Christ II

Christ II, also called The Ascension, is one of Cynewulf’s four signed poems that exist in the Old English vernacular. It is a five-section piece that spans lines 440-866 of the Christ triad in the Exeter Book (folios 14a-20b), and is homiletic in its subject matter in contrast to the martyrological nature of Juliana, Elene, and Fates of the Apostles. Christ II draws upon a number of ecclesiastical sources, but it is primarily framed upon Gregory the Great’s Homily XXIX on Ascension Day.

The poem is assigned to a triad of Old English religious poems in the Exeter Book, known collectively as Christ. Christ comprises a total of 1664 lines and deals with Christ's Advent, Ascension and Last Judgment. It was originally thought to be one piece completed by a single author, but the poem is now broken up into three parts.

Background

The poem Christ was originally thought to be one piece completed by a single author. Almost all scholars now break the poems into three parts: Christ I is focused on Advent, Christ II, on the Ascension, and Christ III primarily dealing with Doomsday. The poems are the first items in the Exeter Book which is a rather large manuscript that has 123 (some sources argue 131) folios contained in it. The Exeter Book has been at the Exeter Cathedral Library since 1072 where it was donated by Bishop Leofric. No one is exactly positive where the Exeter Book originated. Some argue it was written in a monastic institution in Exeter in the 7th century while others state it originated in Canterbury or Glastonbury. The book contains 123 leaves, or 246 pages, with a few random missing pages because the book was unbound for a long period of time. Many other pages have holes from burns, cuts by a knife, and stains by a pot of liquid.