tech
Irish researchers find oldest English-language poem in forgotten medieval book in Rome
Researchers in Ireland marveled at their computer screen as they flipped through the digitized pages of a medieval book tracked down in a Roman library. Within them, they found their sought-after treasure: the oldest surviving English poem.
TL;DR
- Researchers found the oldest surviving English poem, "Caedmon's Hymn," in a 9th-century manuscript in Rome.
- The poem, composed in Old English in the 7th century, was found within the main text of the Venerable Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the English People."
- This discovery predates other known copies by three centuries and attests to the early importance of the English language.
- The manuscript's journey involved multiple transfers and ownerships, including Thomas Phillipps and H.P. Kraus, before being acquired by Italy's culture ministry and residing in Rome's National Library.
- The Rome library has digitized its Nonantola collection, making rare books and manuscripts accessible globally.