Caedmon in St Margaret’s

The article by Michael Leach in the previous issue of this Journal illuminated a little known tale of some panels of local stained glass. The story outlined the travels of the glass fragments from a window of St Andrew’s church, Greensted, to New Zealand and their intended return many years later in 1870. The return journey was not completed because the ship that was entrusted with the glass, the Challenger, is recorded as being lost in 1871; the crew and passengers were saved but the glass has never been recovered.

The article perhaps suggests a closer look at some more of the stained glass in the High Country. As a first example, look at the figure in the lower right of the east window in St Margaret’s, Stanford Rivers. The figure is Caedmon. Caedmon occupies, despite his rustic demeanour and his modest place in the window, a unique position in the history of English literature.

Caedmon was attached to the double monastery of Streonæshalch (Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy of St. Hilda (614–680, abbess from 657). He was an Anglo-Saxon whose work was as a herdsman in the monastery. He was said to be ignorant of "the art of song", and probably illiterate, but his fortunes were to change overnight, literally. The learned 8th-century monk, Bede, has recorded his story in his Historia. One night in a visionary dream, Caedmon learned to compose poetry. The monks of the abbey duly wrote down the details of the vision. His skill developed and he started to put into English verse passages that were translated from the scriptures. In due course Caedmon became an elderly and respected monk. Although not a saint, he was acknowledged as being very saintly; his actual death was said to be particularly so.

What is Caedmon’s place in English literature? Cædmon is one of only twelve Anglo-Saxon poets identified in medieval sources. Furthermore, he is one of only three for whom both biographical information and examples of literary output have survived. His only known surviving work is Cædmon's Hymn, a nine-line vernacular praise poem in honour of God, which he supposedly learned to sing in his initial dream. The poem is one of the earliest attested examples of Old English It is also one of the earliest recorded examples of sustained poetry in a Germanic language.

It would not be appropriate to omit the surviving work of Caedmon. It appears in several dialects. As may be anticipated from its historical significance, the hymn has been thoroughly studied and analysed by students. It presents an opportunity for you also to practice your Old English.

Caedmon’s Hymn in Old English

nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard
metudæs maecti end his modgidanc
uerc uuldurfadur swe he uundra gihwaes
eci dryctin or astelidæ
he aerist scop aelda barnum
heben til hrofe haleg scepen.
tha middungeard moncynnæs uard
eci dryctin æfter tiadæ
firum foldu frea allmectig

Caedmon’s Hymn in Modern English translation

Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,
the might of the architect, and his purpose,
the work of the father of glory - as he the beginning of wonders
established, the eternal lord,
He first created for the children of men
heaven as a roof, the holy creator
Then the middle earth, the guardian of mankind
the eternal lord, afterwards appointed
the lands for men, the Lord almighty.

The reference to Caedmon in the St Andrew’s memorial window presents an image of a farmer of livestock, with a literary interest, maybe an especial interest in poetry? Does it also suggest a farmworker who rose from less modest beginnings to become a successful farmer.