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AUTOTYPES OF THE UNIQUE COTI'ON MS.
VITELLIUS A xv IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM,

WITH A.

TRANSLITERATION AND NOTES

BY

JULIUS ZUPITZA, PH.D.,

~onbon:
PUBLISHED FOR THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY,
BY N. TRUBNER & CO., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL

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 v

PRELIMINARY NOTICE.

MR. FUBNIVALL, at p. 12 of the Eleventh Report of the Com-

mittee of the Early English Text Society (September, 1879), says as
follows: II On Prof. Skeat's receiving, to the Committee's great
pleasure, his well-earned.and well-deserved reward of the Anglo-
Saxon Professorship at Cambridge, he proposed that the Society
should autotype the unique MS. of the great Anglo-Saxonepic of
Beo1.IJ1.Ilj. The Committee,relying on finding a translator and editor
of the. text, adopted Prof. Skeat's suggestion. The MS. was
photographed by Mr. Praetorius; he has delivered some of the
autotypes, and undertakes t-ohand in the whole early next year.
Part I. of the book is now in hand, and will be issued.for 1880 in
1881."
Before that Report was printed, I had promised.Mr. Furnivall to
act as editor. I collated the autotypes in the August and September
of 1880, with the MS. 88 well as with the two transcripts of it,
made nearly a hundred years ago-the one by, the other for, the first
editor of the poem, G. J. Thorkelin-which now belong to the
Large Royal Library at Copenhagen, but which, on our director's
application, were kindly sent to the British Museum. After my
return to Germany,however,having to perform the duties of Dean
to the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Berlin for 1880-
1881, I was unable to go on with the Beowulf before the long
vacation of 1881. My transliteration ofthe MS. was in type by the
end of August, 1882, and I read the proof-sheetsof it with the MS.
in the earlier part of the followingmonth.
vi PRBLIlfINABY NOTIeB.

~e transliteration contains more than can be read in the Facsimile

or even in the MS., inasmuch as it has been my endeavour to give
the text as far as possiblein that condition in which it stood in the
MS. a century ago. The MS. (Cotton MSS. Vitellius A. xv.)
did not suft'er so much from the fire of 1731 itself as from its
consequences,which would, without doubt, have been avoided if the
MS. had been at once rebound as carefully as it has been rebound in
our days. Even 'W hen Thorkelin used it, the edges of a few pages
only had crumbledoft. But much morewas gone by Kemble's time,
and many letters and words which Kemble still saw are now no
longer in existence.
Further losseshave been put a stop to by the new binding; but,
admirably as this was done, the binder could not help coveringsome
letters or portions of letters in every back page with the edge of the
paper which now surrounds every parchment leaf. I grudged
no pains in trying to decipher as muchof what is coveredas possible.
When, in my notes, I simply state that something is covered, I
always mean to say that, by holding the leaf' to the light, I was
able to read it nevertheless. In case I could n~ make out what is
covereddistinctly, I always add a remark to that effect.
Both in the front pages and in the back pages transparent paper
was employedby the binder, which,although it does not prevent the
reader of the MS. from seeingwhat is under it, was yet very often the
cause of some letters or parts of letters being reproduced in the
Facsimile indistinctly or not at all. In such cases I have not
thought it necessaryto add notes.
When in passages whichare defectivenow,Thorke1in'stranscripts,
or tho statements of Wanley, Conybeare,Kemble, and others, seem
to me to leave no ground for doubt 88 to the former reading of the
MS., I have not marked in my transliteration what I have accepted
on such secondaryevidence,which the reader will find mentioned in
the notes. In general, when the question is settled by Thorkelin's
copies, I do not cite any later authority.
Inpassageswhich were illegible or defective 88 early 88 the time
of Thorkelin, or even of Wanley, I employ 88 many colons88 letters
seem to have been lost. When it is impossible to know their
 PBELIKIN ABY NOTICB.

approximate number, I use three or more dots. In some instances of

the first kind I have adopted conjectural readings within square
brackets, which I have also used when correcting obvious faults in
both of Thorkelin's transcripts without the help of a later authority.
But the mistakes of the original scribes (cf. note to p. 89, L 4) have
of course been left untouched, unless corrected by themselves or by a
contemporary hand, in which case the reader must refer to my notes.
I have also adhered to the punctuation of the MS., but I have
hyphened words or syllables belonging together; and, on the other
haad, I have separated by a vertical line two words wrongly written
88 one. I must add, however, that it is often very difficult, if not
impossible, to decide whether the scribe intended one or more
words.
The Transliteration corresponds with the MS., and hence with
the FS. (Facsimile), page by page, and line by line, with the
exception of two leaves (fol. 179 and 198; of pp. 102-5 and 142-5),
which, on account of the great number of notes necessary, required
four pages each, so that the Transliteration has 144: pages to 140 of
the FS. To the numbers of the pages of the FS. I have added, in
the second headline of each page of the Transliteration, the numbers
of the folios of the MS., and of the corresponding lines in G~'8
edition. Most of the numbers of the folios are visible in the FS. in
the right-hand comer of the upper front page, but the numbers in
pp. 8 and 10 of the FS. are owing to the photographer only, who is
also responsible for the pp. 4, 12, 14, 16, 20, and 22 giving in the
Fa. two folio numbers each.
My warmest thanks are due to the authorities both of the Large
RopJ Library of Copenhagen, and of the British Museum, especially
to my friend Mr. E. Maunde Thompson, the Keeper of the MSS. in
the British Museum.
I subjoin a list of abbreviations made use of, and books referred
to, in my notes.
A] Poems anglosaxonicum de rebus gestis Danorum ex mem-
brana bibliothecae cottonianae ••• fecit exscribi Londini
A..D. MDOCLXXXVlI. Grimus J ohannis Thorkelin, LL.D.
B] Poema anglosaxonicum de Danorum rebus gestis .•. ex
viii PRBLDIINABY NOTICE.

membranaeeo codice • . . in bibliotheca cottoniana . . • ex-

aeripsit Grimus Johannis Thorkelin, LLD. Londini anno
Ill>OOLXXXVII.
C] Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry. By John Josias Cony-
beare, London, 1826, pp. 82-155.
Gt] Beowulfes Beorh, ved Nik. Fred. Seve Grundtvig. Copen-
hagen, London, and Leipzig, 1861.
Holder] Beowulf herausgegeben von Allred Holder. I. Zweite
Au1lage. Freiburg i. B. und Tubingen, 1882.
K] Th~ Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf, the Traveller's Song,
and the Battle of Finnesburh, ed. by John M. Kemble.
Second Edition. London, 1835.
Kolbing] Zur Be6vulf-handschrift. Cf. Archlv fiir das Studium
der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, herausgegeben von
L Herrig. 56. Band. Braunschweig, 1876, pp. 91-118.
Th] The Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf, etc., by Benjamin
Thorpe. Oxford, 1855.
Thk] De Danorum rebus gestis seoul, iii. and iv. poema danicum
dialecto anglosaxonica . • . . edidit • . • . Grim. Johnson
Thorke1in, Havniae, 1815.
W] Antiquae literaturae septentrionalis liber alter, seu Hum-
phredi Wanleii. . . catalogus historico-criticus. . • Oxoniae,
1705, p. 218.
Wiilcker] Bibliothek der angelsachsisehen Poesie, begriindet von
Christian W. M. Grein. N eu bearbeitet von Richard Paul
Wiilcker. L Band.-I. Halfte. Kassel, 1881.
J. ZUPITZA.
Bwlin, S. W., Klei~f'tJIII 7;
N(Jf1. 18t1a.,1882.

A succeeding Volume, now in course of preparation, will contain

a Critical Text of the Poem by Prof. Zupitza, a Translation of that
by Prof. Napier, Dissertations on the Composition and on the Myth-
ological and Historical Elements in Beoundf by Prof. Miillenhoff, &c.
F. J. F.
CLAY AND TAYl.0R, Tlfll CHAIlCEI< I'RFSS.