Researchers stunned by a forgotten medieval book in Rome hiding the oldest English poem
Researchers say the manuscript is the third oldest surviving copy and shows Old English embedded directly in the Latin text.
- Trinity College Dublin researchers Elisabetta Magnanti and Mark Faulkner identified an early 9th-century manuscript in the National Central Library of Rome containing one of the oldest surviving versions of Caedmon's Hymn.
- Unlike other surviving copies where the Old English poem appears as a marginal afterthought, this manuscript integrates Caedmon's Hymn directly into the Latin text of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People by the Venerable Bede.
- Digital access provided by the National Central Library of Rome allowed researchers to authenticate the document, which originated from the Benedictine Abbey of Nonantola before a turbulent journey through international collections during the 20th century.
- Dating to between 800 and 830, the manuscript is the third oldest identified copy, and Faulkner notes the find demonstrates that early readers valued English poetry significantly more than previously understood.
- Canon Dr. Riccardo Fangarezzi, head of the Abbey Archive, called the find a 'gem of British cultural heritage' enriching the 'Anglo-Nonantolan cultural treasury' and offering new research opportunities into medieval ties.
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79 Articles
Irish researchers have discovered the oldest known poem written in Old English in Rome. It was written in a copy of a manuscript by an English priest and historian from the 9th century. The discovery suggests that Old English was widely used.
Researchers stunned by a forgotten medieval book in Rome hiding the oldest English poem - The Boston Globe
"We couldn’t believe our eyes when we first saw that,” Elisabetta Magnanti, a visiting research fellow at Trinity College Dublin’s school of English, told The Associated Press.
Researchers stunned by a forgotten medieval book in Rome hiding oldest English poem
Researchers in Dublin have uncovered the oldest surviving English poem in a Roman library. The poem, "Caedmon’s Hymn," was composed in Old English by a Northumbrian worker in the seventh century.
Medieval Book in Rome Has Been Hiding the Oldest English Poem
The researchers in Ireland looked at their computer screen, marveling at a medieval book tracked down in a Roman library. They flipped through its digitized pages and found their sought-after treasure: the oldest surviving English poem. “We were extremely surprised. We were speechless. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we first saw that,” Elisabetta Magnanti, a visiting research fellow at Trinity College Dublin's school of English, told The Asso…
Science Daily
Lost 1,200-year-old manuscript contains the first English poem
A long-lost manuscript discovered in Rome has revealed one of the oldest surviving versions of the very first known poem written in English. Hidden for decades and once believed lost, the 1,200-year-old manuscript contains Caedmon’s Hymn — a nine-line Old English poem said to have been miraculously composed by a shy Northumbrian cowherd after a divine dream.
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