Two Old English Apocrypha and their Manuscript Source

In the course of this book Professor Cross presents the discovery of the actual manuscript source for the Old English versions of two biblical apocrypha, The Gospel of Nichodemus and The Avenging of the Saviour. In collaboration with four other scholars, Professor Cross explores the implications of this discovery. Here, parallel editions of the relevant Latin and Old English texts are given, together with modern English translations, and detailed discussion outlines the background to the Latin texts, and to the manuscript which contains them. The assembled material provides an insight not simply into the transmission of two apocryphal texts, but also into the mind of the single Anglo-Saxon translator who, it is argued, struggled in his own idiosyncratic fashion to make two badly spelt and incomplete Latin originals his own.

• Presents the discovery of a manuscript source for the Old English versions of two biblical apocrypha • Parallel editions of the relevant Latin and Old English texts are given together with modern English translations • Illustrated with photographs of certain manuscript folios

List of plates; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Part I. Discussion: 1. Introduction J. E. Cross; 2. The manuscript: Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque Municipale, 202 J. E. Cross and Julia Crick; 3. The Euangelium Nichodemi and Vindicta saluatoris in Anglo-Saxon England Thomas N. Hall; 4. Saint-Omer 202 as the manuscript source for the Old English texts J. E. Cross; 5. The style of the texts and the translation strategy Andy Orchard; Part II. Texts and Translations: 6. Editorial and translation procedure J. E. Cross, Denis Brearley and Andy Orchard; 7. Euangelium Nichodemi: Latin text and translation J. E. Cross, Denis Brearley and Andy Orchard; 8. Euangelium Nichodemi: Old English text and translation J. E. Cross, Denis Brearley and Andy Orchard; 9. Vindicta saluatoris: Latin text and translation J. E. Cross, Denis Brearley and Andy Orchard; 10. Vindicta saluatoris: Old English text and translation J. E. Cross, Denis Brearley and Andy Orchard; Bibliography Thomas N. Hall; Index.