Cædmon (fl. c. 657–684) is the earliest English poet whose name is known.
A Northumbrian cowherd who cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch (now known as Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy of Hilda,
he was originally ignorant of "the art of song" but learned to compose one night in the course of a dream,
according to the 8th-century Christian historian and saint Bede.
He later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational Christian poet.