Saint Bede

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Bede, St (672/3–735). First English historian, author of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People (c.731). Deacon, priest, and monk, Bede is generally associated with Jarrow, but probably lived mostly in the monastery of Monkwearmouth, which he entered in 679/80. Bede owed his scholarship, and much of his outlook, to their founder, Benedict Biscop. He travelled a little to Lindisfarne and York.

History was not his prime concern. He wrote biblical commentaries, hagiography, hymns and homilies, textbooks of instruction in Latin, and scientific texts, and, to Egbert (bishop of York), a letter criticizing episcopal and monastic standards in Northumbria.

Bede was particularly interested in miracles and in the calculation of dates and time. Some of his scientific scholarship was advanced and his historical influence profound. His commentaries were soon in heavy demand on the continent. He was the first systematically to use the anno domini dating system and his idealized portrait of the 7th-cent. church inspired King Alfred and Bishop Æthelwold, who attempted its re-creation. Modern scholars, attempting reconstruction and deconstruction, depend heavily upon him.

In historical writing Bede was influenced by the 4th-cent. Eusebius of Caesarea, but the greatest non-biblical influence upon him was probably Pope Gregory I. His purposes were varied. The prime one was to facilitate the salvation of his people. The Ecclesiastical History's parade of exemplars, like Aidan, Cuthbert, and Oswald, to remedy contemporary defects entailed, inconveniently for modern scholars, much selection. The English are given a Roman historical context and destiny. To Bede's imposition of order on a more complex past, his so-called list of bretwaldas can be related. He may have felt that a ‘national’ history would encourage ‘national’ unity. He may have been offering a Christian alternative to traditional secular sagas.

Bede was in touch with highly placed people (including King Ceolwulf, Acca, bishop of Hexham, and Egbert), his contacts brought information, and he was interested in the wider world. Yet lack of experience outside his monastery may have made him so idealistic as to be considered isolated, not sharing other clerics' interests. But the quarrels generated by Wilfrid may have inspired his presentation of an alternative version of 7th-cent. ecclesiastical history to that offered in Wilfrid's biography. Whether considered as the ‘opposition’ view or a ‘compromise’ to reconcile two parties, it suggests sensitivity to, and perhaps involvement in, politics.

Well written and researched, Bede's works are subtle and complex. Some attempt was made to promote his cult, but Viking raids caused Monkwearmouth and Jarrow to be abandoned c.800. Remains claimed to be Bede's were discovered in the mid-11th cent., and moved to Durham cathedral, where they remain. Bede was recognized as a doctor of the church by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.

A. E. Redgate

Bede, St (672/3–735). First English historian, author of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People (c.731). Deacon, priest, and monk, Bede is generally associated with Jarrow, but probably lived mostly in the monastery of Monkwearmouth, which he entered in 679/80. He travelled a little to Lindisfarne and York.

Bede was particularly interested in miracles and in the calculation of dates and time. Some of his scientific scholarship was advanced and his historical influence profound. He was the first systematically to use the anno domini dating system and his idealized portrait of the 7th‐cent. church inspired King Alfred and Bishop Æthelwold, who attempted its re‐creation. Modern scholars depend heavily upon him.

In historical writing Bede was influenced by the 4th‐cent. Eusebius of Caesarea, but the greatest non‐biblical influence upon him was probably Pope Gregory I. His purposes were varied. The prime one was to facilitate the salvation of his people. The Ecclesiastical History's parade of exemplars, like Aidan, Cuthbert, and Oswald, entailed much selection. To Bede's imposition of order on a more complex past, his so‐called list of bretwaldas can be related. He may have felt that a ‘national’ history would encourage ‘national’ unity. He may have been offering a Christian alternative to secular sagas.

Bede was in touch with highly placed people (including King Ceolwulf, Acca,bishop of Hexham, and Egbert). Yet lack of experience outside his monastery may have made him so idealistic as to be considered isolated. But the quarrels generated by Wilfrid may have inspired his presentation of an alternative version of 7th‐cent. ecclesiastical history to that offered in Wilfrid's biography.

Well written and researched, Bede's works are subtle and complex. Some attempt was made to promote his cult, but Viking raids caused Monkwear mouth and Jarrow to be abandoned c.800. Remains claimed to be Bede's were moved in the 11th cent. to Durham cathedral.

Saint Bede , or Baeda , 673?–735, English historian, a Benedictine monk, called the Venerable Bede. He spent his whole life at the monasteries of Wearmouth (at Sunderland) and Jarrow and became probably the most learned man in Western Europe in his day. His writings, virtually a summary of the learning of his time, consist of theological, historical, and scientific treatises. Like a modern scholar, he consulted many documents, discussed their relative reliability, and duly cited them as sources—practices then most unusual. His theological works are commentaries on the Scriptures in the light of the interpretations of the Church Fathers. He wrote biographical works such as the life of St. Cuthbert (in prose and verse) and the History of the Abbots (of Wearmouth and Jarrow). His Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, written in Latin prose, remains an indispensable primary source for English history from 597 to 731. It gives the most thorough and reliable contemporary account of the triumph of Christianity and of the growth of Anglo-Saxon culture in England. He also relates the political events that had bearing on these developments. The Ecclesiastical History has been many times translated; the best edition of the text is in Bedae opera historica (ed. by Charles Plummer, 1896). The best known of Bede's scientific treatises are those on chronology, held as standard for many years. Long venerated in the church, Bede was officially recognized as a saint in 1899 and was named Doctor of the Church, the only Englishman so honored. Feast: May 27.

Bibliography: See the collection of essays, Bede: His Life, Times, and Writings (ed. by A. H. Thompson, 1935, repr. 1966); D. Hurst, The Venerable Bede: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles (1985); G. H. Brown, Bede the Venerable (1987).

Bede, St (c.673–735), ‘The Venerable’, the foremost scholar of Anglo-Saxon England. At the age of 7 he was given as an oblate to the newly-founded monastery of Wearmouth; on the foundation of Jarrow in 682 he was transferred there. Apart from brief excursions to Lindisfarne and York, he spent the rest of his life at Jarrow.

His pedagogical writings include an alphabetically arranged glossary of Latin words likely to be confused or misunderstood; an account of the principles underlying quantitative verse, and a cursory exposition of natural phenomena such as the motions of planets. All survive in a large number of manuscripts. His De Temporibus was written to explain to his students the principles for calculating the date of Easter according to the Roman usage adopted at the Synod of Whitby. A later, more discursive account of Paschal reckoning, De Temporum Ratione, was the most widely studied computistical manual of the Middle Ages. His commentaries on various Books of the Bible were motivated primarily by concern with clarity of exposition; it was this concern that commended them to his contemporaries and successors. He made an extensive revision of the Hieronymian Martyrology and wrote two lives of St Cuthbert (one prose and one in verse) which established Cuthbert's cult throughout Europe. His computistical interests led him to the study of chronology; this in turn culminated in the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (completed in 731), the single most important source for our understanding of early England. Feast day, 25 (formerly 27) May.

Bede, St (or the Venerable Bede) (c.673–735) English monk, theologian, and historian. He lived and worked at the monastery in Jarrow, on Tyneside. Often regarded as ‘the Father of English History’, he wrote a number of historical works including The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (completed in 731). This is considered a primary source for early English history; it has vivid descriptions and is based on careful research, separating fact from hearsay and tradition.

Bede, Saint (673?–735) ( Venerable Bede) English monk and scholar. He spent his life in the Northumbrian monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. His most important work is the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, an indispensable primary source of early English history (54 bc–ad 697). His works were profoundly influential in early medieval Europe.

http://www.ccel.org/b/bede

Bede, St (c.673–735), English monk, theologian, and historian, known as The Venerable Bede, who lived and worked at the monastery in Jarrow on Tyneside. Bede wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (completed in 731), a primary source for early English history. His feast day is 27 May.