The Exeter Book, also known as the Codex Exoniensis or Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, is a large codex of Old English poetry, believed to have been produced in the late tenth century AD.[1] It is one of the four major manuscripts of Old English poetry, along with the Vercelli Book in Vercelli, Italy, the Nowell Codex in the British Library, and the Junius manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The book was donated to what is now the Exeter Cathedral library by Leofric,[2] the first bishop of Exeter, in 1072. It is believed originally to have contained 130[3] or 131 leaves, of which the first 7[3] or 8 have been replaced with other leaves; the original first 8 leaves are lost. The Exeter Book is the largest and perhaps oldest[3][4] known manuscript of Old English literature,[2][5][6][7] containing about a sixth of the Old English poetry that has survived.[2][8]
In 2016, UNESCO recognized the book as "the foundation volume of English literature, one of the world's principal cultural artefacts".[9][10][11]
