View source for Cædmon's Hymn

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Cædmon's ''Hymn''}}
[[File:Caedmon's Hymn Moore mine01.gif|thumb|right|300px|{{Center|Cædmon's Hymn written in [[Northumbrian dialect|Northumbrian]]. This is the earliest known version of this work.}}]]
'''Cædmon's ''Hymn''''' is a short [[Old English]] poem originally composed by [[Cædmon]]. It was about [[God]]. It survives in a [[Latin]] [[translation]] by [[Bede]] in his ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum'' and in other [[dialect]]s written down in several [[manuscript]]s of Bede's ''Historia''. Bede wrote about the [[poet]] and his work in the fourth [[book]] of his ''Historia''.<ref>Charles Leslie Wrenn, ''A Study of Old English Literature'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1967), p. 92</ref> 

== Cædmon ==
Bede told the story of Cædmon who was an [[illiterate]] cow-[[herd]]er who was suddenly able to recite a [[Christian]] [[song]] of [[Creationism|creation]] in [[Old English language|Old English]] verse. This [[miracle]] happened after Cædmon left a [[meal|feast]] when they were passing a [[harp]] around for all to sing a song. He left the hall after feeling a[[shame]]d that he could not contribute a song. Later in a [[dream]] he said a man appeared to him and asked him to sing a song. Cædmon responded that he could not sing. But the man told him that he could and asked him to “Sing to me the beginning of all things.”  Cædmon was then able to sing verses and words that he had not heard of before.<ref name=Caedmon1.2>Caedmon; Daniel Paul O'Donnell; Dawn Collins, ''Cædmon's Hymn: A Multimedia Study, Archive and Edition'' (Cambridge [England]; Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer/SEENET/the Medieval Academy, 2007), pp. 1–2</ref> Cædmon then reported his experience first to a steward then to Hild the [[wikt:abbess|abbess]]. She invited [[scholar]]s to evaluate Cædmon’s [[gift]]. Cædmon was sent home to turn more [[Doctrine|divine doctrine]] into song.<ref name=Caedmon1.2/> The abbess was so impressed with the [[success]] of his gift that she told him to become a [[monk]].<ref name=Caedmon1.2/> Cædmon lived a long and very productive life as a monk. He created songs from all kinds of [[Church]] [[history]] and doctrine.<ref name=Caedmon1.2/>

== Choral settings of Caedmon's Hymn ==
The text has been set to music by a number of composers of choral music. Graham Keitch used Bede's translation for a [[motet]] which was commissioned to mark the 1100th anniversary of the death of the Anglo Saxon queen, Aethelflaed. It was first sung during the commemorative Evensong for Queen Aethelflaed which took place in [[Gloucester Cathedral]], June 12th 2018.

== Translated text ==

{{col-begin|class=wikitable}}
{{col-3}}
<div lang="ang">
; <span lang="en">Old English</span><ref>Richard Marsden, ''Old English Reader'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 80</ref>
: nu scylun hergan {{spaces|3}} hefaenricaes uard
: metudæs maecti {{spaces|3}} end his modgidanc
: uerc uuldurfadur {{spaces|3}} swe he uundra gihwaes
: eci dryctin {{spaces|3}} or astelidæ
: he aerist scop {{spaces|3}} aelda barnu''m''
: heben til hrofe {{spaces|3}} haleg scepen.
: tha middungeard {{spaces|3}} moncynnæs uard
: eci dryctin {{spaces|3}}  æfter tiadæ
: firum fold''u'' {{spaces|3}} frea allmectig
</div>
{{col-3}}
<div lang="la">
; <span lang="en">Latin (Bede)</span><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.magyarulbabelben.net/works/en/C%C3%A6dmon_/C%C3%A6dmon_s_Hymn*?interfaceLang=en |title=Cædmon: Cædmon's Hymn |publisher=Typotex |access-date=9 March 2015}}</ref>
: Nunc laudare debemus auctorem regni caelestis,
: potentiam creatoris, et consilium illius
: facta Patris gloriae: quomodo ille,
: cum sit aeternus Deus, omnium miraculorum auctor exstitit;
: qui primo filiis hominum
: caelum pro culmine tecti
: dehinc terram custos humani generis
: creavit.
: omnipotens
</div>
{{col-3}}
; Modern English translation<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.rockingham.k12.va.us/textbook10/b-c/caedmons-hymn-caedmon/ |title=Cædmon's Hymn- Cædmon (658-80) |publisher=The Evolution of Literature |access-date=9 March 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
: Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,
: the might of the architect, and his purpose,
: the work of the father of glory
: as he, the eternal lord, established the beginning of wonders;
: he first created for the children of men
: heaven as a roof, the holy creator
: Then the guardian of mankind,
: the eternal lord, afterwards appointed the [[midgard|middle earth]],
: the lands for men, the Lord almighty.
{{col-end}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Other websites ==
* [http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/medieval/caedmon.html CAEDMON'S HYMN, Washington State University]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caedmon's Hymn}}
[[Category:Christian hymns]]
[[Category:Old English literature]]