculan v. must (needs), shall, ought to, should, obliged to: 142, 172, 182, 185, 187, 307, 317, 327, 344, 354, 3^2, 368, 381, 390, 423. [Goth./OS/ON/Dan. SKAL, OFris. SKIL, OHG SCAL, MHG SCHAL, Mod.Ger. SOIL, Dut. ZAL.] scyne adj. bright, shining, beautiful, resplendent: 256. [Mod.Eng. Poet, (appears in Coleridge, Shelley) SHEEN, Goth. SKAUNS, OS SKONI, OFris. SKENE, OHG SCONI, Mod.Ger. SCHON, Dut. SCHOON.] se art, and pers./dem.pron. the, that, this, he, she, it: nom.sing.m.: se 2, 4, 9, 17, 119, 135a, 188, 192, 206, 211, 242, 252, 257, 281, 284, 287, 289, 291, 297, 329, 365, 417; nom.sing.f.: seo 99, 260, 264; nom./acc.sing.n. : /æt 108, l6l; pæt 4, 35, 68, 81, 121, 147, 153, 217, 275, 276, 283, 315, 331, 414; acc.sing.m.: pone 208, 280, 290, 335; acc.sing.f.: /a 153» 426; pa l6, 92, 95, HO, 193, 300, 402; dat./gen.sing.f.: /ære 199; pære 22, 80, 103, 113, 174, 182, 185, 187, 425; gen.sing.m.n.: pæs 19, 27, 56, 66, 91, 114, 120, 172, 200, 215, 2l6, 3I8, 384; pæs adv. therefore, for that (reason), accordingly, so: 27 [pæs ymb: after (Cook)], 33, 159, l6l, 354, 390; 183

pæs pe conj. because, as: 62, 355, 389» instr.sing.m.n.: /y *351; pon 194, 211, 252, 273, 411; nom./acc.plur.: /a 267; pa 203, 213, 215» 255; dat.sing.and plur. [m.n. in sing.] pam 20, 58, 228, 310, 327, 343, 363, 381, 404, 409. se rel.pron. who, that, which: se 135b, 220, 227, 337; se pe 180; pæt 353 [in the sense of: what], 374; bone 198; pa [f.acc.] 426; pære 182 [in the sense of: it/which (?)]; pam 228; bam pe 201, 360; pa [nom.plur.] 11, 322; pa pe 57, 398; para /e [which] 87- sealt adj. salt: 238. [OFris. SALT.] searolice adv. cleverly, ingeniously, skillfully, cunningly, "with art or skill" [B-T.Suppl.]: 233* secan v. to seek, aim at, strive after, resort to, (try to) find out, visit: 2, 210, 313. [Goth. SOKJAN, OS SOKIAN, OFris. SEKA, ON/lcel. S0KJA, OHG SUOHHAN, Mod.Ger. SUCHEN.] secgan v. to speak (of), discourse upon, declare, announce, inform, relate, recite, say, tell, give thanks: 12, 108, 162, 173, 228, 233, 346. [OS SEGGIAN, OFris. SEGA, ON/lcel. SEGJA, OHG SAGEN, MHG/ Mod.Ger. SAGEN, Dut. ZEGGEN.] sefa m. mind, heart, soul, spirit, understanding: 3, 48, 60, 224. sei adj. good, excellent, great, high: 81 [superl.: seiest-], 318 [comp.: selra-]. sellan v. to offer, give, dedicate, grant: 221, 250, 421. [OS SELLIAN, OFris. SELLA.] semninga adv. suddenly, immediately: 52. sendan v. to send (forth), impart, throw, hurl, dispatch: 225, 236. [Goth. SANDJAN, OS SENDIAN, OFris./ON/lcel. SENDA, OHG/MHG/Mod.Ger./ Low Ger. SENDEN.] seon v. to see, look, perceive: 56, 97• settan v. to set (up), implant, fix, establish, ordain, found: 224. [Goth. SATJAN, OS SETTIAN, OFris. SETTA, OHG SEZZAN.] sib f. love, peace, happiness, friendship: 48, 142, 180, 250. [cf. Mod.Eng. SIBLING, GOSSIP; Goth. SIBJA, OS SIBBIA, OHG SIPPA, MHG/ Mod.Ger. SIBBE.] siblufu f. affection, love, kindness: 196. [OE SIB + LUFU.] sid adj. wide, broad, extensive, spacious, vast, large: 85, 233, 346, 4l3?LMod.Eng. SIDE, ON/lcel. SIBR, Norw./Swed./Dan. SID.] 184

siexta adj. sixth: 297•

sigan y. to descend, sink, set, decline: 111. [os/OHG SIGAN, OFris./ Icel. SIGA, Fris. SIUKEN.]

sigebearn n. son of victory, Christ: 81. [cf. OE SIGOR.]

sigehremig adj. exultant, triumphant, exultant with victory [B-T. Suppl.]: 92. [cf. OS/OHG HROMAG.]

sigepreat m. triumphant/victorious host/band: 404. [OE SIGE + PREAT.]

sigor m. victory, triumph, success (in an endeavor): 74, 142. [Mod. Ger. SIEG.]

sincgiefa m. giver of treasure (in a comitatus), king, prince, lord: 21.

singan v. to sing, pronounce, pass (sentence), utter, speak; to compose verse, narrate: 29, 180, 211, 228, 273- [OS/OHG SINGAN, OFris. SINGA, Mod.Ger. SINGEN.]

si/ adv. late, afterwards, after some time: 163 [si/ ond ær: always]. [Mod.Eng.Arch. SITH, Goth. SEITHU, 0S/0N/lcel. SIB, OHG SID, Mod. Ger. SEIT.]

sipian v. to travel, journey, go: 38O. [Mod.Eng.Obs. SITHE, OS SITHON, OHG SINDON.]

sippan conj.(ever) since, after (that), inasmuch as, as soon as, when: 6, 126, 190, 263. [EME SITHEN; cf. Mod.Ger. SEITDEM.]

snud adj■ coming soon/suddenly, coming at once, quickly approaching: 402. snyttro f. wisdom, understanding: 3, 223, 245- snyttrucraeft m. prudence, wisdom, prudent, skill: 228. [OE SNYTTRU + CRÆFT .] somod adv. together, conjointly, simultaneously, at the same time, also, too: 38O. [Goth. SAMATH, OS SAMAD, Mod.Ger. SAMMT.] sona adv. soon, directly, immediately, at once: 21. [OS SANO, OFris. SON, OHG/MHG SAN.] song m. song, singing: 63. [Goth. SAGGWS, OS/OFris./Mod.Ger. SANG, ON SONGR, Dut. ZANG.] sorg f. sorrow, affliction, grief: 181. [Goth. SAURGA, OS/OHG SORGA, Mod.Ger. SORGE.] 185

so/ adj■ true, what is not false, righteous, just: 12, 73« [EME SOOTH.]

so/ n. truth: 3, 26l, 26?, 355«

so/faest adj. just, true in deed, righteous, pious: 257- sped f. abundance, wealth, success, riches, fulness: 49, 165, 213, 234. [cf. Mod.Eng. GOD + SPEED.] spowan v. to succeed, thrive, avail, profit: 125- sprecan v. to speak, utter, tell, say: 359• [OS SPREKAN, OFris. SPREKA, OHG SPREHHAN, MHG/Mod.Ger. SPRECHEN, Low Ger./Dut. SPREKEN.] staelg adj■ steep, abrupt: 240. [OHG STEIGAL, Mod.Ger. STEIL.] staenen adj. stony, hard as stone: 202. [Goth. STAINEINS, OFris. STENEN, OHG STEININ.] starian v. to stare, look, gaze: 82, 131. [Mod.Ger. STARREN.] stapelian v. to fix, settle, make steadfast, establish: 425. sta/ol m. fixed position, place, station, seat, habitation, state, site: 222. [OHG STADAL, Mod.Ger. STADEL.] stapolfaest adj■ steadfast, firm, constant: 51• stigan v. to ascend, mount: 25, 59» 97, 105, 315- [EME STY, Goth. STEIGAN, OS/OHG STIGAN, OFris./icel. STIGA, Mod.Ger. STEIGEN.] stirgan v. to touch, play upon: 230. [cf. Mod.Eng. STIR.] stow f. place, site, position, spot: 51- [cf. Mod.Eng. BARSTOW city name; OFris./icel. STO.] strsel m. arrow, dart: 326, 340. [OHG STRALA, MHG STRAL, Mod.Ger. STRAHL.] sträng adj. strong, powerful; hard, severe: 208, 417- [OS STRANG, ON/lcel. STRANGR; cf. OHG STRANGO, MHG STRANGE.] stream m. stream, flood, flowing water: 4l4. [os/Mod.Ger. STROM, OFris. STRAM, ON/lcel. STRAUMR, OHG/MHG STROUM, Dut. STROOM, Dan. str/m.] streng/u f. strength, fortitude, firmness, virtue, beneficial power, efficacy: 51, I99. stylan v. to harden, temper, steel: 240. [Mod.Ger. STAHLEN, Dut. STALEN.] 186 styll m. a leap, jump, spring: 280, 284, 289« styllan v. to rush (on), leap: 306, 308. sum indef.pron. a certain one, some one, something, one: 225, 229, 231, 232, 233, 234, 237, 239, 240, 241; [sum . . . sum: one . . . another/some . . . others:] 231-234, 239-241. sundhengest m. sea-horse, ship: 413, 423- sundwudu m. swimmingwood, ship, boat: 238. sunne f. sun: I67, 255, 257- [Goth./OHG SUNNO, OS SUNNO, OFris. SONNA, ON/lcel. Poet. SUNNA, MHG SUNNE, Mod.Ger. SONNE, Low Ger. SUNNE.] sunu m. son: 12, 25, 150, 190, 196, 273- [Goth. SUNUS, OS/OFris./OHG SUNU, ON SUNR, MHG SUNE, Mod.Ger. SOHN, Norw./Swed. SON, Russ. CBlHt, .] swa adv. so, so/just as, consequently, so far as, in such a/like manner, exceedingly, thus: 62, 84, 256. swa conj■ (even) as, according as, as if, when: 16, 29, 104, 108; [swa . . . swa: either . . . or:] 152 (2), 153 (2), 154 (2), 155 (2), 156 (2), 157a (2); 157b, 194, 206, 242, 252, 260, 262, 307, 345, 411. swaes adj. (one's) own dear, (one's) dear, beloved: 178. [icel. svassTJ sweg m. noise, sound, din, crash: 52. swegl n. heaven, sky: 63, 74, 104, 111, 167, 250. swelgan v. to swallow, swallow up, take in, engulf, consume, accept: 121. [OHG SWEIGAN, Mod.Ger. SCHWELGEN.] sweord n. sword: 240. [OS/OFris. SWERD, ON/lcel. SVERB, OHG/MHG SWERT, Mod.Ger. SCHWERT, Dut. SWAARD, Dan. SVERD.] sweotule adv. clearly, plainly, openly: 73* swip adj. strong, right: 92 [comp.], 277- [Goth. SWINpS, MHG SWINT, Mod.Ger. GESCHWIND.] swylce adv./conj. also, moreover, too, as well, and: 249- [Mod.Eng. SUCH, Mod.Ger. SOLCH.] sylf pron. (your-/him-/it-)self, some, (one's) own: 85, 104, 142, 2567~404. 187 symbel n. a feast(ing), revel, festivity, rejoicing, banquet: 111. [OS SUMBAL.] symle adv. (for)ever, always, constantly, continually, without intermission: 38, 163 [simle], 328, 338. [OS SIMBLA, OHG SIMPLE.] synn f. sin, crime, guilt: 297. ["OS SUNDEA, OFris. SENDE, ON SYNB, OHG SUNTA, Mod.Ger. SÜNDE, Icel./Norw./Swed./Dan. SYND, Dut. ZONDE.] synscea/a m. malefactor, criminal, evil-doer: 267. synwracu f. punishment (for sin): 355- synwund f. wound of sin, "a wound inflicted by sin" [B-T.Suppl.]: 318- synwyrcende adj■ working sin/iniquity, sinning: 402.

T tacn n. token, sign, mystery, miracle: 23, 203- talian v. to think (of), ponder (on), suppose, consider: 355- [cf. Mod.Eng. TALE; OS TALON, OFris. TALIA, ON/lcel. TALA, OHG ZALON, Mod.Ger. ZAHLEN, Dut. TALEN.] teag f. fetter, tie, band: 294. teala adv. well, rightly, correctly: 353- tempel n. temple: 56, 268. tid f. (future) time, hour, tide, season: 16, 110, 193, 300, 402, 410. LOS TID, ON TIB, OHG/MHG ZIT, Mod.Ger. ZEIT, Low Ger. TIT, Dut. TIJD.] tilgan v.[w.dat.] to strive after, seek after: 309« [Goth. GA-TILON, OS TILIAN, OFris. TILIA, OHG ZILEN.] tir m. glory, splendor, honor: 23- to prep, to, into, at, in, for, as a: dat.: 17, 22, 36, 40, 46, 80, 9Ì7II3, 138, 158 [w.ger.], 171, 174, 180, 181, 185, 193, 209, 211, 251, 283, 298, 310, 319, 334, 418, 420, 425; acc.: 184. to adv. at, too, besides: 56 ["in the direction of" (Das)]. togeanes prep, towards, to meet in readiness for: 107, 109, 136- [cf. 188

Mod • Got? • GEGEN • J

torht adj. bright, radiant, beautiful, splendid, noble, glorious: 103, 203. Cos TORHT.]

torn n. grief, sorrow: 99« [OS TORN, OHG/Mod.Ger. ZORN, Dut. TOORN.]

treolufu f. constant/loyal/faithful love: 99- [cf. Mod.Eng. TRUE + LOVE.]

treow f. covenant, (assurance of) faith, league: 145« [Goth. TRIGGWA, OS TREWA, OFris. TRIUWE, OHG TRIUWA, Mod.Ger. TREUE.J

truwian v. to have confidence in, trust, confide, rely on: 398. [cf. Mod.Eng.Arch. TROW; Goth. TRAUAN, OS TRUON, OHG TRUEN, Mod.Ger. TRAUEN.]

tuddor n. offspring, progeny, family, children: 249.

tungol n.m. star, heavenly body, planet: 168, 232, 260. [Goth. TUGGL, OS TUNGAL, OHG ZUNGAL, Swed. TUNGEL the moon.]

twegen num. two: 67. [Mod.Eng. TWAIN, OS TWENA, OFris. TWENE, OHG/ MHG ZWENE.]

tyht m. motion, move, march: 372.

tyn num. ten: IO3. [Goth. TAIHUN, OS TEHAN, ON/lcel. TIU, OHG ZEHAN, MHG ZEHEN, Mod.Ger. ZEHN, Low Ger. TEIN, Dut. TIEN.]

B, p

pa adv. then: ¿a 52, 88, 220; pa 29, 57 [see gen], 94, 103 [see gen], 111, 264, 299, 303, 332, 419.

pa conj. when: /a 17, 175; pa 4, 9, 189, 281, 285, 288, 290, 292, 298, 427- paer conj. (there) where, while, (then) when, if in case that: 23, 56, 129, 267, 295. 311, 314, 356, 362, 399-401 [Baer . . . paer: there . . . where], 4o4. paer adv. there, then, in that place: 8, 15, 98, 101, 282. paet conj■ (for/in order/so) that, then: 3, 8, 15, 40, 109, 112 [in the sense of expletive: it], 113, 150, 253, 310, 313, 315, 336, 344, 377, 379, 383, 409, 420, 422. paette conj. (in order/so) that: 12, l6l, 217, 276. 189

pe rel.pron. who, which, that: /e 87 [see se], 141: pe 66, 82, 120, 131, 163? 174, 176, 201 [see se), 204, 216, 360 [see se], 398 [see se], 415■

pe conj. when, or, then, where, that: 27, 353-

peah adv. yet, still, however, nevertheless: 84 [swa peah: yet].

pearf f. need, necessity, profit, good: 268, 312, 377, 408. [Goth. PARBA, OFris. THERUE; cf. OS THARF, ON pORF, OHG DARBA.]

pegn m. follower, disciple, servant, retainer, thane: 18, 31, 58, 102, 114, 271. [OS THEGAN, ON/lcel. pEGN, OHG DEGAN, MHG/Mod.Ger. DEGEN.]

pegnweorud n. hody/host of thanes/retainers, serving-men: 312. [OE PEGN + WEORUD.]

penden conj. (mean)while, as long as, until: 151, 158, 333, 36l, 375, 378. peod f. nation, people, men, tribe; region; language: 408. [ME THEDE, Goth. pIUDA, OS THIODA, OFris. THIADE, ON pIOB, OHG DIOTA, MHG DIET, Icel. pJOB; cf. Mod.Ger. DEUTSCH.]

peodbuende m.plur. men, mankind, human race: 177-

peodegsa m. general/widespread terror, "a terror that affects whole nations" [B-T.Suppl.]: 394. [pEOD a nation, people + EGESA fear.]

peoden m. prince, king, lord, chief, great man, Christ, God: 18, 102, 114, 173, 352. peostru f. darkness, dimness, gloom: 154 [pystra]. pes pron. this: nom.sing.f.: peos 403; acc.sing.m.: pisne 131, 135; acc.sing.n.: pis 188; acc.sing.f.: pas 76, 80, 220, 410, 4l6; nom. plur.: pas 387. pingstede m. a place of meeting or assembly: 58. [Low Ger./Dut. STEDE.] ponan adv. from that time/place, thence: 186, 320. [Mod.Eng. THEN.] ponan conj. from the place where, from which, whence: 96. pone m. thanks, gratitude: 160; [secgan pone: give thanks:] 162, 173« [‘Goth. pAGKS, OS THANK, OFris. THONK, ON/lcel. pflKK, OHG/MHG DANC, Mod.Ger. DANK.] 190 ponne adv. then, after that, at that time: 86, 358, 388. ponne con.j. when, since, seeing that, than [after comp.]: 235, 324, 352,"358, 385, 393, 400, 403, 405- pracu f. power, force, violence: 154. preat m. host, crowd, throng, troop, hand: 53, 78, 131, 299* pridda ad.j. third: 287- [Goth. pRIDJA, OS THRIDDIO, OFris. THREIDDA, ON pRIBE, OHG DRITTO, MHG/Mod.Ger. DRITTE, Dut. DERDE.] prowing f. suffering, Passion [of Christ]: 31. prym m. troop, host, multitude, force, power, glory, majesty, splendor, glorious lord: 154, l60, 214, 218, 287 (2), 301, 394. [cf. OS THRUMME.] prymfaest adj. glorious: 18. prymfull adj. glorious, peerless, majestic, magnificent: 102. prynes f. Trinity: l60. [OHG DRINISSA.] pu pron. thou: nom.sing.: /u 1; pu 3, 182; acc.sing.: pec 182; acc. sing.: eowic 38; nom.plur;: ge 37, 71, 73j 82, 131, 134, 136; dat./acc.plur.: eow 39, 40, 49, 50, 138. [Goth, pu, OS THU, OFris. THU, OHG DU, Icel. pU.J purfan v. to need, have good cause/reason: 340. [OHG DURFAN, MHG DÜRFEN, Mod.Ger. DÜRFEN.] purh prep.w.acc. through (the medium of), by means of, in consequence of, as a result of, on account of, during, for, throughout, on, in: 3, 5, H, 31, 41, 49, 56, 91, 142, 148, 164, 181, 210, 226, 246, 26l, 271, 280, 339, 384. pus adv. thus, in this manner, to this extent: 247, 305« [0S/0Fris. THUS]] py laes conj. lest: 245, 323, 329. [cf. Mod.Eng. NONETHELESS.] pyslic adj. such (a): 78.

U ufancund adj■ supreme, divine, from above, celestial, heavenly: 64. 191

under prep, under (the sway of), beneath, in subjection to, into, among, before: w.dat.: 45, 63, 87, 149, 167, 266; w.acc■: 330.

unhneaw adj. beounteous, abundant, liberal: 247-

unholda m. fiend, devil: 323. [Goth. UNHULpA, OHG UNHOLDA, Mod.Ger. unholdT]

unmaele adj. immaculate, spotless, undefiled: 282.

unmurnlice adv. pitilessly, relentlessly, without sorrowing/anxiety: 373- unrim n. countless number, great multitude: 130. [OS UNRIM.]

unryhte adv. unjustly, wrong(ful)ly, not rightly: 121. [OHG UNREHTO; cf. Mod.Ger. UNRECHTLICH.J

up adv. up(wards), on high, above, to a high point: 25, 75, 89 [upp], 97, 105, 191, 207 , 212 [upp], 254 [upp], 315. ['OS/OFris. UF, ON/ Icel. UPP, Dut./Dan. OP; cf. Goth. IUP, OHG UF, Mod.Ger. AUF.]

uppe adv. up, above, on high: 222.

upstige m. ascension, ascent: 1/6, 216, 272.

ur m. bison, "a kind of ox" [B-T.Suppl.]; the name of the OE rune , probably having the above meanings, and possibly representing the OE word URE pron. our: 366 [signifying the OE letter U, and representing the fifth letter in Gyn(e)wulf's name], [cf. Mod.Eng. AUROCHS, OHG UROHSO, Mod.Ger. AUEROCHSE; Lat. URUS, ON/lcel. URR type of ox, and Goth. URAZ, the last two also names of the U-rune.]

utan interjectional form/infinitive = subjunctive let us: 332, 334, 425.

W wan adj. frail, poor, insignificant, "lowly in status and degree" LOEDJ: 416. [cf. Mod.Eng. WEAK; OS WEK, OHG WEIH, Icel. VEIKR.] wace adv. weakly, feebly, faintly, negligently, inefficiently: 360, 398. waldend m. ruler, sovereign, king [fig. for Christ, God]: 35, 105, 116, 117, 138, 196, 242, 275, 383, 426. [cf. Mod.Eng.v. WIELD; OS WALDAND, OHG WALTANT.] 192 waelm m. flames, surging fire: 392. waepen n. weapon: 126, 24l, 336* [Goth. WEPNA, OS WAPAN, OFris. WEPIN, ON/lcel. VAPN, OHG WAFAN, MHG WAFEN, Mod.Ger. WAFFE.] waer f. covenant, pledge, compact, agreement: 144. [OHG WARA.] waerlice adv. warily/cautiously _"in a way that guards against surprise" (B-T.Suppl.)]: 328. [OS WARALIKO.] waster n. water, rain, lake, sea: 412. [OS/OFris. WATAR, OHG WAZZAR, MHG WAZZER, Mod.Ger. WASSER, Low Ger./Dut. WATER; cf. Goth. WATO, ON/lcel. VATN, Dan. VAND, Russ. 330^21 .] weallan v. to be fervent, be strongly moved, burn, rage [of persons, emotions]: 100. weard m. guard(ian), protector, lord [fig. for God, Christ, the Lord]: 88. [cf. Mod.Eng. EDWARD; Mod.Eng. WARD, OS WARD, ON VARBE, OHG WARTA, MHG/Mod.Ger. WARTE, Icel. VÖRBR.] weard f. guard, watch: 328. weardian v. to guard, defend, hold, have: *57 [last weardedun: watched over the footprint (?); remain behind (B-T.Suppl.)]: 333- [Mod.Eng.v. WARD, OS WARDON, OFris. WARDIA; cf. Mod.Ger. WARTEN.] weccan v. to cause, produce, give rise to, raise, awake: 170. [cf. Mod.Eng. WAKE; Goth. US-WAKJAN, OHG WECCHEN.] weder n. weather, the condition of the atmosphere, storm, wind: 166. [OS WEDAR, OFris. WEDER, ON/lcel. VEBR, OHG WETAR, MHG WETER, Mod. Ger. WETTER; cf. Russ. PO .] weg m. road, path, way: 242. [Goth. WIGS, OS/OHG/Mod.Ger./Dut. WEG, OFris. WEI, ON/lcel. VEGR.] wel adv. well, rightly, properly, fitly, excellently, thoroughly, much: 108, 112, 229« wela m. wealth, riches, prosperity: 166. [Mod.Eng. WEAL, OS WELO, OHG WELA.] wenan v. to hope (for), expect, look for, think, suppose, believe: 350."TMod.Eng.Arch. WEEN.] wendan v. to go, wend (one's way), proceed, come: 211. [Goth. WANDJAN, OS WENDIAN, OFris. WENDA, ON/lcel. VENDA, OHG WENTAN, MHG/Mod.Ger./ Dut. WENDEN, Low Ger. WENNEN.] 193

weolme f. choice, "what is best" [Das], "pick of one's fellow- creatures" [Ha1 1]: 6.

weorc n. work, deed, action, creation; pain, grief: 252 , 3H, 345, 398.OS/OFris./Mod.Ger./Dut./Low Ger. WERK, ON/lcel./Dan. VERK, OHG WERAH, MHG WERGH.]

weor/an v- to become, happen, come to be, come to pass, be made, occur, be: 5, 52, 219, 303, 400. [Goth. WAIRpAN; OS WERBAN, OFris. WERTHA, ON/lcel. VERBA, OHG WERDAN, MHG/Mod.Ger./Low Ger. WERDEN, Dut. WORDEN.]

weor/ian v. to honor, pay respect, enrich, enoble, grace, adorn: 248, 252. [cf. Mod.Eng. WORTH; Goth. WAIRpON, OHG WERDON.]

weorud n. band, company, throng, crowd, multitude, host: 19, 43; 54, 115, 192.

wer m. man, male: 70, 195- [cf. OE WERGELD; Lat. VIR, Goth. WAIR, OFris./OS/OHG WER. J

werig adj. sad, weary, miserable, grieved: 363- [OHG WORAG.]

werpeod f. people, nation(s), men: l6l, 275- [OE WER + pEOD.]

wesan v. to be(come), exist, live, happen: inf.: wesan 144; sing.: is 108, 135, 144, 161, 257, 311, 312, 343, 408, 411 414; bi/? bip: [see beon]; wæs 60, 88, 90» 98, 99, HI» Ll80], 200, 212, 281, 284, 285, 287, 289, 291, 297, 299, 366, 375, 417; plur.: sindan 255; sind 122; beo/ 356 [see beon]; waeron 10, 21; subj.: si 338; wære 12; wæren 253- [Goth. WISAN, OS/OHG WESAN, OFris. WESA.]

wide adv. widely, far (and wide): 371- [OS WIDO, ON/lcel. VISA, OHG WITO, MHG WITE, Mod.Ger. WEIT, Dut. WILD.] wideferh adv. for ever, through all time, during life: 144, 345- widgiell adj. far-reaching, vast, extensive, spacious, wide-spreading, broad.: 242. widlond n. broad/wide land, the face of the earth: 166. widweem. distant region, region lying far and wide [B-T.Suppl.]: 43. LMod.Eng. WIDE + WAY.] wig n. war, battle, fight: 125, 234. [OS WIG, OFris. WICH, OHG WIC, Fris. WIGH.] wilcuma m. welcome guest/person:. 115. 194

wildaege m. welcome/joyful day: 20.

wilgifa m. giver of (all) good, king, God, Christ: 98. willa m. will, wish, desire: 192. [Goth. WILJA, OS WILLIO, OFris. WILLA, ON/lcel. VILIA, OHG WILLO, MHG/Mod.Ger. WILLE.] willan v. will, he willing, wish, want, desire, intend: 75, 78, 84, 132, 138, 192, 364, 376, 378. [Goth. WILJAN, OS WELLIAN, OFris. WELLA, ON/lcel. VILJA, OHG/MHG WELLEN, Mod.Ger. WOLLEN, Low Ger./ Dut. WILLEN.] wilnian v. [w.gen./acc.] to desire, long/ask for, beseech, beg/ petition for: 334. [cf. ON/lcel. VILNA.] windig adj. windy: 4l6 [windge]. [cf. Mod.Ger. WINDIG.] wis adj■ wise, learned, skilled, prudent: 225- [Goth. WEIS, OS/OFris./ OHG/MHG WIS, ON/lcel. VISS.] witan v. to know, understand, be aware: 3* [cf. OE WITAN wise men.] wite n. punishment/torture/torment (of hell): 156, 186, 365- [OS WITI, OFris. WITE, ON/lcel. VITI, OHG WIZI, MHG WIZE, Dut. WIJTE.] witega m. wise man, prophet: 30, 211, 252. [cf. Mod.Eng. WIT.] wi/ prep. [w.gen./acc./dat.] with, against, near, beside, from, for, (to)wards, in the direction of: dat.: 128 [wip], 322, 327, 336; acc.: 38, 178. wiperbroga m. adversary, devil; terror caused to an adversary [b-T. Suppl.J: 125. [cf. OHG WIDARBREHINTA.] wlite, m. beautiful appearance, good looks, beauty: 409* [Goth. WLITS, OS WLITI, OFris. WLITE, ON/lcel. LITR.] wlitescyne adj. lovely, beautiful, splendid, glorious: 54, 115- [OFris. WLITE-SKONE, OS WRITI-SKONI.] wolcen n.m. cloud: 88, 149- [Mod.Eng.Arch. WELKIN, OS WOLCAN, OFris. WOLKEN, Fris. WOLCKE, Mod.Ger. WOLKE, Dut. WOLK.] wong m. plain, field, countryside, country, land, place: 24l, 371» [Goth. WAGGS, OS WANG, Icel. VANGR.] wongstede m. place, spot, "a place in open country" [B-T.Suppl.], countryside: 363 ["the place of the last judgement" (B-T.Suppl.)]. [Mod.Eng. -STEAD, MLG STEDE town, place, e.g. WESTERSTEDE town in N. Germany.] 195 wop m. weeping, crying, lamentation, wailing: 98 [wopes hring: shedding of tears is idea to be conveyed (B-T.Suppl.)]. word n. word, speech, sentence, statement, command(ment), order: 20, 30, 35, 70, 275, 359, 384. [Goth. WAURD, OS/OFris. WORD, ON/ Icel. ORB, OHG/MHG/Mod.Ger. WORT, Dut. WOORT.] wordcwide m. speech, language; literary discourse: 234. wordgeryne n. mysterious sayings, parable [Cook], a mystery expressed in words [B-T.Suppl.]: 24. [cf. OE GÆSTGERYNUM, GERYNO.] wordla/u f. speech, discourse: 225• woruld f. world; age; (way of) life; long period of time; worldly existence; men, people: 30, 159, 211, 220, 279, 339 (2), 3^0, 371, 379, 416. [cf. OE WER man + Mod.Eng. OLD; OS WEROLD, OFris. WRALD, ON/lcel. VERÜLD, OHG WERALT, MHG WERELT, Mod.Ger. WELT, Low Ger. WERLD, Dut. WERELD.] wracu f. punishment, misery, pain, suffering, death, exile: 154, I83. [Goth. WRAKA; cf. OS WRAKA, OFris. WREKE, OHG RAHHA, Mod.Ger. RACHE.] wraetlic adj. curious, rare, wondrous, artistic, elegant: 70. wraf? adj. cruel, fierce, hostile, evil, malignant: 156 [used subst.], 365. wrablic adj. cruel, dire, bitter: 392. [ME WROTHLY.] writan v. to write, compose, "be the author of" [B-T.Suppl.]: 234. [OS WRITAN, OFris. WRITA, OHG RIZAN, Mod.Ger. REISSEN.] wrohtbora m. author of evil, accuser, devil: 324. wuldor n. glory, splendor, honor, glorification, heaven: 24, 54, 69, 88, 112, 126, 156, 279, 3OI, 339. [Goth. WULpUS.] wund f. wound, sore [in lit./fig. sense]: 324, 331- [OS WUNDA, OFris./ Mod.Ger./Low Ger. WUNDE, OHG WUNTA, MHG WUNTE, Dut. WOND.] wunian v. to dwell, remain, endure, continue: 39, 49, 1511 159, 183, 379- [ME WONE, Mod.Ger. WOHNEN.] wynn f. joy, delight, pleasure, gladness; the OE rune fr , and. the OE letter W, having the above meanings: 301, 365 [representing the fourth letter in Cyn(e)wulf’s name_ . [cf. Mod.Eng. WINSOME; OS WUNNIA, OHG WUNNJA, Mod.Ger. WONNE. wyrcan v. to work, do, perform, make, create: 269. Ecf. Mod.Eng. WORK; Goth. WAURKJAN, OS WIRKIAN, OFris. WERKA, OHG WURCHEN; cf. Mod.Ger. WIRKEN.]

wyrm m. serpent, worm: 186. EGoth. WAURMS, OS/OHG/MHG/Mod.Ger. WURM, OFris. WIRM, low Ger./Dut. WORM.]

wyrp m. casting, hurling, throwing, the distance which a thing may be thrown (jB-T.Suppl.J: 126. Ecf. Mod.Ger. WERFEN.]

wyr/e adj. worthy, fit, deserving, properly qualified (for): l6l. Esee OE WEORBAN; Goth. WAIRpS, OS WERE, OFris. WERTH, ON VERBR, OHG WERD, MHG/Mod.Ger. WERT, Dut. WAARD.]

Y

ymb prep, round, about, near, by, at, of, after (that): 27 Epaes ymb feowertig: forty (days) after (the Resurrection)]: 68.

yr m. the name of the OE rune R=l , and possibly meaning bow? horn? gold? EHall]: 361 [^signifying the OE letter Y, and representing the second letter in Cyn(e)wulf’s name]. Ecf. Mod.Eng. YEW; ON/ Icel. YR bow and name of the runic Y.]

yrmen adj. wide, great, spacious: 42. yrm/u f. misery, wretchedness, suffering, distress: 175 Eyrmp^u], 182.

yrre adj. angry, wrathful, indignant, enraged: 181. EMod.Eng. IRE.]

y/ f. wave (of the sea), flood: 415« EOS UBIA, OHG UNDA.]

y/ast adv. Esee ea/e adv.]: 361 • y/mearh m. wave-steed, ship: 424. y/re adj. Esee ea/e adj.]: 188.