• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Bede “Beda” redirects here. For other uses, see Beda (disam- Bede’s name reflects West Saxon Bīeda (Northumbrian biguation) and Bede (disambiguation). Bǣda, Anglian Bēda).[13] It is an Anglo-Saxon short name formed on the root of bēodan “to bid, command”.[14] Bede (/ˈbiːd/ BEED; Old English: Bǣda or Bēda; The name also occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 501, as Bieda, one of the sons of the Saxon founder 672/673 – 26 May 735), also referred to as Saint Bede of Portsmouth. The Liber Vitae of Durham Cathedral or the Venerable Bede (Latin: Bēda Venerābilis), was names two priests with this name, one of whom is pre- an English monk at the monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth and its companion monastery, Saint sumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the Life of Paul’s, in modern Jarrow (see Monkwearmouth-Jarrow), Cuthbert, one of Bede’s works, mention that Cuthbert’s own priest was named Bede; it is possible that this priest Tyne and Wear, both of which were then in the Kingdom [15][16] of Northumbria. He is well known as an author and is the other name listed in the Liber Vitae. scholar, and his most famous work, Historia ecclesiastica At the age of seven, Bede was sent to the monastery of gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Bene- People) gained him the title “The Father of English His- dict Biscop and later by Ceolfrith.[17] Bede does not say tory". whether it was already intended at that point that he [18] In 1899, Bede was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope would be a monk. It was fairly common in Ireland Leo XIII; he is the only native of Great Britain to achieve at this time for young boys, particularly those of no- this designation (Anselm of Canterbury, also a Doctor of ble birth, to be fostered out; the practice was also likely to have been common among the Germanic peoples in the Church, was originally from Italy). Bede was more- [19] over a skilled linguist and translator, and his work made England. Monkwearmouth’s sister monastery at Jar- the Latin and Greek writings of the early Church Fa- row was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, and Bede proba- bly transferred to Jarrow with Ceolfrith that year.[10] The thers much more accessible to his fellow Anglo-Saxons, contributing significantly to English Christianity. Bede’s dedication stone for the church has survived to the present day; it is dated 23 April 685, and as Bede would have monastery had access to an impressive library which in- cluded works by Eusebius and Orosius, among many oth- been required to assist with menial tasks in his day-to- day life it is possible that he helped in building the original ers. church.[19] In 686, plague broke out at Jarrow. The Life of Ceolfrith, written in about 710, records that only two surviving monks were capable of singing the full offices; 1 Life one was Ceolfrith and the other a young boy, who accord- ing to the anonymous writer had been taught by Ceolfrith. Almost everything that is known of Bede’s life is con- The two managed to do the entire service of the liturgy tained in the last chapter of his Historia ecclesiastica, a until others could be trained. The young boy was almost history of the church in England. It was completed in certainly Bede, who would have been about 14.[17][20] [2] about 731, and Bede implies that he was then in his When Bede was about 17 years old, Adomnan, the ab- fifty-ninth year, which would give a birth date in 672 or bot of Iona Abbey, visited Monkwearmouth and Jar- [1][3][4][lower-alpha 1] 673. A minor source of information is row. Bede would probably have met the abbot during this [lower-alpha 2] the letter by his disciple Cuthbert which relates visit, and it may be that Adomnan sparked Bede’s inter- [8][lower-alpha 3] Bede’s death. Bede, in the Historia, gives his est in the Easter dating controversy.[21] In about 692, in [9] birthplace as “on the lands of this monastery”. He is Bede’s nineteenth year, Bede was ordained a deacon by referring to the twinned monasteries of Monkwearmouth his diocesan bishop, John, who was bishop of Hexham. [10] and Jarrow, in modern-day Sunderland, claimed as his The canonical age for the ordination of a deacon was birthplace; there is also a tradition that he was born at 25; Bede’s early ordination may mean that his abilities [1][11] Monkton, two miles from the monastery at Jarrow. were considered exceptional,[19] but it is also possible that Bede says nothing of his origins, but his connections with the minimum age requirement was often disregarded.[22] men of noble ancestry suggest that his own family was There might have been minor orders ranking below a dea- [12] well-to-do. Bede’s first abbot was Benedict Biscop, con; but there is no record of whether Bede held any of and the names “Biscop” and “Beda” both appear in a king these offices.[6][lower-alpha 4] In Bede’s thirtieth year (about list of the kings of Lindsey from around 800, further sug- 702), he became a priest, with the ordination again per- gesting that Bede came from a noble family.[4] 1 2 1 LIFE formed by Bishop John.[4] Wilfrid, who was present at a feast when some drunken In about 701 Bede wrote his first works, the De Arte Met- monks made the accusation. Wilfrid did not respond to rica and De Schematibus et Tropis; both were intended the accusation, but a monk present relayed the episode to for use in the classroom.[22] He continued to write for Bede, who replied within a few days to the monk, writing a letter setting forth his defence and asking that the letter the rest of his life, eventually completing over 60 books, [29][lower-alpha 6] most of which have survived. Not all his output can be also be read to Wilfrid. Bede had another easily dated, and Bede may have worked on some texts brush with Wilfrid, for the historian himself says that he over a period of many years.[4][22] His last-surviving work met Wilfrid, sometime between 706 and 709, and dis- cussed Æthelthryth, the abbess of Ely. Wilfrid had been is a letter to Ecgbert of York, a former student, written in 734.[22] A 6th-century Greek and Latin manuscript of present at the exhumation of her body in 695, and Bede questioned the bishop about the exact circumstances of Acts that is believed to have been used by Bede survives and is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University; the body and asked for more details of her life, as Wilfrid had been her advisor.[31] it is known as the Codex Laudianus.[23][24] Bede may also have worked on one of the Latin bibles that were copied In 733, Bede travelled to York to visit Ecgbert, who was at Jarrow, one of which is now held by the Laurentian then bishop of York. The See of York was elevated to an Library in Florence.[25] Bede was a teacher as well as archbishopric in 735, and it is likely that Bede and Ecg- a writer;[26] he enjoyed music, and was said to be ac- bert discussed the proposal for the elevation during his complished as a singer and as a reciter of poetry in the visit.[32] Bede hoped to visit Ecgbert again in 734, but vernacular.[22] It is possible that he suffered a speech im- was too ill to make the journey.[32] Bede also travelled pediment, but this depends on a phrase in the introduction to the monastery of Lindisfarne, and at some point vis- to his verse life of Saint Cuthbert. Translations of this ited the otherwise-unknown monastery of a monk named phrase differ, and it is uncertain whether Bede intended Wicthed, a visit that is mentioned in a letter to that to say that he was cured of a speech problem, or merely monk. Because of his widespread correspondence with that he was inspired by the saint’s works.[27][28][lower-alpha 5] others throughout the British Isles, and due to the fact that many of the letters imply that Bede had met his cor- respondents, it is likely that Bede travelled to some other places, although nothing further about timing or locations can be guessed.[33] It seems certain that he did not visit Rome, however, as he would have mentioned it in the autobiographical chapter of his Historia Ecclesiastica.[34] Nothhelm, a correspondent of Bede’s who assisted him by finding documents for him in Rome, is known to have vis- ited Bede, though the date cannot be determined beyond the fact that it was after Nothhelm’s visit to Rome.[35] Except for a few visits to other monasteries, his life was spent in a round of prayer, observance of the monastic discipline and study of the Sacred Scriptures. He was considered the most learned man of his time, and wrote excellent biblical and historical books.[36] Stained glass at Gloucester Cathedral depicting Bede dictating to a scribe In 708, some monks at Hexham accused Bede of hav- ing committed heresy in his work De Temporibus.[29] The standard theological view of world history at the time was known as the six ages of the world; in his book, Bede cal- culated the age of the world for himself, rather than ac- cepting the authority of Isidore of Seville, and came to the conclusion that Christ had been born 3,952 years after the creation of the world, rather than the figure of over 5,000 Bede’s tomb in Durham Cathedral years that was commonly accepted by theologians.[30] The accusation occurred in front of the bishop of Hexham, Bede died on Thursday, 26 May 735 (Ascension Day) 3 on the floor of his cell, singing Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit[36] and was buried at Jarrow.[4] Cuthbert, a disciple of Bede’s, wrote a letter to a Cuthwin (of whom nothing else is known), describ- ing Bede’s last days and his death.

Load more

  17

Copy Link