Cædmon is the earliest English poet known. Cædmon’s name is of Celtic orgin, more specifically from Proto-Welsh. Cædmon was an Anglo-Saxon herdsman. The field was attached to the double monastery of Strenæshalch, currently known as Whitby Abbey during the abbacy of Saint Hilda, from 657 to 680 AD. Cædmon was inept in the art of song. However, one night in a moment of divine inspiration formed through a dream he composed this song known as “Cædmon’s Hymn.” The “Hymn” is from the West-Saxon dialect of Old English.
Cædmon left herding, became a monk, and a religious poet. Cædmon is one of only twelve medieval Anglo-Saxon poets. Cædmon is one of three where biographical information and literary works have survived. Cædmon’s story is told in the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, Ecclesiastical History of English People, by Saint Bebe. Saint Bebe wrote: “There was in the Monastery of this Abbess a certain brother particularly remarkable for the Grace of God, who was wont to make religious verses, so that whatever was interpreted to him out of scripture, he soon after put the same into poetical expressions of much sweetness and humility in English, which was his native language. By his verse the minds of many were often excited to despise the world, and to aspire to heaven.”
Cædmon’s Hymn is Cædmon’s only work that survived. Cædmon’s Hymn is a nine line alliterative vernacular poem made to honor God. Cædmon learned to sing in his dream inspired by divinity. This Hymn is one of the earliest examples of Old English poetry, and sustained poetry in a Germanic language.
According to Saint Bebe’s account, Cædmon was a herdsman at the monastery Streonæshalch, now known as Whitby Abbey. While the monks were feasting and singing along with the sounds of the harp music, Cædmon retired to bed early because he was embarrassed. Cædmon was embarrassed for he knew no songs. In his dream, quidem or someone asked him to sing principium creaturarum, the beginning of created things. Cædmon wrote a eulogistic poem. The poem praised God, the Creator of heaven and earth.
The next morning Cædmon woke up and remembered the song and added more lines to the poem. When Cædmon told the foreman about his dream, he was taken to the abbess. The abbess and counselors asked Cædmon about the dream, and were satisfied that it was indeed a gift from God. As Cædmon received such a gift, he now received a commission. Their request was a poem based on a “passage of sacred history or doctrine.” Their request was a test.
Again, Cædmon returned to the abbess with the requested poem. Cædmon successfully passed the test, and was ordered to receive monastic vows. The abbess requested the scholars to instruct Cædmon in sacred history and doctrine so Cædmon could write a new verse. According to the Bebe, Cædmon wrote a splendid array of vernacular poetic texts on Christian topics.
Cædmon lives a pious life, and died as though a saint. Cædmon received a premonition of death so he asked to be moved to the hospice. Cædmon expired in the hospice just before nocturns. Although at times Cædmon is listed as a saint, the documentation provided by Saint Bebe does not confirm Cædmon sainthood.
According to Saint Bebe’s accounts, Cædmon lived at Streonæshalch during Hilda’s abbacy from 657 to 680 AD. In the Historia Ecclesiastica, book IV, chapters 25 and 26, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in E text, Cædmon’s death took place between 679 and 684 AD.
Cædmon is the earliest English poet known. Cædmon’s name is of Celtic orgin, more specifically from Proto-Welsh. Cædmon was an Anglo-Saxon herdsman. The field was attached to the double monastery of Strenæshalch, currently known as Whitby Abbey during the abbacy of Saint Hilda, from 657 to 680 AD. Cædmon was inept in the art of song. However, one night in a moment of divine inspiration formed through a dream he composed this song known as “Cædmon’s Hymn.” The “Hymn” is from the West-Saxon dialect of Old English.
Cædmon left herding, became a monk, and a religious poet. Cædmon is one of only twelve medieval Anglo-Saxon poets. Cædmon is one of three where biographical information and literary works have survived. Cædmon’s story is told in the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, Ecclesiastical History of English People, by Saint Bebe. Saint Bebe wrote: “There was in the Monastery of this Abbess a certain brother particularly remarkable for the Grace of God, who was wont to make religious verses, so that whatever was interpreted to him out of scripture, he soon after put the same into poetical expressions of much sweetness and humility in English, which was his native language. By his verse the minds of many were often excited to despise the world, and to aspire to heaven.”
Cædmon’s Hymn is Cædmon’s only work that survived. Cædmon’s Hymn is a nine line alliterative vernacular poem made to honor God. Cædmon learned to sing in his dream inspired by divinity. This Hymn is one of the earliest examples of Old English poetry, and sustained poetry in a Germanic language.
According to Saint Bebe’s account, Cædmon was a herdsman at the monastery Streonæshalch, now known as Whitby Abbey. While the monks were feasting and singing along with the sounds of the harp music, Cædmon retired to bed early because he was embarrassed. Cædmon was embarrassed for he knew no songs. In his dream, quidem or someone asked him to sing principium creaturarum, the beginning of created things. Cædmon wrote a eulogistic poem. The poem praised God, the Creator of heaven and earth.
The next morning Cædmon woke up and remembered the song and added more lines to the poem. When Cædmon told the foreman about his dream, he was taken to the abbess. The abbess and counselors asked Cædmon about the dream, and were satisfied that it was indeed a gift from God. As Cædmon received such a gift, he now received a commission. Their request was a poem based on a “passage of sacred history or doctrine.” Their request was a test.
Again, Cædmon returned to the abbess with the requested poem. Cædmon successfully passed the test, and was ordered to receive monastic vows. The abbess requested the scholars to instruct Cædmon in sacred history and doctrine so Cædmon could write a new verse. According to the Bebe, Cædmon wrote a splendid array of vernacular poetic texts on Christian topics.
Cædmon lives a pious life, and died as though a saint. Cædmon received a premonition of death so he asked to be moved to the hospice. Cædmon expired in the hospice just before nocturns. Although at times Cædmon is listed as a saint, the documentation provided by Saint Bebe does not confirm Cædmon sainthood.
According to Saint Bebe’s accounts, Cædmon lived at Streonæshalch during Hilda’s abbacy from 657 to 680 AD. In the Historia Ecclesiastica, book IV, chapters 25 and 26, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in E text, Cædmon’s death took place between 679 and 684 AD.
There are two surviving copies of Cædmon’s Hymn. One is found in “The Moore Bede” (ca. 737) which is held by the Cambridge University Library (Kk. 5. 16, often referred to as M). The other is in St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, lat. Q. v. I. 18 (P).
“Caedmon’s Hymn”
Old English Manuscript:
Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard
meotodes meahte and his modgeêanc
weorc wuldorfæder swa he wundra gehwæs
ece drihten or onstealde.
He ærest sceop eor›an bearnum
heofon to hrofe halig scyppend
êa middangeard moncynnes weard
ece drihten æfter teode
firum foldan frea ælmihtig
Modern English:
Now let us praise the keeper of Heaven’s kingdom,
the might of the Creator, and his mind’s 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.
Work Cited:
The twelve named Anglo-Saxon poets are Æduwen, Aldhelm, Alfred, Anlaf, Baldulf, Bede, Cædmon, Cnut, Cynewulf, Dunstan, Hereward, and Wulfstan (or perhaps Wulfsige). The three for whom biographical information and documented texts survive are Alfred, Bede, and Cædmon. Cædmon is the only Anglo-Saxon poet known primarily for his ability to compose vernacular verse. No study appears to exist of the “named” Anglo-Saxon poets-the list here has been compiled from Frank 1993, Opland 1980, Sisam 1953 and Robinson 1990.
Bebe, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, Ecclesiastical History of English People, Book IV, Chapter 24. Translation by Colgrave and Mynors 1969. Colgrave, B. and R.A.B. Mynors, eds., Oxford: OUP, 1969.
Dumville, D. Beowulf and the Celtic world: The uses of evidence. Tradition 37: 109-160. Copyright 1981.
Ireland, C. A. The Celtic background to the story of Cædmon and his Hymn. Unpublished Ph.D. diss. UCLA, 1986.
Jackson, K. Language and history in early Britain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1953.
Stanley, E. St. Cædmon. Notes and Queries 143: 4-5, Copyright 1998.
