Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 444: Genesis and Exodus in Middle English Verse

purl.stanford.edu/fj940yb0930

Title:

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 444: Genesis and Exodus in Middle English Verse

Alternate Title:

Genesis and Exodus in English Verse

Language:

English, Middle (1100-1500)

Extent:

ff. 1 + 81

Dimensions:

189 Height (mm) and 109 Width (mm)

Approximate Date:

[ca. 1290 - 1310]

Table of contents:

Genesis and Exodus in English Verse

Description:

CCCC MS 444 is a c. 1300-25 copy of the Middle English Genesis and Exodus, a biblical paraphrase in verse written c. 1250, and derived from the Historia scholastica by Petrus Comestor (d. c. 1187). It is considered to be in an East Midlands dialect and is the earliest English paraphrase from the Historia scholastica. The title is misleading because the text also contains paraphrases of sections of Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers. The vocabulary and syntax of the text has been much studied by philologists of early Middle English dialects.