Oldest English Poem Found in Rome Library

Why this is here: The manuscript containing Caedmon’s Hymn was produced between 800 and 830, making it roughly three centuries older than the previously known comparable manuscript of the poem.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin discovered the oldest known poem in Old English—Caedmon’s Hymn—within a ninth-century manuscript at the National Central Library of Rome, Italy. The poem, traditionally attributed to a seventh-century cowherd, appears embedded within a Latin text, not as a later addition. This placement suggests early readers valued English poetry alongside Latin scholarship, a shift occurring within a century of the poem’s origin.

Caedmon’s Hymn, a nine-line poem praising God as creator, survives thanks to its inclusion in the writings of Bede. Previous copies of the poem appeared as marginal notes, while this version is integrated into the main text of Bede’s history. The manuscript itself followed a winding path, moving from a Benedictine abbey in Italy to Rome, then briefly into private collections before being repatriated to Italy in 1972.

Only about three million words of Old English remain today. Digitization efforts are opening access to more medieval manuscripts, potentially revealing further lost texts. The team continues to investigate manuscripts for similar embedded poems.