[Concerning the man Caedmon, we have nothing but Bede's account in his
_Ecclesiastical History_ (see p. 179 below) and Caedmon's Hymn.
_Genesis_ was first published in Amsterdam 1655, next in 1752. The first
editions brought _Genesis_ under Caedmon's name, because of Bede's
account. There is, however, no such clue in the manuscript. The
assignment of _Genesis_ to Caedmon was questioned by Hicks as early as
1689. The Caedmonian authorship was defended in the early part of the
nineteenth century by Conybeare and Thorpe. It is now agreed that all the
Caedmonian Paraphrases are probably by different authors.
Cf. A. S. Cook, "The Name Caedmon," _Publications of the Modern Language
Association of America_, vi, 9, and "Caedmon and the Ruthwell Cross,"
_Modern Language Notes_, v, 153.]