The Nowell Codex was written in two hands. Recent editions have specified a probable date in the decade after 1000. The Nowell Codex is generally dated around the turn of the first millennium. In his library, it was placed on the first shelf (A) as the 15th manuscript (XV) of the bookcase that had a bust of the Emperor Vitellius, giving the collection its name. It was then acquired by Sir Robert Cotton.
At some point it was combined with the first codex. This second manuscript is known as the Nowell Codex, after the antiquarian Laurence Nowell, whose name is inscribed on its first page he was apparently its owner in the mid-16th century. It is the second, older manuscript that is more famous. The first of these, originally owned by Southwick Priory in Hampshire, dates from the 12th century and contains four works of prose. The main division is into two totally distinct books which were apparently not bound together until the 17th century. The current codex is a composite of at least two manuscripts. The manuscript is located within the British Library with the rest of the Cotton collection. Due to the fame of Beowulf, the Nowell Codex is also sometimes known simply as the Beowulf manuscript. In addition to this, it contains first a fragment of The Life of Saint Christopher, then the more complete texts Wonders of the East and Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, and, after Beowulf, a poetic translation of Judith. It is most famous as the manuscript containing the unique copy of the epic poem Beowulf. The Nowell Codex is the second of two manuscripts comprising the bound volume Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, one of the four major Old English poetic manuscripts. Sole surviving manuscript of Beowulf Remounted page from Beowulf, British Library Cotton Vitellius A.XV, 133r First page of Beowulf, contained in the damaged Nowell Codex (132r)
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