Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have unearthed an early 9th-century manuscript in Rome containing one of the oldest surviving versions of the oldest known poem written in English.
The manuscript, now housed in the National Central Library of Rome, contains Hymn of CaedmonA short Old English poem, believed to have been composed over 1,300 years ago. Scholars have dated the manuscript to between 800 and 830, making it the third oldest surviving copy of the poem yet identified.
What makes this discovery particularly significant is the way the poem appears in the text. In the two oldest surviving manuscripts preserved in Cambridge and St Petersburg, the poem is written mainly in Latin, with the Old English lines added later in the margins or at the end. However, in the Rome manuscript, the Old English version is woven directly into the main Latin text.
According to researchers at Trinity School of English, this shows that early medieval readers valued Old English poetry significantly.
Origin of Caedmon’s Hymn
Hymn of Caedmon It is a nine-line poem praising God for the creation of the world. It was written in Old English, the language spoken in England during the Early Middle Ages.
This poem survives today because it was copied in some manuscripts Ecclesiastical history of the English people8th-century history written in Latin by the English monk Bede.
Tradition holds that the poem was composed by Caedmon, a shepherd from Whitby in present-day North Yorkshire, when a divine vision inspired him to sing it.
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 neighbors By Cambridge University Press.
Dr Elisabetta Magnanti explained: “I found conflicting references to Bede’s History in Rome, some pointing to its existence and some indicating its extinction. When its existence was confirmed by the Library and the manuscript was digitized for us, we were extremely excited to discover that the manuscript contained the Old English version of Caedmon’s Hymn and that it was embedded in the Latin text.
“The magic of digitization has allowed two researchers from Ireland to recognize the importance of a manuscript now in Rome, which contains a poem miraculously written by a shy shepherd in northern England more than a half millennium ago. This discovery is a testament to the power of libraries to facilitate new research by digitizing their collections and making them freely available online.”
Why discovery matters
Researchers say the discovery provides rare insight into the early history of written English.
Dr Mark Faulkner said: “In total about three million words of Old English survive, but the majority of texts come from the tenth and eleventh centuries. Caedmon’s Hymn is almost unique in being in existence from the seventh century – it connects us to the earliest stages of written English. As the oldest known poem in Old English it is celebrated today as the beginning of English literature.
“The discovery of a new early medieval copy of the poem has a significant impact on our understanding of Old English and how it is valued. Bede did not include the original Old English poem in his History, but rather translated it into Latin. This manuscript shows that the original Old English poem was reworked into Latin within 100 years of Bede finishing his History. It is an indication of how much early readers valued English poetry.”
A manuscript with a troubled history
The rediscovered manuscript is one of at least 160 surviving copies of Bede’s History. It was produced at Nonnatola Abbey in north central Italy between 800 and 830, before eventually reaching Rome.
Researchers say the manuscript endured a complex journey over the centuries. During the Napoleonic Wars in the 1810s, it was moved to the Church of San Bernardo alle Terme in Rome for safekeeping along with other manuscripts. It was later stolen and passed through several private owners before finally 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 went unnoticed until the library digitized the document.
Valentina Longo, Curator of Medieval and Modern Manuscripts at the National Central Library of Rome, said: “Today, the National Central Library of Rome houses the largest collection of early medieval codices from the Benedictine monastery of Nonnatola. The collection consists of 45 manuscripts dating from the sixth to the twelfth century, divided between the original Cesariana collection and the Vittorio Emanuele collection, where the manuscripts were recovered after their dispersal. The entire Nontonolon collection has been archived and can be accessed through the Library’s website.
Andrea Cappa, Head of the Reading Room of Manuscripts and Rare Books, National Central Library of Rome, said: “The Central National Library of Rome is constantly expanding its digital collections, providing free access to its resources. The Library has already made available digital copies of about 500 manuscripts, and is also completing a major project to digitize the holdings of the National Center for Manuscript Studies, which includes approximately 180 “Including microfilm reproductions of 110,000 manuscripts. The initiative will provide scholars and researchers access to more than 40 million images.”
story behind the poem
According to tradition, Caedmon worked as a laborer at Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire. During a feast where guests were expected to recite poetry, he reportedly became embarrassed because he did not know any songs or verses to perform.
He left the meeting 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 the creation of the world.
continued interest in the manuscript
Canon Dr. Riccardo Fangarezzi, head of the abbey archive at Nonantola, Italy, where the manuscript was produced, said, “Interest in the Abbey of Nonantola is heightened once again by this ancient copy of Caedmon’s hymn and by the history of the manuscript in which it is preserved.”
“This newly identified gem of the British cultural heritage now joins the small Anglo-Nontolan cultural treasure formed by the manuscripts listed in early catalogs and from the source of the Old English poem Soul and Body, preserved in the Nonontolan manuscript Session 52, to diplomatic missions from our abbot Niccolo Pucciarelli to King Richard II, to mention only the most famous examples.
“We look forward to further results coming from the dissemination of these valuable studies and continued research. The present times may be quite dark, yet such intellectual contributions are real rays of sunlight: the continent is less isolated.”