Ancient copy of Caedmon's Hymn unearthed in Rome manuscript
The discovery, made possible through digital archives, reveals a unique preservation of Old English poetry embedded directly in the main body of the manuscript, distinct from earlier copies found in Cambridge and St Petersburg.
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have identified a previously overlooked manuscript containing Caedmon's Hymn within the National Central Library of Rome. Dated between 800 and 830, this copy is the third oldest surviving text of the poem, the earliest known verse in the English language. The find was made by Dr Elisabetta Magnanti and Dr Mark Faulkner through the digitisation of the library's collection.
What makes this specific copy unique is that it contains the Old English version of the poem embedded directly in the main body of the Latin text. The two older known copies, held in Cambridge and St Petersburg, feature the Old English text only in the margins or at the end. This distinction indicates how Old English poetry was valued by early readers and highlights the cultural connections between England and Italy during this period.
The manuscript, identified as MS. Vitt. Em. 1452, was produced at the Abbey of Nonantola in Northern Italy. It has endured a complex and torrid history, having been stolen from the church of San Bernardo alle Terme in Rome during the Napoleonic Wars in the 1810s. It subsequently passed through private hands before being acquired by the National Central Library of Rome.
Scholars had regarded this specific copy as lost since 1975. Its significance was only realised after the library digitised its holdings, allowing researchers in Ireland to identify the Old English text within the Latin manuscript. Dr Magnanti noted that the magic of digitisation allowed them to recognise the significance of a manuscript now in Rome, containing a poem composed by a cowherd a millennium and a half ago.
Dr Faulkner explained that while about three million words of Old English survive, the vast majority come from the tenth and eleventh centuries. Caedmon's Hymn is almost unique as a survival from the seventh century, connecting modern scholars to the earliest stages of written English. The discovery shows that the original Old English poem was reinserted into the Latin within 100 years of Bede finishing his History, a sign of how much early readers valued English poetry.
The newly-discovered manuscript joins a small Anglo-Nonantolan cultural treasury, which also includes the Old English poem Soul and Body and diplomatic records from the abbey. Canon Dr Riccardo Fangarezzi, Head of the Abbey Archive in Nonantola, stated that this newly identified gem of British cultural heritage now joins the small Anglo-Nonantolan cultural treasury constituted by manuscripts listed in early catalogues.
The National Central Library of Rome holds the largest collection of early medieval codices from the benedictine abbey of Nonantola. The whole Nonantolan collection has been fully digitised and is accessible through the library's website, providing free access to its resources for scholars and researchers worldwide.
