Lost 1,200-year-old manuscript contains the first English poem
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Lost 1,200-year-old manuscript contains the first English poem
A lost 1,200-year-old manuscript found in Rome is rewriting the story of how English literature began.
Date:
May 17, 2026
Source:
Trinity College Dublin
Summary:
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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FULL STORY
Dr. Elisabetta Magnanti and Dr. Mark Faulkner with the Trinity copy of Bede's Ecclesiastical History in the Library of Trinity College Dublin. Credit: Trinity College Dublin
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.
According to researchers from Trinity's School of English, this suggests that early medieval readers placed significant value on Old English poetry.
The Origins of Caedmon's Hymn
Caedmon's Hymn is a nine line poem praising God for the creation of the world. It was written in Old English, the language spoken in England during the early Middle Ages.
The poem survives today because it was copied into certain manuscripts of Ecclesiastical History of the English People, an 8th century history written in Latin by the English monk Bede.
Tradition holds that the poem was composed by Caedmon, a cowherd from Whitby in present day North Yorkshire, after a divine visitation inspired him to sing.
The newly identified manuscript was discovered by medieval manuscript experts Dr. Elisabetta Magnanti and Dr. Mark Faulkner of Trinity College Dublin. Their findings were published in the open access journal Early Medieval England and its Neighbours by Cambridge University Press.
Dr. Elisabetta Magnanti explained: "I came across conflicting references to Bede's History in Rome, some pointing to its existence and some indicating it was lost. When its existence was confirmed by the library and the manuscript was digitized for us, we were extremely excited to find that the manuscript contained the Old English version of Caedmon's Hymn and that it was embedded in the Latin text.
"The magic of digitization has allowed two researchers in Ireland to recognize the significance of a manuscript now in Rome, containing a poem miraculously composed in Northern England by a shy cowherd a millennium and a half ago. This discovery is a testament to the power of libraries to facilitate new research by digitizing their collections and making them freely available online."
Why the Discovery Matters
Researchers say the find offers rare insight into the earliest history of written English.
Dr. Mark Faulkner said: "About three million words of Old English survive in total, but the vast majority of texts come from the tenth and eleventh centuries. Caedmon's Hymn is almost unique as a survival from the seventh century -- it connects us to the earliest stages of written English. As the oldest known poem in Old English it is today celebrated as the beginning of English literature.
"Unearthing a new early medieval copy of the poem has significant implications for our understanding of Old English and how it was valued. Bede chose not include the original Old English poem in his History, but to translate it into Latin. This manuscript shows that the original Old English poem was reinserted into the Latin within 100 years of Bede finishing his History. It is a sign of how much early readers valued English poetry."
A Manuscript With a Turbulent History
The rediscovered manuscript is one of at least 160 surviving copies of Bede's History. It was produced at the Abbey of Nonantola in northern central Italy sometime between 800 and 830 before eventually making its way to Rome.
Researchers say the manuscript endured a complicated journey over the centuries. During the Napoleonic Wars in the 1810s, it was moved along with other manuscripts to the church of San Bernardo alle Terme in Rome for safekeeping. It was later stolen and