Juliana (poem)

Juliana [Exeter Book, fol.65b-76a], is one of the four signed poems scribed to the mysterious poet, Cynewulf, and is an account of the martyring of St. Juliana of Nicomedia. The one surviving manuscript, dated between 970 and 990, is preserved in the Exeter Book between the poems The Phoenix and The Wanderer. Juliana is one of only five Old English poetic texts that describe the lives of saints. (The others include Elene, Andreas, and Guthlac A and B.)

Juliana is Cynewulf's second longest work, totaling 731 lines. However, due to damage to the Exeter Book over time--such as staining, charring, and the loss of pages---there are two gaps in the text of Juliana, amounting to a loss of 130 to 140 lines. Through comparative analyses, it has been determined that no more than a single page worth of material could be missing from either gap, and it is therefore very likely that a single sheet, which would have been folded in the middle to form two pages, was accidentally lost when the original manuscript was being bound.

Cynewulf’s Juliana is presented entirely in Old English alliterative verse and is transmitted in a late West-Saxon dialect. Cynewulf likely derived the poem from earlier Latin accounts of the same story--similar to those appearing in the Acta sanctorum or the Martyrology; however, it is likely that Cynewulf was adapting his version from an unknown Latin source that has since been lost.

The Juliana story takes place during the Diocletian persecution and was probably first set in writing during the rule of Constantine I. The story begins by illustrating the harsh life for Christians under the rule of Galerius Maximian, describing various acts of violence visited upon Christians. Juliana is introduced as the daughter of Africanus of Nicomedia, who has promised Juliana’s hand in marriage to Eleusias, a wealthy senator and friend of Maximian. Although Juliana was born a pagan, she has converted to Christianity, and so she vehemently resists being married to the pagan Eleusias, not wanting to violate the relationship she shares with God.

When she publicly voices her dissatisfaction, Eleusias becomes outraged and insists that he has been publicly insulted. Africanus, upon hearing of this, becomes similarly outraged, believing his daughter has embarrassed him by refusing the hand of a man of much higher status. As a result, Africanus declares that Eleusias is free to punish Juliana in whatever way he wishes.

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