Editing Bede

{{Short description|Anglo-Saxon monk, writer and saint (672/3–735)}}
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{{Redirect|Beda|other uses|Beda (disambiguation)|and|Bede (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use British English|date=August 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
|name=Bede the Venerable
|birth_date={{circa|673|lk=yes}}<ref name=ASEEncBede/>
|death_date=26 May 735 (aged 61 or 62)
|feast_day={{plainlist|
* 25 May (Western Churches)
* 27 May (Orthodox Church and the [[General Roman Calendar]] from 1899 to 1969)}}
|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]],<ref>Hutchinson-Hall, John (Ellsworth). ''Orthodox Saints of the British Isles. Vol II'' (St. Eadfrith Press, 2014) p. 133</ref> [[Anglican Communion]], and [[Lutheranism]]
|image=E-codices bke-0047 001v medium (cropped).jpg
|caption=The Venerable Bede writing. Detail from a 12th century codex
|birth_place= [[Kingdom of Northumbria]], possibly Monkwearmouth in present-day Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England<ref name=ASEEncBede/>
|death_place= [[Jarrow]], Northumbria<ref name=ASEEncBede/>
|titles=[[Church Father]], [[Doctor of the Church]]
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=Declared a [[Doctor of the Church]] in 1899 by [[Pope Leo XIII]]
|canonized_place=[[Rome]]
|canonized_by=
|attributes=Holding the ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People|Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]'', a [[quill]], a [[biretta]]
|patronage=[[List of English writers|English writers]] and [[historian]]s; [[Jarrow]], [[Tyne and Wear]], England, [[Beda College]], [[San Beda University]], [[San Beda College Alabang]]
|major_shrine=[[Durham Cathedral]], England
|suppressed_date=
|influences={{flatlist|
* [[Origen]]
* [[Cyprian]]
* [[Nazianzen]]
* [[Basil of Caesarea|Basil]]
* [[Ambrose]]
* [[Jerome]]
* [[John Chrysostom|Chrysostom]]
* [[Augustine]]
* [[John Cassian|Cassian]]
* [[Cassiodorus]]
* [[Gregory the Great]]
* [[Isidore of Seville|Isidore]]<ref name=CM_xxv/><ref name=Theo/>
}}
|issues=
}}

'''Bede''' ({{IPAc-en|b|iː|d}}; {{langx|ang|Bēda}} {{IPA-ang|ˈbeːdɑ|}}; 672/3{{spnd}}26 May 735), also known as '''Saint Bede''', '''the Venerable Bede''', and '''Bede the Venerable''' ({{langx|la|Beda Venerabilis}}), was an English [[monk]], author and scholar. He was one of the greatest teachers and writers during the [[Early Middle Ages]], and his most famous work, ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]'', gained him the title "The Father of [[History of England|English History]]". He served at the [[monastery]] of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the [[Kingdom of Northumbria]] of the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]].

Born on lands belonging to the twin monastery of [[Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey|Monkwearmouth–Jarrow]] in present-day [[Tyne and Wear]], England, Bede was sent to [[Monkwearmouth]] at the age of seven and later joined Abbot [[Ceolfrith]] at [[Jarrow]]. 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 the [[archbishop of York]] and King [[Ceolwulf of Northumbria]].

His theological writings were extensive and included a number of Biblical commentaries and other works of [[Exegesis|exegetical]] erudition. Another important area of study for Bede was the academic discipline of ''[[computus]]'', 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 popularize 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 of [[Pope Gregory I]] in 604 and the coronation of [[Charlemagne]] in 800.

In 1899, [[Pope Leo XIII]] declared him a [[Doctor of the Church]]. He is the only native of [[Great Britain]] to achieve this designation.{{Efn|[[Anselm of Canterbury]], also a Doctor of the Church, was originally from Italy.}} Bede was moreover a skilled linguist and translator, and his work made the [[Latin]] and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] writings of the early [[Church Fathers]] much more accessible to his fellow [[Anglo-Saxons]], which contributed significantly to English [[Christianity]]. Bede's monastery had access to an impressive library which included works by [[Eusebius]], [[Orosius]], and many others.

== Life ==
[[File:Opera Bedae Venerabilis.tif|thumb|''Opera Bedae Venerabilis'' (1563)]]

Almost everything that is known of Bede's life is contained in the last chapter of his ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', a history of the church in England. It was completed in about 731,<ref name="Deconstruct5">{{harvnb|Brooks|2006|p=5}}</ref> and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year, which would give a birth date in 672 or 673.<ref name="ASEEncBede">{{harvnb|Ray|2001|pp=57–59}}</ref><ref name="CM_xix">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|p=xix}}</ref><ref name="ODNB">{{harvnb|Campbell|2004}}</ref>{{efn|Bede's words are "''Ex quo tempore accepti presbyteratus usque ad annum aetatis meae LVIIII&nbsp;...''"; which means "From the time I became a priest until the fifty-ninth year of my life I have made it my business&nbsp;... to make brief extracts from the works of the venerable fathers on the holy Scriptures&nbsp;..."<ref name="CM_566–7">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=566–567}}</ref><ref name="World253"/> 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.{{sfn|Whiting|1935|p=4}} }} 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.<ref name="Reread9" />{{efn|Cuthbert is probably the same person as the later abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, but this is not entirely certain.<ref name=Reread9/>}} Bede, in the ''Historia'', gives his birthplace as "on the lands of this monastery".<ref name="HE_V_24_329">Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', V.24, p.&nbsp;329.</ref> He is referring to the twin monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow,<ref name="Farmer2004p47-48">{{harvnb|Farmer|2004|pp=47–48}}</ref> in modern-day [[Wearside]] and [[Tyneside]] respectively. There is also a tradition that he was born at [[Monkton, Tyne and Wear|Monkton]], two miles from the site where the monastery at Jarrow was later built.<ref name="ASEEncBede" /><ref name="CM_xix-xx">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=xix–xx}}</ref> Bede says nothing of his origins, but his connections with men of noble ancestry suggest that his own family was well-to-do.<ref name="World4">{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=4}}</ref> Bede's first abbot was [[Benedict Biscop]], and the names "Biscop" and "Beda" both appear in a list of the kings of [[Kingdom of Lindsey|Lindsey]] from around 800, further suggesting that Bede came from a noble family.<ref name="ODNB" />

[[Beda (name)|Bede's name]] reflects [[West Saxon dialect|West Saxon]] ''Bīeda'' (Anglian ''Bēda'').<ref>J. Insley, "Portesmutha" in: ''[[Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde]]'' vol. 23, Walter de Gruyter (2003), 291.</ref> It is an [[Old English]] short name formed on the root of ''bēodan'' "to bid, command".<ref>Förstemann, ''Altdeutsches Namenbuch'' s.v. BUD (289) connects the [[Old High German]] short name ''[[Bodo (given name)|Bodo]]'' (variants ''Boto, Boddo, Potho, Boda, Puoto'' etc.) as from the same verbal root.</ref>
The name also occurs in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', s.a. 501, as ''Bieda'', one of the sons of the Saxon founder of [[History of Portsmouth#Pre-Norman|Portsmouth]]. The ''[[Durham Liber Vitae|Liber Vitae]]'' of [[Durham Cathedral]] names two priests with this name, one of whom is presumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the ''Life of Cuthbert'', one of Bede's works, mention that [[Cuthbert]]'s own priest was named Bede; it is possible that this priest is the other name listed in the ''Liber Vitae''.<ref name="Reread8" /><ref name="ASC14">{{harvnb|Swanton|1998|pp=14–15}}</ref>

At the age of seven, Bede was sent as a ''[[puer oblatus]]''<ref>{{harvnb|Kendall|2010|p=101}}; {{harvnb|Rowley|2017|p=258}}</ref> to the monastery of Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Benedict Biscop and later by [[Ceolfrith]].<ref name=World178>{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=178}}</ref> Bede does not say whether it was already intended at that point that he would be a monk.<ref name=World241>{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=241}}</ref> 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.<ref name=CM_xx>{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969| p=xx}}</ref> Monkwearmouth's sister monastery at Jarrow was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, and Bede probably transferred to Jarrow with Ceolfrith that year.<ref name="Farmer2004p47-48"/> 

The dedication stone for the church has survived {{as of|1969|lc=y}}; 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.<ref name="CM_xx"/> In 686, plague broke out at Jarrow. The ''Life 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.<ref name=World178/><ref name=Plummer_I_xii>Plummer, ''Bedae Opera Historica'', vol. I, p.&nbsp;xii.</ref>

When Bede was about 17 years old, [[Adomnán]], the abbot of [[Iona 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 the [[Easter controversy|Easter dating controversy]].<ref name=World181>{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=181}}</ref> In about 692, in Bede's nineteenth year, Bede was ordained a [[deacon]] by his diocesan bishop, [[John of Beverley|John]], who was [[bishop 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,<ref name=CM_xx/> but it is also possible that the minimum age requirement was often disregarded.<ref name=World5>{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=5}}</ref> There might have been minor orders ranking below a deacon; but there is no record of whether Bede held any of these offices.<ref name=World253/>{{efn|[[Isidore of Seville]] lists six orders below a deacon, but these orders need not have existed at Monkwearmouth.<ref name=World253>{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=253}}</ref>}} In Bede's thirtieth year (about 702), he became a priest, with the ordination again performed by Bishop John.<ref name=ODNB/>

In about 701 Bede wrote his first works, the ''De Arte Metrica'' and ''De Schematibus et Tropis''; both were intended for use in the classroom.<ref name=World5/> 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.<ref name=ODNB/><ref name=World5/> His last surviving work is a letter to [[Ecgbert of York]], a former student, written in 734.<ref name=World5/> A 6th-century Greek and Latin manuscript of ''[[Acts of the Apostles]]'' that is believed to have been used by Bede survives and is now in the [[Bodleian Library]] at [[University of Oxford]]. It is known as the [[Codex Laudianus]].<ref name=World234>{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=234}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/library/specialcollections/western_rarebooks/medieval | title = Classical and Medieval MSS | access-date=30 December 2010 |publisher=Bodleian Library}}</ref> 

Bede may have worked on some of the Latin Bibles that were copied at Jarrow, one of which, the [[Codex Amiatinus]], is now held by the [[Laurentian Library]] in [[Florence]].<ref name=Farmer_20a>A few pages from another copy are held by the [[British Museum]]. {{harvnb|Farmer|1978|p=20}}</ref> Bede was a teacher as well as a writer;<ref name=Ray_57>{{harvnb|Ray|2001|p=57}}</ref> he enjoyed music and was said to be accomplished as a singer and as a reciter of poetry in the vernacular.<ref name=World5/> 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.{{sfn|Whiting|1935|pp=5–6}}{{sfn|Whitelock|1976|p=21}}{{efn|The key phrase is ''per linguae curationem'', which is variously translated as "how his tongue was healed", "[a] canker on the tongue", or, following a different interpretation of ''curationem'', "the guidance of my tongue".{{sfn|Whitelock|1976|p=21}} }}

[[File:Bede dictating to a scribe.JPG|thumb|Stained glass at [[Gloucester Cathedral]] depicting Bede dictating to a scribe]]
In 708, some monks at [[Hexham Abbey|Hexham]] accused Bede of having committed heresy in his work ''De Temporibus''.<ref name=World267>{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=267}}</ref> The standard theological view of world history at the time was known as the [[Six Ages of the World]]; in his book, Bede calculated the age of the world for himself, rather than accepting the authority of [[Isidore 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.{{sfn|Bede|1985|p=38}} 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.<ref name="World267"/>{{efn|The letter itself is in ''Bedae Opera de Temporibus'' edited by C. W. Jones, pp. 307–315}} Bede had another brush with Wilfrid, for the historian says that he met Wilfrid sometime between 706 and 709 and discussed [[Æthelthryth]], 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.<ref name=Goffart322>Goffart, ''Narrators'' p. 322</ref>

In 733, Bede travelled to York to visit Ecgbert, who was then [[archbishop of York|bishop 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.<ref name=World305/> Bede hoped to visit Ecgbert again in 734 but was too ill to make the journey.<ref name=World305>{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=305}}</ref> Bede also travelled to the monastery of [[Lindisfarne]] and at some point visited the otherwise unknown monastery of a monk named {{sic|hide=y|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.<ref name=Reread15>{{harvnb|Higham|2006|p=15}}</ref> 

It seems certain that he did not visit Rome, however, as he did not mention it in the autobiographical chapter of his ''Historia Ecclesiastica''.<ref name="ColgraveMynors1969p556n">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|p=556n}}</ref> [[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.<ref name=Plummer_II_3>Plummer, ''Bedae Opera Historica'', vol. II, p.&nbsp;3.</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Firth |first=Ashley |date=2022-04-19 |title=Who Was Bede? |url=https://manchistorian.com/who-was-bede/ |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=MancHistorian |language=en-US}}</ref> He was considered the most learned man of his time.<ref name="SHMI">{{cite book|author=Fr. Paolo O. Pirlo, SHMI|title=My First Book of Saints|year=1997|publisher=Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate – Quality Catholic Publications|isbn=978-971-91595-4-4|page=104|chapter=St. Venerable Bede}}</ref>

[[File:Bede.jpg|thumb|Bede's tomb in the [[Galilee (church architecture)|Galilee Chapel]] at the west end of [[Durham Cathedral]]]]
Bede died on the [[Feast of the Ascension]], Thursday, 26 May 735, on the floor of his cell, singing "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit"<ref name=SHMI /> and was buried at Jarrow.<ref name=ODNB/> 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.<ref name="ColgraveMynors1969pp580-587"/>

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.<ref name="ColgraveMynors1969pp580-587">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=580–587}}</ref> 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.<ref name=World307>{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=307}}</ref>

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.<ref name=BEASE_59>Donald Scragg, "Bede's Death Song", in Lapidge, ''Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', p.&nbsp;59.</ref><ref name="ColgraveMynors1969pp580-581n">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=580–581n}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| title = St. Gallen Stiftsbibliothek Cod. Sang. 254. Jerome, Commentary on the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Includes the most authentic version of the Old English "Death Song" by the Venerable Bede| work = Europeana Regia| access-date = 5 June 2013| url = http://www.europeanaregia.eu/en/manuscripts/st-gallen-stiftsbibliothek-cod-sang-254/en| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131203030450/http://www.europeanaregia.eu/en/manuscripts/st-gallen-stiftsbibliothek-cod-sang-254/en| archive-date = 3 December 2013| url-status = dead}}</ref> Bede's remains may have been transferred 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.<ref name=ODNB/>

One further oddity in his writings is that in one of his works, the ''Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles'', he writes in a manner that gives the impression he was married.<ref name=Reread8>{{harvnb|Higham|2006|pp=8–9}}</ref> 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."<ref name=QWard57>Quoted in {{harvnb|Ward|1990| p=57}}</ref> Another passage, in the ''Commentary 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."<ref name=QWard57/> The historian [[Benedicta Ward]] argued that these passages are Bede employing a rhetorical device.<ref name=Ward57>{{harvnb|Ward|1990| p=57}}</ref>

== Works ==
{{Main|List of works by Bede}}
[[File:BL Yates Thompson MS 26 f.2r (cropped).png|thumb|246x246px|Bede writing, from a 12th-century copy of his ''Life of St Cuthbert'' (Yates Thompson MS 26, f. 2r)]]
Bede wrote scientific, historical and theological works, reflecting the range of his writings from music and [[meter (music)|metrics]] to exegetical [[Scripture]] commentaries. He knew [[Church father|patristic]] literature, as well as [[Pliny the Elder]], [[Virgil]], [[Lucretius]], [[Ovid]], [[Horace]] and other [[classical antiquity|classical]] writers. He knew some Greek. Bede's scriptural commentaries employed the [[allegory|allegorical]] method of interpretation,<ref>Holder (trans.), ''Bede: On the Tabernacle'', (Liverpool: Liverpool Univ. Pr., 1994), pp. xvii–xx.</ref> 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.<ref>McClure and Collins, ''The Ecclesiastical History'', pp. xviii–xix.</ref> 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 the [[Carolingian Renaissance]].<ref name="Goffart242">{{harvnb|Goffart|1988|pp=242–243}}</ref> He has been credited with writing a [[Paenitentiale Bedae|penitential]], though his authorship of this work is disputed.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frantzen|first1=Allan J.|title=The Literature of Penance in Anglo-Saxon England|date=1983|publisher=Rutgers University Press|location=New Brunswick|isbn=978-0813509556|page=1|edition=1st}}</ref>

=== ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ===
{{Main|Ecclesiastical History of the English People}}
[[File:E-codices bke-0047 001v medium (cropped centre).jpg|thumb|229x229px|The Venerable Bede writing the ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]'', from a 12th-century [[codex]] at [[Engelberg Abbey]], Switzerland]]
Bede's best-known work is the {{Lang|la|Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum}}, or ''An Ecclesiastical History of the English People'',<ref name="Farmer_21">{{harvnb|Farmer|1978|p=21}}</ref> completed in about 731. Bede was aided in writing this book by [[Albinus (abbot)|Albinus]], abbot of [[St Augustine's Abbey]], [[Canterbury]].<ref>{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Albinus}}</ref> The first of the five books begins with some geographical background and then sketches the history of England, beginning with [[Julius Caesar|Caesar's]] invasion in 55 BC.<ref name="Farmer_22">{{harvnb|Farmer|1978|p=22}}</ref> A brief account of Christianity in Roman Britain, including the martyrdom of [[Saint Alban|St Alban]], is followed by the story of [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine]]'s mission to England in 597, which brought Christianity to the [[Anglo-Saxons]].<ref name="ODNB" /> 

The second book begins with the death of [[Gregory the Great]] in 604 and follows the further progress of Christianity in Kent and the first attempts to evangelise Northumbria.<ref name="Farmer_31">{{harvnb|Farmer|1978|p=31}}</ref> These ended in disaster when [[Penda of Mercia|Penda]], the pagan king of Mercia, killed the newly Christian [[Edwin of Northumbria]] at the [[Battle of Hatfield Chase]] in about 632.<ref name="Farmer_31" /> The setback was temporary, and the third book recounts the growth of Christianity in Northumbria under kings [[Oswald of Northumbria]] and [[Oswy of Northumbria|Oswy]].<ref name="Farmer_31–2">{{harvnb|Farmer|1978|pp=31–32}}</ref> The climax of the third book is the account of the [[Council of Whitby]], traditionally seen as a major turning point in English history.<ref name="Whitby1">{{harvnb|Abels|1983|pp=1–2}}</ref> The fourth book begins with the consecration of [[Theodore of Canterbury|Theodore]] as [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] and recounts Wilfrid's efforts to bring Christianity to the [[Kingdom of Sussex]].<ref name="Farmer_32">{{harvnb|Farmer|1978|p=32}}</ref> 

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 the [[Celtic Christianity|British church]] over the correct dating of Easter.<ref name="Farmer_32" /> Bede wrote a preface for the work, in which he dedicates it to [[Ceolwulf of Northumbria|Ceolwulf]], king of Northumbria.<ref>Bede, "Preface", ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', p.&nbsp;41.</ref> 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.<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="Farmer_22" /> 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.<ref name="ODNB" />

==== Sources ====
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.<ref name="BEASE_MJ">Cramp, "Monkwearmouth (or Wearmouth) and Jarrow", pp.&nbsp;325–326.</ref> It has been estimated that there were about 200 books in the monastic library.<ref name="BEASE_286–7">Michael Lapidge, "Libraries", in Lapidge, ''Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;286–287.</ref>

For the period prior to Augustine's arrival in 597, Bede drew on earlier writers, including [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]].<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="Farmer_25">{{harvnb|Farmer|1978|p=25}}</ref> He had access to two works of Eusebius: the ''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Historia Ecclesiastica]]'', and also the ''[[Chronicon (Eusebius)|Chronicon]]'', though he had neither in the original Greek; instead he had a Latin translation of the ''Historia'', by Rufinus, and [[Jerome]]'s translation of the [[Chronicon (Jerome)|''Chronicon'']].<ref name="LH_162">Campbell, "Bede", in Dorey, ''Latin Historians'', p.&nbsp;162.</ref> He also knew Orosius's ''Adversus Paganus'', and [[Gregory of Tours]]' ''Historia Francorum'', both Christian histories,<ref name="LH_162" /> as well as the work of [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]], a pagan historian.<ref name="LH_163">Campbell, "Bede", in Dorey, ''Latin Historians'', p.&nbsp;163.</ref> He used [[Constantius of Lyon|Constantius]]'s ''Life of Germanus'' as a source for [[Germanus of Auxerre|Germanus]]'s visits to Britain.<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="Farmer_25" /> 

Bede's account of the [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain]] is drawn largely from [[Gildas]]'s ''[[De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae]]''.<ref name="BEASE_Gildas">Lapidge, "Gildas", p.&nbsp;204.</ref> Bede would also have been familiar with more recent accounts such as [[Stephen of Ripon]]'s ''[[Life of Wilfrid]]'', and anonymous ''Life'' ''of Gregory the Great'' and ''Life of Cuthbert''.<ref name="Farmer_25" /> He also drew on [[Josephus]]'s ''Antiquities'', and the works of [[Cassiodorus]],<ref name="Mey831">{{harvnb|Meyvaert|1996|p=831}}</ref> and there was a copy of the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'' in Bede's monastery.<ref name="Mey843">{{harvnb|Meyvaert|1996|p=843}}</ref> Bede quotes from several classical authors, including [[Cicero]], [[Plautus]], and [[Terence]], but he may have had access to their work via a Latin grammar rather than directly.<ref name="CM_xxv">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=xxv–xxvi}}</ref> However, it is clear he was familiar with the works of [[Virgil]] and with [[Pliny the Elder]]'s ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', and his monastery also owned copies of the works of [[Dionysius Exiguus]].<ref name="CM_xxv" /> 

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 of [[Saint Fursey|Fursa]], and the other of [[Æthelburh of Barking|Æthelburh]]; the latter no longer survives.<ref name="Plummer_I_xxiv">Plummer, ''Bedae Opera Historic'', vol. I, p. xxiv.</ref> He also had access to a life of Ceolfrith.<ref name="LH_164">Campbell, "Bede", in Dorey, ''Latin Historians'', p.&nbsp;164.</ref> Some of Bede's material came from oral traditions, including a description of the physical appearance of [[Paulinus of York]], who had died nearly 90 years before Bede's ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' was written.<ref name="LH_164" />

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 of [[Nothelm|Nothhelm]], at that time a priest in London, obtained copies of [[Gregory the Great]]'s correspondence from Rome relating to [[Gregorian mission|Augustine's mission]].<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="Farmer_25" /><ref name="BEASE_Nothhelm">Keynes, "Nothhelm", pp.&nbsp;335&nbsp;336.</ref> Almost all of Bede's information regarding Augustine is taken from these letters.<ref name="ODNB" /> Bede acknowledged his correspondents in the preface to the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'';<ref name="HE_pref">Bede, ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', Preface, p.&nbsp;42.</ref> he was in contact with Bishop [[Daniel of Winchester]], for information about the history of the church in Wessex and also wrote to the monastery at [[Lastingham]] for information about [[Cedd]] and [[Chad of Mercia|Chad]].<ref name="HE_pref" /> Bede also mentions an Abbot Esi as a source for the affairs of the East Anglian church, and Bishop [[Kinebertus|Cynibert]] for information about Lindsey.<ref name="HE_pref" />

The historian [[Walter Goffart]] argues that Bede based the structure of the ''Historia'' 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 the [[Gregorian mission]], Goffart feels that Bede used ''De excidio''. The second section, detailing the Gregorian mission of [[Augustine of Canterbury]] was framed on ''Life of Gregory the Great'' written at Whitby. The last section, detailing events after the Gregorian mission, Goffart feels was modelled on ''Life of Wilfrid''.<ref name="Goffart296">{{harvnb|Goffart|1988| pp=296–307}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Deconstruct7">{{harvnb|Brooks |2006|pp=7–10}}</ref><ref name="Deconstruct12">{{harvnb|Brooks |2006|pp=12–14}}</ref>

==== Models and style ====
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,<ref name="ODNB" /> and his title is an echo of Eusebius's ''Historia Ecclesiastica''.<ref name="ASEEncBede" /> Bede also followed Eusebius in taking the ''[[Acts of the Apostles]]'' as the model for the overall work: where Eusebius used the ''Acts'' 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.<ref name="Farmer_26">{{harvnb|Farmer|1978|p=26}}</ref> Bede quoted his sources at length in his narrative, as Eusebius had done.<ref name="ODNB" /> 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.<ref name="ODNB" /> At the end of the work, Bede adds a brief autobiographical note; this was an idea taken from Gregory of Tours' earlier ''History of the Franks''.<ref name="Farmer_27">{{harvnb|Farmer|1978|p=27}}</ref>

Bede's work as a [[hagiography|hagiographer]] and his detailed attention to dating were both useful preparations for the task of writing the ''Historia Ecclesiastica''. His interest in computus, the science of calculating the [[date 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.<ref name="Farmer_21" />

Bede is described by [[Michael Lapidge]] as "without question the most accomplished Latinist produced in these islands in the Anglo-Saxon period".<ref>{{harvnb|Lapidge|2005|p=323}}</ref> His Latin has been praised for its clarity, but his style in the ''Historia 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 as [[Aldhelm]], whose Latin is full of difficulties, Bede's own text is easy to read.<ref name="CM_xxxvii">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=xxxvii–xxxviii}}</ref> In the words of [[Charles Plummer]], one of the best-known editors of the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', Bede's Latin is "clear and limpid&nbsp;... it is very seldom that we have to pause to think of the meaning of a sentence&nbsp;... Alcuin rightly praises Bede for his unpretending style."<ref name="Plummer_I_liii">Plummer, ''Bedae Opera Historica'', vol. I, pp.&nbsp;liii–liv.</ref>

==== Intent ====
Bede's primary intention in writing the ''Historia 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 the ''Historia'' the English, and their church, are dominant over the Britons.<ref name="CM_xxx">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=xxx–xxxi}}</ref> This goal, of showing the movement towards unity, explains Bede's animosity towards the British method of calculating Easter: much of the ''Historia'' is devoted to a history of the dispute, including the final resolution at the [[Synod of Whitby]] in 664.<ref name="Farmer_27" /> 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.<ref name="CM_xxx" />

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.{{sfn|Higham|2013|pp=476–493}}

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 the ''Historia'', 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.<ref name="CM_xxxiv">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=xxxiv–xxxvi}}</ref>

==== Omissions and biases ====
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.<ref name="Farmer_31" />

Bede's account of the early migrations of the Angles and Saxons to England omits any mention of a movement of those peoples across the [[English Channel]] from Britain to [[Brittany]] described by [[Procopius]], 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.<ref name="Stenton_8–9">{{harvnb|Stenton|1971|pp=8–9}}</ref>

Bede was a Northumbrian, and this tinged his work with a local bias.<ref name="JMWH_xxxi">{{harvnb|Wallace-Hadrill|1988|p=xxxi}}</ref> The sources to which he had access gave him less information about the west of England than for other areas.<ref name="TCOB_119">{{harvnb|Yorke|2006|p=119}}</ref> 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 for [[Aldhelm]], 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 held ''[[imperium]]'', or overlordship; only one king of Wessex, [[Ceawlin]], is listed as [[Bretwalda]], and none from Mercia, though elsewhere he acknowledges the secular power several of the Mercians held.<ref name="TCOB_21–2">{{harvnb|Yorke|2006|pp=21–22}}</ref> Historian [[Robin 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Fleming|2011|p=111}}</ref>

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 of [[Barbara Yorke]], would have naturally "curbed any missionary impulses towards the Anglo-Saxons from the British clergy."<ref name="TCOB_118">{{harvnb|Yorke|2006|p=118}}</ref>

==== Use of ''Anno Domini'' ====
At the time Bede wrote the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', there were two common ways of referring to dates. One was to use [[indiction]]s, 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: the ''[[Anno Domini]]'' method invented by [[Dionysius Exiguus]].<ref name="CM_xviii">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=xviii–xix}}</ref> Although Bede did not invent this method, his adoption of it and his promulgation of it in ''De Temporum Ratione'', his work on chronology, is the main reason it is now so widely used.<ref name="CM_xviii" /><ref name="Stenton_186">{{harvnb|Stenton|1971|p=186}}</ref> Bede's Easter table, contained in ''De Temporum Ratione'', was developed from [[Dionysius Exiguus' Easter table]].

==== Assessment ====
The ''Historia 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.<ref name="Companion4" /> Most of the 8th- and 9th-century texts of Bede's ''Historia'' come from the northern parts of the [[Carolingian Empire]].<ref name="Reread21">{{harvnb|Higham|2006|p=21}}</ref> 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 at [[Strasbourg]].<ref name="Companion4">{{harvnb|Wright|2008|pp=4–5}}</ref> 

Modern historians have studied the ''Historia'' extensively, and several editions have been produced.<ref name="Nar236" /> For many years, early Anglo-Saxon history was essentially a retelling of the ''Historia'', but recent scholarship has focused as much on what Bede did not write as what he did. The belief that the ''Historia'' 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.<ref name="Nar238">{{harvnb|Goffart |1988|pp= 238–239}}</ref>

Modern historians and editors of Bede have been lavish in their praise of his achievement in the ''Historia Ecclesiastica''.{{cn|date=November 2024}} 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&nbsp;... In an age where little was attempted beyond the registration of fact, he had reached the conception of history."<ref name="Stenton_187">{{harvnb|Stenton|1971|p=187}}</ref> [[Patrick Wormald]] describes him as "the first and greatest of England's historians".<ref name="Worm29">{{harvnb|Wormald|1999|p= 29}}</ref>

The ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' has given Bede a high reputation, but his concerns were different from those of a modern writer of history.<ref name="ODNB" /> 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.<ref name="ODNB" /> Besides the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', the medieval writers [[William of Malmesbury]], [[Henry of Huntingdon]], and [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] used his works as sources and inspirations.<ref name="Reread27">{{harvnb|Higham|2006|p=27}}</ref> Early modern writers, such as [[Polydore Vergil]] and [[Matthew Parker]], the Elizabethan Archbishop of Canterbury, also utilised the ''Historia'', and his works were used by both Protestant and Catholic sides in the [[European wars of religion|wars of religion]].<ref name="Reread33">{{harvnb|Higham|2006|p=33}}</ref>

Some historians have questioned the reliability of some of Bede's accounts. One historian, Charlotte Behr, thinks that the ''Historia'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.<ref name="Behr">{{harvnb|Behr|2000|pp=25–52}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Plummer_I_xlvii">Plummer, ''Bedae Opera Historica'', vol. I, p.&nbsp;xlvii and note.</ref>

=== Other historical works ===
[[File:Athelstan (cropped centre).jpg|thumb|A page from a copy of Bede's ''Lives of St Cuthbert'', showing [[Æthelstan|King Æthelstan]] presenting the work to the saint. This manuscript was given to St Cuthbert's shrine in 934.<ref name="OIHBM_42">{{harvnb|Cannon|Griffiths|1997 |pp=42–43}}</ref>]]

==== Chronicles ====
As Chapter 66 of his ''On the Reckoning of Time'', in 725 Bede wrote the ''Greater Chronicle'' (''chronica maiora''), which sometimes circulated as a separate work. For recent events the ''Chronicle'', like his ''Ecclesiastical History'', relied upon Gildas, upon a version of the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'' current at least to the papacy of [[Pope Sergius I]] (687–701), and other sources. For earlier events he drew on Eusebius's ''Chronikoi Kanones.'' The dating of events in the ''Chronicle'' is inconsistent with his other works, using the era of creation, the ''[[Anno Mundi]]''.<ref>Wallis (trans.), ''The Reckoning of Time'', pp. lxvii–lxxi, 157–237, 353–66</ref>

==== Hagiography ====
His other historical works included lives of the abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow, as well as verse and prose lives of [[Cuthbert|St Cuthbert]], an adaptation of [[Paulinus of Nola]]'s ''Life of St Felix'', and a translation of the Greek ''Passion'' of [[Anastasius of Persia|St Anastasius]]. He also created a listing of saints, the ''Martyrology''.<ref name="Goffart245">{{harvnb|Goffart |1988|pp=245–246}}</ref>

=== Theological works ===
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.<ref name="BedeVen42">{{harvnb|Brown|1987|p=42}}</ref> It was for his theological writings that he earned the title of ''Doctor Anglorum'' and why he was declared a saint.<ref name="Theo">{{harvnb|Ward |2001|pp=57–64}}</ref>

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 of [[Jerome]]'s [[Vulgate]], which itself was from the Hebrew text.<ref name="CM_xxv" /><ref name="Theo" />

He also studied both the Latin and the Greek Fathers of the Church. In the monastic library at Jarrow were numerous books by theologians, including works by [[Basil of Caesarea|Basil]], [[John Cassian|Cassian]], [[John Chrysostom]], [[Isidore of Seville]], [[Origen]], [[Gregory of Nazianzus]], [[Augustine of Hippo]], Jerome, [[Pope Gregory I]], [[Ambrose of Milan]], [[Cassiodorus]], and [[Cyprian]].<ref name="CM_xxv" /><ref name="Theo" /> He used these, in conjunction with the Biblical texts themselves, to write his commentaries and other theological works.<ref name="Theo" /> 

He had a Latin translation by [[Evagrius of Antioch|Evagrius]] of [[Athanasius]]'s ''Life of Antony'' and a copy of [[Sulpicius Severus]]' ''Life of St Martin''.<ref name="CM_xxv" /> He also used lesser known writers, such as [[Fulgentius of Ruspe|Fulgentius]], [[Julian of Eclanum]], [[Tyconius]], and [[Prosper of Aquitaine]]. Bede was the first to refer to Jerome, Augustine, Pope Gregory and Ambrose as the four Latin [[Fathers of the Church]].<ref name="Ward44">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|p=44}}</ref> It is clear from Bede's own comments that he felt his calling was to explain to his students and readers the theology and thoughts of the Church Fathers.<ref name="Mey827">{{harvnb|Meyvaert|1996|p=827}}</ref>

Bede also wrote homilies, works written to explain theology used in worship services. He wrote homilies on the major Christian seasons such as [[Advent]], [[Lent]], or Easter, as well as on other subjects such as anniversaries of significant events.<ref name="Theo" />

Both types of Bede's theological works circulated widely in the Middle Ages. Several of his biblical commentaries were incorporated into the ''[[Glossa Ordinaria]]'', an 11th-century collection of biblical commentaries. Some of Bede's homilies were collected by [[Paul the Deacon]], and they were used in that form in the [[Liturgy of the Hours|Monastic Office]]. [[Saint Boniface|Boniface]] used Bede's homilies in his missionary efforts on the continent.<ref name="Theo" />

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.{{sfn|Laistner|1935|pp=237–262}}{{efn|{{harvnb|Laistner|1935|pp=263–266}} provides a list of works definitely or tentatively identified as in Bede's library.}}

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's ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Encyclopaedia]]'', for example, but it seems that the version he had was missing book xviii, since he did not quote from it in his ''De temporum ratione''.{{sfn|Laistner|1935|pp=237–262}}{{efn|{{harvnb|Laistner|1935|pp=263–266}} provides a list of works definitely or tentatively identified as in Bede's library.}}[[File:The Venerable Bede translates John 1902.jpg|thumb|Cropped portrait from ''The Last Chapter'' by [[J. Doyle Penrose]] ({{Circa|1902}}), showing Bede finishing his translation of the Gospel of John on his deathbed|170x170px]]Bede's works included ''Commentary on Revelation'',<ref name="Ward51">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|p=51}}</ref> ''Commentary on the [[Catholic Epistles]]'',<ref name="Ward56">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|p=56}}</ref> ''Commentary on Acts'', ''Reconsideration on the Books of Acts'',<ref name="Ward58">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|pp=58–59}}</ref> ''On the Gospel of Mark'', ''On the Gospel of Luke'', and ''Homilies on the Gospels''.<ref name="Ward60">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|p=60}}</ref> At the time of his death he was working on a translation of the Gospel of John into English.<ref name="Loyn270">{{harvnb|Loyn|1962|p=270}}</ref><ref>Bühler, Curt F. "[[doi:10.2307/43626101|A Lollard Tract: on Translating the Bible Into English]]". ''Medium Ævum'', vol. 7, no. 3, 1938, p. 181. Retrieved 9 March 2023.</ref> He did this for the last 40 days of his life. When the last passage had been translated he said: "All is finished."<ref name="SHMI" /> The works dealing with the Old Testament included ''Commentary on Samuel'',<ref name="Ward67">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|p=67}}</ref> ''Commentary on Genesis'',<ref name="Ward68">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|p=68}}</ref> ''Commentaries on Ezra and Nehemiah'', ''On the Temple'', ''On the Tabernacle'',<ref name="Ward72">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|p=72}}</ref> ''Commentaries on Tobit'', ''Commentaries on Proverbs'',<ref name="Obermair45">{{harvnb|Obermair|2010|pp=45–57}}</ref> ''Commentaries on the Song of Songs'', ''Commentaries on the Canticle of Habakkuk''.<ref name="Ward74">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|p=74}}</ref> The works on Ezra, the tabernacle and the temple were especially influenced by Gregory the Great's writings.<ref name="Gregory80">{{harvnb|Thacker|1998|p=80}}</ref>

=== Historical and astronomical chronology ===
[[File:Beda - De natura rerum, 1529 - 4784142.tif|thumb|upright|''De natura rerum'', 1529]]
''De temporibus'', or ''On Time'', written in about 703, provides an introduction to the principles of Easter computus.<ref name="BedeVen37">{{harvnb|Brown|1987|p=37}}</ref> This was based on parts of [[Isidore of Seville]]'s ''[[Etymologiae|Etymologies]]'', 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.<ref name="ODNB" /> In about 723,<ref name="ODNB" /> Bede wrote a longer work on the same subject, ''[[The Reckoning of Time|On the Reckoning of Time]]'', which was influential throughout the Middle Ages.<ref name="BedeVen38">{{harvnb|Brown|1987|pp=38–41}}</ref> 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 the [[cosmos]], including an explanation of how the [[spherical Earth]] influenced the changing [[length of day]]light, of how the [[season]]al motion of the Sun and Moon influenced the changing appearance of the [[New Moon|new moon]] at evening twilight.<ref name="Bede2004pp82-85">{{harvnb|Bede|2004|pp=82–85, 307–312}}</ref> Bede also records the effect of the moon on [[tide]]s. 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.{{sfn|Bede|2004|pp=64–65}} 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.{{sfn|Bede|2004|p=65}} Since the focus of his book was the computus, Bede gave instructions for [[Easter controversy#Synod of Whitby in 664|computing the date of Easter]] from the date of the [[Paschal full moon]], for calculating the motion of the Sun and Moon through the [[zodiac]], and for many other calculations related to the calendar. He gives some information about the months of the [[Anglo-Saxon calendar]].<ref name="Bede2004pp53-4">{{harvnb|Bede|2004|pp=53–54, 285–287}}; see also [http://www.nabkal.de/beda/beda_15.html]</ref>

Any codex of Bede's Easter table is normally found together with a codex of his ''De temporum ratione''. His Easter table, being an exact extension of [[Dionysius Exiguus]]' Paschal table and covering the time interval AD 532–1063,<ref>Zuidhoek (2019) 103-120</ref> contains a 532-year Paschal cycle based on the so-called classical Alexandrian 19-year lunar cycle,<ref>Zuidhoek (2019) 70</ref> being the close variant of bishop [[Theophilus I of Alexandria|Theophilus]]' 19-year lunar cycle proposed by [[Annianus of Alexandria|Annianus]] and adopted by bishop [[Cyril of Alexandria]] around AD 425.<ref>Mosshammer (2008) 190-203</ref> The ultimate similar (but rather different) predecessor of this Metonic 19-year lunar cycle is the one invented by [[Anatolius of Laodicea|Anatolius]] around AD 260.<ref>Declercq (2000) 65-66</ref>

For calendric purposes, Bede made a new calculation of the [[Dating creation|age of the world]] since the [[Genesis creation narrative|creation]], 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.<ref name="Bede2004ppxxx">{{harvnb|Bede|2004|pp=xxx, 405–415}}</ref>

In addition to these works on astronomical timekeeping, he also wrote ''[[De natura rerum (Bede)|De natura rerum]]'', or ''On the Nature of Things'', modelled in part after the work of the same title by Isidore of Seville.<ref name="BedeVen36">{{harvnb|Brown|1987|p=36}}</ref> His works were so influential that late in the ninth century [[Notker the Stammerer]], a monk of the [[Abbey of Saint Gall|Monastery 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".<ref name="Bede2004plxxxv">{{harvnb|Bede|2004|p=lxxxv}}</ref>

=== Educational works ===
Bede wrote some works designed to help teach grammar in the abbey school. One of these was ''De arte metrica'', a discussion of the composition of Latin verse, drawing on previous grammarians' work. It was based on Donatus's ''De pedibus'' and [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]'s ''De 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."<ref name="BedeVen31">{{harvnb|Brown|1987|pp=31–32}}</ref> ''De orthographia'' is a work on [[orthography]], 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.<ref name="BedeVen35">{{harvnb|Brown|1987|pp=35–36}}</ref>

''De schematibus et tropis sacrae scripturae'' discusses the Bible's use of rhetoric.<ref name="ODNB" /> 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.<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="CM_xxvi">Colgrave gives the example of [[Desiderius of Vienne]], who was reprimanded by Gregory the Great for using "heathen" authors in his teaching.</ref> Similarly, his text on poetic metre uses only Christian poetry for examples.<ref name="ODNB" />

===Latin poetry===
A number of poems have been attributed to Bede. His poetic output has been systematically surveyed and edited by [[Michael Lapidge]], who concluded that the following works belong to Bede: the ''Versus de die iudicii'' ("verses on the day of Judgement", found complete in 33 manuscripts and fragmentarily in 10); the metrical ''Vita Sancti Cudbercti'' ("Life of St Cuthbert"); and two collections of verse mentioned in the ''Historia ecclesiastica'' V.24.2. Bede names the first of these collections as "librum epigrammatum heroico metro siue elegiaco" ("a book of epigrams in the [[heroic meter|heroic]] or [[elegiac meter|elegiac metre]]"), and much of its content has been reconstructed by Lapidge from scattered attestations under the title ''[[Liber 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 of [[St Æthelthryth]]), and four other hymn-like compositions.<ref>Joseph P. McGowan, [https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/32332/36157 review] of Michael Lapidge, ed. and tr. ''Bede's Latin Poetry''. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2019. Pp. xvi, 605. $135.00. {{ISBN|978-0-19-924277-1}}, in ''The Medieval Review'' (4 April 2021).</ref>

=== Vernacular poetry ===
According to his disciple Cuthbert, Bede was ''doctus in nostris carminibus'' ("learned in our songs"). Cuthbert's letter on Bede's death, the ''Epistola Cuthberti de obitu Bedae'', moreover, commonly is understood to indicate that Bede composed a five-line vernacular poem known to modern scholars as ''[[Bede's Death Song]]''
{{blockquote|
And he used to repeat that sentence from [[Paul of Tarsus|St 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:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|ang|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.}}<ref name="ColgraveMynors1969pp580-3">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=580–583}}</ref>
|
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 a [[finite 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.<ref name="Opland140">{{harvnb|Opland|1980|pp=140–141}}</ref> 

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<ref name="Mccready14">{{harvnb|McCready|1994|pp=14–19}}</ref> or because it is a direct quotation of Bede's last original composition.<ref name="Opland14">{{harvnb|Opland|1980|p=14}}</ref>

== Veneration ==
[[File:Depiction of St. Bede the Venerable (at St. Bede's school, Chennai) - Image has been cropped for better presentation.jpg|thumb|upright|Bede depicted at [[St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School|St Bede's School]], Chennai]]

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 of [[Augustine of Canterbury]]. Later, when he was [[veneration|venerated]] 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 of [[Saint Boniface|Boniface]] and [[Alcuin]], 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.<ref name="Ward136">{{harvnb|Ward|1990| pp=136–138}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Ward136">{{harvnb|Ward|1990| pp=136–138}}</ref> 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)|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.<ref name="Ward139">{{harvnb|Ward|1990| p=139}}</ref>

His body was '[[translation (relic)|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 at [[Durham Cathedral]] in 1370. The shrine was destroyed during the [[English 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.<ref name="Companion4pic">{{harvnb|Wright|2008|p=4 (caption)}}</ref> Other [[relic]]s were claimed by [[York Minster|York]], [[Glastonbury Abbey|Glastonbury]]<ref name="Farmer2004p47-48" /> and [[Fulda]].<ref name="Reread24">{{harvnb|Higham|2006|p=24}}</ref>

His scholarship and importance to Catholicism were recognised in 1899 when the Vatican declared him a [[Doctor of the Church]].<ref name="ODNB" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ass/documents/ASS-32-1899-900-ocr.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621175756/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ass/documents/ASS-32-1899-900-ocr.pdf |archive-date=21 June 2015 |url-status=live|year=1899|title=Acta Sanctae Sedis|volume=XXXII|publisher=Vatican|pages=358–359|language=Latin}}</ref> He is the only Englishman named a Doctor of the Church.<ref name="SHMI" /><ref name="Companion4" /> He is also the only Englishman in [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[Paradiso (Dante)|Paradise]]'' (''[[Paradiso (Dante)|Paradiso]]'' X.130), mentioned among theologians and doctors of the church in the same canto as [[Isidore of Seville]] and the Scot [[Richard of St Victor]].

His feast day was included in the [[General Roman Calendar]] in 1899, for celebration on 27 May rather than on his date of death, 26 May, which was then the feast day of [[St Augustine of Canterbury]]. He is venerated in the Catholic Church,<ref name="Companion4" /> in the [[Calendar of saints (Church of England)|Church of England]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=27 March 2021|website=The Church of England|language=en}}</ref> and in the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|Episcopal Church (United States)]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEq7DwAAQBAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 |date=17 December 2019 |publisher=Church Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-64065-235-4 |language=en}}</ref> on 25 May, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with a feast day on 27 May (Βεδέα του Ομολογητού).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2014/05/27/103796-venerable-bede-the-church-historian|title=Venerable Bede, the Church Historian|website=www.oca.org}}</ref>

Bede became known as ''[[Venerable]] Bede'' (Latin: {{Lang|la|Beda Venerabilis}}) by the 9th century<ref name="Companion3">{{harvnb|Wright|2008|p=3}}</ref> because of his holiness,<ref name="SHMI" /> but this was not linked to consideration for [[Canonization|sainthood]] by the Catholic Church. According to a legend, the epithet was miraculously supplied by angels, thus completing his unfinished epitaph.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02384a.htm|title=Catholic Encyclopedia: The Venerable Bede|website=New Advent }}</ref>{{efn|The legend tells that the monk engraving the tomb was stuck for an epithet.  He had got as far as {{Lang|la|Hac 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 word {{Lang|la|venerabilis}}.}} 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.<ref name="Reread9">{{harvnb|Higham|2006|pp=9–10}}</ref>

===Modern legacy===
[[File:Nuremberg Chronicle Venerable Bede.jpg|thumb|upright|A depiction of the Venerable Bede (on CLVIIIv) from the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'', 1493]]Bede's reputation as a historian, based mostly on the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', remains strong.<ref name="Stenton_187" /><ref name="Worm29" /> [[Thomas Carlyle]] called him "the greatest historical writer since [[Herodotus]]".<ref>Adrian, Arthur A. "[http://www.jstor.org/stable/3825516 Dean Stanley's Report of Conversations with Carlyle]". ''Victorian Studies'', vol. 1, no. 1, Indiana University Press, 1957, pp. 72–74.</ref> [[Walter Goffart]] says of Bede that he "holds a privileged and unrivalled place among first historians of Christian Europe".<ref name="Nar236">{{harvnb|Goffart|1988|p=236}}</ref> He is patron of [[Beda College]] in Rome which prepares older men for the Roman Catholic priesthood. His life and work have been celebrated with the annual Jarrow Lecture, held at [[St Paul's Church, Jarrow]], since 1958.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stpaulschurchjarrow.com/index.php?p=1_9_The-Jarrow-Lecture|title=The jarrow lecture|publisher=stpaulschurchjarrow.com|access-date=4 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914035758/http://www.stpaulschurchjarrow.com/index.php?p=1_9_The-Jarrow-Lecture|archive-date=14 September 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
Bede has been described as a progressive scholar, who made Latin and Greek teachings accessible to his fellow Anglo-Saxons.<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 July 2016 |title=How Sunderland became a poster child for Brexit |language=en-US |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2016/07/how-sunderland-became-poster-child-brexit |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>

[[Jarrow Hall (museum)|Jarrow Hall]] (formerly Bede's World), in Jarrow, is a museum that celebrates 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bede Metro Station {{!}} Co-Curate |url=https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/bede-metro-station/ |access-date=16 July 2023 |website=co-curate.ncl.ac.uk}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Library resources box |by=yes | |others=yes |about=yes |label=Bede |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* [[List of manuscripts of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica|List of manuscripts of Bede's ''Historia Ecclesiastica'']]
* [[List of works by Bede]]
* [[Medieval ecclesiastic historiography]]
* {{portal-inline|Catholic Church}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|25em}}

== Sources ==
=== Primary sources ===
{{Refbegin|indent=y|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Cite web
| author = Bede
| date = c. 860
| title = St. Gallen Stiftsbibliothek Cod. Sang. 254. Jerome, Commentary on the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Includes the most authentic version of the Old English "Death Song" by the Venerable Bede
| work = Europeana Regia
| access-date = 5 June 2013
| url = http://www.europeanaregia.eu/en/manuscripts/st-gallen-stiftsbibliothek-cod-sang-254/en
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131203030450/http://www.europeanaregia.eu/en/manuscripts/st-gallen-stiftsbibliothek-cod-sang-254/en
| archive-date = 3 December 2013
| url-status = dead
}}
* {{Cite book |author=Bede |author-mask={{long dash}} |editor-last=Plummer |editor-first=C |title=Hist. eccl. · Venerabilis Baedae opera historica |year=1896 |volume=2 vols}}
* {{cite book |author=Bede |author-mask={{long dash}} |editor=Colgrave, Bertram |editor-link=Bertram Colgrave |editor2=Mynors, R.A.B. |editor2-link=R. A. B. Mynors |title=Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People |location= Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1969 |isbn= 978-0-19-822202-6|title-link=Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum }} (Parallel Latin text and English translation with English notes.)
*{{cite book|title=The Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles of Bede the Venerable|editor=David Hurst|date=1985|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4-nYAAAAMAAJ|author=Bede |author-mask={{long dash}}|publisher=Cistercian Publications|isbn=9780879078829}}
* {{cite book |author=Bede |author-mask={{long dash}} |title=Ecclesiastical History of the English People|translator=[[Leo Sherley-Price]] |others=Revised by R.E. Latham |editor=D. H. Farmer |location=London |publisher=Penguin |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-14-044565-7|title-link=Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum }}
* {{cite book |author-mask={{long dash}} |editor1=McClure, Judith |editor2=Collins, Roger |title=The Ecclesiastical History of the English People|author=Bede|location= Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press|year= 1994 |isbn= 978-0-19-283866-7|title-link=Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum }}
* {{cite book |author-mask={{long dash}} |editor= Jones, C.W.|author=Bede |title=Bedae Opera de Temporibus|location= Cambridge, MA |publisher=Mediaeval Academy of America |year=1943}}
* {{cite book |author=Bede |author-mask={{long dash}} |translator=Wallis, Faith |title=Bede: The Reckoning of Time |location= Liverpool |publisher=Liverpool University Press |year=2004 |isbn= 978-0-85323-693-1}}
* {{cite book |author= Bede |author-mask={{long dash}} | translator-last = Holder| translator-first = Arthur G. | year = 2011| title = On the Song of Songs and selected writings | publisher = Paulist Press | place = New York | series = The Classics of Western Spirituality | isbn = 978-0-8091-4700-7
}} (contains translations of ''On the Song of Songs, Homilies on the Gospels'' and selections from the ''Ecclesiastical history of the English people'').
* {{cite book |translator-last=Swanton|translator-first=Michael James |title=The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-415-92129-9| ref={{harvid|Swanton|1998}} }}
{{Refend}}

=== Secondary sources ===
{{Refbegin|indent=y|colwidth=30em}}
* {{cite journal |last=Abels |first=Richard |year= 1983 |title=The Council of Whitby: A Study in Early Anglo-Saxon Politics |journal=[[Journal of British Studies]] |volume=23 |issue= 1|pages=1–25 |doi=10.1086/385808 |jstor=175617|s2cid=144462900 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Behr |first=Charlotte |title=The Origins of Kingship in Early Medieval Kent |journal=Early Medieval Europe |volume=9 |year=2000 |issue=1 |pages=25–52 |doi=10.1111/1468-0254.00058|s2cid=162301448 }}
* {{cite book |last=Blair |first=Peter Hunter |author-link=Peter Hunter Blair |title=The World of Bede |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |year=1990 |edition=Reprint of 1970 |isbn=978-0-521-39819-0 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Brooks |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |title=From British to English Christianity: Deconstructing Bede's Interpretation of the Conversion |editor=Howe, Nicholas |editor2=Karkov, Catherine |encyclopedia=Conversion and Colonization in Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies |location=Tempe|year=2006 |pages=1–30 |isbn=978-0-86698-363-1 }}
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first=George Hardin |author-link=George Brown (medievalist)|title=Bede, the Venerable |publisher=Twayne |location=Boston |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-8057-6940-1}}
* {{cite journal |last=Brown |first=George Hardin |author-mask={{long dash}} |title=Royal and Ecclesiastical rivalries in Bede's History|journal=Renascence |year=1999|volume= 51 |issue=1|pages=19–33|doi=10.5840/renascence19995213 }}
* {{cite ODNB |last=Campbell |first=J. |title=Bede (673/4–735) |date=23 September 2004 |id=1922 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Cannon |first1=John |last2=Griffiths |first2=Ralph|title= The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-822786-1}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Chadwick |first=Henry | author-link= Henry Chadwick (theologian) |title=Theodore, the English Church, and the Monothelete Controversy |encyclopedia = Archbishop Theodore |series=Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England #11 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-521-48077-2 |pages=88–95 |editor=Lapidge, Michael }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Colgrave|first1=Bertram |last2=Mynors |first2=R.A.B. |author-link1=Bertram Colgrave|author-link2=R. A. B. Mynors |title=Introduction |encyclopedia=[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum|Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People]] |location= Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1969 |isbn= 978-0-19-822202-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Declercq |first=Georges |title=Anno Domini (The Origins of the Christian Era) |publisher=Brepols |location=Turnhout |year=2000 |isbn=9782503510507 }}
* {{cite book |last=Dorey |first=T.A. |title=Latin Historians |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |location=London |year=1966 }}
* {{cite book |last=Englisch |first=Brigitte |author-link=Brigitte Englisch |title=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 |publisher=Sudhoffs Archiv, Beihefte 33 |location=Stuttgart |year=1994 |pages= 71–80 (biography), pp. 242–246 (De natura rerum), pp. 280–370 (computus) }}
* {{cite book |last=Farmer |first=David Hugh |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher= Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-19-282038-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Farmer |first=David Hugh |author-mask={{long dash}} |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford|isbn= 978-0-19-860949-0}}
* {{cite book|first = Robin |last=Fleming|title=Britain after Rome: The Fall and the Rise, 400 to 1070|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London|isbn=978-0-14-014823-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Goffart |first=Walter A. |author-link=Walter Goffart |title=The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550–800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-691-05514-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Higham |first=N.J. |title=(Re-)Reading Bede: The Historia Ecclesiastica in Context |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-415-35368-7}}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Higham | first1 = N.J. | year = 2013 | title = Bede's Agenda in Book IV of the 'Ecclesiastical History of the English People': A Tricky Matter of Advising the King | journal = Journal of Ecclesiastical History | volume = 64 | issue = 3| pages = 476–493 | doi=10.1017/s0022046913000523| s2cid = 159608095 }}
* {{cite book |last=Kendall|first=Calvin B. |chapter=Bede and Education|title=The Cambridge Companion to Bede |editor1-first=Scott|editor1-last=DeGregorio|publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2010 |isbn=9781139825429|pages=99–112|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cazpM2cTY9YC&pg=PA101 }}
*{{cite book|first=M.L.W. |last=Laistner|chapter=The Library of the Venerable Bede|editor= A. Hamilton Thompson|title=Bede: His Life, Times and Writings: Essays in Commemoration of the Twelfth Century of his Death |location= Oxford|year= 1935 |publisher=Clarendon|isbn=9780198223177|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAdEAAAAYAAJ}}
* {{cite book|title=Aspects of the Language of Latin Prose|chapter=Poeticism in Pre-Conquest Anglo-Latin Prose|editor=[[Tobias Reinhardt|Reinhardt, Tobias]]|first=Michael|last=Lapidge|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2005|isbn=978-0-19-726332-7|display-editors=etal}}
* {{cite book |last=Loyn | first=H.R. |author-link=H. R. Loyn |title=Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest | publisher=Longman | year=1962 |isbn=978-0-582-48232-6}}
* {{cite book |last=McCready |first=William D. |title=Miracles and the Venerable Bede: Studies and Texts| series=[[Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies]] #118|location= Toronto |publisher=Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies |year=1994 |isbn= 978-0-88844-118-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Mayr-Harting |first=Henry |author-link= Henry Mayr-Harting |title=The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |location=University Park |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-271-00769-4 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Meyvaert |first=Paul |title=Bede, Cassiodorus, and the Codex Amiatinus|journal= [[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]] |year=1996|volume= 71 |issue=4|pages=827–883 |doi=10.2307/2865722 |jstor=2865722 |publisher=Medieval Academy of America |s2cid=162009695 }}
* {{cite book |last=Mosshammer |first=Alden A. |author-link=Alden A. Mosshammer |title=The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2008 |isbn=978-0199543120 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Obermair |first=Hannes|title=Novit iustus animas. Ein Bozner Blatt aus Bedas Kommentar der Sprüche Salomos|journal= Concilium Medii Aevi |year=2010|volume= 31 |pages=45–57 |issn=1437-904X |publisher=Edition Ruprecht |url=http://cma.gbv.de/dr,cma,013,2010,a,03.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://cma.gbv.de/dr,cma,013,2010,a,03.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Opland |first=Jeff |title=Anglo-Saxon Oral Poetry: A Study of the Traditions |location= New Haven and London |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-300-02426-5 |publisher=Yale U.P }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Ray |first=Roger |title=Bede |encyclopedia=Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Blackwell |location=Malden, MA|editor=Lapidge, Michael |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 |pages=57–59 |display-editors=etal}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Rowley|first=Sharon M.|editor1-last=Echard|editor1-first=Sian|editor2-last=Rouse|editor2-first=Robert|title=Bede |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2017|pages=257–264|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXoqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA258 |isbn=978-1118396988 }}
* {{cite book |last=Stenton |first=F.M. |author-link= Frank Stenton |title= Anglo-Saxon England |year= 1971|publisher= Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Thacker |first=Alan |title=Memorializing Gregory the Great: The Origin and Transmission of a Papal Cult in the 7th and early 8th centuries|journal= Early Medieval Europe |year=1998 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=59–84 |doi=10.1111/1468-0254.00018|s2cid=161546509 }}
* {{cite book |last=Thompson |first=A. Hamilton |title=Bede: His Life, Times and Writings: Essays in Commemoration of the Twelfth Century of his Death |location= Oxford|year= 1969 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite journal |last=Tyler |first=Damian |title=Reluctant Kings and Christian Conversion in Seventh-Century England |journal=[[History (The Journal of the Historical Association)|History]] |date=April 2007 |volume=92 |issue=306 |pages=144–161 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.2007.00389.x}}
* {{cite book |last= Wallace-Hadrill|first= J.M. |author-link=J. M. Wallace-Hadrill | title= Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |year=1988 |series= Oxford Medieval Texts |isbn=978-0-19-822269-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Ward |first=Benedicta |title=The Venerable Bede |publisher=Morehouse Publishing |location=Harrisburg, PA |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-8192-1494-2}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Ward |first=Benedicta |author-mask={{long dash}} |title=Bede the Theologian |encyclopedia=The Medieval Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Medieval Period |editor=Evans, G.R. |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-631-21203-4| pages=57–64 }}
*{{cite book|last=Whiting|first=C.E.|chapter=The Life of the Venerable Bede|editor= A. Hamilton Thompson|title=Bede: His Life, Times and Writings: Essays in Commemoration of the Twelfth Century of his Death |location= Oxford|year= 1935 |publisher=Clarendon|isbn=9780198223177|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAdEAAAAYAAJ}}
*{{cite book|last=Whitelock|first=Dorothy |editor=Gerald Bonner|title=Famulus Christi: Essays in Commemoration of the Thirteenth Centenary of the Birth of the Venerable Bede|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTrHngEACAAJ|year=1976|publisher=SPCK|chapter=Bede and his Teachers and Friends|isbn=9780281029495 }}
* {{cite book|last=Wormald |first= Patrick |author-link=Patrick Wormald |title=The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century |publisher=Blackwell |year=1999 |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-631-13496-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Wright |first=J. Robert |author-link=J. Robert Wright |title=A Companion to Bede: A Reader's Commentary on The Ecclesiastical History of the English People |publisher=Eerdmans |location=Grand Rapids, MI |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8028-6309-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Yorke |first=Barbara|author-link= Barbara Yorke |title=The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c. 600–800 |publisher=Pearson/Longman |location=London |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-582-77292-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Zuidhoek |first=Jan|author-link=Jan Zuidhoek |title=Reconstructing Metonic 19-year Lunar Cycles (on the basis of NASA's Six Millennium Catalog of Phases of the Moon) |publisher=JZ |location=Zwolle |year=2019 |isbn=978-9090324678}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|journal=The Antiquaries Journal|first1=Joanna|last1=Story|author-link=Joanna Story|first2=Richard|last2=Bailey|title=The Skull of Bede|year =2015|volume=95|pages=325–350|doi=10.1017/s0003581515000244|s2cid=163360680}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links |wikt=no |commonscat=yes |q=yes |s=Author:Bede |n=no |v=no |b=no |d=Q154938}}
* [https://dcc.dickinson.edu/bede-historia-ecclesiastica/intro/preface Dickinson College Commentaries: ''Historia Ecclēsiastica'']
* {{Gutenberg author | id=39416}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}
* {{Librivox author |id=3335}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160201211451/http://www.bedesworld.co.uk/ Bede's World: the museum of early medieval Northumbria at Jarrow]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20041125.shtml The Venerable Bede] from [[In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)]]
* ''[https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/bede-book1.asp Ecclesiastical History of the English People]'', Books 1–5, L.C. Jane's 1903 Temple Classics translation. From the [[Internet Medieval Sourcebook]].
* [https://www.ccel.org/ccel/bede/history.pdf Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History'' and the Continuation of Bede (pdf)], at [[Christian Classics Ethereal Library|CCEL]], edited & translated by A.M. Sellar.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070804064713/http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Fperson=4039&Itemid=28 Saint Bede], complete works, in Latin, with historical works also in English at ''The Online Library of Liberty''
* [https://www.janzuidhoek.net/Recondiony.htm Dionysius Exiguus' Paschal table]

{{Bede}}
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