Cædmon’s Hymn inscribed on an arch from the Illuminated Abbey at Whitby 6 of 8

I have made a new version of Cædmon’s Hymn and superimposed it on a pictures of mine taken during the Illuminated Abbey at Whitby by English Heritage 31 October 2018. I have taken a perspective on the original and given it thoughtful presentation. It is easier to produce my own text to be displayed here with my own pictures.

From shy and retiring begins Cædmon was found out by visions and though he backed away from performing in his youth he was not able to contain his visions and his repetitions of the songs he received whilst sleeping in the cowshed. The cowshed songs catapulted Cædmon from cowherd to bardic poet. His career is seen as being fostered under the patronage of the famously wise and caring Abbess Hilda, or Hild of Whitby. “All who knew her called her mother because of her outstanding devotion and grace,” Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People written in about AD 731. With Hild’s support Cædmon has been remembered down the ages and he it is who is the earliest named English poet.

Cædmon’s Hymn 2019

Now together we can join in praise of the heavenly kingdom’s Guardian
Joined as we are in the might of the Creator and of his grand conception
We that are of his labour are the glories in the Father wondrous creator of the cosmos
At the inception of the eternity of his reign he established the beginning of us
Primarily he fashioned us as sons and daughters guardians as he was very most
The stars roofed above, creation breathed within and holy waters all about us
We at the centre of his great scheme of life as Guardian of middle-earth
The Lord in his crowned eternity then in wisdom with intelligence wrought
The earth for us to people following ever after him in his way the Allmighty

These nine lines of text speak to us in an echo of a tuneful voice from Old and Middle English around 658 and 680c.e. originally spoken with musical alliteration. The original is very different in many ways to our written English as it was a language to speak and to weave into entertainment. Cædmon in visions was given songs to repeat including words he did not know outside of the poetic presentations that he had been instructed to perform. Below is some manuscript details, the tracing of the versions held in different libraries give you an idea of how fragile our history is and how we weave an all-encompassing tapestry from very fine fragile threads.

PHH Sykes copyright 2018
phhsykes@gmail.com

“This manuscript was made in the mid 8th to early 9th century, in Bede’s own monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow. Tragically, the manuscript was damaged in a terrible fire in 1731. You can see how the edges of the pages are ragged and there is dark staining from water.

Luckily for us, before the fire someone made a copy of it (now in the British Library, Add MS 43703).”1

1. British Library website 2018.
www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-story-of-caedmons-hymn

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Whitby (show map)

Taken on: October 31, 2018

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