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“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 Bede of . The Liber Vitae of Durham Cathedral or Bede (: Bēda Venerābilis), was names two priests with this name, one of whom is pre- an English monk at the of at Monkwearmouth and its companion monastery, Saint sumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the Life of Paul’s, in modern (see Monkwearmouth-Jarrow), , one of Bede’s works, mention that Cuthbert’s own priest was named Bede; it is possible that this priest , both of which were then in the Kingdom [15][16] of . 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 .[17] Bede does not say tory". whether it was already intended at that point that he [18] In 1899, Bede was made a by 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 , 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 ). Bede was more- [19] over a skilled linguist and translator, and his work made . 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 . Bede’s dedication stone for the church has survived to the present day; it is dated 23 685, and as Bede would have monastery had access to an impressive library which in- cluded works by and , 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 during this [lower-alpha 2] the letter by his 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 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 by referring to the twinned of Monkwearmouth his diocesan , John, who was bishop of Hexham. [10] and Jarrow, in modern-day , 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 , 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] , 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 , 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 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 , 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 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 , 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 [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. According to Cuth- bert, Bede fell ill, “with frequent attacks of breathlessness but almost without pain”, before Easter. On the Tues- day, two days before Bede died, his breathing became worse and his feet swelled. He continued to dictate to a scribe, however, and despite spending the night awake in prayer he dictated again the following day. At three o'clock, according to Cuthbert, he asked for a box of his to be brought, and distributed among the priests of the monastery “a few treasures” of his: “some pepper, and napkins, and some incense”. That night he dictated a fi- nal sentence to the scribe, a boy named Wilberht, and died soon afterwards.[37][lower-alpha 7] Cuthbert’s letter also relates a five-line poem in the vernacular that Bede com- posed on his deathbed, known as “Bede’s Death Song”. It is the most-widely copied Old English poem, and ap- pears in 45 manuscripts, but its attribution to Bede is not certain—not all manuscripts name Bede as the author, and the ones that do are of later origin than those that do [39][40][41] not. Bede’s remains may have been transferred Depiction of the Venerable Bede (on CLVIIIv) from the Nurem- to Durham Cathedral in the ; his tomb there berg Chronicle, 1493 was looted in 1541, but the contents were probably re- interred in the Galilee at the cathedral.[4] dieval scholars.[45] One further oddity in his writings is that in one of his works, the Commentary on the Seven Epistles, He dedicated his work on the Apocalypse and the De he writes in a manner that gives the impression he was Temporum Ratione to the successor of Ceolfrid as abbot, married.[15] The section in question is the only one in Hwaetbert.[46] that work that is written in first-person view. Bede says: Although Bede is mainly studied as a historian now, in “Prayers are hindered by the conjugal duty because as of- his time his works on grammar, chronology, and bibli- ten as I perform what is due to my wife I am not able to cal studies were as important as his historical and hagio- [42] pray.” Another passage, in the Commentary on Luke, graphical works. The non-historical works contributed also mentions a wife in the first person: “Formerly I pos- greatly to the Carolingian renaissance.[47] He has been sessed a wife in the lustful passion of desire and now credited with writing a penitential, though his authorship I possess her in honourable sanctification and true love of this work is still very much disputed. of Christ.”[42] The historian argues that these passages are Bede employing a rhetorical device.[43] 3 Historia ecclesiastica gentis An- 2 Works glorum

Main article: List of works by Bede Main article: Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum Bede wrote scientific, historical and theological works, reflecting the range of his writings from music and Bede’s best-known work is the Historia ecclesiastica gen- metrics to exegetical Scripture commentaries. He knew tis Anglorum, or An Ecclesiastical History of the English patristic literature, as well as Pliny the Elder, Virgil, People,[48] completed in about 731. Bede was aided in Lucretius, Ovid, Horace and other classical writers. He writing this book by , abbot of St Augustine’s knew some Greek. Abbey, Canterbury.[49] The first of the five books begins Bede’s scriptural commentaries employed the allegorical with some geographical background, and then sketches method of interpretation[44] and his history includes ac- the history of England, beginning with Caesar’s inva- counts of , which to modern historians has sion in 55 BC.[50] A brief account of Christianity in seemed at odds with his critical approach to the materials Roman Britain, including the martyrdom of St Alban, in his history. Modern studies have shown the important is followed by the story of Augustine's mission to Eng- role such concepts played in the world-view of Early Me- land in 597, which brought Christianity to the Anglo- 4 3 HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA GENTIS ANGLORUM

Saxons.[4] The second book begins with the death of via a Latin grammar rather than directly.[64] However, it Gregory the Great in 604, and follows the further progress is clear he was familiar with the works of Virgil and with of Christianity in and the first attempts to evangelise Pliny the Elder's Natural History, and his monastery also Northumbria.[51] These ended in disaster when Penda, the owned copies of the works of Dionysius Exiguus.[64] He pagan king of Mercia, killed the newly Christian Edwin probably drew his account of St. Alban from a life of that of Northumbria at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in about saint which has not survived. He acknowledges two other 632.[51] The setback was temporary, and the third book lives of directly; one is a life of Fursa, and the other recounts the growth of Christianity in Northumbria un- of St. Æthelburh; the latter no longer survives.[65] He also der kings and Oswy.[52] The cli- had access to a life of Ceolfrith.[66] Some of Bede’s ma- max of the third book is the account of the Council terial came from oral traditions, including a description of Whitby, traditionally seen as a major turning point of the physical appearance of , who had in English history.[53] The fourth book begins with the died nearly 90 years before Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica of Theodore as , was written.[66] and recounts Wilfrid's efforts to bring Christianity to the Bede also had correspondents who supplied him with kingdom of Sussex.[54] The fifth book brings the story material. Albinus, the abbot of the monastery in Can- up to Bede’s day, and includes an account of missionary terbury, provided much information about the church work in Frisia, and of the conflict with the British church [54] in Kent, and with the assistance of Nothhelm, at that over the correct dating of Easter. Bede wrote a preface time a priest in London, obtained copies of Gregory the for the work, in which he dedicates it to Ceolwulf, king [55] Great's correspondence from Rome relating to Augus- of Northumbria. The preface mentions that Ceolwulf tine’s mission.[4][58][67] Almost all of Bede’s information received an earlier draft of the book; presumably Ceol- regarding Augustine is taken from these letters.[4] Bede wulf knew enough Latin to understand it, and he may even [4][50] acknowledged his correspondents in the preface to the have been able to read it. The preface makes it clear Historia Ecclesiastica;[68] he was in contact with , that Ceolwulf had requested the earlier copy, and Bede the Bishop of Winchester, for information about the his- had asked for Ceolwulf’s approval; this correspondence tory of the church in , and also wrote to the with the king indicates that Bede’s monastery had excel- [4] monastery at Lastingham for information about and lent connections among the Northumbrian nobility. Chad.[68] Bede also mentions an Abbot Esi as a source for the affairs of the East Anglian church, and Bishop Cynibert for information about Lindsey.[68] 3.1 Sources The historian Walter Goffart argues that Bede based the The monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow had an excellent structure of the Historia on three works, using them as library. Both Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith had ac- the framework around which the three main sections of quired books from the Continent, and in Bede’s day the the work were structured. For the early part of the work, monastery was a renowned centre of learning.[56] It has up until the Gregorian mission, Goffart feels that Bede been estimated that there were about 200 books in the used Gildas's De excidio. The second section, detailing monastic library.[57] the Gregorian mission of was framed on the anonymous Life of Gregory the Great writ- For the period to Augustine’s arrival in 597, Bede ten at Whitby. The last section, detailing events after [4][58] drew on earlier writers, including Solinus. He had the Gregorian mission, Goffart feels were modelled on access to two works of Eusebius: the Historia Ecclesias- Stephen of Ripon's Life of Wilfrid.[69] Most of Bede’s in- tica, and also the Chronicon, though he had neither in the formants for information after Augustine’s mission came original Greek; instead he had a Latin of the from the eastern part of Britain, leaving significant gaps Historia, by Rufinus, and Saint ’s translation of in the knowledge of the western areas, which were those [59] the Chronicon. He also knew Orosius's Adversus Pa- areas likely to have a native Briton presence.[70][71] ganus, and Gregory of Tours' Historia Francorum, both Christian histories,[59] as well as the work of Eutropius, a pagan historian.[60] He used Constantius's Life of Ger- 3.2 Models and style manus as a source for Germanus's visits to Britain.[4][58] Bede’s account of the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons is Bede’s stylistic models included some of the same au- drawn largely from Gildas's De Excidio et Conquestu Bri- thors from whom he drew the material for the earlier tanniae.[61] Bede would also have been familiar with more parts of his history. His introduction imitates the work of recent accounts such as Eddius Stephanus's Life of Wil- Orosius,[4] and his title is an echo of Eusebius’s Historia frid, and anonymous Lives of Gregory the Great and Ecclesiastica.[1] Bede also followed Eusebius in taking the Cuthbert.[58] He also drew on Josephus's Antiquities, and Acts of the Apostles as the model for the overall work: the works of Cassiodorus,[62] and there was a copy of the where Eusebius used the Acts as the theme for his descrip- Liber Pontificalis in Bede’s monastery.[63] Bede quotes tion of the development of the church, Bede made it the from several classical authors, including , Plautus, model for his history of the Anglo-Saxon church.[72] Bede and Terence, but he may have had access to their work quoted his sources at length in his narrative, as Eusebius 3.4 Omissions and biases 5

had done.[4] Bede also appears to have taken quotes di- Bede’s extensive use of miracles can prove difficult for rectly from his correspondents at times. For example, he readers who consider him a more or less reliable historian, almost always uses the terms “Australes” and “Occiden- but do not accept the possibility of miracles. Yet both re- tales” for the South and West Saxons respectively, but in flect an inseparable integrity and regard for accuracy and a passage in the first book he uses “Meridiani” and “Oc- , expressed in terms both of historical events and of cidui” instead, as perhaps his informant had done.[4] At a tradition of Christian that continues to the present the end of the work, Bede added a brief autobiographi- day. Bede, like Gregory the Great whom Bede quotes on cal note; this was an idea taken from Gregory of Tours' the subject in the Historia, felt that faith brought about by earlier History of the Franks.[73] miracles was a stepping stone to a higher, truer faith, and Bede’s work as a hagiographer, and his detailed atten- that as a result miracles had their place in a work designed to instruct.[79] tion to dating, were both useful preparations for the task of writing the Historia Ecclesiastica. His in computus, the science of calculating the , was also useful in the account he gives of the controversy 3.4 Omissions and biases between the British and Anglo-Saxon church over the cor- rect method of obtaining the Easter date.[48] Bede is somewhat reticent about the career of Wilfrid, a contemporary and one of the most prominent clerics of Bede is described by Lapidge as “without ques- his day. This may be because Wilfrid’s opulent lifestyle tion the most accomplished Latinist produced in these is- was uncongenial to Bede’s monastic mind; it may also be lands in the Anglo-Saxon period”.[74] His Latin has been that the events of Wilfrid’s life, divisive and controversial praised for its clarity, but his style in the Historia Eccle- as they were, simply did not fit with Bede’s theme of the siastica is not simple. He knew rhetoric, and often used progression to a unified and harmonious church.[51] figures of speech and rhetorical forms which cannot eas- ily be reproduced in translation, depending as they often Bede’s account of the early migrations of the Angles and do on the connotations of the Latin words. However, un- Saxons to England omits any mention of a movement of like contemporaries such as , whose Latin is full those peoples across the channel from Britain to Brit- of difficulties, Bede’s own text is easy to read.[75] In the tany described by Procopius, who was writing in the sixth words of Charles Plummer, one of the best-known ed- century. Frank Stenton describes this omission as “a itors of the Historia Ecclesiastica, Bede’s Latin is “clear scholar’s dislike of the indefinite"; traditional material and limpid ... it is very seldom that we have to pause that could not be dated or used for Bede’s didactic pur- to think of the meaning of a sentence ... rightly poses had no interest for him.[80] [76] praises Bede for his unpretending style.” Bede was a Northumbrian, and this tinged his work with a local bias.[81] The sources he had access to gave him less information about the west of England than for other 3.3 Intent areas.[82] He says relatively little about the achievements of Mercia and Wessex, omitting, for example, any men- Bede’s primary intention in writing the Historia Ecclesias- tion of Boniface, a West Saxon missionary to the con- tica was to show the growth of the united church through- tinent of some renown and of whom Bede had almost out England. The native Britons, whose Christian church certainly heard, though Bede does discuss Northumbrian survived the departure of the Romans, earn Bede’s ire missionaries to the continent. He also is parsimonious in for refusing to help convert the Saxons; by the end of his praise for Aldhelm, a West Saxon who had done much the Historia the English, and their Church, are domi- to convert the native Britons to the Roman form of Chris- nant over the Britons.[77] This goal, of showing the move- tianity. He lists seven kings of the Anglo-Saxons whom ment towards unity, explains Bede’s animosity towards he regards as having held imperium, or overlordship; only the British method of calculating Easter: much of the His- one king of Wessex, Ceawlin, is listed, and none from toria is devoted to a history of the dispute, including the Mercia, though elsewhere he acknowledges the secular final resolution at the Synod of Whitby in 664.[73] Bede power several of the Mercians held.[83] Historian Robin is also concerned to show the unity of the English, de- Fleming states that he was so hostile to Mercia because spite the disparate kingdoms that still existed when he was Northumbria had been diminished by Mercian power that writing. He also wants to instruct the reader by spiritual he consulted no Mercian informants and included no sto- example, and to entertain, and to the latter end he adds ries about its saints.[84] stories about many of the places and people about which [77] Bede relates the story of Augustine’s mission from Rome, he wrote. and tells how the British clergy refused to assist Augustine N.J. Higham argues that Bede designed his work to pro- in the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. This, combined mote his reform agenda to Ceolwulf, the Northumbrian with Gildas’s negative assessment of the British church at king. Bede painted a highly optimistic picture of the cur- the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, led Bede to a very rent situation in the Church, as opposed to the more pes- critical view of the native church. However, Bede ignores simistic picture found in his private letters.[78] the fact that at the time of Augustine’s mission, the his- 6 4 OTHER HISTORICAL WORKS

tory between the two was one of warfare and conquest, and greatest of England’s historians”.[93] which, in the words of Barbara Yorke, would have natu- The Historia Ecclesiastica has given Bede a high repu- rally “curbed any missionary impulses towards the Anglo- [85] tation, but his concerns were different from those of a Saxons from the British clergy.” modern writer of history.[4] His focus on the history of the organisation of the English church, and on and the efforts made to root them out, led him to ex- 3.5 Use of Anno Domini clude the secular history of kings and kingdoms except where a moral lesson could be drawn or where they illu- At the time Bede wrote the Historia Ecclesiastica, there minated events in the church.[4] Besides the Anglo-Saxon were two common ways of referring to dates. One was to Chronicle, the medieval writers , use indictions, which were 15-year cycles, counting from Henry of Huntingdon, and Geoffrey of Monmouth used 312 AD. There were three different varieties of indiction, his works as sources and inspirations.[94] Early modern each starting on a different day of the year. The other writers, such as Polydore Vergil and , the approach was to use regnal years—the reigning Roman Elizabethan Archbishop of Canterbury, also utilised the emperor, for example, or the ruler of whichever kingdom Historia, and his works were used by both Protestant and was under discussion. This meant that in discussing con- Catholic sides in the Wars of .[95] flicts between kingdoms, the date would have to be given in the regnal years of all the kings involved. Bede used Some historians have questioned the reliability of some both these approaches on occasion, but adopted a third of Bede’s accounts. One historian, Charlotte Behr, thinks method as his main approach to dating: the anno do- that the Historia’s account of the arrival of the Germanic mini method invented by Dionysius Exiguus.[86] Although invaders in Kent should not be considered to relate what Bede did not invent this method, his adoption of it, and actually happened, but rather relates myths that were cur- [96] his promulgation of it in De Temporum Ratione, his work rent in Kent during Bede’s time. on chronology, is the main why it is now so widely It is likely that Bede’s work, because it was so widely used.[86][87] copied, discouraged others from writing histories and may even have led to the disappearance of manuscripts containing older historical works.[97] 3.6 Assessment

The Historia Ecclesiastica was copied often in the Mid- dle Ages, and about 160 manuscripts containing it sur- vive. About half of those are located on the European 4 Other historical works continent, rather than on the British Isles.[88] Most of the 8th- and 9th-century texts of Bede’s Historia come from the northern parts of the Carolingian Empire.[89] This to- 4.1 Chronicles tal does not include manuscripts with only a part of the work, of which another 100 or so survive. It was printed As Chapter 66 of his On , in for the first time between 1474 and 1482, probably at [88] 725 Bede wrote the Greater Chronicle (chronica maiora), Strasbourg, France. Modern historians have studied which sometimes circulated as a separate work. For re- the Historia extensively, and a number of editions have [90] cent events the Chronicle, like his Ecclesiastical History, been produced. For many years, early Anglo-Saxon relied upon Gildas, upon a version of the Liber pontifi- history was essentially a retelling of the Historia, but re- calis current at least to the papacy of (687– cent scholarship has focused as much on what Bede did 701), and other sources. For earlier events he drew on not write as what he did. The that the Historia was Eusebius's Chronikoi Kanones. The dating of events in the culmination of Bede’s works, the aim of all his schol- the Chronicle is inconsistent with his other works, using arship, a belief common among historians in the past, is the era of creation, the .[99] no longer accepted by most scholars.[91] Modern historians and editors of Bede have been lavish in their praise of his achievement in the Historia Eccle- siastica. Stenton regarded it as one of the “small class of books which transcend all but the most fundamental 4.2 Lives conditions of time and place”, and regarded its quality as dependent on Bede’s “astonishing power of co-ordinating His other historical works included lives of the the fragments of information which came to him through of Wearmouth and Jarrow, as well as verse and prose tradition, the relation of friends, or documentary evi- lives of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, an adaptation of dence ... In an age where little was attempted beyond Paulinus of Nola's Life of St Felix, and a translation of the the registration of fact, he had reached the conception of Greek Passion of St Anastasius. He also created a listing history.”[92] Patrick Wormald described him as “the first of saints, the .[100] 5.1 Works on the Old Testament 7

conjunction with the Biblical texts themselves, to write his commentaries and other theological works.[102] He had a Latin translation by Evagrius of Athanasius's Life of Antony, and a copy of Sulpicius Severus' Life of St. Martin.[64] He also used lesser known writers, such as Fulgentius, of Eclanum, Tyconius, and Prosper of Aquitaine. Bede was the first to refer to Jerome, Augus- tine, Pope Gregory and as the four Latin Fathers of the Church.[103] It is clear from Bede’s own comments that he felt his was to explain to his students and read- ers the and thoughts of the .[104] Bede also wrote homilies, works written to explain the- ology used in worship services. Bede wrote homilies not only on the major Christian seasons such as Advent, Lent, or Easter, but on other subjects such as anniversaries of significant events.[102] Both types of Bede’s theological works circulated widely in the Middle Ages. A number of his biblical commen- taries were incorporated into the Glossa Ordinaria, an 11th-century collection of biblical commentaries. Some of Bede’s homilies were collected by Paul the Deacon, and they were used in that form in the Monastic Office. used Bede’s homilies in his missionary ef- forts on the continent.[102]

A page from a copy of Bede’s Lives of St. Cuthbert, showing Bede sometimes included in his theological books an ac- King Athelstan presenting the work to the saint. This manuscript knowledgement of the predecessors on whose works he was given to St. Cuthbert’s in 934.[98] drew. In two cases he left instructions that his marginal notes, which gave the details of his sources, should be pre- served by the copyist, and he may have originally added 5 Theological works marginal comments about his sources to others of his works. Where he does not specify, it is still possible to identify books to which he must have had access by quota- In his own time, Bede was as well known for his biblical tions that he uses. A full catalogue of the library available commentaries and exegetical, as well as other theological to Bede in the monastery cannot be reconstructed, but it works. The majority of his writings were of this type, is possible to tell, for example, that Bede was very famil- and covered the Old Testament and the New Testament. iar with the works of Virgil. There is little evidence that Most survived the Middle Ages, but a few were lost.[101] he had access to any other of the pagan Latin writers—he It was for his theological writings that he earned the title quotes many of these writers but the quotes are almost all of Doctor Anglorum, and why he was made a saint.[102] to be found in the Latin grammars that were common in Bede synthesised and transmitted the learning from his his day, one or more of which would certainly have been predecessors, as well as made careful, judicious innova- at the monastery. Another difficulty is that manuscripts tion in knowledge (such as recalculating the age of the of early writers were often incomplete: it is apparent that earth—for which he was censured before surviving the Bede had access to Pliny’s Encyclopedia, for example, but heresy accusations and eventually having his views cham- it seems that the version he had was missing book xviii, pioned by Archbishop Ussher in the sixteenth century— as he would almost certainly have quoted from it in his [105][lower-alpha 8] see below) that had theological implications. In order to De temporum ratione. do this, he learned Greek, and attempted to learn He- brew. He spent time reading and rereading both the Old and the New Testaments. He mentions that he studied 5.1 Works on the Old Testament from a text of Jerome's , which itself was from the Hebrew text. He also studied both the Latin and the The works dealing with the Old Testament included Greek Fathers of the Church. In the monastic library at Commentary on ,[107] Commentary on Genesis,[108] Jarrow were a number of books by theologians, includ- Commentaries on Ezra and Nehemiah, On the Temple, ing works by Basil, Cassian, , Isidore On the Tabernacle,[109] Commentaries on Tobit, Com- of Seville, , , Augustine mentaries on Proverbs,[110] Commentaries on the Song of of Hippo, Jerome, , Ambrose of Mi- Songs, Commentaries on the Canticle of ,[111] lan, Cassiodorus, and .[64][102] He used these, in The works on Ezra, the Tabernacle and the Temple were 8 7 EDUCATIONAL WORKS

especially influenced by Gregory the Great’s writings.[112] same subject, On the Reckoning of Time, which was in- fluential throughout the Middle Ages.[119] He also wrote several shorter letters and essays discussing specific as- 5.2 Works on the New Testament pects of computus. On the Reckoning of Time (De temporum ratione) included [113] Bede’s works included Commentary on , an introduction to the traditional ancient and medieval [114] Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, Commentary view of the cosmos, including an explanation of how the [115] on Acts, Reconsideration on the Books of Acts, On spherical earth influenced the changing length of daylight, the of Mark, On the Gospel of Luke, and Homi- of how the seasonal motion of the Sun and in- [116] lies on the . At the time of his death he was fluenced the changing appearance of the New Moon at working on a translation of the Gospel of St. John into evening twilight, and a quantitative relation between the [117] English. He did this for the last 40 days of his life. changes of the tides at a given place and the daily mo- When the last passage had been translated he said: “All tion of the moon.[120] Since the focus of his book was the [36] is finished.” computus, Bede gave instructions for computing the date of Easter and the related time of the Easter , for calculating the motion of the Sun and Moon through 6 Works on historical and astro- the zodiac, and for many other calculations related to the calendar. He gives some information about the of nomical chronology the Anglo-Saxon calendar in chapter XV.[121] Any codex of Bede’s Easter cycle is normally found together with a codex of his “De Temporum Ratione”. For calendric purposes, Bede made a new calculation of the age of the world since the creation, which he dated as 3952 BC. Due to his innovations in computing the age of the world, he was accused of heresy at the table of Bishop Wilfrid, his chronology being contrary to accepted calcu- lations. Once informed of the accusations of these “lewd rustics,” Bede refuted them in his Letter to Plegwin.[122] In addition to these works on astronomical timekeep- ing, he also wrote , or On the Nature of Things, modelled in part after the work of the same ti- tle by Isidore of Seville.[123] His works were so influential that late in the 9th century Notker the Stammerer, a monk of the Monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, wrote that “, the orderer of natures, who raised the Sun from the East on the fourth day of Creation, in the sixth day of the world has made Bede rise from the West as a new Sun to illuminate the whole Earth”.[124]

7 Educational works

Bede wrote some works designed to help teach grammar in the abbey school. One of these was his De arte metrica, a discussion of the composition of Latin verse, drawing on previous grammarians work. It was based on Donatus’ De pedibus and Servius' De finalibus, and used examples De natura rerum, 1529 from Christian poets as well as Virgil. It became a stan- dard text for the teaching of Latin verse during the next De temporibus, or On Time, written in about 703, few centuries. Bede dedicated this work to Cuthbert, ap- provides an introduction to the principles of Easter parently a student, for he is named “beloved son” in the computus.[118] This was based on parts of Isidore of dedication, and Bede says “I have laboured to educate you Seville's Etymologies, and Bede also included a chronol- in divine letters and ecclesiastical statutes”[125] Another ogy of the world which was derived from Eusebius, textbook of Bede’s is the De orthographia, a work on with some revisions based on Jerome’s translation of the orthography, designed to help a medieval reader of Latin bible.[4] In about 723,[4] Bede wrote a longer work on the with unfamiliar abbreviations and words from classical 9

Latin works. Although it could serve as a textbook, it ap- 9 Veneration pears to have been mainly intended as a reference work. The exact date of composition for both of these works is unknown.[126] Another educational work is De schematibus et tropis sacrae scripturae, which discusses the Bible’s use of rhetoric.[4] Bede was familiar with pagan authors such as Virgil, but it was not considered appropriate to teach biblical grammar from such texts, and in De schemat- ibus ... Bede argues for the superiority of Christian texts in understanding Christian literature.[4][127] Simi- larly, his text on poetic metre uses only Christian poetry for examples.[4]

8 Vernacular poetry

According to his disciple Cuthbert, Bede was also doctus in nostris carminibus (“learned in our songs”). Cuthbert’s letter on Bede’s death, the Epistola Cuthberti de obitu Be- dae, moreover, commonly is understood to indicate that Bede also composed a five line vernacular poem known to modern scholars as Bede’s Death Song

And he used to repeat that sentence from St. Paul “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” and many other verses of Scripture, urging us thereby to awake Bede depicted at St. Bede’s school, Chennai. from the slumber of the by thinking in good time of our last hour. And in our own There is no evidence for cult being paid to Bede in Eng- language,—for he was familiar with English land in the 8th century. One reason for this may be that poetry,—speaking of the soul’s dread depar- he died on the feast day of Augustine of Canterbury. ture from the body: Later, when he was venerated in England, he was either commemorated after Augustine on 26 May, or his feast was moved to 27 May. However, he was venerated out- side England, mainly through the efforts of Boniface and As Opland notes, however, it is not entirely clear Alcuin, both of whom promoted the cult on the Conti- that Cuthbert is attributing this text to Bede: most nent. Boniface wrote repeatedly back to England during manuscripts of the letter do not use a finite verb to de- his missionary efforts, requesting copies of Bede’s theo- scribe Bede’s presentation of the song, and the theme was logical works. Alcuin, who was taught at the school set relatively common in Old English and Anglo-Latin liter- up in York by Bede’s pupil Egbert, praised Bede as an example for monks to follow and was instrumental in dis- ature. The fact that Cuthbert’s description places the per- [131] formance of the Old English poem in the context of a seminating Bede’s works to all of Alcuin’s friends. series of quoted passages from Sacred Scripture, indeed, Bede’s cult became prominent in England during the might be taken as evidence simply that Bede also cited 10th-century revival of monasticism, and by the 14th cen- analogous vernacular texts.[128] On the other hand, the tury had spread to many of the cathedrals of England. inclusion of the Old English text of the poem in Cuth- , Bishop of Worcester (c. 1008–1095) was a bert’s Latin letter, the observation that Bede “was learned particular devotee of Bede’s, dedicating a church to him in 1062, which was Wulfstan’s first undertaking after his in our song,” and the fact that Bede composed a Latin [132] poem on the same subject all point to the possibility of consecration as bishop. his having written it. By citing the poem directly, Cuth- His body was 'translated' (the ecclesiastical term for re- bert seems to imply that its particular wording was some- location of ) from Jarrow to Durham Cathedral how important, either since it was a vernacular poem en- around 1020, where it was placed in the same tomb with dorsed by a scholar who evidently frowned upon secular Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. Later Bede’s remains were entertainment[129] or because it is a direct quotation of moved to a shrine in the Galilee Chapel at Durham Cathe- Bede’s last original composition.[130] dral in 1370. The shrine was destroyed during the English 10 12 REFERENCES

Reformation, but the bones were reburied in the chapel. 11 Notes In 1831 the bones were dug up and then reburied in a new tomb, which is still there.[133] Other relics were claimed [1] Bede’s words are “Ex quo tempore accepti presbyteratus by York, Glastonbury[10] and Fulda.[134] usque ad annum aetatis meae LVIIII ..."; which means “From the time I became a priest until the fifty-ninth year His scholarship and importance to Catholicism were of my life I have made it my business ... to make brief recognised in 1899 when he was declared a Doctor of extracts from the works of the venerable fathers on the [4] the Church. He is the only Englishman named a Doc- holy Scriptures ...”[5][6] Other, less plausible, interpreta- [36][88] tor of the Church. He is also the only Englishman tions of this passage have been suggested—for example in Dante's Paradise (Paradiso X.130), mentioned among that it means Bede stopped writing about scripture in his theologians and doctors of the church in the same canto fifty-ninth year.[7] as Isidore of Seville and the Scot Richard of St. Victor. [2] not the Saint Cuthbert about whom Bede writes in book His feast day was included in the General Roman Calen- IV of his Ecclesiastical History dar in 1899, for celebration on 27 May rather than on his [3] Cuthbert is probably the same person as the later abbot of date of death, 26 May, which was then the feast day of [8] Pope Saint Gregory VII. He is venerated in both the An- Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, but this is not entirely certain. glican and Roman , with a feast day of [4] Isidore of Seville lists six orders below a deacon, but these 25 May,[88] and in the , with a orders need not have existed at Monkwearmouth.[6] feast day on 27 May.[135] [5] The key phrase is per linguae curationem, which is var- Bede became known as Venerable Bede (Lat.: Beda iously translated as “how his tongue was healed”, "[a] Venerabilis) by the 9th century[136] because of his canker on the tongue”, or, following a different interpre- holiness,[36] but this was not linked to consideration for tation of curationem, “the guidance of my tongue”.[28] sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. According [6] The letter itself is in Bedae Opera de Temporibus edited to a legend the epithet was miraculously supplied by an- by C. W. Jones, pp. 307–315 gels, thus completing his unfinished epitaph.[137] It is first utilised in connection with Bede in the 9th century, where [7] The account of Cuthbert does not make entirely clear Bede was grouped with others who were called “venera- whether Bede died before midnight or after. However, ble” at two ecclesiastical councils held at Aachen in 816 by the reckoning of Bede’s time, passage from the old day and 836. Paul the Deacon then referred to him as ven- to the new occurred at sunset, not midnight, and Cuthbert erable consistently. By the 11th and 12th century, it had is clear that he died after sunset. Thus, while his box was brought at three o'clock Wednesday afternoon the 25th, become commonplace. However, there are no descrip- [8] by the time of the final dictation it was already Thursday tions of Bede by that term right after his death. the 26th.”[38]

[8] Laistner provides a list of works definitely or tentatively identified as in Bede’s library.[106] 9.1 Modern legacy

Bede’s reputation as a historian, based mostly on the 12 References Historia Ecclesiastica, remains strong;[92][93] historian Walter Goffart says of Bede that he “holds a privileged [1] Ray 2001, pp. 57–59 and unrivalled place among first historians of Christian Europe”.[90] His life and work have been celebrated with [2] Brooks 2006, p. 5 the annual Jarrow Lecture, held at St. Paul’s Church, Jar- row, since 1958.[138] [3] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, p. xix [4] Campbell 2004

[5] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, pp. 566–567

10 See also [6] Blair 1990, p. 253

[7] Whiting, “The Life of the Venerable Bede”, in Thompson, • List of works by Bede “Bede: His Life, Times and Writing”, p. 4.

[8] Higham 2006, pp. 9–10 • List of manuscripts of Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica [9] Bede, Ecclesiastical History, V.24, p. 329.

• – Anglo-Saxon Farm, Village and Bede [10] Farmer 2004, pp. 47–48 Museum, formerly 'Bede’s World'. [11] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, pp. xix–xx

• Northeast England [12] Blair 1990, p. 4 11

[13] J. Insley, “Portesmutha” in: Reallexikon der Germanischen [42] Quoted in Ward 1990, p. 57 Altertumskunde vol. 23, Walter de Gruyter (2003), 291. [43] Ward 1990, p. 57 [14] Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch s.v. BUD (289) connects the Old High German short name Bodo (variants [44] Holder (trans.), Bede: On the Tabernacle, (Liverpool: Liv- Boto, Boddo, Potho, Boda, Puoto etc.) as from the same erpool Univ. Pr., 1994), pp. xvii–xx. verbal root. [45] McClure and Collins, The Ecclesiastical History, pp. [15] Higham 2006, pp. 8–9 xviii–xix.

[16] Swanton 1998, pp. 14–15 [46] Blair 1990, p. 187

[17] Blair 1990, p. 178 [47] Goffart 1988, pp. 242–243

[18] Blair 1990, p. 241 [48] Farmer 1978, p. 21

[19] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, p. xx [49] "Albinus". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. [20] Plummer, Bedae Opera Historica, vol. I, p. xii. [50] Farmer 1978, p. 22 [21] Blair 1990, p. 181 [51] Farmer 1978, p. 31 [22] Blair 1990, p. 5 [52] Farmer 1978, pp. 31–32 [23] Blair 1990, p. 234 [53] Abels 1983, pp. 1–2 [24] “Classical and Medieval MSS”. Bodleian Library. Re- trieved 30 December 2010. [54] Farmer 1978, p. 32

[25] A few pages from another copy are held by the British [55] Bede, “Preface”, Historia Ecclesiastica, p. 41. Museum. Farmer 1978, p. 20 [56] Cramp, “Monkwearmouth (or Wearmouth) and Jarrow”, [26] Ray 2001, p. 57 pp. 325–326.

[27] Whiting, “The Life of the Venerable Bede”, in Thompson, [57] Michael Lapidge, “Libraries”, in Lapidge, Encyclopaedia “Bede: His Life, Times and Writing”, pp. 5–6. of Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 286–287.

[28] Dorothy Whitelock, “Bede and his Teachers and Friends”, [58] Farmer 1978, p. 25 in Bonner, Famulus Christi, p. 21. [59] Campbell, “Bede”, in Dorey, Latin Historians, p. 162. [29] Blair 1990, p. 267 [60] Campbell, “Bede”, in Dorey, Latin Historians, p. 163. [30] Hurst, Bede the Venerable, p. 38. [61] Lapidge, “Gildas”, p. 204. [31] Goffart, Narrators p. 322 [62] Meyvaert 1996, p. 831 [32] Blair 1990, p. 305 [63] Meyvaert 1996, p. 843 [33] Higham 2006, p. 15 [64] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, pp. xxv–xxvi [34] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, p. 556n [65] Plummer, Bedae Opera Historic, vol. I, p. xxiv. [35] Plummer, Bedae Opera Historica, vol. II, p. 3. [66] Campbell, “Bede”, in Dorey, Latin Historians, p. 164. [36] Fr. Paolo O. Pirlo, SHMI (1997). “St. Venerable Bede”. My First Book of Saints. Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate – [67] Keynes, “Nothhelm”, pp. 335 336. Quality Catholic Publications. p. 104. ISBN 971-91595- 4-5. [68] Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, Preface, p. 42.

[37] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, pp. 580–587 [69] Goffart 1988, pp. 296–307

[38] Blair 1990, p. 307 [70] Brooks 2006, pp. 7–10

[39] Donald Scragg, “Bede’s Death Song”, in Lapidge, Ency- [71] Brooks 2006, pp. 12–14 clopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England, p. 59. [72] Farmer 1978, p. 26 [40] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, pp. 580–581n [73] Farmer 1978, p. 27 [41] “St. Gallen Stiftsbibliothek Cod. Sang. 254. Jerome, Commentary on the Old Testament book of . In- [74] Lapidge 2005, p. 323 cludes the most authentic version of the Old English [75] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, pp. xxxvii–xxxviii “Death Song” by the Venerable Bede”. Europeana Regia. Retrieved 5 June 2013. [76] Plummer, Bedae Opera Historica, vol. I, pp. liii–liv. 12 12 REFERENCES

[77] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, pp. xxx–xxxi [110] Obermair 2010, pp. 45–57

[78] N.J. Higham, “Bede’s Agenda in Book IV of the ‘Eccle- [111] Ward 1990, p. 74 siastical History of the English People’: A Tricky Matter of Advising the King,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History [112] Thacker 1998, p. 80 (2013) 64#3 pp 476–493

[79] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, pp. xxxiv–xxxvi [113] Ward 1990, p. 51

[80] Stenton 1971, pp. 8–9 [114] Ward 1990, p. 56 [81] Wallace-Hadrill 1988, p. xxxi [115] Ward 1990, pp. 58–59 [82] Yorke 2006, p. 119 [116] Ward 1990, p. 60 [83] Yorke 2006, pp. 21–22

[84] Fleming 2011, p. 111 [117] Loyn 1962, p. 270

[85] Yorke 2006, p. 118 [118] Brown 1987, p. 37 [86] Colgrave & Mynors 1969, pp. xviii–xix [119] Brown 1987, pp. 38–41 [87] Stenton 1971, p. 186 [120] Bede 2004, pp. 82–85, 307–312 [88] Wright 2008, pp. 4–5

[89] Higham 2006, p. 21 [121] Bede 2004, pp. 53–4, 285–7; see also

[90] Goffart 1988, p. 236 [122] Bede 2004, pp. xxx, 405–415 [91] Goffart 1988, pp. 238–9 [123] Brown 1987, p. 36 [92] Stenton 1971, p. 187 [124] Bede 2004, p. lxxxv [93] Wormald 1999, p. 29

[94] Higham 2006, p. 27 [125] Brown 1987, pp. 31–32

[95] Higham 2006, p. 33 [126] Brown 1987, pp. 35–36 [96] Behr 2000, pp. 25–52 [127] Colgrave gives the example of Desiderius of Vienne, who [97] Plummer, Bedae Opera Historica, vol. I, p. xlvii and note. was reprimanded by Gregory the Great for using “hea- then” authors in his teaching. [98] Cannon & Griffiths 1997, pp. 42–43

[99] Wallis (trans.), The Reckoning of Time, pp. lxvii–lxxi, [128] Opland 1980, pp. 140–141 157–237, 353–66 [129] McCready 1994, pp. 14–19 [100] Goffart 1988, pp. 245–246

[101] Brown 1987, p. 42 [130] Opland 1980, p. 14

[102] Ward 2001, pp. 57–64 [131] Ward 1990, pp. 136–138

[103] Ward 1990, p. 44 [132] Ward 1990, p. 139 [104] Meyvaert 1996, p. 827 [133] Wright 2008, p. 4 (caption) [105] M.L.W. Laistner, “The Library of the Venerable Bede”, in A.H. Thompson, “Bede: His Life, Times and Writings”, [134] Higham 2006, p. 24 pp. 237–262.

[106] M.L.W. Laistner, “The Library of the Venerable Bede”, in [135] https://oca.org/saints/lives/2014/05/27/ A.H. Thompson, “Bede: His Life, Times and Writings”, 103796-venerable-bede-the-church-historian pp. 263–266. [136] Wright 2008, p. 3 [107] Ward 1990, p. 67 [137] article The Venerable Bede [108] Ward 1990, p. 68

[109] Ward 1990, p. 72 [138] The Jarrow Lecture 13.2 Secondary sources 13

13 Sources 13.2 Secondary sources

Abels, Richard (1983). “The Coun- 13.1 Primary sources cil of Whitby: A Study in Early Anglo-Saxon Politics”. Journal Bede (c. 860). “St. Gallen of British Studies. 23 (1): 1– Stiftsbibliothek Cod. Sang. 254. 25. doi:10.1086/385808. JSTOR Jerome, Commentary on the Old 175617. Testament book of Isaiah. Includes Behr, Charlotte (2000). “The Ori- the most authentic version of the gins of Kingship in Early Medieval Old English “Death Song” by the Kent”. Early Medieval Europe. 9 Venerable Bede”. Europeana Re- (1): 25–52. doi:10.1111/1468- gia. Retrieved 5 June 2013. 0254.00058. ——— (1896). Plummer, C, ed. Blair, Peter Hunter (1990). The 'Hist. eccl. · Venerabilis Baedae World of Bede (Reprint of 1970 opera historica'. 2 vols. ed.). : Cambridge Uni- ——— (1969). Colgrave, versity Press. ISBN 0-521-39819- Bertram; Mynors, R. A. B., eds. 3. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the Brooks, Nicholas (2006). “From English People. Oxford: Clarendon British to English Christianity: De- Press. ISBN 0-19-822202-5. constructing Bede’s Interpretation (Parallel Latin text and English of the Conversion”. In Howe, translation with English notes.) Nicholas; Karkov, Catherine. Con- ——— (1991). D. H. Farmer, ed. version and Colonization in Anglo- Ecclesiastical History of the English Saxon England. Tempe, AZ: Ari- People. Translated by Leo Sherley- zona Center for Medieval and Re- Price. Revised by R. E. Latham. naissance Studies. pp. 1–30. ISBN London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14- 0-86698-363-5. 044565-X. Brown, George Hardin (1987). ——— (1994). McClure, Judith; Bede, the Venerable. Boston: Collins, , eds. The Ecclesias- Twayne. ISBN 0-8057-6940-4. tical History of the English People. ——— (1999). “Royal and Ec- Oxford: Oxford University Press. clesiastical rivalries in Bede’s His- ISBN 0-19-283866-0. tory”. Renascence. 51 (1): 19–33. ——— (1943). Jones, C. W., ed. Campbell, J. (2004). “Bede Bedae Opera de Temporibus. Cam- (673/4–735)". Oxford Dictionary bridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of National Biography (revised of America. May 2008 ed.). Oxford University ——— (2004). Bede: The Reckon- Press. (subscription required ing of Time. Translated by Wallis, (help)). Faith. Liverpool: Liverpool Uni- Cannon, John; Griffiths, Ralph versity Press. ISBN 0-85323-693- (1997). The Oxford Illustrated His- 3. tory of the British Monarchy. Ox- ——— (2011). On the Song of ford University Press. ISBN 0-19- Songs and selected writings. The 822786-8. Classics of Western Spirituality. Chadwick, Henry (1995). Translated by Holder, Arthur G. “Theodore, the English Church, New York: Paulist Press. ISBN and the Monothelete Controversy”. 0-8091-4700-9. (contains transla- In Lapidge, Michael. Archbishop tions of On the Song of Songs, Hom- Theodore. Cambridge Studies ilies on the Gospels and selections in Anglo-Saxon England #11. from the Ecclesiastical history of the Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Uni- English people). versity Press. pp. 88–95. ISBN The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Trans- 0-521-48077-9. lated by Swanton, Michael James. Colgrave, Bertram; Mynors, R. A. New York: Routledge. 1998. B. (1969). “Introduction”. Bede’s ISBN 0-415-92129-5. Ecclesiastical History of the English 14 13 SOURCES

People. Oxford: Clarendon Press. aus Bedas Kommentar der Sprüche ISBN 0-19-822202-5. Salomos” (PDF). Concilium medii Dorey, T. A. (1966). Latin Histori- aevi. Edition Ruprecht. 31: 45–57. ans. London: Routledge & Kegan ISSN 1437-904X. Paul. Opland, Jeff (1980). Anglo-Saxon Farmer, Hugh (1978). The Oral Poetry: A Study of the Tra- Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Ox- ditions. New Haven and London: ford, UK: Oxford University Press. Yale U.P. ISBN 0-300-02426-6. ISBN 0-19-282038-9. Ray, Roger (2001). “Bede”. In ——— (2004). The Oxford Dic- Lapidge, Michael; et al. Blackwell tionary of Saints (Fifth ed.). Ox- Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon Eng- ford, UK: Oxford University Press. land. Malden, MA: Blackwell. pp. ISBN 978-0-19-860949-0. 57–59. ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1. Fleming, Robin (2011). Britain af- Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo- ter Rome: The Fall and the Rise, Saxon England (Third ed.). Ox- 400 to 1070. London: Penguin ford: Oxford University Press. Books. ISBN 978-0-14-014823-7. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5. Goffart, Walter A. (1988). The Thacker, Alan (1998). “Memo- Narrators of Barbarian History (A. rializing Gregory the Great: The D. 550–800): Jordanes, Gregory of Origin and Transmission of a Pa- Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon. pal Cult in the 7th and early 8th Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univer- centuries”. Early Medieval Europe. sity Press. ISBN 0-691-05514-9. 7 (1): 59–84. doi:10.1111/1468- Higham, N. J. (2006). (Re- 0254.00018. )Reading Bede: The Historia Ec- Thompson, A. Hamilton (1969). clesiastica in Context. Routledge. Bede: His Life, Times and Writ- ISBN 978-0-415-35368-7. ings: Essays in Commemoration of Lapidge, Michael (2005). “Poeti- the Twelfth Century of his Death. cism in Pre-Conquest Anglo-Latin Oxford: Oxford University Press. Prose”. In Reinhardt, et al. Tyler, Damian (April 2007). Aspects of the Language of Latin “Reluctant Kings and Christian Prose. Oxford, UK: Oxford Uni- Conversion in Seventh-Century versity Press. ISBN 0-19-726332- England”. History. 92 (306): 1. 144–161. doi:10.1111/j.1468- Loyn, H. R. (1962). Anglo-Saxon 229X.2007.00389.x. England and the . Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. (1988). Longman. ISBN 0-582-48232-1. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of McCready, William D. (1994). the English People: A Historical Miracles and the Venerable Bede: Commentary. Oxford Medieval Studies and Texts. Pontifical In- Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press. stitute of Mediaeval Studies #118. ISBN 0-19-822269-6. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Ward, Benedicta (1990). The Mediaeval Studies. ISBN 0-88844- Venerable Bede. Harrisburg, PA: 118-5. Morehouse Publishing. ISBN 0- Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The 8192-1494-9. Coming of Christianity to Anglo- ——— (2001). “Bede the Theolo- Saxon England. University Park, gian”. In Evans, G. R. The Me- PA: Pennsylvania State University dieval Theologians: An Introduc- Press. ISBN 0-271-00769-9. tion to Theology in the Medieval Pe- Meyvaert, Paul (1996). “Bede, riod. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub- Cassiodorus, and the Codex Ami- lishing. pp. 57–64. ISBN 978-0- atinus”. Speculum. Medieval 631-21203-4. Academy of America. 71 (4): Wormald, Patrick (1999). The 827–883. doi:10.2307/2865722. Making of English Law: King Al- JSTOR 2865722. fred to the Twelfth Century. Ox- Obermair, Hannes (2010). “Novit ford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631- iustus animas. Ein Bozner Blatt 13496-4. 15

Wright, J. Robert (2008). A Com- panion to Bede: A Reader’s Com- mentary on The Ecclesiastical His- tory of the English People. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978- 0-8028-6309-6. Yorke, Barbara (2006). The Con- version of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c. 600–800. London: Pearson/Longman. ISBN 0-582-77292-3.

14 Further reading

• Story, Joanna; Bailey, Richard (2015). “The Skull of Bede”. The Antiquaries Journal. 95: 325–50.

15 External links

• Works by the Venerable Bede at Project Gutenberg • Works by or about Bede at Internet Archive

• Works by Bede at LibriVox (public domain audio- books) • Bede’s World: the museum of early medieval Northumbria at Jarrow • The Venerable Bede from In Our Time (BBC Radio 4) • Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Books 1–5, L.C. Jane’s 1903 Temple Classics translation. From the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.

• Bede’s Ecclesiastical History and the Continuation of Bede (pdf), at CCEL, edited & translated by A.M. Sellar. • Saint Bede, complete works, in Latin, with histori- cal works also in English at The Online Library of Liberty 16 16 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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