My research project focuses on three fragments of a non-extant Old Saxon Genesis poem in the miscellaneous manuscript Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica, Palatinus Latinus 1447. The first fragment contains a speech by Adam to Eve (25½ lines, f. 1r), the second concerns Abraham and the destruction of Sodom (187 lines, ff. 2r–2v), and the third details the story of Cain and Abel (124 lines, ff. 2v, 10v). One of these fragments corresponds closely with a portion of the Old English poem Genesis B, which narrates the Fall of the Rebel Angels and the Fall of Man.

Interpreting these fragments in their manuscript context, I argue that they work both as self-contained texts and as components in a sequence about “living in sin”. The “Sermon on the Mount” extract from Heliand (ll. 1279-1358, 27r and 32v), though copied into the manuscript later and in a different hand, becomes part of this sequence as a response to it. Viewing the texts through this central theme, I will investigate why these particular extracts have been recorded and what sources and analogues might have inspired this selection.

In particular, I will make reference to homilies, apocryphal stories such as the Vita adae et evae, and catechetical narrationes incorporating themes and events from the book of Genesis. I will examine how these Germanic vernacular versifications of the book of Genesis interact with their templates and sources and are adapted within different cultural contexts, achieving autonomy through heteronomy. Uncovering the processes by which these texts adapt their templates for new audiences, my research aims to enhance understanding of textual influence and innovation through vernacular verse renarratio.