Researchers from Trinity College Dublin discovered a manuscript containing Caedmon’s Hymn, the oldest known poem in the English language, in Rome [1].
The find provides new evidence regarding early English literary history and how Anglo-Saxon poetry was transmitted across Europe [1].
The manuscript was located at the National Central Library of Rome in Italy [1]. The document is approximately 1,300 years old [2] and dates specifically to the early ninth century [3]. It contains a nine-line version of the poem [1].
Caedmon’s Hymn dates back to the seventh century [1]. While the poem is traditionally attributed to a monk named Caedmon [1], other reports describe the author as a farm labourer [2].
The discovery occurred in 2026 [1]. The presence of this text in a Roman library suggests a wider geographic reach for early English verse than previously documented. The researchers said the work was hiding in plain sight within the library's collection [2].
“the oldest known poem in the English language”
The recovery of this manuscript in Italy indicates that early English literature was not confined to the British Isles. By finding a 9th-century copy of a 7th-century poem in Rome, historians can better track the movement of scholars and manuscripts during the Middle Ages, suggesting a robust intellectual exchange between Anglo-Saxon England and the Mediterranean.
