About this Book

The essays in this book use the nine-line poem known as Cædmon's Hymn as a lens on the world of Bede's Ecclesiastical History. A cowherd who is given a divine gift, Cædmon retells the great narratives of Christian history in the traditional form of Anglo-Saxon verse. An immense amount has been written about this episode, much of it concentrating on the hymn's significance in the history of English literature. Relatively little attention, however, has been paid to what the story of Cædmon and his hymn might tell us about the material, as well as the textual, culture of Bede's world. The essays in this collection seek to connect Cædmon's Hymn to Bede's material world in various ways. Each chapter begins with the hymn and moves from the text to the worlds of scientific thought, settlements and social hierarchy, monastic reform, and ordinary things. The connections explored here are a sampling of the material concerns Cædmon's Hymn raises.