Bede tells the story of Cædmon in his Ecclesiastical History (in Latin, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum), Book 4, Chapter 24, written in 731. According to Bede, Cædmon lived on the monastic estate of Whitby during the time of Abbess Hild (d. 680). Bede gives no account of Cædmon's early life, and the only clues to his class and race are his name, which is British rather than Anglo-Saxon, and his work as a herdsman: both of these indicate that he was low-born. The story tells us that though Cædmon was of mature years, he had never learned the art of singing songs; so when there was a party, he left before he was asked to take his turn at singing. On one occasion when he did this, he went to sleep in the cattle-…

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Citation: Cavill, Paul. "Caedmon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=688, accessed 31 October 2024.]

688 Caedmon 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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