Story perspectives

Third-Oldest Caedmon Hymn Manuscript Found in Rome

5/1/2026

Summary

Magnanti & Faulkner Identify Manuscript

Dr Elisabetta Magnanti and Dr Mark Faulkner identified a 9th-century Caedmon’s Hymn manuscript in Rome’s National Central Library.
The codex, made at Abbey of Nonantola between AD 800-830, is third-oldest and only copy embedding Old English text in Latin body, and it entered Rome’s library in 1972 and was identified after digitisation.
The find shows early readers valued Old English poetry and used word-spacing, marking each word with a full stop.

Summary

Rome Library Digitizes

The National Central Library of Rome announced a programme to upload millions of manuscript images, including the Cædmon codex, to Manus Online.
The Guardian reported on 29 April 2026 that the manuscript is a new copy of Cædmon’s Hymn.
Curator Valentina Longo said the Nonantolan collection holds 45 fully digitised manuscripts from the sixth to twelfth centuries.
Researchers said open-access digitisation lets scholars worldwide identify hidden texts, fostering collaborative medieval studies.

History

Historical Context

In 735 AD the Venerable Bede recorded Cædmon’s Hymn, the earliest securely dated English poem, which survives in twenty-three manuscripts. Modern scholars have digitised a medieval manuscript of the hymn, making it freely viewable on Manus Online. This mirrors Bede’s original aim to preserve the work and expands global access to early English literature.

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Magnanti & Faulkner Identify Manuscript

Dr Elisabetta Magnanti and Dr Mark Faulkner identified a 9th-century Caedmon’s Hymn manuscript in Rome’s National Central Library.
The codex, made at Abbey of Nonantola between AD 800-830, is third-oldest and only copy embedding Old English text in Latin body, and it entered Rome’s library in 1972 and was identified after digitisation.
The find shows early readers valued Old English poetry and used word-spacing, marking each word with a full stop.

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