Book

The Exeter Book is written in about 970 and know as one of just four surviving Old English poetry manuscripts, its exact writing and compilation date is unclear ("The Exeter Book - Exeter Cathedral", 2021). These manuscripts have existed in Exeter when Leofric, the cathedral's first bishop (d. 1072), presented it to the Cathedral Library since at least the 11th century. It has remained there ever since and is currently preserved in its library.

Physically, it is an excellent codex, with large dimensions for one written in vernacular: 320*220mm, 240*160mm (Gameson, 1996).It includes approximately 100 literary riddles as well as 40 poems, the majority of which are Christian in nature but a few of which date from before the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity ("The Exeter Book Project | College of Humanities | University of Exeter", 2021).