Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have uncovered an early 9th-century manuscript in Rome containing one of the oldest surviving versions of the earliest known poem written in English - because nothing says "historical breakthrough" like a cowherd's divine karaoke session.
The manuscript, now housed in the National Central Library of Rome, includes Caedmon's Hymn, a short Old English poem believed to have been composed more than 1,300 years ago. Scholars date the manuscript to between 800 and 830, making it the third oldest surviving copy of the poem ever identified. In the two older surviving manuscripts - preserved in Cambridge and St Petersburg - the poem is written mainly in Latin, with Old English lines added later in the margins or at the end. In the Rome manuscript, however, the Old English version is woven directly into the main Latin text itself. According to researchers from Trinity's School of English, this suggests that early medieval readers placed significant value on Old English poetry. Or, as we like to think, they just wanted to make sure nobody missed the punchline.
Caedmon's Hymn is a nine-line poem praising God for the creation of the world, written in Old English - the language spoken in England during the early Middle Ages. The poem survives today because it was copied into certain manuscripts of Ecclesiastical History of the English People, an 8th-century history written in Latin by the English monk Bede. Tradition holds that the poem was composed by Caedmon, a cowherd from Whitby in present-day North Yorkshire, after a divine visitation inspired him to sing. According to legend, Caedmon worked as a laborer at Whitby Abbey and became embarrassed during a feast when guests were expected to recite poetry - because he didn't know any songs or verses to perform. He left the gathering and went to sleep, where a mysterious figure appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to sing about Creation. Caedmon then miraculously composed the hymn, producing a carefully crafted poem praising God for creating the world. So basically, the first English poet was a shy guy who needed a divine intervention to overcome stage fright.
The newly identified manuscript was discovered by medieval manuscript experts Dr. Elisabetta Magnanti and Dr. Mark Faulkner of Trinity College Dublin. Their findings were published in the open access journal Early Medieval England and its Neighbours by Cambridge University Press. Dr. Magnanti explained: "I came across conflicting references to Bede's History in Rome, some pointing to its existence and some indicating it was lost. When its existence was confirmed by the library and the manuscript was digitized for us, we were extremely excited to find that the manuscript contained the Old English version of Caedmon's Hymn and that it was embedded in the Latin text." She added: "The magic of digitization has allowed two researchers in Ireland to recognize the significance of a manuscript now in Rome, containing a poem miraculously composed in Northern England by a shy cowherd a millennium and a half ago." Dr. Mark Faulkner said: "About three million words of Old English survive in total, but the vast majority of texts come from the tenth and eleventh centuries. Caedmon's Hymn is almost unique as a survival from the seventh century - it connects us to the earliest stages of written English. Unearthing a new early medieval copy of the poem has significant implications for our understanding of Old English and how it was valued."
The rediscovered manuscript is one of at least 160 surviving copies of Bede's History. It was produced at the Abbey of Nonantola in northern central Italy sometime between 800 and 830 before eventually making its way to Rome. During the Napoleonic Wars in the 1810s, it was moved to the church of San Bernardo alle Terme in Rome for safekeeping, then stolen and passed through several private owners before ultimately being acquired by the National Central Library of Rome. Because of this tangled ownership history, many Bede scholars had considered the manuscript lost since 1975. Its importance remained unnoticed until the library digitized the document. Valentina Longo, Curator of Mediaeval and Modern Manuscripts at the National Central Library of Rome, noted that the library holds the largest collection of early medieval codices from the Abbey of Nonantola, comprising 45 manuscripts dating from the 6th to the 12th century. Andrea Cappa, Head of Manuscripts and Rare Books Reading Room, added that the library continues to expand its digital collections, providing free access to resources including digital copies of around 500 manuscripts.
Canon Dr. Riccardo Fangarezzi, Head of the Abbey Archive in Nonantola, said: "Interest in the Abbey of Nonantola has once again been stirred by this ancient copy of Caedmon's Hymn and the history of the manuscript in which it is preserved. This newly identified gem of British cultural heritage now joins the small Anglo-Nonantolan cultural treasury. We look forward to further results arising from the dissemination of these valuable studies and from continued research. The present times may be rather dark, yet such intellectual contributions are genuine rays of sunlight: the Continent is less isolated."