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BEDE, BEDA, or B

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 616 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEDE, BEDA, or B ,EDA (672 or 673-735), See also:English historian and theologian. Of Bmda, commonly called " the See also:Venerable Bede," almost all that we know is contained in the See also:short auto-See also:biographical See also:notice which he has appended to his Ecclesiastical See also:History:—" Thus much concerning the ecclesiastical history of See also:Britain, and especially of the See also:race of the English, I, See also:Breda, a servant of See also:Christ and See also:priest of the monastery of the blessed apostles St See also:Peter and St See also:Paul, which is at Wearmouth and at See also:Jarrow, have with the See also:Lord's help composed, so far as I could gather it, either from See also:ancient documents, or from the tradition of the elders, or from my own knowledge. I was See also:born in the territory of the said monastery, and at the See also:age of seven I was, by the care of my relations, given to the See also:reverend See also:Abbot See also:Benedict (Biscop), and afterwards to Ceolfrid, to be educated. From that See also:time I have spent the whole of my See also:life within that monastery devoting all my pains to the study of the scriptures; and amid the observance of monastic discipline, and the daily See also:charge of singing in the See also:church, it has ever been my delight to learn or See also:teach or write. In my nineteenth See also:year I was admitted to the diaconate, in my thirtieth to the priesthood, both by the hands of the most reverend See also:Bishop See also:John (of See also:Hexham), and at the bidding of Abbot Ceolfrid. From the time of my See also:admission to the priesthood to my (See also:present) fifty-ninth year, I have en deavoured, for my own use and that of my brethren, to make brief notes upon the See also:Holy Scripture, either out of the See also:works of the venerable fathers, or in conformity with their meaning and See also:interpretation." Then follows a See also:list of his works, so far as, at that date, they had been composed. As the Ecclesiastical History was written in 731, we obtain the following See also:dates for the See also:principal events in Bede's uneventful life:—birth, 672-673; entrance into the monastery, 679-68o; ordination as See also:deacon, 691-692; as priest, 702-703. The monastery of Wearmouth was founded by Benedict Biscop in 674, and that of Jarrow in 681-682. Though some 5 or 6 m. apart, they were intended to See also:form a single monastery under a single abbot, and so Bede speaks of them in the passage given above. It is with Jarrow that Bede is chiefly associated, though no doubt from the See also:close connexion of the two localities he would often be at Wearmouth. The See also:preface to the See also:prose life of See also:Cuthbert proves that he had stayed at Lindisfarne See also:prior to 721, while the See also:Epistle to Egbert shows that he had visited him at See also:York in 733. The tradition that he went to See also:Rome in obedience to a See also:summons from See also:Pope See also:Sergius is contradicted by his own words above, and by his See also:total silence as to any such visit.

In the passage cited above, " monastic discipline, the daily charge of singing in the church, learning, teaching, See also:

writing," in other words devotion and study make up the even See also:tenor of Bede's tranquil life. Anecdotes have been preserved which illustrate his piety both in615 See also:early and in later years; of his studies the best See also:monument is to be found in his writings. As a little boy he would take his See also:place among the pupils of the monastic school, though he would soon pass to the ranks of the teachers, and the fact that he was ordained deacon at nineteen, below the canonical age, shows that he was regarded as remarkable both for learning and goodness. For the See also:rest, it is in his works that we must chiefly seek to know him. They fall into three See also:main classes: (1) scientific; (2) See also:historical; (3) theological. The first class comprises works on See also:grammar, one on natural phenomena, and two on See also:chronology and the See also:calendar. These last were inspired largely by the See also:Paschal Question, which was the subject of such See also:bitter controversy between the See also:Roman and See also:Celtic Churches in the 7th See also:century. They form a natural transition to the second class. In this the See also:chief place is held by the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation. By this Bede has justly earned the See also:title of the See also:Father of English History. By this almost exclusively he is known to others than professed students. It is indeed one of the most valuable and one of the most beautiful of historical works.

Bede has the artist's See also:

instinct of proportion, the artist's sense for the picturesque and the pathetic. His See also:style too, modelled largely, in the present writer's See also:opinion, on that of See also:Gregory in the Dialogues, is limpid and unaffected. And though it would be wrong to See also:call Bede a See also:critical historian in the See also:modern sense of the words, he shows a very unusual conscientiousness in See also:collecting his See also:information from the best available See also:sources, and in distinguishing between what he believed to be fact, and what he regarded only as rumour or tradition. Other historical works of Bede are the History of the Abbots (of Wearmouth and Jarrow), and the lives of Cuthbert in See also:verse and prose. The History of the Abbots and the prose life of Cuthbert were based on earlier works which still survive. In the See also:case of the latter it cannot honestly be said that Bede has improved on his See also:original. In the History of the Abbots he was much nearer to the facts, and could make additions out of his own See also:personal knowledge. The Epistle to Egbert, though not historical in form, may be mentioned here, because of the valuable information which it contains as to the See also:state of the Northumbrian Church, on which the disorders and revolutions of the Northumbrian See also:kingdom had told with disastrous effect. It is probably the latest of Bede's extant works, as it was written in See also:November 734, only six months before his See also:death. The third or theological class of writings consists mainly of commentaries, or of works which, if not commentaries in name, are so in fact. They are based largely on the works of the four See also:great Latin Fathers, SS. See also:Augustine, See also:Jerome, See also:Ambrose and Gregory; though Bede's See also:reading is very far from being limited to these.

His method is largely allegorical. For the See also:

text of scripture he uses both the Latin versions, the Itala and the See also:Vulgate, often comparing them together. But he certainly knew See also:Greek, and possibly some See also:Hebrew. Indeed it may be said that his works, scientific, historical and theological, practically sum up all the learning of western See also:Europe in his time, which he thus made available for his countrymen, And not for them only; for in the school of York, founded by his See also:pupil See also:Archbishop Ecgberht, was trained See also:Alcuin (Ealhwine) the initiator under See also:Charles the Great of the Frankish See also:schools, which did so much for learning on the See also:continent. And though Bede makes no pretensions to originality, least of all in his theological works, freely taking what he needed, and (what is very rare in See also:medieval writers) acknowledging what he took, " out of the works of the venerable Fathers," still everything he wrote is informed and impressed with his own See also:special See also:character and See also:temper. His See also:earnest yet sober piety, his humility, his gentleness, appear in almost every See also:line. " In history and in See also:science, as well as in See also:theology, he is before all things the See also:Christian thinker and student." (Plummer's Bede, i. 2.) Yet it should not be forgotten that Bede could hardly have done what he did without the See also:noble library of books collected by Benedict Biscop. Several See also:quaint and beautiful legends have been handed down as to the origin of the epithet of " venerable " generally attached to his name. Probably it is a See also:mere survival of a title commonly given to priests in his See also:day. It has given rise to a false See also:idea that he lived to a great age; some medieval authorities making him he resigned his see. In 1641, when the Protestants were being ninety when he died.

But he was not born before 672 (see above) ; massacred, See also:

Bedell's See also:house was not only See also:left untouched, but be-and though the date of his death has been disputed, the tradi- came the place of See also:refuge for many fugitives. In the end, however, tional year, 735, is most probably correct. This would make the rebels insisted upon the dismissal of all who had taken him at most sixty-three. Of his death a most touching and shelter in his house, and on the bishop's refusal he was seized beautiful See also:account has been preserved in a contemporary See also:letter. and imprisoned with some others in the ruined See also:castle of Lough-His last See also:hours were spent, like the rest of his life, in devotion and boughter. Here he was detained for several See also:weeks, and when teaching, his latest See also:work being to dictate, amid ever-increasing released, rapidly sank from the effects of exposure, and died bodily weakness, a See also:translation into the See also:vernacular of the See also:Gospel on the 7th of See also:February 1642. of St John, a work which unhappily has not survived. It was a His life was written by Bishop See also:Gilbert See also:Burnet in 1685, and also by fitting close to such a life as his. his See also:elder son (ed. T. W. See also:Jones, for the See also:Camden Society, 1872). writer's See also:essay on Bede's Life and Works, prefixed to his edition of Bede's O. Eng. biddan, to pray; literally " a See also:man of See also:prayer "), generally Historia Ecclesiastica, &c.

(2 vols., See also:

Clarendon See also:Press, 1896). Beda der Ehrwurdige and See also:seine Zeit, by Dr Karl See also:Werner (See also:Vienna, 1875), is a pensioner or almsman whose See also:duty it was to pray for his bene- excellent. Gehle, Disputatio . . . de Bedae vita et Scriptis (See also:Leiden, See also:factor. In See also:Scotland there were public almsmen supported by 1838), is still useful.. Dr See also:William See also:Bright's Chapters of Early English the See also:king and expected in return to pray for his welfare and that Church History (3rd ed., Clarendon Press, 1897) is indispensable. of the state. These men wore See also:long See also:blue gowns with a See also:pewter See also See also:Ker, Dark Ages, pp. 141 if. Of the collected works of Bede the most convenient edition is that by Dr See also:Giles in twelve volumes badge on the right See also:arm, and were nicknamed Blue Gowns. (8vo., 1843-1844), which includes See also:translations of the Historical Works. Their number corresponded to the king's years, an extra one being The See also:Continental See also:folio See also:editions (See also:Basel, 1563; See also:Cologne, 1612 and 1688) added each royal birthday. They were privileged to ask See also:alms contain many works which cannot by any possibility be Bede's. throughout Scotland.

On the king's birthday each bedesman The edition of See also:

Migne, Patrologia See also:Latina (1862 ff.) is based on a com- parison of the Cologne edition with Giles and See also:Smith (see below), and received a new blue See also:gown, a See also:loaf, a See also:bottle of See also:ale, and a leathern is open to the same See also:criticism. On the chronology and genuineness of See also:purse containing a See also:penny for every year of the king's life. On the works commonly ascribed to Bede, see Plummer's ed., i., cxly-clix. the pewter badge which they wore were their name and the On the See also:MSS. early editions and translations of the Historia words " pass and repass," which authorized them to ask alms. Ecclesiastica, see Plummer, u.s., i., lxxx-cxxxii. The edition of Whelock (See also:Cambridge, fol. 1648–1644) is noteworthy as the first In 1833 the See also:appointment of bedesmen was stopped. In 1863 English edition of the Latin text, and as the editio princeps of the the last See also:payment was paid to a bedesman. In consequence of Anglo-Saxon version ascribed to King See also:Alfred (see ALFRED THE its use in this See also:general sense of pensioner, "bedesman" was long GREAT). Smith's edition (Cambridge, fol. 1722) contained not only used in English as See also:equivalent to "servant." The word had a these, but also the other historical works of Bede, with notes and appendices. k is a monument of learning and scholarship. The special sense as the name for those almsmen attached to See also:cathedral most See also:recent edition is that with notes and introduction by the and other churches, whose duty it was to pray for the souls of present writer, u.s. It includes also the History of the Abbots, and deceased benefactors.

A relic of pre-See also:

Reformation times, these the Epistle to Egbert. Of books iii. and iv. only, there is a learned old men still figure in the accounts of English cathedrals. edition by Professors See also:Mayor and Lumby of Cambridge (3rd ed., 1881). A cheap and handy edition of the text alone is that by A. Holder See also:BEDFORD, EARLS AND See also:DUKES OF. The present English (See also:Freiburg See also:im See also:Breisgau, 1882, &c.). The best-known modern English title of See also:duke of Bedford comes from a line of earls and dukes translation is that by the Rev. L. Gidley (187o). Of the See also:minor in the See also:Russell See also:family. In See also:January 1550 John, See also:Baron Russell, historical works a See also:good edition was edited by Rev. J. See also:Stevenson for was created See also:earl of Bedford, and in May 1694 his descendant, the Eng.

Hist. See also:

Soc. in 1841; and a translation by the same See also:hand William, the 5th earl, became duke of Bedford. The Russell was included in Church Historians of See also:England, vol. i., See also:part ii. (1853). 5 See also Plummer's edition, pp. cxxxii-cxlii. (C. PL.) line is dealt with in the later part of this See also:article.

End of Article: BEDE, BEDA, or B

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