The Exeter Book

Exeter Cathedral is home to the Exeter Book, a 10th-century anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry and riddles. The book was donated to the Cathedral library in 1072, and is the largest known collection of Old English literature still in existence, predating Beowulf. In 2016, UNESCO recognised the book as one of the ‘world’s principal cultural artefacts’.

The anthology (Exeter Dean and Chapter Manuscript 3501) was written down by a single scribe – no doubt a monk – in about 970. It contains some 40 poems – predominantly Christian in outlook though a few originate from the period before the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity – and nearly 100 poetic riddles. Elegies such as the Wanderer and the Seafarer are among the best known of its varied contents and have inspired writers from Ezra Pound to JRR Tolkien. The riddles (a few of which have bawdy double meanings) are virtually all those which survive in Old English.

The Exeter Book was inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2016.

The Digital Humanities Lab at the University of Exeter has digitised the Exeter Book - you can view it here.

Find out more on Exeter Cathedral’s website - and keep an eye out for opportunities to see it for yourself!