description Junius Manuscript Overview
The Junius Manuscript is a late tenth-century illustrated codex of Old English religious poetry, now held by the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. It contains the poems conventionally titled Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, and Christ and Satan, which retell or reinterpret biblical narratives in Germanic alliterative verse. The manuscript takes its modern name from Franciscus Junius, the seventeenth-century scholar who owned and published it.
help Junius Manuscript FAQ
Which poems are contained in the Junius Manuscript?
The codex contains the Old English poems conventionally called Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, and Christ and Satan. These titles are modern editorial labels for poetic retellings and interpretations of biblical material.
Why was the Junius Manuscript once called the Cædmon Manuscript?
Early scholars attributed its biblical poems to Cædmon, the divinely inspired poet described by Bede. That attribution is no longer accepted, and the manuscript is now named after the scholar Franciscus Junius, who gave it to Oxford.
Are all the planned illustrations in the Junius Manuscript finished?
No. Its Genesis section contains numerous drawings, but blank spaces elsewhere show that the ambitious illustration program was never completed. The unfinished areas help scholars reconstruct how scribes and artists coordinated production.
Where is the Junius Manuscript kept?
It is held by the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford under the shelfmark MS Junius 11. The codex is generally dated to the late tenth century.
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