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the Venerable Saint Bede,D. Farmer | 288 pages | 01 Sep 1998 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780140447279 | English | London, United Kingdom The Age of Bede Summary & Study Guide

Peter and its companion monastery of St. Born on lands belonging to the twin monastery of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow in present-day Tyne and Wear, Bede was sent to Monkwearmouth at the age of seven The Age of Bede later joined Abbot Ceolfrith at Jarrow, both of whom survived a plague that struck inan outbreak that killed a majority of The Age of Bede population there. While he spent most of his life in the monastery, Bede travelled to several abbeys and monasteries across the British Isles, even visiting the archbishop of and King Ceolwulf of Northumbria. He is well known as an author, teacher a student of one of his pupils was The Age of Bede, and scholar, and his most famous work, Ecclesiastical History of the English Peoplegained him the title "The Father of English History ". His The Age of Bede writings were extensive and included a number of Biblical commentaries and other theological works of exegetical erudition. Another important area of study for Bede was the academic discipline of computusotherwise known to his contemporaries as the science of calculating calendar dates. One of the more important dates Bede tried to compute was Easter, an effort that was mired in controversy. He also helped popularize the practice of dating forward from The Age of Bede birth of Christ Anno Domini — in the The Age of Bede of our Lorda practice which eventually became commonplace in medieval Europe. Bede was one of the greatest teachers and writers of the Early Middle Ages and is The Age of Bede by many historians to be the most important scholar of antiquity for the period between the death of Pope Gregory I in and the coronation of Charlemagne in He is the only native of Great Britain to achieve this designation; Anselm of Canterburyalso a Doctor of the Church, was originally from Italy. Bede was moreover a skilled linguist and translator, and his work made the Latin and Greek writings of the early Church Fathers much more accessible to his fellow Anglo- Saxonswhich contributed significantly to English Christianity. Bede's monastery had access to an impressive library which included works by EusebiusOrosiusand many others. Almost everything that is known of Bede's life is contained in the last chapter of his Ecclesiastical History The Age of Bede the English The Age of Bedea history of the church in England. It was completed in about[2] and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year, which would give a birth date in or The Liber Vitae of names two priests with this name, one of whom is presumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the Life of Cuthbertone of Bede's works, mention that 's own priest was named Bede; it is possible that this priest is the other name listed in the Liber Vitae. At the age of seven, Bede was sent as a puer oblatus [17] to the monastery of Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Benedict Biscop and later by Ceolfrith. The Life of Ceolfrithwritten in aboutrecords that only two surviving monks were capable The Age of Bede singing the full offices; one was Ceolfrith and the other a young boy, who according to the anonymous writer had been taught by Ceolfrith. The two managed to do the entire service of the liturgy until others could be trained. The young boy was almost certainly Bede, who would have been about Bede would probably have met the abbot during this visit, and it may be that Adomnan sparked Bede's interest in the Easter dating controversy. The canonical age for the ordination of a deacon was 25; Bede's early ordination may mean that his abilities were considered exceptional, [20] but it is also possible that the minimum age requirement was often disregarded. In about Bede wrote his first works, the De Arte Metrica and De Schematibus et Tropis ; both were intended for use in the classroom. Not all his output can be easily dated, The Age of Bede Bede may have worked on some texts over a period of many years. Translations of this phrase differ, and it is uncertain whether Bede intended to say that he was cured of a speech problem, or merely that he was inspired by the saint's works. Insome monks at Hexham accused Bede of having committed heresy in his work De Temporibus. Wilfrid did not respond to the accusation, but a monk present relayed the episode to Bede, who replied within a few days to the monk, writing a letter setting forth his defence and asking that the letter also be read to Wilfrid. Wilfrid had been present at the The Age of Bede of her body The Age of Bedeand Bede questioned the bishop about the exact circumstances of the body and asked for more details of her life, as Wilfrid had been her advisor. InBede travelled to York to visit Ecgbert, who was then bishop of York. The See of York was elevated to an archbishopric inand it is likely that Bede The Age of Bede Ecgbert discussed the proposal for the elevation during his visit. Because of his widespread correspondence with others throughout the British Isles, and because many The Age of Bede the letters imply that Bede had met his correspondents, it is likely that Bede travelled to some other places, although nothing further about timing or locations can be guessed. He was considered the most learned man of his time and wrote excellent biblical and historical books. Bede died on the Feast of the AscensionThursday, 26 Mayon the floor of his cell, singing "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit" [37] and was buried at Jarrow. According to Cuthbert, Bede fell ill, "with frequent attacks of breathlessness but almost without pain", before Easter. On the The Age of Bede, 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 final sentence to the scribe, a boy named Wilberht, and died soon afterwards. However, by the reckoning of Bede's time, passage from the old day to the new occurred at sunset, not midnight, and Cuthbert is clear that he died after sunset. Thus, while his box was brought at three o'clock Wednesday afternoon of 25 May, by the time of the final dictation it might be considered already 26 May in that ecclesiastical sense, although 25 May in the ordinary sense. Cuthbert's letter also relates a five-line poem in the vernacular that Bede composed on his deathbed, known as " Bede's Death Song ". It is the most-widely copied The Age of Bede and appears 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 not. One further oddity in his writings is that in one of his works, the Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistleshe writes in a manner that gives the impression he was married. Bede says: "Prayers are hindered by the conjugal duty because The Age of Bede often as I perform what is due to my wife I am not able to pray. Bede wrote scientific, historical and theological works, reflecting the range of his writings from music and metrics to exegetical Scripture commentaries. He knew patristic The Age of Bede, as well as Pliny the ElderVirgilLucretiusOvidHorace and other classical writers. He knew some Greek. Bede's scriptural commentaries employed the allegorical method of interpretation, [45] and his history includes accounts of miracles, which to modern historians has seemed at odds The Age of Bede his critical approach to the materials in his history. Modern studies have shown the important role such concepts played in The Age of Bede world-view of Early The Age of Bede scholars. The non-historical works contributed greatly to the Carolingian renaissance. Bede's best-known work is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorumor An Ecclesiastical History of the English People[49] completed in about The monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow had an excellent library. Both Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith had acquired books from the Continent, and in Bede's day the monastery was a renowned centre of learning. For the period prior to Augustine's arrival inBede drew on earlier writers, including Solinus. Alban from a life of that saint which has not survived. He acknowledges two other lives of saints directly; one is a life of Fursaand the other of St. Bede also had correspondents who supplied him with material. Albinus, the abbot of the monastery in Canterbury, provided much information about the church in Kent, and with the assistance of Nothhelmat that time a priest in London, obtained copies of Gregory the Great 's correspondence from Rome relating to Augustine's mission. The historian Walter Goffart argues that Bede based the structure of the Historia on three works, using them as the framework around which the The Age of Bede main sections of the work were structured. For the early part of the work, up until the Gregorian mission, Goffart feels that Bede used De excidio. The The Age of Bede section, detailing the Gregorian mission of Augustine of Canterbury was framed on Life of Gregory the Great written at Whitby. The last section, detailing events after the Gregorian mission, Goffart feels were modelled on Life of Wilfrid. Bede's stylistic models included some of the same authors from whom he The Age of Bede the material for the earlier parts of his history. His introduction imitates the work of Orosius, [4] and his title is an echo of Eusebius's Historia The Age of Bede. For example, he almost always uses the terms "Australes" and "Occidentales" for the South and West Saxons respectively, but in a passage in the first book he uses "Meridiani" and "Occidui" instead, as perhaps his informant had done. Bede's work as a hagiographer and his detailed attention to dating were both useful preparations for the task of writing the Historia Ecclesiastica. His interest in computus, the science of calculating the date of Easter, was also useful in the account he gives of the controversy between the British and Anglo-Saxon church over the correct method of obtaining the Easter date. Bede is described by Michael Lapidge as "without question the most accomplished Latinist produced in these islands in the Anglo-Saxon period". He knew rhetoric and often used figures of speech and rhetorical forms which cannot easily be reproduced in translation, depending as they often do on the connotations of the Latin words. However, The Age of Bede contemporaries such as Aldhelmwhose Latin is full of difficulties, Bede's own text is easy to read. Alcuin rightly praises The Age of Bede for his unpretending style. Bede's primary intention in writing the Historia Ecclesiastica was to show the growth of the united church The Age of Bede England. The native Britons, whose Christian church survived the departure of the Romans, earn Bede's ire for refusing to help convert the Saxons; by the end of the Historia the English, and their church, are dominant over the Britons. He also wants to instruct the reader by spiritual example and to entertain, and to the latter end he adds stories about many of the The Age of Bede and The Age of Bede about which he wrote. Higham argues that Bede designed his work to promote his reform agenda to Ceolwulf, the Northumbrian king. Bede painted a highly optimistic picture of the current situation in the Church, as opposed to the more pessimistic picture found in his private letters. Bede's extensive use of miracles can prove difficult for readers who consider him a more or less reliable historian but do not accept the possibility of miracles. Yet both reflect an inseparable integrity and regard for accuracy and truth, expressed in terms both of historical events and of a tradition of Christian faith that continues to the present day. Bede, like Gregory the Great whom Bede quotes on the subject in the Historiafelt that faith brought about by miracles was a stepping stone to a higher, truer faith, and that as a result The Age of Bede had their place in a work designed to instruct. Bede is somewhat reticent about the career of Wilfrid, a contemporary and one of the most prominent clerics of his day. This may be because Wilfrid's opulent lifestyle was uncongenial to Bede's monastic mind; it may also be that the events of Wilfrid's life, divisive and controversial as they were, simply did not fit with Bede's theme of the progression to a unified and harmonious church. Bede's account of the early migrations of the Angles and Saxons to England omits any mention of a movement of those peoples across the English Channel from Britain to Brittany described by Procopiuswho was writing in the sixth century. Frank Stenton describes this omission as "a scholar's dislike of the indefinite"; traditional material that could not be dated or used for Bede's didactic purposes had no interest for him. Bede was a Northumbrian, and this tinged his work with a local bias. He also is parsimonious in his praise for Aldhelma West Saxon who had done much to convert the native Britons to the Roman form of Christianity. He lists seven kings of the Anglo-Saxons whom he regards as having held imperiumor overlordship; only The Age of Bede king of Wessex, Ceawlinis listed, and none from Mercia, though elsewhere he acknowledges the secular power several of the Mercians held. Bede relates the story of Augustine's mission from Rome, and tells how the British clergy refused to assist Augustine in the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. This, combined with Gildas's negative assessment of the British church at the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, led Bede to a very critical The Age of Bede of the native church. However, Bede ignores the fact that at the time of Augustine's mission, the history between the two was one of warfare and conquest, which, in the words of Barbara Yorkewould have naturally "curbed any missionary impulses towards the Anglo-Saxons from the British clergy. At the time Bede wrote the Historia Ecclesiasticathere The Age of Bede two common ways of referring to dates. One was to use indictionswhich were year cycles, counting from AD. There were The Age of Bede different varieties of indiction, each starting on a The Age of Bede day of the year. The other approach was to use regnal years—the reigning Roman emperor, for example, or the ruler of whichever kingdom was under discussion. This meant that in discussing conflicts between kingdoms, the date The Age of Bede have to be given in the regnal years of all the kings involved. Bede used both these approaches on occasion but adopted a third method as his main approach to dating: the Anno Domini method invented by Dionysius Exiguus. The Historia Ecclesiastica was copied often in the Middle Ages, and about manuscripts containing it survive. About half of those are located on the European continent, rather than in the British Isles. It was printed for the first time between andprobably at Strasbourg, France. The belief that the Historia was the culmination of Bede's works, the aim of all his scholarship, was a belief common among historians in the past but is no longer accepted by most scholars. Saint Bede the Venerable | Biography, Facts, & Legacy | Britannica

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. The Age of Bede — The Age of Bede by Bede. The Age of Bede by Bede. Saint Brendan. Eddius Stephanus. Webb Translator. This selection of writings from the sixth and seventh century AD provides a powerful insight into the early history of the Christian Church in England and Ireland. From Bede's Life of Cuthbert and Lives of the Abbots The Age of Bede Wearmouth and Jarrow to the anonymous Voyage of St Brendan - a whimsical mixture of fact and fantasy that describes a quest for paradise on earth - these a This selection of writings from the sixth and seventh century AD provides a powerful insight into the early history of the Christian Church in England and Ireland. From Bede's Life of Cuthbert and Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow to the anonymous Voyage of St Brendan - a whimsical mixture of fact and fantasy that describes a quest for paradise on earth - these are vivid accounts of the profoundly spiritual and passionately heroic lives of Christian pioneers and saints. Both vital religious writings and a revealing insight into the reality of life at a formative time for the church, they describe an era of heroism and bitter conflict, and the rapid spread of the Christian faith. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published February 26th by Penguin Classics first published More Details Original Title. WilfridBenedict Biscop. England Ireland. Other Editions 4. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Age The Age of Bede Bedeplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Age of Bede. Shelves: british-islesmedieval-historyread-in-translationanglo-saxons. Nice companion book to Bede's ecclesiastical History of the English Peoples. St Cuthbert's auster life is well complimented by the rich goods found in his grave, St Wilfred comes across as a great Prince of the Anglo-Saxon church and there are fine details in the lives of the Abbots like the shipping in of glass from mainland Europe for the windows of the monastery which was then under construction. The Age of Bede 1 comment. This collection of various The Age of Bede mostly biographical works gives a helpful look into The Age of Bede Medieval Christianity s mostly in England. The church then had its strengths and weaknesses, a particular strength being their familiarity with the Bible and the constant use of the Psalms. Dec 23, Mark Speed rated it really liked it Shelves: historicalreferencereligious-theme. You didn't expect to see this on my shelves, eh? Well, I'm a Scot and I'm a Northumbrian. We were both much more civilised than much of the rest of Europe in the 7th and 8th centuries. Indeed, it was Bede's chronicles, written in Jarrow, that ended the Dark Ages. Everyone associates Jarrow The Age of Bede the eponymous March. It's hard to fathom just how big the schism was between Rome and the Celtic monasticism of Ireland, Scotland and Northern England. Here are the Venerable Bede and his contemporarie You didn't expect The Age of Bede see this on my shelves, eh? Here are the Venerable Bede and his contemporaries writing the stories of their time. Wonderful, wonderful tales on some of which a nation was founded. One day I shall base some fiction on these. One day soon Nov 18, Salvatore rated it liked it. Interesting hagiographies. Bede is on his own level with storytelling and detail in comparison to the other authors collected here. Also it's amusing how sassy people even were in 6th and 7th century England. Glad to have rediscovered this on my bookshelf. It also makes me wonder if someone could write a short story that echoes this type of writing. Apr 23, Graham Way rated it really liked it Shelves: anglo-saxon-history. A splendid collection of writings focussed on clerics but not confined to their lives but also the social and political events which The Age of Bede them. Feb 18, Gary Howes rated it really liked it. Sep 30, Heather rated it liked it Shelves: textbookstheology. This is a useful supplement to study of Bede. It provides some of his shorter works, including his "Lives of the Abbots" and "Life of Cuthbert," along with selections by some of Bede's contemporaries. Mar 16, Chris rated it it was amazing. Five stars because of Cuthbert! Laura Jones rated it it was ok Jan 08, Richard Blake rated it really liked it Feb 25, Michelle rated it it was amazing Feb 18, Revd Lee rated it really liked it Dec 11, Catherine Hulme rated The Age of Bede liked it Nov 11, Larry Swain rated it it was amazing Jul 01, Joseph Nolla rated it really liked it Jul 30, Mary Burns rated it liked it Mar 30, Miike rated it liked it Nov 15, Tom rated it liked it Oct 20, Steve rated it really liked it Apr 30, Philip rated it it was amazing Dec The Age of Bede, John rated it really liked it Dec 05, Daniel Genis rated it really liked it Oct 17, Brecken rated it liked it Feb 03, Mike Bird rated it it was amazing Apr 26, Tony Steele rated it it was amazing Feb 20, The Age of Bede rated it liked it Feb 06, Irina Dumitrescu rated it really liked it Mar 19, Justin rated it liked it Sep 04, The Age of Bede Killian rated it really liked it May 16, There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Readers also enjoyed. About Bede. He is well known as an author and scholar, and The Age of Bede most famous work, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum The Ecclesiastical History of the English People gained him the title "The Father of English History. Bede was moreover a skilled linguist and translator, and his work with the Latin and Greek writings of the early Church Fathers contributed significantly to English Christianity, making the writings much more accessible to his fellow Anglo-Saxons. Bede's monastery had access to a superb library which included works by Eusebius and Orosius among many others. Books by Bede. The Age of Bede by Bede

The Venerable Bede was a British monk whose works in theology, history, chronology, poetry, and biography have led him to be accepted at the greatest scholar of the early medieval era. Born in March of and having died on May 25, in Jarrow, Northumbria, UK, Bede is most famous for producing the Historia ecclesiastica Ecclesiastical Historya source essential for our understanding of the Anglo-Saxons and the Christianisation of Britain in the era before and the Norman Conquestearning him the title of 'the Father of English history. Little is known of Bede's childhood, other than he was born in March of to parents living on land belonging to the newly founded Monastery of St. Peter, based in Wearmouth, to which Bede was given by relatives for a monastic education when he was seven. Initially, in the care of Abbot Benedict, Bede's teaching was taken over by Ceolfrith, with whom Bede moved to the monastery's new twin-house at Jarrow in The Life of Ceolfrith suggests that here only the young Bede and Ceolfrith survived a plague which devastated the settlement. However, in the aftermath of the plague the new house regrew and continued. Both houses were in the kingdom of Northumbria. Bede spent the rest of his life as a monk at Jarrow, first being taught and then teaching to the daily rhythms of monastic rule: for Bede, a mixture of prayer and study. He was ordained as a Deacon aged 19 — at a time when Deacons were supposed to be 25 or over — and a priest aged Indeed, historians believe Bede left Jarrow only twice in his relatively long life, to visit and York. While his letters contain hints of other visits, there isn't any real evidence, and The Age of Bede certainly never traveled far. Monasteries were nodes of scholarship in early medieval Europe, and The Age of Bede is nothing surprising in the fact that Bede, an intelligent, pious and educated man, used his learning, life of study and house library to produce a large body of writing. What was unusual was the sheer breadth, depth, and quality of the fifty plus works he produced, covering scientific and chronological matters, history and biography and, perhaps as expected, scriptural commentary. As befitted the The Age of Bede scholar of his era, Bede had the chance to become Prior of Jarrow, and The Age of Bede more, but The Age of Bede the jobs down as they would interfere with his study. Bede's biblical commentaries — in which he interpreted the The Age of Bede mainly as an allegory, applied criticism and tried to solve discrepancies — were extremely popular in the early medieval period, being copied and spread — along with Bede's reputation — widely across the monasteries of Europe. This dissemination was helped by the school of Archbishop Egbert of York, one of Bede's pupils, and later by a student of this school, Alcuin, who became head of Charlemagne 's palace school and played a key role in the 'Carolingian Renaissance'. Bede took the Latin and Greek of the early church manuscripts and turned them into something the secular elites of the Anglo-Saxon world could deal with, helping them accept the faith and spread the church. Bede's two chronological works - De temporibus On Times and De temporum ratione On the The Age of Bede of Time were concerned with establishing the The Age of Bede of Easter. Along with his histories, these still affect our style of dating: when equating the number of the year with the year of Jesus Christ's life, Bede invented the use of A. In stark contrast to 'dark age' cliches, Bede also knew the world was roundthe moon affected tides and appreciated The Age of Bede science. Augustine in AD, it's the key source on the Christianisation of Britain, a mixture of sophisticated historiography and religious messages containing details simply not found elsewhere. As such, The Age of Bede now The Age of Bede his other historical, indeed all his other, works and is one of the key documents in the entire field of British history. It's also lovely to read. Bede died in and was buried at Jarrow before being re-interred inside Durham Cathedral at the time of this writing the Bede's World museum in Jarrow have a cast of his cranium on display. He was already renowned among his peers, being described by a Bishop Boniface as having "shone forth as a lantern in the world by his scriptural commentary", but is now regarded as the greatest and most multi-talented scholar of the early medieval era, perhaps of the entire medieval era. Bede was sainted inthus giving him the posthumous title of Saint Bede the Venerable. Bede was declared 'venerable' by the church inand the word is given on his tomb in Durham Cathedral: Hic sunt in fossa bedae venerabilis ossa Here are buried the bones of the Venerable Bede. The Historia ecclesiastica finishes with a short The Age of Bede of Bede about himself and a list of his many works and is actually the key source about his life that we, much later historians, have to work with :. In the nineteenth year of my age, I received deacon's orders; in the thirtieth, those of the priesthood, both of them by the ministry of the most reverend Bishop John, and by the order of the Abbot Ceolfrid. From which time, till the fifty-ninth year of my age, I have made it my business, for the use of me and mine, to compile out of the works of the venerable Fathers, and to interpret and explain according to their meaning Bede, "Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Share Flipboard Email. Robert Wilde. History Expert. Robert Wilde is a historian who writes about European history. He is the author of the History in an Afternoon textbook series. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our.