![]() 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. ![]()
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