Editing Cædmon (section)

==Work==

===General corpus===
Bede's account indicates that Cædmon was responsible for the composition of a large [[:wikt:oeuvre|oeuvre]] of vernacular religious poetry. In contrast to Saints [[Aldhelm]] and [[Dunstan]],<ref>On whose careers as vernacular poets in comparison to that of Cædmon, see [[#opland1980|Opland 1980]], pp. 120&ndash;127 and 178&ndash;180.</ref> Cædmon's poetry is said to have been exclusively religious. Bede reports that Cædmon "could never compose any foolish or trivial poem, but only those which were concerned with devotion", and his list of Cædmon's output includes work on religious subjects only: accounts of creation, translations from the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]]s, and songs about the "terrors of future judgment, horrors of hell, ... joys of the heavenly kingdom, ... and divine mercies and judgments." 

Of this corpus, only his first poem survives. While vernacular poems matching Bede's description of several of Cædmon's later works are found in [[Caedmon manuscript|London, British Library, Junius 11]], traditionally referred to as the "Junius" or "Cædmon" manuscript, the older traditional attribution of these texts to Cædmon or Cædmon's influence cannot stand. The poems show significant stylistic differences both internally and with Cædmon's original ''Hymn'',<ref>See [[#wrenn1946|Wrenn 1946]]</ref> and there is nothing about their order or content to suggest that they could not have been composed and anthologised without any influence from Bede's discussion of Cædmon's oeuvre. 

The first three Junius poems are in their biblical order and, while ''[[Christ and Satan]]'' could be understood as partially fitting Bede's description of Cædmon's work on future judgment, pains of hell and joys of the heavenly kingdom,<ref>[[#gollancz1927|Gollancz 1927]], p. xlvi</ref> the match is not exact enough to preclude independent composition. As Fritz and Day have shown, Bede's list itself may owe less to direct knowledge of Cædmon's actual output than to traditional ideas about the subjects fit for Christian poetry<ref>[[#fritz1969|Fritz 1969]], p. 336</ref> or the order of the [[catechism]].<ref>[[#day1975|Day 1975]], pp. 54&ndash;55</ref>  Similar influences may, of course, also have affected the makeup of the Junius volume.<ref>See [[#day1975|Day 1975]], p. 55, for a discussion of ''Christ and Satan''.</ref>

===''Cædmon's Hymn''===
{{main|Cædmon's Hymn}}
[[File:Caedmon's Hymn Moore mine01.gif|thumb|500px|One of two candidates for the earliest surviving copy of ''Cædmon's Hymn'' is found in "The Moore Bede" (ca. 737) which is held by the [[Cambridge University Library]] (Kk. 5. 16, often referred to as '''M'''). The other candidate is St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, lat. Q. v. I. 18 (P)]]
The only known survivor from Cædmon's oeuvre is his ''Hymn'' ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAZyc8M5Q4I audio version]<ref>[[File:Loudspeaker.svg|11x11px]] Hwit Draga: "Caedmon's Hymn (in old English) West Saxon Version Anglo-Saxon." [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAZyc8M5Q4I  Online], accessed 6 November 2020.</ref>). The poem is known from 21 [[manuscript]] copies,<ref>Arranged by city and library, these are ([[sigla]] [symbols] commonly found in modern discussions of the text follow each shelf-mark): [[Royal Library of Belgium|Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale]], 8245–57 (Br); [[Cambridge, Corpus Christi College]], 41 (B1); [[Cambridge, Trinity College, R. 5. 22]] (Tr1); [[Cambridge, University Library, Kk. 3. 18]] (Ca); [[Cambridge, University Library, Kk. 5. 16]] ("The Moore Bede") (M); [[Dijon, Bibliothèque Municipale, 574]] (Di); [[Hereford, Cathedral Library, P. 5. i]] (Hr); [[London, British Library, Additional 43703]] (N [see also C]); † [[Cotton Otho]] B. xi ([[London, British Library, Cotton Otho B. xi]] + [[London, British Library, Otho B. x]], ff. 55, 58, 62 + [[London, British Library, Additional 34652]], f. 2) (C [see also N]); [[London, College of Arms, s.n.]] (CArms); [[Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 163]] (Bd); [[Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 43]] (H); [[Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 243]] (Ld); [[Oxford, Bodleian Library, Tanner 10]] (T1); [[Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 279]], B (O); [[Oxford, Lincoln College, lat. 31]] (Ln); [[Oxford, Magdalen College, lat. 105]] (Mg); [[Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, lat. 5237]] (P1); [[Leningrad Bede|St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, lat. Q. v. I. 18 ("The St. Petersburg Bede"; "The Leningrad Bede")]] (P); [[San Marino CA, Huntington Library, HM 35300]] formerly [[Bury St. Edmunds, Cathedral Library, 1]] (SanM); † [[Tournai, Bibliothèque de la Ville, 134]] (To); [[Winchester, Cathedral I]] (W).
</ref> making it the best-attested Old English poem after [[Bede|Bede's ''Death Song'']] (with 35 [[Textual criticism|witnesses]]) and the best attested in the poetic corpus in manuscripts copied or owned in the British Isles during the Anglo-Saxon period.<ref>See [[#dobbie1937|Dobbie 1937]] and the additional manuscripts described in [[#humphreysandross1975|Humphreys and Ross 1975]]; the most recent account is in [[#odonnell2005|O'Donnell 2005]]</ref> The ''Hymn'' also has by far the most complicated known textual history of any surviving Old English poem.<ref>[[#dobbie1937|Dobbie 1937]] with important additions and revisions in [[#humphreysandross1975|Humphreys and Ross 1975]]; [[#odonnell1996|O'Donnell 1996]]; and [[#orton1998|Orton 1998]].</ref>

It is found in two dialects and five distinct [[recension]]s (Northumbrian ''{{lang|ang|aelda}}'', Northumbrian ''{{lang|ang|eordu}}'', West-Saxon ''{{lang|ang|eorðan}}'', West-Saxon ''{{lang|ang|ylda}}'', and West-Saxon ''{{lang|ang|eorðe}}''), all but one of which are known from three or more witnesses.<ref>[[#dobbie1937|Dobbie 1937]] with important additions and revisions in [[#humphreysandross1975|Humphreys and Ross 1975]]; [[#odonnell1996|O'Donnell 1996]]; and [[#orton1998|Orton 1998]].</ref> It is one of the early attested examples of written Old English and one of the early recorded examples of sustained poetry in a [[Germanic languages|Germanic language]].<ref>[[#stanley1995|Stanley 1995]], p. 139.</ref> Together with the runic [[Ruthwell Cross]] and [[Franks Casket]] inscriptions, ''Cædmon's Hymn'' is one of three candidates for the early attested example of [[Old English literature|Old English poetry]].<ref>[[#ocarragain2005|Ó Carragáin 2005]]</ref>

There is continuing critical debate about the status of the poem as it is now available to us. While some scholars accept the texts of the Hymn as more or less accurate transmissions of Cædmon's original, others argue that they originated as a back-translation from Bede's Latin, and that there is no surviving witness to the original text.<ref name="odonnell2005"/>{{Full citation needed|date=July 2020}}

====Manuscript evidence====
All copies of ''Hymn'' are found in manuscripts of the ''Historia ecclesiastica'' or its translation, where they serve as either a [[gloss (annotation)|gloss]] to Bede's Latin translation of the Old English poem, or, in the case of the Old English version, a replacement for Bede's translation in the main text of the History. Despite this close connection with Bede's work, the ''Hymn'' does not appear to have been transmitted with the ''Historia ecclesiastica'' regularly until relatively late in its textual history. Scribes other than those responsible for the main text often copy the vernacular text of the ''Hymn'' in manuscripts of the Latin Historia. In three cases, ''Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 243'', ''Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 43'', and ''Winchester, Cathedral I'', the poem is copied by scribes working a quarter-century or more after the main text was first set down.<ref>See [[#ker1957|Ker 1957]], arts. 341, 326 and 396; also [[#okeeffe1990|O'Keeffe 1990]], p. 36.</ref> 

Even when the poem is in the same hand as the manuscript's main text, there is little evidence to suggest that it was copied from the same exemplar as the Latin ''Historia'': nearly identical versions of the Old English poem are found in manuscripts belonging to different recensions of the Latin text; closely related copies of the Latin ''Historia'' sometimes contain very different versions of the Old English poem. With the exception of the Old English translation, no single recension of the ''Historia ecclesiastica'' is characterised by the presence of a particular recension of the vernacular poem.<ref>Compare the recensional identifications for witnesses to the Old English Hymn in [[#dobbie1937|Dobbie 1937]] with those for manuscripts of the Latin ''Historia'' in [[#colgraveandmynors1969|Colgrave and Mynors 1969]], pp. xxxix–lxx.</ref>

====Earliest text====
The oldest known version of the poem is the [[Northumbria]]n {{lang|ang|aelda}} [[recension]].<ref>As [[#odonnell2005|O'Donnell 2005]] argues, however, this does not mean that this version must most closely resemble Cædmon's original text. The West-Saxon ''eorðan'' recension in particular shows several readings which, although attested later, are for a variety of reasons more likely to represent forms found in the original poem than those of the ''aelda'' text.</ref> The surviving witnesses to this text, [[Cambridge, University Library, Kk. 5. 16]] (M) and [[Leningrad Bede|St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, lat. Q. v. I. 18]] (P), date to at least the mid-8th century. '''M''' in particular is traditionally ascribed to Bede's own monastery and lifetime, though there is little evidence to suggest it was copied much before the mid-8th century.<ref>See [[#odonnell2005|O'Donnell 2005]].</ref>

The following text, first column on the left below, has been transcribed from '''M''' (mid-8th century; Northumbria). The text has been normalised to show a line-break between each line and modern word-division. A transcription of the likely pronunciation of the text in the early 8th-century Northumbrian dialect in which the text is written is included, along with a modern English translation.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|- valign=top
| style="width:33%" |
:nu scylun hergan &nbsp; hefaenricaes uard
:metudæs maecti &nbsp; end his modgidanc
:uerc uuldurfadur &nbsp; swe he uundra gihwaes
:eci dryctin &nbsp; or astelidæ
:he aerist scop &nbsp; aelda barnu''m''
:heben til hrofe &nbsp; haleg scepen.
:tha middungeard &nbsp; moncynnæs uard
:eci dryctin &nbsp;  æfter tiadæ
:firum fold''u'' &nbsp; frea allmectig<ref>Text from Richard Marsden, ''The Cambridge Old English Reader'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 80, collated with manuscript facsimile.</ref>
| style="width:33%" |
:{{IPA|[nuː ˈskʲylun ˈherjɑn ˈhevænriːkʲæs wɑrd<br /><!-- 
--> metudæs ˈmæxti end his ˈmoːdɣiðɔŋk<br /><!-- 
--> werk ˈwuldurfɑdur sweː heː ˈwundrɑ ɣiˈhwæs<br /><!-- 
--> eːkʲi ˈdryxtin or ɑːˈstelidæ<br /><!-- 
--> heː ˈæːrist skoːp ˈældɑ ˈbɑrnum<br /><!-- 
-->ˈheven til ˈhroːve ˈhɑːleɣ ˈskʲepːen<br /><!-- 
--> θɑː ˈmidːunɣæɑrd ˈmɔŋkʲynːæs wɑrd<br /><!-- 
--> ˈeːkʲi ˈdryxtin ˈæfter ˈtiadæ<br /><!-- 
--> ˈfirum ˈfoldu ˈfræːɑ ˈɑlːmextiɣ]}}<ref>Based on the information in A. Campbell, ''Old English Grammar'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959)</ref>
| style="width:33%" |
:Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,
:the might of the architect, and his purpose,
:the work of the father of glory<ref>This is the traditional translation of these lines, in agreement with Bede's Latin version.
An alternative translation of the ''{{lang|ang|eorðan}}'' and ''{{lang|ang|aelda}}'' texts, however, understands ''{{lang|ang|weorc}}'' as the subject: "Now the works of the father of glory must honour the guardian of heaven, the might of the architect, and his mind's purpose". See [[#mitchell1985|Mitchell 1985]], [[#ball1985|Ball 1985]], pp.&nbsp;39&ndash;41, and [[#howlett1974|Howlett 1974]], p.&nbsp;6.</ref> — as he the beginning of wonders
:established, the eternal lord,
:He first created for the children of men<ref>This is the reading of the West-Saxon ''ylda'' and Northumbrian ''aelda'' recensions. The West-Saxon ''eorðan'', Northumbrian ''eordu'', and with some corruption, the West-Saxon ''eorðe'' recensions would be translated "for the children of earth".</ref>
:heaven as a roof, the holy creator
:Then the [[midgard|middle earth]], the guardian of mankind
:the eternal lord, afterwards appointed
:the lands for men,<ref>The Northumbrian '''eordu''' and West-Saxon '''ylda''' and '''eorðe''' recensions would be translated "for men among the lands" at this point.</ref> the Lord almighty.
|}

Bede's Latin version runs as follows:
:{{lang|la|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 omnipotens creavit.}}
:"Now we must praise the author of the heavenly realm, the might of the creator, and his purpose, the work of the father of glory: as he, who, the almighty guardian of the human race, is the eternal God, is the author of all miracles; who first created the heavens as highest roof for the children men, then the earth."