Cædmon is the earliest vernacular poet whose name is known to us. His Hymn addresses the Christian God with terms derived from heroic poetry. Cædmon's miraculous poetry bespeaks the divine support Anglo-Saxons felt God bestowed on the early Northumbrian church. Though Bede's account of Cædmon formed part of his Latin Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, completed in 731, the description here is excerpted from an Old English translation made during the reign of Alfred in the late ninth century as part of his programme of revitalising learning and encouraging the development of an English national identity.