Beowulf

Anonymous

Beowulf — Hrothgar, king of the Danes, and his people suffer repeated attacks by the monster Grendel at the king's great feasting hall. Hearing of their plight, Beowulf sets out with his companions to help them and face the creature. The poem survives in a single medieval manuscript, part of the Nowell Codex, dated to the late tenth or early eleventh century. The manuscript was damaged in the 1731 fire that affected the Cotton collection, and further deterioration caused letters to be lost. Conservation, modern imaging and the study of earlier transcripts help scholars preserve the fragile pages and investigate damaged passages, keeping the epic accessible to future generations.