From Ars Technica:
500-year-old manuscript contains one of earliest known uses of the “F-word”
The Bannatyne Manuscript is an anthology of some 400 medieval Scottish poems.
Scotland has much to recommend it: impressive architecture, gorgeous Highlands, and a long, distinguished intellectual tradition that has spawned some of the Western world's greatest thinkers over several centuries. It's also, apparently, home to a medieval manuscript that contains the earliest known usage of the swearword "F#$%."....MORE
[UPDATE 4/7/2020: Kristin Uscinski, a medieval historian at the State University of New York, Purchase, wrote in to inform us of an even earlier appearance of the F-word in the English language, "Roger F$#%-by-the-Navel who appears in some court records from 1310-11. I always make sure my students are aware of good ole Roger."]
The profanity appears in a poem recorded by a bored student in Edinburgh while under lockdown as the plague ravaged Europe—something we can all relate to these days. The poem is getting renewed attention thanks to its inclusion in a forthcoming BBC Scotland documentary exploring the country's long, proud tradition of swearing, Scotland—Contains Strong Language....
Although I was not aware of Roger I recalled a cite to some manuscript from the 1400's.
Here's Wikipedia on 'ol Rog:
Roger Fuckebythenavele was a 14th-century Englishman who was cited in court records of 1310–1311. His name has been proposed as incorporating the earliest recorded instance of the English swear word fuck.
Roger Fuckebythenavele is mentioned seven times (with minor variations in spelling) in the plea rolls of the Chester County Court for the years 1310–1311. The "serjeants of the peace" had been ordered to arrest Roger and produce him before the court, but they had failed to find him, in consequence of which he was outlawed.[1]...MORE
