wrote ecclesiastical history of the english people

When Caedmon was able to produce more religious poetry it was decided that the gift was a blessing from God. Miraculously, Caedmon suddenly began to sing and the memory of the dream stayed with him, allowing him to recall the holy verses for his master, Hilda and members of her inner circle. On one such evening as he fell asleep amongst the animals in his care, Caedmon is said to have dreamt that an apparition appeared before him telling him to sing of the principium creaturarum, or ‘the beginning of created things’. Whitby Abbey, photograph © Suzanne Kirkhope, Wonderful WhitbyĪs legend would have it, Caedmon was unable to sing and knew no poetry, quietly departing the mead hall whenever the harp was passed around so that he would not embarrass himself in front of his more literate peers. According to Bede, Caedmon tended to the animals which belonged to the Northumbrian monastery of Streonæshalch (later to become Whitby Abbey) during St Hilda’s time as Abbess between 657– 680AD. But how did this proud tradition begin and who was the ‘first’ English poet? Perhaps surprisingly, the earliest recorded poem in Old English has very humble origins and is credited to a shy and retiring cowherd named Caedmon.Īlthough Caedmon has been referred to many times in medieval literature, it is the ‘Father of English History’, the Venerable Bede (672 – 26 May 735 AD) who first refers to Cademon in his seminal work of 731AD, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People). Names like Shakespeare, Chaucer, Wordsworth and Keats automatically spring to mind when we talk about English poetry. Our green and pleasant land has played host to many notable wordsmiths through the centuries.

Wrote ecclesiastical history of the english people