A page from a copy of Bede's Lives of St. Cuthbert, showing King Athelstan presenting the work to the saint. This manuscript was given to St. Cuthbert's shrine in 934.
Cathedral of Durham, Durham, England, United Kingdom
Bede died on the eve of Ascension, a.d. 735, finishing in his last hours a translation into English of the Gospel according to St. John. His tomb lies in the Cathedral of Durham. Bede was sainted in 1899, thus giving him the posthumous title of Saint Bede the Venerable. Bede was declared 'venerable' by the church in 836, and 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 Venerable Bede Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (Cistercian Studies Series , No 117)
(In his monastery in a remote corner of Europe, the grands...)
In his monastery in a remote corner of Europe, the grandson of Anglo-Saxon pagans quietly spent his life studying and writing, passing the wisdom of Christian antiquity on to generations of Latin readers. And in the process, this most learned and the least proud of men came to be acknowledged as a Doctor of the Church.
(Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People is th...)
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People is the first account of Anglo-Saxon England ever written and remains our single most valuable source for this period. It begins with Julius Caesar's invasion in the first century BC and goes on to tell of the kings and bishops, monks and nuns who helped to develop government and convert the people to Christianity during these crucial formative years. Relating the deeds of great men and women but also describing the landscape, customs and ordinary lives, this is a rich, vivid portrait of an emerging church and nation by the "Father of English History".
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People; The Greater Chronicle; Bede's Letter to Egbert (Oxford World's Classics)
(The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731 AD)...)
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731 AD) is Bede's most famous work. As well as providing the authoritative Colgrave translation of the Ecclesiastical History, this edition includes a new translation of the Greater Chronicle, in which Bede examines the Roman Empire and contemporary Europe. His Letter to Egbert gives his final reflections on the English Church just before his death, and all three texts here are further illuminated by a detailed introduction and explanatory notes.
The Venerable Bede: On the Song of Songs and Selected Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality)
(The first English translation of Bede's allegorical comme...)
The first English translation of Bede's allegorical commentary On the Song Songs, along with selections from his homilies and the Ecclesiastical History, an introduction to his spirituality, and notes.
(Best known in the Middle Ages as a scriptural exegete, Be...)
Best known in the Middle Ages as a scriptural exegete, Bede here provides a running gloss on the Letters of James, Peter, John, and Jude. Why he chose these `lesser letters' for his first attempt at written exegesis no one knows; perhaps he did so because so few other scriptural commentators had glossed them. They are unique in that he inclined more to the literal interpretation of the text than he did in his more allegorical later commentaries.
(This classic early medieval commentary on Proverbs 31:10-...)
This classic early medieval commentary on Proverbs 31:10-31 is both a Bible study and a call to action in our everyday lives. If Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church is His Bride, what can we learn about her from the Valiant Woman, the ideal businesswoman, household manager, and wife? As part of Christ and His Church, how do we take the initiative is using our talents for other people’s good? Born only a few generations after England's conversion to Christianity but known as the greatest Bible scholar of his day, the Venerable Bede writes with great feeling for the interweavings of the Old and New Testament. He also knows and quotes texts from the Fathers. However, his focus is always on teaching the ordinary Christian reader.
(Caesarius of Arles wrote in the early sixth century and o...)
Caesarius of Arles wrote in the early sixth century and offered a thoroughgoing allegorical-ecclesial interpretation of the Apocalypse. Apringius of Beja in Portugal, writing in the mid-sixth century, drew on Jerome's edition of Victorinus's commentary yet understood the seven seals christologically as the incarnation, birth, passion, death, resurrection, glory, and kingdom. Bede the Venerable, who died in 735, is the last commentator to be included in this collection. Characteristically, he passes on commentary from earlier exegetes, here including that of Augustine, Gregory the Great, Victorinus, Tyconius and Primasius.
Excerpts from the Works of Saint Augustine and the Letters of the Blessed Apostle Paul
(Best known for his historical and exegetical works Bede i...)
Best known for his historical and exegetical works Bede is here seen as the silent compiler. Bede makes use of and adds to the excerpts from Augustine's writings compiled by Eugippius, a Neopolitan who in the seventh century collected meaningful passages from Augustine's commentary on the Letters of Paul for his monks. Bede then arranged these excerpts in the order of Paul's letters as we have them today.
(The Explanation of the Apocalypse by Ven. Beda is the ear...)
The Explanation of the Apocalypse by Ven. Beda is the earliest of the many works of our own writers on that Book, and, as such, may well deserve to appear in a form accessible to English readers. But independently of this, it is a commentary of much value and interest in itself. The chief characteristics of Beda’s method of exposition may be thus stated. The several visions are considered not to be successive, but contemporaneous, with occasional recapitulations, and to represent the condition of the Church in all ages, under different aspects.
Venerable Bede was an English historian, priest, theologian, translator, and scholar. He is known as the greatest writer in Anglo-Saxon literature. He wrote both poetry and prose, history and hagiography. His most famous work, the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People), has been a vital source for the study of early English history for centuries.
Background
Venerable Bede was born around 673, in Northumbria, England (present-day Sunderland, England). Little is known of Bede's childhood, other than he was born 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. There seems to be some likelihood that he came from a noble family. Throughout his life, he had connections with the wealthy and powerful in Northumbria. In addition to this, some scholars have pointed to the name Beda (Old English for Bede) in a list of Kings of Lindsey (adjacent to Northumbria) as evidence that he was born to a wealthy or influential family.
Education
At the canonical age of seven, Bede was entrusted to the care of Benedict Biscop, founding abbot of the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow (near Newcastle). There are no other biographical events of record, but from the twelve octavo volumes of his extant Latin writings emerges a consistent picture of a dedicated scholar and scientist.
Later, when Bede returned to Jarrow, he continued his studies with an abbot named Ceolfrid, who was a companion of St. Benedict Biscop. The abbot and a group of other monks instructed Bede not only in scripture and theology but also in sacred music, poetry, and the Greek language.
Career
Bede was raised at Monkwearmouth until about 682 when he was transferred to the new abbey at Jarrow, founded by Saint Ceolfrith. Bede was made a deacon at the age of 19, several years prior to the canonical age of 25, which may be a sign of his exceptional abilities. He was fully ordained as a priest at the age of 30, and he seems to have written his earliest works around the turn of the 8th century for use in teaching in the monastery.
Half of Bede’s volumes are a scriptural exegesis, an art in which he excelled. Five of the remaining six volumes contain homilies, hagiography, history, a guide to holy places (derived from the pilgrim Arculf), religious and occasional verses, and letters. They include his renowned work Historia ecclesiastica gentls Anglorwn. Cuthbert reports that he composed Anglo-Saxon verse and prose, but none has survived.
The remaining volume contains Bede’s several opera didascalica, textbooks designed for such courses in the emerging vocational curriculum of monastic schools as notae (scribal work), grammar (literary science), and computus (the art and science of telling time).
For the study of notae Bede composed De orthographia (dealing with spelling, word formation, and so forth), in the tradition of Caper, Agroecius, and Cassiodorus. For grammar he composed De arte metrica (on versification) and De schematibus et tropis (on figurative language). The first contains the first known treatment of isosyllabic rhythm (De rhythmo), which was then supplanting quantity as the formative principle of Western verse, while the second is unique in maintaining, with evidence, that every Greco-Roman figure of speech had been anticipated in the Hebrew Scriptures.
The basic pattern for Bede’s primary texts was a theoretical section (rules and formulas with explanations) and a practical section (a chronicle of world history emphasizing such “timely” events as eclipses, earthquakes, human and natural calamities), to which were appended a wide variety of calendars, tables, and formularies.
This pattern had begun to develop with Julius Africanus about A.D. 200. The Eusebius-Jerome Chronicle, which largely determined the medieval view of history, probably originated as part of such a text. Bede’s earlier text of this kind, De temporibus, was published in 703. At about the same time, he wrote De natura rerum, an ancillary text on the model of Isidore’s Liber rotarum, using sections of Pliny’s Natural History together with patristic lore. Cosmology and natural history were traditionally (after Origen, Basil, Ambrose) linked to hexamera, that is, to commentaries on the six days of creation as described in Genesis. Bede wrote such a commentary, in which he refined some earlier statements of his own and of the Fathers.
In 725 he rewrote his earlier text On Times (De temporum ratione), lengthening it tenfold because, he said, “When I tried to present and explain it to some brothers, they said it was far more condensed than they wanted, especially respecting the calculation of Easter, which seemed most useful; and so they persuaded me to write somewhat more at length about the nature, course, and end of time.” Bede reproduced or created tables of calculation, Easter tables, calendars, formularies, mnemonic verses, and the like. A letter to Plegwin defended his chronology; another, to Wicthede, explained contradictions in a document later proved a forgery.
In this area three particular contributions are noteworthy. He is the first to have created, or at least to have recorded, on the basis of the Metonic nineteen-year lunar cycle, a perpetual (532-year) cycle of Easters and to have tabulated it. True, Victorius of Aquitaine (fifth century) had created a 532-year table, and even earlier Christians had created an eighty- four-year cycle, but Bede practically reconciled the two. Bede built upon the work of Dionysius Exiguus (circa 525) and took his anchor date, the annus Domini.
Because annals were added in the margins of these tables and because Bede incorporated such annals with their anchor dates in his historical writing, he became the first historian to use the Christian era. His popular Historia ecclesiastica helped to spread the practice. Finally, he first stated the tidal principle of “establishment of port,” which has been described as the only original formulation of nature to be made in the West for some eight centuries. Pseudo-Isidore’s De ordine creaturarum, almost certainly written in Bede’s time and region, uses Bede’s technical diction for tides, but not his principle. It is not surprising that scholars living by the North Sea, in or near Lindisfarne, an island at high tide and a peninsula at low tide, should have been concerned with observed tidal action.
In the eighth century, Boniface (Winfrid), the apostle to the Germans, and innumerable other insular missionaries and wandering scholars (e.g., Alcuin), in cooperation with Carolingian rulers, developed Continental schools based on English Scholasticism. Bede’s writings were staple texts. Among Carolingian epithets for Bede were “Doctor Modernus” and “Venerabilis.” From the eleventh century on, these texts were supplanted in diocesan schools by Boethian texts. Judging by extant manuscripts, the ninth century was clearly the Age of Bede on the Continent, whereas his works had virtually disappeared from England, a fact which may be explained in part by the raids of the Danes and the decline of English ecclesiastical vigor.
Bede’s manuscripts were more in demand in the twelfth century, but only in line with the increase for all standard authors. Another peak in the fifteenth century may reflect the reformers’ search for pristine purity. Bede’s greatest practical effect was on the Western calendar. His decisions (beginning the year, calculation of Easter, names of days and months, calculations of eras, and so forth) in most instances finally determined usage that was only refined, not changed, by Gregorian reform.
Bede's greatest achievement was in becoming the Father of English History, who is still considered one of the foremost Anglo-Saxon scholars. In 1899, Pope Leo XIII canonized the Venerable Bede, raising him to the altars and lifting him up for the Church to see as an example to follow. When he was canonized, he was also named a Doctor of the Church.
Bede provided for posterity an invaluable and unparalleled record of life in the Christian Church in England up to its date of completion around 731 A.D. This work had a profoundly lasting effect on the world, Christian and non-Christian. He 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 Reckoning of Time) were concerned with establishing the dates 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.D., "The Year Of Our Lord".
He wrote not only on the history of English Christianity, but numerous books on nature, music, astronomy, and poetry, as well as commentaries on sacred Scripture. He also wrote the first martyrology or anthology of the lives of the saints. But it is beyond question that his most influential and most important work is the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum or The Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Through Bede's influence, teaching, and counsel, Egbert, head of the Cathedral Church of York, was encouraged to foster that scholarship which made the school under Alcuin, the pupil of Egbert and his successors, the most famous center of study in the eighth century A.D.
In his religious affiliation, Bede was a devout Roman Catholic. He was at a very young age when his parents sent him to study at a monastery founded by a Benedictine abbot who would later be canonized in his own right as St. Benedict Biscop. Bede's tutors could see that his life demonstrated remarkable devotion to prayer and study, and Ceolfrid made the decision to have him ordained a deacon when he was 19. Another Benedictine monk and future saint, the bishop John of Beverley, ordained Bede in 691. As a monk, Bede gave absolute priority to prayer, fasting, and charitable hospitality. He regarded all other works as valueless without the love of God and one's neighbor. However, Bede also possessed astounding intellectual gifts, which he used to survey and master a wide range of subjects according to an all-encompassing vision of Christian scholarship.
During Bede's own lifetime, his spiritual and intellectual gifts garnered wide recognition. His writings on scripture were considered so authoritative that a Church council ordered them to be publicly read in English churches. Some of the most illustrious members of English society made pilgrimages to his monastery to seek his guidance, and he was personally invited to Rome by Pope Sergius.
Bede, however, was unfazed by these honors. Perhaps inspired by the Benedictine monastic ethos, which emphasizes one's absolute commitment to the monastic community, he chose not to visit Rome, or to travel any significant distance beyond the Monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul in Jarrow, during his entire adult life.
Views
While Bede provides an in-depth history of England up to his own lifetime, his main focus is the spread of Christianity in his native country. A lengthy discussion of the development of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms up to the 8th century CE is complemented with a catalog of saints, converted kings, and miracles. Bede pays particular attention to the rivalry between Rome-centered Church practice and the Celtic Christian communities which had been present in Britain and Ireland for centuries before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.
Bede had an exceptionally wide array of sources available to him while writing the Historia Ecclesiastica. The monastery at Jarrow had a famous library which gave the monastic community a reputation as a center of learning in Northumbria. For the earliest parts of his work, Bede follows classical authors such as Pliny, Eutropius, and Orosius, while his account of the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons is drawn largely from Gildas’ De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain). For the history of the early English kingdoms up until his own lifetime, Bede relies heavily on more contemporary sources such as Eddius Stephanus’ Life of Saint Wilfrid, which contains important accounts of events in the late 7th century CE. He also clearly draws on correspondence and interviews with witnesses of the great events of his own lifetime.
The major subject of Bede’s history is the growth of the Church in the English, i.e. Anglo-Saxon, kingdoms up to the 8th century CE. Religious figures and events throughout this period are described, often in great detail. The lives and careers of secular rulers are recounted as well, though largely in relation to their roles in the spread of Christianity in England. Bishops, monks, saints, and martyrs are profiled throughout the work, as are the kings who sponsored them. A common theme in the Historia Ecclesiastica is the responsibility of kings in the religious issues within their domains. Bede is clearly biased toward the kings of his own homeland of Northumbria. He has particularly strong praise for Edwin and Oswald of Northumbria while also writing largely favourable portrayals of other Northumbrian kings including Æthelfrith and Oswiu.
Quotations:
"Thus much of the ecclesiastical history of Britain and especially of the English nation, have I, Bede, a servant of Christ and priest of the monastery of the Blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, which is at Wearmouth and Jarrow, with the Lord's help composed as far as I could gather it, either from ancient documents or from traditions of the elders or from my own knowledge."
"He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor."
"Ireland, in breadth, and for wholesomeness and serenity of climate, far surpasses Britain; for the snow scarcely ever lies there above three days: no man makes hay in the summer for winter's provision, or builds stables for his beasts of burden... the island abounds in milk and honey."
"I have devoted my energies to the study of the scriptures, observing monastic discipline, and singing the daily services in church; study, teaching, and writing have always been my delight."
"Rome will exist as long as the Coliseum does; when the Coliseum falls, so will Rome; when Rome falls, so will the world."
"And I pray thee, loving Jesus, that as Thou hast graciously has given me to drink in with delight the words of Thy knowledge, so Thou wouldst mercifully grant me to attain one day to Thee, the fountain of all wisdom and to appear forever before Thy face."
"Purgatory fire will be more intolerable than all the torments that can be felt or conceived in this life."
"I think the Mother is gradually revealing itself to me and taking over. But it is not the Mother alone. It is the Mother and the Father, the male and the female, sort of gradually having their marriage."
"The inspiration came suddenly again to surrender to the Mother. It was quite unexpected: And so somehow I made a surrender to the Mother. Then I had an experience of overwhelming love. Waves of love sort of flowed into me."
"The ultimate mystery of being, the ultimate Truth, is Love. This is the essential structure of reality. When Dante spoke of the 'love which moves the sun and the other stars', he was not using a metaphor but was describing the nature of reality. There is in Being an infinite desire to give itself in love and this gift of Self in love is forever answered by a return of love... and so the rhythm of the universe is created."
"If history records good things about good people, the thoughtful hearer is encouraged to imitate what is good; or if it records the evil of wicked people, the godly listener or reader is encouraged to avoid all that is sinful and bad, and to do what he knows to be good and pleasing to God."
"While the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the Coliseum falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, the world shall fall."
"I was no longer the center of my life and therefore I could see God in everything."
"It is better to be a stupid and uneducated brother who, working at the good things he knows, merits life in heaven than to be one who – though being distinguished for his learning in the Scriptures, or even holding the place of a teacher – lacks the bread of love."
Personality
From boyhood, Bede spent his life in the two religious houses of Wearmouth and Jarrow, 5 miles (8 km) apart but united as one monastery, on the rivers Tyne and Wear in County Durham. "There," so he related when he was past 60 years old, "from the age of seven I have passed all my time working in meditation on the Scriptures. Amid observance of monastic rule and daily chant of liturgy in the church, I have always loved to learn, to teach, and to write."
Bede had a reputation of an intelligent, pious and educated man, who 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 greatest scholar of his era, Bede had the chance to become Prior of Jarrow, and perhaps more, but turned the jobs down as they would interfere with his study. It was his happy fortune to live many of his years in the peace of research; to be blessed with a singularly well-stocked library; and to be gifted with keen intelligence, patient perseverance, delight in scholarship, and delight in his fellow man.
Connections
teacher:
Benedict Biscop
Bede claims to have been sent to the monastery of Monkwearmouth on the River Wear to be educated by the abbot Benedict Biscop (c. 628 CE - 609 CE).
