Bede the Venerable
Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk at Jarrow. Author of Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, the principal source for early English Christianity. Wrote extensive biblical commentaries drawing on Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, and Gregory the Great. Declared Doctor of the Church.
Why Bede the Venerable matters
Bede sat in a monastery in Northumbria and wrote the history of how Christianity reached England — his Ecclesiastical History of the English People is still the founding text of English historiography. He invented the convention of dating by Anno Domini. He preserved Latin learning at a time when most of the West had forgotten how to read it. He is the only Englishman in Dante's Paradiso. Patristic learning didn't die in 600 — it was carried on by people like Bede, in cold monasteries on the edge of the world.
Chain to Jesus
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Works
- Ecclesiastical History of the English Peoplec. 731
Foundational history of England's Christianization — five books from Gregory's mission to Bede's day.
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Sources for biography
- Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum primary
- Bede, De Temporum Ratione primary
- Cuthbert, Epistola de obitu Bedae primary
documented connections(5)
- cited Augustine of HippoBede draws on Augustine throughout his commentaries; his exegetical method is fundamentally Augustinian.Bede, In Genesim, In Lucam, etc. · Bede, Retractatio in Acta Apostolorum, prologue
- cited JeromeBede uses Jerome's commentaries and the Vulgate extensively.Bede, In Marcum, prologue
- Bede cites Gregory's Moralia, Pastoral Rule, and Homilies pervasively, and gives him the most affectionate treatment in the Historia Ecclesiastica.Bede, Hist. Eccl. 2.1 · Bede, In Cantica Canticorum
- cited Ambrose of MilanBede cites Ambrose among his standard Latin Fathers in his commentaries.Bede, In Lucam, prologue
- knew of (incoming) Cuthbert of LindisfarneBede wrote both prose and verse Lives of Cuthbert based on Lindisfarne testimony; he revered him as a saint of his own region.Bede, Vita Cuthberti, prologue