Cædmon's Hymn

Cædmon's Hymn
Cædmon's Hymn
• is a short Old English poem originally composed

by Cædmon, in honour of God the Creator.
• it survives in a Latin translation by Bede in his
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum and in
vernacular versions written down in several
manuscripts of Bede's Historia.
Bede told the story of Cædmon who was an illiterate cow-herd who miraculously was
able to recite a Christian song of creation in Old English verse.
This miracle happened after Cædmon left a feast when they were passing a harp around
for all to sing a song. He left the hall after feeling ashamed that he could not contribute a
song.
Later in a dream he said a man appeared to him and asked him to sing a song. Cædmon
responded that he could not sing, yet the man told him that he could and asked him to
“Sing to me the beginning of all things.”
Cædmon was then able to sing verses and words that he had not heard of before.
Cædmon then reported his experience first to a steward then to Hilda the abbess. She
invited scholars to evaluate Cædmon’s gift, and he was sent home to turn more divine
doctrine into song.
The abbess was so impressed with the success of his gift that she encouraged him to
become a monk. He learned the history of the Christian church and created more music
like the story of Genesis and many biblical stories which impressed his teachers.
Bede says that Cædmon in his creation of his songs wanted to turn man from love of sin
to a love of good deeds.
Cædmon is said to have died peacefully in his sleep after asking for the Eucharist and
making sure he was at peace with his fellow men.
• Like many Old English and Anglo-Latin pieces, it was designed to be
sung aloud and was never physically recorded by Cædmon himself,
but was written and preserved by other literate individuals.
• The Hymn itself was composed between 658 and 680, recorded in
the earlier part of the 8th century, and survives today in at least 14
verified manuscript copies. The Hymn is Cædmon's sole surviving
composition.
• The poem forms a prominent landmark and reference point for the
study of Old English prosody, for the early influence which
Christianity had on the poems and songs of the Anglo-Saxon people
after their conversion.
• Cædmon's Hymn is the oldest recorded Old English poem, and also
one of the oldest surviving samples of Germanic alliterative verse.
Text and Translation
• The manuscripts containing Cædmon's Hymn began to emerge in
the 8th century all the way through the twelfth. They show two
separate manuscript environments. They show the transformation
of the hymn as it goes from an oral tradition to a literate one.
Between the fourteen manuscripts, the hymn only appears in two
dialects. (Latin & Old English)
• The 8th-century Latin manuscripts of Historia ecclesiastica contain
pronounced visual cues to help with the proper reading of the
hymn. Despite the differences in the Hymn found in the Old English
manuscripts, each copy of the hymn is metrically, semantically, and
syntactically correct. These manuscripts bear testament of a
supposed transitional period where oral poems were being placed
into written word with the specific purpose of giving a
predetermined message to its reader.
Old English
nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard
metudæs maecti end his modgidanc
uerc uuldurfadur swe he uundra gihwaes
eci dryctin or astelidæ
heaerist scop aelda barnum
heben til hrofe haleg scepen.
tha middungeard moncynnæs uard
eci dryctin æfter tiadæ
firum foldu frea allmectig
Latin (Bede)
Nunc laudare debemus auctorem regni caelestis,

potentiam creatoris, et consilium illius
facta Patris gloriae: quomodo ille,
cum sit aeternus Deus, omnium miraculorum auctor exstitit;
qui primo filiis hominum
caelum pro culmine tectidehinc terram custos humani generis
creavit.
omnipotens
Modern English translation
Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,

the might of the architect, and his purpose,
the work of the father of glory
as he, the eternal lord, established the beginning of wonders;
he first created for the children of men
heaven as a roof, the holy creator
Then the guardian of mankind,
the eternal lord, afterwards appointed the middle earth,
the lands for men, the Lord almighty.

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Cædmon's Hymn

• is a short Old English poem originally composed

Nunc laudare debemus auctorem regni caelestis,

Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,

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