The elegant stables at 18th-century Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland.
Part 1 of 2
THE farmhands on the estates of the monastery at Whitby liked a song in the evening, but whenever the harp looked like coming his way, Caedmon would slip out and go to bed in the stables.
On one such occasion, a man appeared in his dreams and greeted him. ‘Caedmon’ he said, ‘sing to me’. Caedmon protested that he had left the company precisely because he could not sing, but his visitor insisted, saying: ‘Sing of the creation’. Suddenly, Caedmon’s heart and tongue stirred with a song in his native English, of the Beginning of days.*
Caedmon sang of the dawn of the world, praising Him who laid the measures of the earth, who stretched the line upon it, and fastened its foundations, and laid its corner stone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.* When he awoke, he remembered his song, and more and more words kept coming unbidden to his lips.
The original is lost: Bede paraphrased it something like this, making it clear that the original was much longer:
We are now to praise the Maker of the heavenly kingdom, the power of the Creator and his counsel, the deeds of the Father of glory. How He, being the eternal God, became the author of all miracles, who first, as almighty preserver of the human race, created heaven for the sons of men as the roof of the house, and next the earth.
Versions in Old English go back to the eighth century, but these appear to be poetic translations of Bede’s paraphrase. See Wikipedia.
See Job 38.
Précis
Caedmon was an elderly groom in stables near the monastery at Whitby. One night (this was in the 7th century) he dreamt that a man came and asked him to sing, something which he always avoided doing. But his vistor insisted, and in his dream Caedmon spontaneously sang a hymn about the Creation, which he remembered even after he awoke. (60 / 60 words)
Part Two
The ruins of Whitby Abbey today. The original monastery was founded in 657 AD, though this building dates from the Norman Conquest.
CAEDMON sought the counsel of Hild, Abbess of the monastery at Whitby.
She had him repeat his tale, complete with his song, to her most learned monks, and they agreed that Caedmon possessed a heavenly gift. They set a fresh passage of Scripture for homework, which by morning he had woven into another song of surpassing wisdom and sweetness.
Hild now warmly invited Caedmon to join the monastery. Many of England’s future bishops and priests were in training there, and she was keen to see the farm-hand learn the whole Christian story, from the Creation to the life of Christ and the hope of heaven, in their company.
One day, though in fair health for his age, Caedmon asked for a bed in the infirmary, and to receive holy communion. He enquired how long it was until night prayers, and closed his eyes.
Presently, the chants began and, as if at a summons, Caedmon gave his soul into the hands of the Creator.
Précis
Caedmon’s new-found gift for composing hymns was so overwhelming that he asked Hild, Abbess of the monastery where he worked, for advice. She took him in to the monastery, where he continued to turn the Scriptures into songs until the day he died, quietly passing away just as the chants of Night Prayer were beginning (which he seemed to expect). (60 / 60 words)
