Anonymous, Cursor Mundi

Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast)
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Cursor Mundi

is a compendious Middle English verse work of biblical and other religious teaching running to almost 30,000 lines in the seven-volume nineteenth-century Early English Text Society edition by Richard Morris (still the standard). It survives in nine manuscripts, among which three versions of the poem are distinguishable, as reflected in the multi-text layout of Morris’s edition. Written by an anonymous poet in a popular romance-like style, mostly in octosyllabic couplets,

Cursor Mundi

sets out to provide edifying but also entertaining Christian knowledge to an audience of ordinary laypeople. It begins with a prologue in which the poet refers to the matter of popular romance, listing the names and deeds of some of the most famous romance figures. Everyone is eager to hear and…

1003 words

Citation: Magennis, Hugh. "Cursor Mundi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 April 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16739, accessed 19 March 2024.]

16739 Cursor Mundi 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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