The poem called Genesis B, attributed to the Anglo Saxon poet Caedmon, had been in the Bodleian Library collection since the Seventeenth century. It is one of the earliest manuscripts in Oxford and was famous at the time when Morris and Burne-Jones were students at the University, their enthusiasm for all things medieval will have caused them to seek the manuscript out. Burne-Jones was recalling the illustration on page 58 of a draped throne when he came to design the stained glass window expiating the sadness that he felt on losing his closest friend. When the manuscript is open the image of an draped empty throne is opposite another image of a dead being placed in his coffin. The association of an empty throne and the death of Morris caused Burne-Jones to recall the illustrations in Genesis B.