Lost 1,200-year-old manuscript contains the first English poem
Key takeaways
- Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have uncovered an early 9th century manuscript in Rome containing one of the oldest surviving versions of the earliest known poem written in English.
- The manuscript, now housed in the National Central Library of Rome, includes Caedmon's Hymn, a short Old English poem believed to have been composed more than 1,300 years ago.
- What makes the discovery especially important is the way the poem appears in the text.
Why this matters: new research or scientific developments with potential real-world impact.
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have uncovered an early 9th century manuscript in Rome containing one of the oldest surviving versions of the earliest known poem written in English.
The manuscript, now housed in the National Central Library of Rome, includes Caedmon's Hymn, a short Old English poem believed to have been composed more than 1,300 years ago. Scholars date the manuscript to between 800 and 830, making it the third oldest surviving copy of the poem ever identified.
What makes the discovery especially important is the way the poem appears in the text. In the two older surviving manuscripts, preserved in Cambridge and St Petersburg, the poem is written mainly in Latin, with the Old English lines added later in the margins or at the end. In the Rome manuscript, however, the Old English version is woven directly into the main Latin text itself.