Researchers at Trinity College Dublin found the oldest surviving English poem inside a digitized medieval manuscript in Rome. Elisabetta Magnanti and Mark Faulkner identified “Caedmon’s Hymn” within the main Latin text of Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History of the English People.”
The discovery surprised them because earlier copies placed the Old English poem in margins or appendices. This version dates to the ninth century, and it pushes key evidence back by about three centuries. Faulkner said the find shows English held importance far earlier than scholars understood.
A Medieval Hymn With Deep Roots
Caedmon, a Northumbrian agricultural worker, composed the nine-line hymn in the seventh century. Tradition places him at Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire, where he reportedly dreamed of a command to sing about creation.
The poem praises God as creator, guardian and eternal lord. Faulkner considers it the beginning of English literature, so the Rome manuscript gives scholars a crucial new witness to that origin story.
A Manuscript With a Remarkable Journey
Monks copied the book at the Benedictine abbey of Nonantola, near modern Modena, Italy. The abbey ranked among the Middle Ages’ major transcription centers, and its manuscripts later scattered through Europe and beyond.
This copy moved from Nonantola to Rome, the Vatican, a small church, private collectors, New York and finally back to Italy. The Italian culture ministry bought it in 1972 from rare bookseller H.P. Kraus, but scholars largely overlooked it.
Digitization Opens New Doors
Magnanti located the manuscript while cataloging surviving copies of Bede’s history. Rome’s National Central Library confirmed it remained in its stacks, and digital images arrived three months later.
The library has digitized the Nonantola collection, and researchers worldwide can now study it freely. Supporters say the project could spark countless discoveries because access no longer depends on travel. Detractors may worry that digitized access cannot replace direct study of fragile materials, but this find shows remote research can transform medieval scholarship.
Researchers stunned by a forgotten medieval book in Rome hiding the oldest English poem
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