Bede was born in a small village in the vicinity of
Jarrow in Northumbria, near the present-day city
of Newcastle in northern England. In 679, at age
seven, as was the culture in those times, Bede was
fostered at the monastery in Wearmouth in the
care of Abbot Benedict Biscop, and later at the
monastery in Jarrow under Abbot Ceolfrith. In addition
to his theological studies, he was educated in
literature, grammar, rhetoric, history, philosophy,
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, law, and music.
He was ordained deacon in 691 and priest in 702
by Bishop John of Hexham.
From his extensive readings, his own observations,
and the stories he gathered from travelers
visiting the monasteries, Bede wrote scores of
books: Biblical exegeses (commentaries, explanations,
and critical interpretations of texts); hagiographies
(biographies of saints and venerated
people); treatises on astronomy, botany, and meteorology;
hymns; and poems. The 60 volumes and
950 manuscripts that Bede produced over a period
of some 30 years make him one of the most prolific
and greatest of English writers.
In recognition of his piety and contribution to
theological writing, historians of the ninth century
conferred the title of “Venerable” upon him. He
was canonized in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII, who conferred
the title of “Doctor of the Church” upon
him for being “an ecclesiastical writer of great
learning and sanctity.” His feast day is celebrated
on May 25.
Writers throughout history have attempted
translations of Bede’s works. In 1910, J. A. Giles
published an English version of Historia abbatum
(Lives of the Abbots), which Bede wrote ca. 725 as
a compilation of biographies of the lives of abbots
and saints. In addition, C.W. Jones published a
translation of Bede’s De natura rerum liber (On
Nature, ca. 691), a scientific text on nature and astronomy,
in 1975.
However, no single work written by Bede has
been more frequently copied in longhand, from
the date of its completion in 731 until the printed
book was published in 1475, than his Historia ecclesiastica
gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History
of the English People). It has never ceased to
be read, and more than 150 manuscript copies of it
survive to this day. This celebrated work served as
the guiding model for historians throughout the
Middle Ages, and it is the work for which Bede is
remembered as the “Father of English History.”
Bede himself modestly described the work as
“the history of the Church of our island and race.”
Composed entirely in medieval Latin, this indispensable
source of early Anglo-Saxon history is a
continuous narrative of five books that spans a period
of almost eight centuries, from Julius Caesar’s
invasion of Britain to 731. It is, in effect, a depiction
of a saint’s life with the English nation as hero,
and it highlights the rapid conversion of the
Anglo-Saxons by missionaries from Rome and Ireland.
In addition, the work serves as an authority on
the early English Church, daily monastic and secular
life, and major historical events of the period.
Passionate in his support of orthodoxy and in
condemnation of heresy, Bede was a traditionalist
whose prime concern was the spread of the accepted
beliefs of the Catholic Church. Such commitment
led him to write most of his works,
including an exposition of the Great Cycle of 532
years that was of fundamental value to the Roman
Church in calculating the date of Easter. He also
introduced the custom of anno Domini, dating
events from the birth of Christ.
In addition to writing, reciting written works to
the accompaniment of music was one of Bede’s
great delights. He was skilled in the recitation of
the music of the liturgy, vernacular English poetry,
and songs of Anglo-Saxon Britain. Despite
being grievously ill the day he died, the dedication
and diligence he brought to his teaching duties is
best reflected in his cheerful reminders to his students
throughout that day to learn their lessons
quickly since he might not be there long to instruct
them.
Bede is best described by the words of Peter
Hunter Blair in The World of Bede (1970):
The scholar who never spared himself in the
search for truth, the monk who loved music
and was deeply moved by the beauty of his
church all brightly lit for a festal day, the
teacher whose last thought was for the pupils
of his school, and the endearingly humble man
who chose the image of griddle, frying-pan
and oven to illustrate stages in the growth of
spiritual understanding.
English Versions of Works by Bede
De natura rerum liber (On Nature). Edited by C.W.
Jones. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols 1975.
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Edited
and translated by B.Colgrave and R. A. B.Mynors.
Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1969.
Historia abbatum (The Lives of the Holy Abbots of
Wearmouth and Jarrow). Translated by J. A. Giles.
London: J.M. Dent, 1910.
Works about Bede
Blair, Peter Hunter. The World of Bede. New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1970.
Brown, George Hardin. Bede the Venerable. Boston:
Twayne Publishers, 1987.