Despite extensive work treating with the Old English Andreas ’s language, style, Eucharistic evocations, parallels with other vernacular verse, and textual analogues, there remains an unfortunate scholarly tendency to interpret the actual poem itself in literary isolation from its surrounding manuscript context. This paper argues that Andreas participates directly in the Vercelli Book’s overarching thematic economy, specifically with respect to the expression of two interlocking motifs: (1) salvific voice, and (2) the written embodiment of faith. The first section underscores Andreas ’s thematic integration within the Vercelli Book as an intertextually resonant devotional anthology. The next section unpacks the importance of voice, speech, and confession as core thematic elements of Andreas , with reference to the broader undercurrent of the St. Andrew narrative tradition and explicit comparison with the Latin language analogue of the Casanatensis. The third and final section addresses the incorporation of writing and the material word as an ideological construct, assessing references to and apparent omissions of runic characters and the Hebrew language. Ultimately, it is suggested that Andreas can be meaningfully understood as a reflection on the intertwining spoken and inscribed Word.
Jacob W. Runner (Sat,) studied this question.