04/29/2026
A lost copy of Caedmon's Hymn has been found in Rome. Dating to the first half of the 9th century, it is the earliest surviving poem in the English language. Below is a reposting of Caedmon's Hymn from a few years ago.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/apr/29/lost-copy-of-seventh-century-poem-old-english-discovered-rome-library-dublin
...
Caedmon's Hymn
Old English, 7th century AD
"Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard
metudæs maecti end his modgidanc
uerc uuldurfadur sue he uundra gihuaes
eci dryctin or astelidæ
he aerist scop aelda barnum
heben til hrofe haleg scepen.
tha middungeard moncynnæs uard
eci dryctin æfter tiadæ
firum foldu frea allmectigprimo cantauit Cædmon istud carmen."
********
Modern English Translation:
"Now let me praise the keeper of Heaven's kingdom,
The might of the Creator, and his thought,
The work of the Father of glory, how each of wonders
The Eternal Lord established in the beginning.
He first created for the sons of men
Heaven as a roof, the holy Creator,
Then Middle-earth the keeper of mankind,
The Eternal Lord, afterwards made,
The earth for men, the Almighty Lord.
In the beginning Caedmon sang this poem."
*******
From InterestingLiterature.com: Perhaps the oldest poem written in English, Caedmon’s Hymn was composed in the 7th century by a goatherd and takes the form of a short hymn in praise of God. It was Bede, or ‘the Venerable Bede’ as he is often known, who ensured the survival of Caedmon’s Hymn, when he jotted it down in Latin translation in one of his books. An anonymous scribe then added the Anglo-Saxon form of the hymn in the margins of Bede’s book.
