Discovery of the oldest comic book of the poem "The Kidmon Hymn"
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have discovered a 9th-century manuscript containing the oldest known poem in Old English inside the corridors of the National Central Library in Rome.
European sources indicated that the discovered poem was the "Kidmon Hymn", which was hidden within the folds of the book "The Church History of the English People" by the historian Beda.
The "digitization" ploy leads to the big discovery
According to European sources, the discovery began with a digital journey, where scientists Dr. Elisabetta Manianti and Dr. Mark Faulkner were able to study the manuscript online from Dublin, before moving to Rome to inspect the ancient text.
The significance of this copy lies in the fact that it was lost for centuries and thought to have been forgotten, until digital archiving efforts brought it back to the global forefront.
This manuscript differs from previous versions (such as the Cambridge and St. Petersburg versions) in two essential points:
The first is incorporation into the text: It is the earliest witness to incorporate the English poem into the main Latin text of the manuscript, rather than placing it in the margins or appendices.
The second is chronological precedent: this version is three centuries older than the known versions that merge the two texts together, as it dates back to the ninth century while similar earlier versions date back to the early twelfth century.
The Journey of the Poem: From Whitby to Italy
The poem originally originated from a simple shepherd named Kidmon from the North Yorkshire town of Whitby during the 7th century, who was reportedly inspired by a divine vision.
Her arrival in Italy reflects the movement of cultural communication in the Middle Ages, as this copy was copied in the Benedictine monastery of Nonantola in northern Italy, documenting pilgrimages and the transfer of science between England and continental Europe.
A New Window on Medium Literature
Dr. Mark Faulkner noted that the manuscript uses unfamiliar punctuation marks, such as "complete pause," technical details that will help scholars understand how historian's texts moved through Europe.
This is the first early version of the Kidmon Song since the 1920s, and the third oldest surviving text of the poem ever found.
For his part, Dr. Andrea Capa, Head of the Manuscripts Department at the Bibliotheca Rome, stressed that this success is the result of the Library's comprehensive digitization project, stressing that international cooperation between experts from various disciplines is the key to future discoveries that may still be hidden in thousands of rare volumes.