broad and eclectic knowledge of the traditions of exegesis in his time. Origins and structure Title As explained by the author, because the book overruns almost all the course of the world's history, it was to be called ‘cursur o werld’ i.e. over-runner of the world, hence Cursor Mundi. Authorship The Cursor Mundi is not signed, and no author's name is given anywhere in the text. However, the author does reveal that he is a “pastor” and, according to the Rev. Morris (1892), was evidently a cleric “as modest as he was learned”. Heinrich Hupe's theory, that his name was John of Lindebergh, which place he identifies with Limber Magna in Lincolnshire, is based on a misreading of an insertion in one of the manuscripts by the scribe who copied it. Source material The Cursor Mundi was founded on the works of late 12th-century Latin writers who wrote various pseudo-histories made up of hagiographic, legendary, and biblical material. It borrows heavily from pre-existing Latin and French biblical versions with additional material drawn primarily from the Historia Scholastica. It was translated and compiled gradually and incrementally from such sources, perhaps over a single writer's lifetime. Over the course of the 200-year period during which it was successively recopied, the text was adjusted to suit the changing circumstances in which it was being disseminated and read, losing many of the original features that mark the earliest extant texts as a work intended for oral-didactic performance. In consideration of one particular segment of the poem (lines 12713–17082), it is virtually impossible to complete an exhaustive survey of the poet's source materials. However, several works may be cited with certainty regarding their influence upon it. Vulgate Bible Herman de Valenciennes Bible The Old French Cross story Vita Prothoplausti Ade (also known as Legende) Historia Scholastica Evangelica Le Chateau d’Amour (by Robert Grosseteste) Legenda Aurea Structure The Cursor Mundi poem consists of almost 30,000 lines. The short verse form is generally that of the eight-syllabled couplet, but when writing of the passion and death of Christ, the poet uses alternately rhyming lines of eight and six syllables. The discourse between Christ and man, which follows the account of the crucifixion, consists largely of six-lined mono-rhymed stanzas. Extant manuscripts A total of nine complete or fragmentary manuscripts of the poem are extant although none of them is the original composition attributed to the unknown poet: (C)