CAEDMON, saint. - Benedictine and the first Christian English poet, d. between 670 and 680. As regards his name, Celtic origin or a Hebrew or Chaldean pseudonym has been proposed.
A humble cowherd of the monastery of Streaneshalch (Whitby), as Beda relates (Hist. eccl., IV, 24), C. had never composed verses, and one night, while a singing contest was taking place in the monastery, he withdrew, aware of his ignorance. During the night he had a vision, in which he felt urged to compose poetry. He thus improvised
a marvellous hymn on creation, to the astonishment of the abbess Hilda, who recognized in him one inspired by God and received him among her monks. From them he learned the biblical episodes, to which he then gave poetic form. According to William of Malmesbury (1125), he was probably buried at Whitby. His feast falls on 11 February.
Certainly by C. are the 9 verses of a Hymn to God, reported by Beda in Latin. The so-called C. poems, on the other hand, contain paraphrases of parts of Genesi, Esodo, Daniele, and Cristo e Satana (3 poems on the fall of the angels, the descent into limbo, and the temptation). Genesi and Cristo e Satana are distinguished by their dramatic accent; the character of Satan in particular is vigorously drawn.