Born on lands belonging to the twin monastery ofMonkwearmouth–Jarrow in present-dayTyne and Wear, England, Bede was sent toMonkwearmouth at the age of seven and later joined AbbotCeolfrith atJarrow. Both of them survived a plague that struck in 686 and killed the majority of the population there. While Bede spent most of his life in the monastery, he travelled to several abbeys and monasteries across the British Isles, even visiting thearchbishop of York and KingCeolwulf of Northumbria.
His theological writings were extensive and included a number of Biblical commentaries and other works ofexegetical erudition. Another important area of study for Bede was the academic discipline ofcomputus, otherwise 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 to popularise the practice of dating forward from the birth of Christ (Anno Domini—in the year of our Lord), a practice which eventually became commonplace in medieval Europe. He is considered by many historians to be the most important scholar of antiquity for the period between the death ofPope Gregory I in 604 and the coronation ofCharlemagne in 800.
In 1899Pope Leo XIII declared him aDoctor of the Church. He is the first native ofGreat Britain to achieve this designation.[a] Bede was moreover a skilled linguist and translator, and his work made theGreek andLatin writings of the earlyChurch Fathers much more accessible to his fellowAnglo-Saxons, which contributed significantly to EnglishChristianity. Bede's monastery had access to a library that included works byEusebius,Orosius, and many others.
Almost everything that is known of Bede's life is contained in the last chapter of hisEcclesiastical History of the English People, a history of the church in England. It was completed in about 731,[5] and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year, which would give a birth date in 672 or 673.[1][6][7][b] A minor source of information is the letter by his disciple Cuthbert (not to be confused with the saint,Cuthbert, who is mentioned in Bede's work) which relates Bede's death.[11][c] Bede, in theHistoria, gives his birthplace as "on the lands of this monastery".[12] He is referring to thetwin monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow,[13] in modern-dayWearside andTyneside respectively. There is also a tradition that he was born atMonkton, two miles (3.2 km) from the site where the monastery at Jarrow was later built.[1][14] Bede says nothing of his origins, but his connections with men of noble ancestry suggest that his own family was well-to-do.[15] Bede's first abbot wasBenedict Biscop, and the names "Biscop" and "Beda" both appear in a list of the kings ofLindsey from around 800, further suggesting that Bede came from a noble family.[7]
Bede's name reflectsWest SaxonBīeda (AnglianBēda).[16] It is anOld English short name formed on the root ofbēodan "to bid, command".[17]The name also occurs in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 501, asBieda, one of the sons of the Saxon founder ofPortsmouth. TheLiber Vitae ofDurham Cathedral names two priests with this name, one of whom is presumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of theLife of Cuthbert, one of Bede's works, mention thatCuthbert's own priest was named Bede; it is possible that this priest is the other name listed in theLiber Vitae.[18][19]
Bede's given name is likely ahypocorism, possibly from theOld English "Bēda," though its full form remains uncertain. It has been speculatively linked to the rare name "Bǣddan," but this etymology is unverified. The name's contraction follows a commonInsular tradition of employing shortened forms for monastic figures.[20]
At the age of seven, Bede was sent as apuer oblatus[21] to the monastery of Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Benedict Biscop and later byCeolfrith.[22] Bede does not say whether it was already intended at that point that he would be a monk.[23]
It was fairly common in Ireland at this time for young boys, particularly those of noble birth, to be fostered out as an oblate; the practice was also likely to have been common among the Germanic peoples in England.[24] Monkwearmouth's sister monastery at Jarrow was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, and Bede probably transferred to Jarrow with Ceolfrith that year.[13]
The dedication stone for the church had survived as of 1969[update]; it is dated 23 April 685, and as Bede would have been required to assist with menial tasks in his day-to-day life it is possible that he helped in building the original church.[24] In 686, plague broke out at Jarrow. TheLife of Ceolfrith, written in about 710, records that only two surviving monks were capable of 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 14.[22][25]
When Bede was about 17 years oldAdomnán, the abbot ofIona Abbey, visited Monkwearmouth and Jarrow. Bede would probably have met the abbot during this visit, and it may be that Adomnán sparked Bede's interest in theEaster dating controversy.[26]
In about 692, in Bede's nineteenth year, Bede was ordained adeacon by his diocesan bishop,John, who wasBishop of Hexham. The canonical age for the ordination of a deacon was 25; Bede's early ordination may mean that his abilities were considered exceptional,[24] but it is also possible that the minimum age requirement was often disregarded.[27] There might have been minor orders ranking below a deacon; but there is no record of whether Bede held any of these offices.[9][d]
In Bede's thirtieth year (about 702), he became a priest, with the ordination again performed by Bishop John.[7]
In about 701 Bede wrote his first works, theDe Arte Metrica andDe Schematibus et Tropis; both were intended for use in the classroom.[27] He continued to write for the rest of his life, eventually completing over 60 books, most of which have survived. Not all his output can be easily dated, and Bede may have worked on some texts over a period of many years.[7][27] His last surviving work is a letter toEcgbert of York, a former student, written in 734.[27] A 6th-century Greek and Latin manuscript ofActs of the Apostles that is believed to have been used by Bede survives and is now in theBodleian Library at theUniversity of Oxford. It is known as theCodex Laudianus.[28][29]
Bede may have worked on some of the Latin Bibles that were copied at Jarrow, one of which, theCodex Amiatinus, is now held by theLaurentian Library inFlorence.[30] Bede was a teacher as well as a writer;[31] he enjoyed music and was said to be accomplished as a singer and as a reciter of poetry in the vernacular.[27] It is possible that he suffered a speech impediment, but this depends on a phrase in the introduction to his verse life of St Cuthbert. 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.[32][33][e]
In 708 some monks atHexham accused Bede of having committed heresy in his workDe Temporibus.[34] The standard theological view of world history at the time was known as theSix Ages of the World; in his book, Bede calculated the age of the world for himself, rather than accepting the authority ofIsidore 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 years that was commonly accepted by theologians.[35] The accusation occurred in front of the bishop of Hexham,Wilfrid, who was present at a feast when some drunken monks made the accusation. 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.[34][f] Bede had another brush with Wilfrid, for the historian says that he met Wilfrid sometime between 706 and 709 and discussedÆthelthryth, the abbess of Ely. Wilfrid had been present at the exhumation of her body in 695, and 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.[36]
One further oddity in his writings is that in one of his works, theCommentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, he writes in a manner that gives the impression he was married.[18] The section in question is the only one in that work that is written in first-person view. Bede says: "Prayers are hindered by the conjugal duty because as often as I perform what is due to my wife I am not able to pray."[37] Another passage, in theCommentary on Luke, also mentions a wife in the first person: "Formerly I possessed a wife in the lustful passion of desire and now I possess her in honourable sanctification and true love of Christ."[37] The historianBenedicta Ward argued that these passages are Bede employing a rhetorical device.[38]
In 733 Bede travelled to York to visit Ecgbert, who was thenBishop of York. The See of York was elevated to an archbishopric in 735, and it is likely that Bede and Ecgbert discussed the proposal for the elevation during his visit.[39] Bede hoped to visit Ecgbert again in 734 but was too ill to make the journey.[39] Bede also travelled to the monastery ofLindisfarne and at some point visited the otherwise unknown monastery of a monk named Wicthed, a visit that is mentioned in a letter to that monk. Because of his widespread correspondence with others throughout the British Isles, and because many of 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.[40]
It seems certain that he did not visit Rome, however, as he did not mention it in the autobiographical chapter of hisHistoria Ecclesiastica.[41]Nothhelm, a correspondent of Bede's who assisted him by finding documents for him in Rome, is known to have visited Bede, though the date cannot be determined beyond the fact that it was after Nothhelm's visit to Rome.[42] 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.[43]
Bede died at Jarrow on theFeast of the Ascension, 26 May 735 and was buried there.[7] Cuthbert, a disciple of Bede's, wrote a letter to a Cuthwin (of whom nothing else is known), describing Bede's last days and his death. According to Cuthbert, Bede fell ill, "with frequent attacks of breathlessness but almost without pain", before Easter. On the Tuesday, 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.[44]
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.[44] The account of Cuthbert does not make entirely clear whether Bede died before midnight or after. 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 was considered 26 May, although it might still have been 25 May in modern usage.[45]
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 Old English poem 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.[46][47][48] Bede's remains may have beentranslated to Durham Cathedral in the 11th century; his tomb there was looted in 1541, but the contents were probably re-interred in the Galilee chapel at the cathedral.[7]
Bede writing, from a 12th-century copy of hisLife of St Cuthbert (Yates Thompson MS 26, f. 2r)
Bede wrote scientific, historical and theological works, reflecting the range of his writings from music andmetrics to exegeticalScripture commentaries. He knewpatristic literature, as well asPliny the Elder,Virgil,Lucretius,Ovid,Horace and otherclassical writers. He knew some Greek. Bede's scriptural commentaries employed theallegorical method of interpretation,[49] and his history includes accounts of miracles, which to modern historians has seemed at odds with his critical approach to the materials in his history. Modern studies have shown the important role such concepts played in the world-view of early medieval scholars.[50] Although Bede is mainly studied as a historian now, in his time his works on grammar, chronology, and biblical studies were as important as his historical and hagiographical works. The non-historical works contributed greatly to theCarolingian Renaissance.[51] He has been credited with writing apenitential, though his authorship of this work is disputed.[52]
Bede's best-known work is theHistoria ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, orAn Ecclesiastical History of the English People,[53] completed in about 731. Bede was aided in writing this book byAlbinus, abbot ofSt Augustine's Abbey,Canterbury.[54] The first of the five books begins with some geographical background and then sketches the history of England, beginning withCaesar's invasion in 55 BC.[55] A brief account of Christianity in Roman Britain, including the martyrdom ofSt Alban, is followed by the story ofAugustine's mission to England in 597, which brought Christianity to theAnglo-Saxons.[7]
The second book begins with the death ofGregory the Great in 604 and follows the further progress of Christianity in Kent and the first attempts to evangelise Northumbria.[56] These ended in disaster whenPenda, the pagan king of Mercia, killed the newly ChristianEdwin of Northumbria at theBattle of Hatfield Chase in about 632.[56] The setback was temporary, and the third book recounts the growth of Christianity in Northumbria under kingsOswald of Northumbria andOswy.[57] The climax of the third book is the account of theCouncil of Whitby, traditionally seen as a major turning point in English history.[58] The fourth book begins with the consecration ofTheodore asArchbishop of Canterbury and recounts Wilfrid's efforts to bring Christianity to theKingdom of Sussex.[59]
The fifth book brings the story up to Bede's day and includes an account of missionary work in Frisia and of the conflict with theBritish church over the correct dating of Easter.[59] Bede wrote a preface for the work, in which he dedicates it toCeolwulf, king of Northumbria.[60] The preface mentions that Ceolwulf received an earlier draft of the book; presumably Ceolwulf knew enough Latin to understand it, and he may even have been able to read it.[7][55] The preface makes it clear that Ceolwulf had requested the earlier copy, and Bede had asked for Ceolwulf's approval; this correspondence with the king indicates that Bede's monastery had connections among the Northumbrian nobility.[7]
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.[61] It has been estimated that there were about 200 books in the monastic library.[62]
For the period prior to Augustine's arrival in 597, Bede drew on earlier writers, includingGaius Julius Solinus.[7][63] He had access to two works of Eusebius: theHistoria Ecclesiastica, and also theChronicon, though he had neither in the original Greek; instead he had a Latin translation of theHistoria, by Rufinus, andJerome's translation of theChronicon.[64] He also knew Orosius'sAdversus Paganus, andGregory of Tours'Historia Francorum, both Christian histories,[64] as well as the work ofEutropius, a pagan historian.[65] He usedConstantius of Lyon'sLife of Germanus as a source forGermanus of Auxerre's visits to Britain.[7][63]
He probably drew his account of Alban from a life of that saint which has not survived. He acknowledges two other lives of saints directly; one is a life ofFursa, and the other ofÆthelburh; the latter no longer survives.[69] He also had access to a life of Ceolfrith.[70] Some of Bede's material came from oral traditions, including a description of the physical appearance ofPaulinus of York, who had died nearly 90 years before Bede'sHistoria Ecclesiastica was written.[70]
Bede 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 ofNothhelm, at that time a priest in London, obtained copies ofGregory the Great's correspondence from Rome relating toAugustine's mission.[7][63][71] Almost all of Bede's information regarding Augustine is taken from these letters.[7] Bede acknowledged his correspondents in the preface to theHistoria Ecclesiastica;[72] he was in contact with BishopDaniel of Winchester, for information about the history of the church in Wessex and also wrote to the monastery atLastingham for information aboutCedd andChad of Mercia.[72] Bede also mentions an Abbot Esi as a source for the affairs of the East Anglian church, and BishopCynibert for information about Lindsey.[72]
The historianWalter Goffart argues that Bede based the structure of theHistoria on three works, using them as the framework around which the three main sections of the work were structured. For the early part of the work, up until theGregorian mission, Goffart feels that Bede usedDe excidio. The second section, detailing the Gregorian mission ofAugustine of Canterbury was framed onLife of Gregory the Great written at Whitby. The last section, detailing events after the Gregorian mission, Goffart feels was modelled onLife of Wilfrid.[73] Most of Bede's informants for information after Augustine's mission came from the eastern part of Britain, leaving significant gaps in the knowledge of the western areas, which were those areas likely to have a native Briton presence.[74][75]
Bede's stylistic models included some of the same authors from whom he drew the material for the earlier parts of his history. His introduction imitates the work of Orosius,[7] and his title is an echo of Eusebius'sHistoria Ecclesiastica.[1] Bede also followed Eusebius in taking theActs of the Apostles as the model for the overall work: where Eusebius used theActs as the theme for his description of the development of the church, Bede made it the model for his history of the Anglo-Saxon church.[76] Bede quoted his sources at length in his narrative, as Eusebius had done.[7] Bede also appears to have taken quotes directly from his correspondents at times. 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.[7] At the end of the work, Bede adds a brief autobiographical note; this was an idea taken from Gregory of Tours' earlierHistory of the Franks.[77]
Bede's work as ahagiographer and his detailed attention to dating were both useful preparations for the task of writing theHistoria Ecclesiastica. His interest in computus, the science of calculating thedate 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.[53]
Bede is described byMichael Lapidge as "without question the most accomplished Latinist produced in these islands in the Anglo-Saxon period".[78] His Latin has been praised for its clarity, but his style in theHistoria Ecclesiastica is not simple. 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, unlike contemporaries such asAldhelm, whose Latin is full of difficulties, Bede's own text is easy to read.[79] In the words ofCharles Plummer, one of the best-known editors of theHistoria Ecclesiastica, Bede's Latin is "clear and limpid ... it is very seldom that we have to pause to think of the meaning of a sentence ... Alcuin rightly praises Bede for his unpretending style."[80]
Bede's primary intention in writing theHistoria Ecclesiastica was to show the growth of the united church throughout England. The native Britons, whose Christian church survived the departure of the Romans, earn Bede's ire for refusing to help convert the Anglo-Saxons; by the end of theHistoria the English, and their church, are dominant over the Britons.[81] This goal, of showing the movement towards unity, explains Bede's animosity towards the British method of calculating Easter: much of theHistoria is devoted to a history of the dispute, including the final resolution at theSynod of Whitby in 664.[77] Bede is also concerned to show the unity of the English, despite the disparate kingdoms that still existed when he was writing. 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 places and people about which he wrote.[81]
N. J. 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.[82]
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. Bede, like Gregory the Great whom Bede quotes on the subject in theHistoria, felt that faith brought about by miracles was a stepping stone to a higher, truer faith, and that as a result miracles had their place in a work designed to instruct.[83]
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.[56]
Bede's account of the early migrations of the Angles and Saxons to England omits any mention of a movement of those peoples across theEnglish Channel from Britain toBrittany described byProcopius, who 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.[84]
Bede was a Northumbrian, and this tinged his work with a local bias.[85] The sources to which he had access gave him less information about the west of England than for other areas.[86] He says relatively little about the achievements of Mercia and Wessex, omitting, for example, any mention of Boniface, a West Saxon missionary to the continent of some renown and of whom Bede had almost certainly heard, though Bede does discuss Northumbrian missionaries to the continent. He is also parsimonious in his praise forAldhelm, a 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 heldimperium, or overlordship; only one king of Wessex,Ceawlin, is listed asBretwalda, and none from Mercia, though elsewhere he acknowledges the secular power several of the Mercians held.[87] HistorianRobin Fleming states that he was so hostile to Mercia because Northumbria had been diminished by Mercian power that he consulted no Mercian informants and included no stories about its saints.[88]
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 view 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 ofBarbara Yorke, would have naturally "curbed any missionary impulses towards the Anglo-Saxons from the British clergy."[89]
At the time Bede wrote theHistoria Ecclesiastica, there were two common ways of referring to dates. One was to useindictions, which were 15-year cycles, counting from 312 AD. There were three different varieties of indiction, each starting on a different 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 would 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: theAnno Domini method invented byDionysius Exiguus.[90] Although Bede did not invent this method, his adoption of it and his promulgation of it inDe Temporum Ratione, his work on chronology, is the main reason it is now so widely used.[90][91] Bede's Easter table, contained inDe Temporum Ratione, was developed fromDionysius Exiguus' Easter table.
TheHistoria Ecclesiastica was copied often in the Middle Ages, and about 160 manuscripts containing it survive. About half of those are located on the European continent, rather than in the British Isles.[92] Most of the 8th- and 9th-century texts of Bede'sHistoria come from the northern parts of theCarolingian Empire.[93] This total does not include manuscripts with only a part of the work, of which another 100 or so survive. It was printed for the first time between 1474 and 1482, probably atStrasbourg.[92]
Modern historians have studied theHistoria extensively, and several editions have been produced.[94] For many years, early Anglo-Saxon history was essentially a retelling of theHistoria, but recent scholarship has focused as much on what Bede did not write as what he did. The belief that theHistoria 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.[95]
Modern historians and editors of Bede have been lavish in their praise of his achievement in theHistoria Ecclesiastica. Stenton regards it as one of the "small class of books which transcend all but the most fundamental conditions of time and place", and regards its quality as dependent on Bede's "astonishing power of co-ordinating the fragments of information which came to him through tradition, the relation of friends, or documentary evidence ... In an age where little was attempted beyond the registration of fact, he had reached the conception of history."[96]Patrick Wormald describes him as "the first and greatest of England's historians".[97]
TheHistoria Ecclesiastica has given Bede a high reputation, but his concerns were different from those of a modern writer of history.[7] His focus on the history of the organisation of the English church, and on heresies and the efforts made to root them out, led him to exclude the secular history of kings and kingdoms except where a moral lesson could be drawn or where they illuminated events in the church.[7] Besides theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, the medieval writersWilliam of Malmesbury,Henry of Huntingdon andGeoffrey of Monmouth used his works as sources and inspirations.[98] Early modern writers, such asPolydore Vergil andMatthew Parker, the Elizabethan Archbishop of Canterbury, also utilised theHistoria, and his works were used by both Protestant and Catholic sides in thewars of religion.[99]
Some historians have questioned the reliability of some of Bede's accounts. One historian, Charlotte Behr, thinks that theHistoria's account of the arrival of the Germanic invaders in Kent should not be considered to relate what actually happened, but rather relates myths that were current in Kent during Bede's time.[100]
It is likely that Bede's work, because it was so widely copied, discouraged others from writing histories and may even have led to the disappearance of manuscripts containing older historical works.[101]
A page from a copy of Bede'sLives of St Cuthbert, showingKing Æthelstan presenting the work to the saint. This manuscript was given to St Cuthbert's shrine in 934.[102]
As Chapter 66 of hisOn the Reckoning of Time, in 725 Bede wrote theGreater Chronicle (chronica maiora), which sometimes circulated as a separate work. For recent events theChronicle, like hisEcclesiastical History, relied upon Gildas, upon a version of theLiber Pontificalis current at least to the papacy ofPope Sergius I (687–701), and other sources. For earlier events he drew on Eusebius'sChronikoi Kanones. The dating of events in theChronicle is inconsistent with his other works, using the era of creation, theAnno Mundi.[103]
His other historical works included lives of the abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow, as well as verse and prose lives ofSt Cuthbert, an adaptation ofPaulinus of Nola'sLife of St Felix, and a translation of the GreekPassion ofSt Anastasius. He also created a listing of saints, theMartyrology.[104]
In his own time, Bede was as well known for his biblical commentaries, and for his exegetical and other theological works. The majority of his writings were of this type and covered the Old Testament and the New Testament. Most survived the Middle Ages, but a few were lost.[105] It was for his theological writings that he earned the title ofDoctor Anglorum and why he was declared a saint.[4]
Bede first wrote commentaries on biblical books which previouspatristic authors had not treated in depth, to his knowledge:On the Gospel of Mark,[106]Commentary on Revelation,[107]Commentary on theCatholic Epistles,[108]Commentary on Acts,Reconsideration on the Books of Acts,[109]; and from the Old TestamentCommentary on Samuel,[110]Commentary on Genesis,[111]Commentaries on Ezra and Nehemiah,On the Temple,On the Tabernacle,[112]Commentaries on Tobit,Commentaries on Proverbs,[113]Commentaries on the Song of Songs,Commentaries on the Canticle of Habakkuk.[114] The works on Ezra, the tabernacle and the temple were especially influenced by Gregory the Great's writings.[115] He also wroteOn the Gospel of Luke, andHomilies on the Gospels.[116]
Bede also wrote homilies, works written to explain theology used in worship services. He wrote homilies on the major Christian seasons such asAdvent,Lent, or Easter, as well as on other subjects such as anniversaries of significant events.[4]
Both types of Bede's theological works circulated widely in the Middle Ages. Several of his biblical commentaries were incorporated into theGlossa Ordinaria, an 11th-century collection of biblical commentaries. Some of Bede's homilies were collected byPaul the Deacon, and they were used in that form in theMonastic Office.Boniface used Bede's homilies in his missionary efforts on the continent.[4]
At the time of his death he was working on a translation of the Gospel of John into English.[117][118] He did this for the last 40 days of his life. When the last passage had been translated he said: "All is finished."[43]
Bede synthesised and transmitted the learning from his predecessors, as well as made careful, judicious innovation in knowledge (such as recalculating the age of the Earth—for which he was censured before surviving the heresy accusations and eventually having his views championed by Archbishop Ussher in the sixteenth century—see below) that had theological implications. In order to do this, he learned Greek and attempted to learn Hebrew. He spent time reading and rereading both the Old and the New Testaments. He mentions that he studied from a text ofJerome'sVulgate, which itself was from the Hebrew text.[3][4]
Bede sometimes included in his theological books an acknowledgement of the predecessors on whose works he drew. In two cases he left instructions that his marginal notes, which gave the details of his sources, should be preserved by the copyist, and he may have originally added 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 quotations that he uses. A full catalogue of the library available to Bede in the monastery cannot be reconstructed, but it is possible to tell, for example, that Bede was very familiar with the works of Virgil.[121][g]
There is little evidence that he had access to any other of the pagan Latin writers—he quotes many of these writers, but the quotes are almost always found in the Latin grammars that were common in his day, one or more of which would certainly have been at the monastery. Another difficulty is that manuscripts of early writers were often incomplete: it is apparent that Bede had access to Pliny'sEncyclopaedia, for example, but it seems that the version he had was missing book xviii, since he did not quote from it in hisDe temporum ratione.[121][h]
De temporibus, orOn Time, written in about 703, provides an introduction to the principles of Easter computus.[122] This was based on parts ofIsidore of Seville'sEtymologies, and Bede also included a chronology of the world which was derived from Eusebius, with some revisions based on Jerome's translation of the Bible.[7] In about 723,[7] Bede wrote a longer work on the same subject,On the Reckoning of Time, which was influential throughout the Middle Ages.[123] He also wrote several shorter letters and essays discussing specific aspects of computus.
On the Reckoning of Time (De temporum ratione) included an introduction to the traditional ancient and medieval view of thecosmos, including an explanation of how thespherical Earth influenced the changinglength of daylight, of how theseasonal motion of the Sun and Moon influenced the changing appearance of thenew moon at evening twilight.[124] Bede also records the effect of the moon ontides. He shows that the twice-daily timing of tides is related to the Moon and that the lunar monthly cycle of spring and neap tides is also related to the Moon's position.[125] He goes on to note that the times of tides vary along the same coast and that the water movements cause low tide at one place when there is high tide elsewhere.[126] Since the focus of his book was the computus, Bede gave instructions forcomputing the date of Easter from the date of thePaschal full moon, for calculating the motion of the Sun and Moon through thezodiac, and for many other calculations related to the calendar. He gives some information about the months of theAnglo-Saxon calendar.[127]
Any codex of Bede's Easter table is normally found together with a codex of hisDe temporum ratione. His Easter table, being an exact extension ofDionysius Exiguus' Paschal table and covering the time interval AD 532–1063,[128] contains a 532-year Paschal cycle based on the so-called classical Alexandrian 19-year lunar cycle,[129] being the close variant of bishopTheophilus' 19-year lunar cycle proposed byAnnianus and adopted by bishopCyril of Alexandria around AD 425.[130] The ultimate similar (but rather different) predecessor of this Metonic 19-year lunar cycle is the one invented byAnatolius around AD 260.[131]
For calendric purposes, Bede made a new calculation of theage of the world since thecreation, which he dated as 3952 BC. Because of 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 calculations. Once informed of the accusations of these "lewd rustics", Bede refuted them in his Letter to Plegwin.[132]
In addition to these works on astronomical timekeeping, he also wroteDe natura rerum, orOn the Nature of Things, modelled in part after the work of the same title by Isidore of Seville.[133] His works were so influential that late in the ninth centuryNotker the Stammerer, a monk of theMonastery of St Gall in Switzerland, wrote that "God, 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".[134]
Bede wrote some works designed to help teach grammar in the abbey school. One of these wasDe arte metrica, a discussion of the composition of Latin verse, drawing on previous grammarians' work. It was based on Donatus'sDe pedibus andServius'sDe finalibus and used examples from Christian poets as well as Virgil. It became a standard text for the teaching of Latin verse during the next few centuries. Bede dedicated this work to Cuthbert, apparently a student, for he is named "beloved son" in the dedication, and Bede says "I have laboured to educate you in divine letters and ecclesiastical statutes."[135]De orthographia is a work onorthography, designed to help a medieval reader of Latin with unfamiliar abbreviations and words from classical Latin works. Although it could serve as a textbook, it appears to have been mainly intended as a reference work. The date of composition for both of these works is unknown.[136]
De schematibus et tropis sacrae scripturae discusses the Bible's use of rhetoric.[7] Bede was familiar with pagan authors such as Virgil, but it was not considered appropriate to teach biblical grammar from such texts, and Bede argues for the superiority of Christian texts in understanding Christian literature.[7][137] Similarly, his text on poetic metre uses only Christian poetry for examples.[7]
A number of poems have been attributed to Bede. His poetic output has been systematically surveyed and edited byMichael Lapidge, who concluded that the following works belong to Bede: theVersus de die iudicii ("verses on the day of Judgement", found complete in 33 manuscripts and fragmentarily in 10); the metricalVita Sancti Cudbercti ("Life of St Cuthbert"); and two collections of verse mentioned in theHistoria ecclesiastica V.24.2. Bede names the first of these collections as "librum epigrammatum heroico metro siue elegiaco" ("a book of epigrams in theheroic orelegiac metre"), and much of its content has been reconstructed by Lapidge from scattered attestations under the titleLiber epigrammatum. The second is named as "liber hymnorum diuerso metro siue rythmo" ("a book of hymns, diverse in metre or rhythm"); this has been reconstructed by Lapidge as containing ten liturgical hymns, one paraliturgical hymn (for the Feast ofSt Æthelthryth), and four other hymn-like compositions.[138]
According to his disciple Cuthbert, Bede wasdoctus in nostris carminibus ("learned in our songs"). Cuthbert's letter on Bede's death, theEpistola Cuthberti de obitu Bedae, moreover, commonly is understood to indicate that Bede composed a five-line vernacular poem known to modern scholars asBede's Death Song.
And he used to repeat that sentence fromSt 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 from the slumber of the soul by thinking in good time of our last hour. And in our own language—for he was familiar with English poetry—speaking of the soul's dread departure from the body:
Fore ðæm nedfere nænig wiorðe ðonc snottora ðon him ðearf siæ to ymbhycgenne ær his hinionge hwæt his gastæ godes oððe yfles æfter deað dæge doemed wiorðe.[139]
Translation:
Facing that enforced journey, no man can be More prudent than he has good call to be, If he consider, before his going hence, What for his spirit of good hap or of evil After his day of death shall be determined.
As Opland notes, however, it is not entirely clear that Cuthbert is attributing this text to Bede: most manuscripts of the latter do not use afinite verb to describe Bede's presentation of the song, and the theme was relatively common in Old English and Anglo-Latin literature. The fact that Cuthbert's description places the performance of the Old English poem in the context of a series of quoted passages from Sacred Scripture might be taken as evidence simply that Bede also cited analogous vernacular texts.[140]
On the other hand, the inclusion of the Old English text of the poem in Cuthbert's Latin letter, the observation that Bede "was learned in our song," and the fact that Bede composed a Latin poem on the same subject all point to the possibility of his having written it. By citing the poem directly, Cuthbert seems to imply that its particular wording was somehow important, either since it was a vernacular poem endorsed by a scholar who evidently frowned upon secular entertainment[141] or because it is a direct quotation of Bede's last original composition.[142]
There is no evidence for cult being paid to Bede in England in the 8th century. One reason for this may be that he died on the feast day ofAugustine of Canterbury. Later, when he wasvenerated in England, he was either commemorated after Augustine on 26 May, or his feast was moved to 27 May. However, he was venerated outside England, mainly through the efforts ofBoniface andAlcuin, both of whom promoted the cult on the continent. Boniface wrote repeatedly back to England during his missionary efforts, requesting copies of Bede's theological works.[143]
Alcuin, who was taught at the school set up in York by Bede's pupil Ecgbert, praised Bede as an example for monks to follow and was instrumental in disseminating Bede's works to all of Alcuin's friends.[143] Bede's cult became prominent in England during the 10th-century revival of monasticism and by the 14th century had spread to many of the cathedrals of England.Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester was a particular devotee of Bede's, dedicating a church to him in 1062, which was Wulfstan's first undertaking after his consecration as bishop.[144]
His body was 'translated' (the ecclesiastical term for relocation of relics) from Jarrow to Durham Cathedral around 1020, where it was placed in the same tomb with St Cuthbert. Later Bede's remains were moved to a shrine in the Galilee Chapel atDurham Cathedral in 1370. The shrine was destroyed during theEnglish Reformation, but the bones were reburied in the chapel. In 1831 the bones were dug up and then reburied in a new tomb, which is still there.[145] Otherrelics were claimed byYork,Glastonbury[13] andFulda.[146]
Bede became known asVenerable Bede (Latin:Beda Venerabilis) by the 9th century[152] because of his holiness,[43] but this was not linked to consideration forsainthood by the Catholic Church. According to a legend, the epithet was miraculously supplied by angels, thus completing his unfinished epitaph.[153][i] It is first utilised in connection with Bede in the 9th century, where Bede was grouped with others who were called "venerable" at two ecclesiastical councils held at Aachen in 816 and 836.Paul the Deacon then referred to him as venerable consistently. By the 11th and 12th century, it had become commonplace.[11]
A depiction of the Venerable Bede (on CLVIIIv) from theNuremberg Chronicle, 1493
Bede's reputation as a historian, based mostly on theHistoria Ecclesiastica, remains strong.[96][97]Thomas Carlyle called him "the greatest historical writer sinceHerodotus".[154]Walter Goffart says of Bede that he "holds a privileged and unrivalled place among first historians of Christian Europe".[94] He is patron ofBeda College in Rome which prepares older men for the Catholic priesthood. His life and work have been celebrated with the annual Jarrow Lecture, held atSt Paul's Church, Jarrow, since 1958.[155]
Jarrow Hall (formerly Bede's World), in Jarrow, is a museum that documents the history of Bede and other parts of English heritage, on the site where he lived.
Bede Metro station, part of the Tyne and Wear Metro light rail network, is named after him.[156]
^Bede's words are "Ex quo tempore accepti presbyteratus usque ad annum aetatis meae LVIIII ..."; which means "From the time I became a priest until the fifty-ninth year of my life I have made it my business ... to make brief extracts from the works of the venerable fathers on the holy Scriptures ..."[8][9] Other, less plausible, interpretations of this passage have been suggested—for example that it means Bede stopped writing about scripture in his fifty-ninth year.[10]
^Cuthbert is probably the same person as the later abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, but this is not entirely certain.[11]
^Isidore of Seville lists six orders below a deacon, but these orders need not have existed at Monkwearmouth.[9]
^The key phrase isper linguae curationem, which is variously translated as "how his tongue was healed", "[a] canker on the tongue", or, following a different interpretation ofcurationem, "the guidance of my tongue".[33]
^The letter itself is inBedae Opera de Temporibus edited by C. W. Jones, pp. 307–315
^Laistner 1935, pp. 263–266 provides a list of works definitely or tentatively identified as in Bede's library.
^Laistner 1935, pp. 263–266 provides a list of works definitely or tentatively identified as in Bede's library.
^The legend tells that the monk engraving the tomb was stuck for an epithet. He had got as far asHac sunt in fossa Bedae ... ossa ("Here in this grave are the bones of ... Bede") before heading off to bed. In the morning an angel had inserted the wordvenerabilis.
^Förstemann,Altdeutsches Namenbuch s.v. BUD (289) connects theOld High German short nameBodo (variantsBoto, Boddo, Potho, Boda, Puoto etc.) as from the same verbal root.
^abcdFr. Paolo O. Pirlo, SHMI (1997). "St. Venerable Bede".My First Book of Saints. Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate – Quality Catholic Publications. p. 104.ISBN978-971-91595-4-4.
^Frantzen, Allan J. (1983).The Literature of Penance in Anglo-Saxon England (1st ed.). New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. p. 1.ISBN978-0813509556.
^Colgrave gives the example ofDesiderius of Vienne, who was reprimanded by Gregory the Great for using "heathen" authors in his teaching.
^Joseph P. McGowan,review of Michael Lapidge, ed. and tr.Bede's Latin Poetry. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2019. Pp. xvi, 605. $135.00.ISBN978-0-19-924277-1, inThe Medieval Review (4 April 2021).
——— (1943). Jones, C.W. (ed.).Bedae Opera de Temporibus. Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of America.
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——— (2011).On the Song of Songs and selected writings. The Classics of Western Spirituality. Translated by Holder, Arthur G. New York: Paulist Press.ISBN978-0-8091-4700-7. (contains translations ofOn the Song of Songs, Homilies on the Gospels and selections from theEcclesiastical history of the English people).
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Translated by Swanton, Michael James. New York: Routledge. 1998.ISBN978-0-415-92129-9.
Brooks, Nicholas (2006). "From British to English Christianity: Deconstructing Bede's Interpretation of the Conversion". In Howe, Nicholas; Karkov, Catherine (eds.).Conversion and Colonization in Anglo-Saxon England. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. pp. 1–30.ISBN978-0-86698-363-1.
Cannon, John; Griffiths, Ralph (1997).The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-822786-1.
Chadwick, Henry (1995). "Theodore, the English Church, and the Monothelete Controversy". In Lapidge, Michael (ed.).Archbishop Theodore. Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England #11. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 88–95.ISBN978-0-521-48077-2.
Englisch, Brigitte (1994).Die Artes liberales im frühen Mittelalter (5.–9. Jahrhundert). Das Quadrivium und der Komputus als Indikatoren für Kontinuität und Erneuerung der exakten Wissenschaften zwischen Antike und Mittelalter. Stuttgart: Sudhoffs Archiv, Beihefte 33. pp. 71–80 (biography), pp. 242–246 (De natura rerum), pp. 280–370 (computus).
Farmer, David Hugh (1978).The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-282038-9.
——— (2004).The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Fifth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-860949-0.
Fleming, Robin (2011).Britain after Rome: The Fall and the Rise, 400 to 1070. London: Penguin Books.ISBN978-0-14-014823-7.
Goffart, Walter A. (1988).The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550–800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.ISBN978-0-691-05514-5.
Higham, N.J. (2006).(Re-)Reading Bede: The Historia Ecclesiastica in Context. Routledge.ISBN978-0-415-35368-7.
Higham, N.J. (2013). "Bede's Agenda in Book IV of the 'Ecclesiastical History of the English People': A Tricky Matter of Advising the King".Journal of Ecclesiastical History.64 (3):476–493.doi:10.1017/s0022046913000523.S2CID159608095.
Kendall, Calvin B. (2010)."Bede and Education". In DeGregorio, Scott (ed.).The Cambridge Companion to Bede. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 99–112.ISBN9781139825429.
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