Scholars from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) have uncovered a lost copy of Caedmon's Hymn, the earliest surviving poem in the English language, at the National Central Library of Rome. The seventh-century poem was composed by an illiterate Northumbrian cattle herder and recorded by the medieval theologian Bede in the eighth century.
Discovery Details
Elisabetta Magnanti and Mark Faulkner, from Trinity's School of English, identified the manuscript containing the Old English transcription. The poem is believed to have been transcribed by a monk in northern Italy between AD 800 and AD 830. Magnanti described the moment of discovery: "When we saw it we looked at each other and I said, 'No one knows about this.' To make sure I wasn't dreaming I double-checked the catalogues and there was no mention of it. It was a huge surprise, a very good one."
Significance of the Manuscript
This manuscript is the third oldest surviving text of Caedmon's Hymn, after older copies at Cambridge and St Petersburg. Those versions include the poem in Latin with Old English added in the margins or at the end. The Rome copy is unique because it places the Old English version in the main body of the text, reflecting the language's growing status in the ninth century. Faulkner noted: "The absence of the poem would have been felt by the readers, I think, and so that's why it goes in." The poem is punctuated with a full stop after every word, indicating that word spacing was a relatively new invention. Faulkner added: "It is part of the early development of ways of dividing words and shows text starting to come towards the presentation of English that we know today."
Bede's Account and the Poem's Origin
According to Bede, Caedmon was an illiterate cattle herder at Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire. He experienced a divine visitation that inspired him to compose and sing the Hymn, which praises God for creating the world. Bede included a Latin translation in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People but omitted the original Old English. However, within a century, a monk at the abbey of Nonantola in northern Italy included the Old English version. Faulkner said: "It is a sign of how much early readers valued English poetry."
Research and Digitization
The researchers published their findings in Early Medieval England and its Neighbours, an open-access journal by Cambridge University Press. Magnanti, an expert in medieval manuscripts, prompted the National Central Library to check its archives after finding conflicting evidence about a copy in Rome. The library located, digitized, and emailed pages containing the poem. Magnanti remarked: "This discovery is a testament to the power of libraries to facilitate new research by digitising their collections and making them freely available online." Andrea Cappa, head of manuscripts and rare books at the Rome library, noted that the institution is digitizing holdings from Italy's National Centre for the Study of the Manuscript, giving researchers access to over 40 million images.
Reactions and Future Prospects
Riccardo Fangarezzi, head of archives at the abbey in Nonantola, expressed optimism: "The present times may be rather dark, yet such intellectual contributions are genuine rays of sunlight: the continent is less isolated." The poet Paul Muldoon translated Caedmon's Hymn into contemporary English in a 2016 anthology. The opening lines read: "Now we must praise to the skies, the Keeper of the heavenly kingdom, The might of the Measurer, all he has in mind, The work of the Father of Glory, of all manner of marvel."
