Cædmon (/ˈkædmən, ˈkædmɒn/; fl. c. 657 – 684) is the earliest English poet whose name is known. A Northumbrian who cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch (now known as Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy of St. 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 historian Bede. He later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational Christian poet.