THE VENERABLE
BEDE
THE VENERABLE BEDE
• St. Bede, also known as the Venerable Bede, is
widely regarded as the greatest of all the AngloSaxon scholars
• He wrote about 40 books mainly dealing with
theology and history
• At the age of seven he was entrusted to the care
of Benedict Biscop, who in 674 has founded the
monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth
THE VENERABLE BEDE
• Monk at Wearmouth and Jarrow
• The Father of English History also wrote
on music, metrics, scripture, grammar,
natural phenomena, chronologies
• Made new calculation of the earths age,
began dividing Christian era into BC and
AD
• Wrote Earth was round like a playground ball
contrasting it with being round like a shield
• Became known as Venerable just after his death
but not considered for sainthood
• Importance to Roman Catholicism recognized in
1899 and declared St. Bede the Venerable
• His most famous work, which is a key source for
the understanding of early British history and the
arrival of Christianity, is “Historia Ecclestiastica
Gentis Anglorum,” or, “The Ecclesiastical History
of the English People,” which was completed in
731
THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF
ENGLISH PEOPLE
• 5 books, about 400 pages
• Contains ecclesiastical and political history of
England from time of Caesar to its completion in
731
• First 21 chapters compiled from earlier writers
with legends and traditions inserted
• Has 596 documented sources, including oral
testimony
• Bede is credited with inventing footnoting
CAEDMON'S HYMN (EARLIEST EXTANT OLD
ENGLISH POEM (~ 660-680)
THANKS 