ON THE TWELVE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

*
OF THE DEATH OF BEDE
is
after twelve hundred
years
by posterity
one
more
reflects
is
when
it
than
;
exceptional
exceptional
since
that during
have elapsed
the twelve hundred
years which
van?
risen
and
have
the death of the Venerable
Bede
dynasties
con?
new
divided
and
has been
subdivided,
ished, Christendom
To

be remembered

in itself

tinents

have

been

and

discovered

settled.

And

is not

the wonder

that the figure we are concerned with

by recalling
nor
a
a
was not
he was
crusader, nor an empoeror;
great pontiff,
To understand
of all things a historian.
why after twelve hun?
the fact

lessened

at all
should be remembered
dred years the slight figure of Bede
to borrow
in the inscription
the suggestion
it may
be practical
"
Si monumentum
of a later time :
carved for an Englishman
"
"
it
and
into
the
tolle,
injunction,
transpose
circumspice
quaeris,
the written
and that monument,
lege," for Bede has a monument
is indeed an impressive
word,
of a series of works which

monument

is composed
and

theological
scriptural
is
to
the
of letters
technical
side
say
literary pieces,
on natural
as some verses,
treatises
and
of par?
science,
of
The
of
human
fields
variety
importance,
history.1

ticular

covered

knowledge

alone

labor

physical

judged by any
as it should
reckoned,
times in which he lived

of Bede's
at

the

is little

to the troubled
reference
be, both with
in life, the results
and to his own position
cannot fail to amaze us. So it appeared
to

industry
Sixteenth

December
Association,
1
Venerabilis
Baede

less than astonishing.

The
to the production
of his intellectual
is considerable,
standards
but when
it is

by Bede
incident

output

Read

Bede's

includes

that

studies,
as well

one.

Annual

26, 1935,
Historiam

Meeting

of the American

Catholic

Historical

Mass.
Boston,
Ecclesiasticam

Gentis
Anglorum,
Historiam,
cum Historia
una
ad Eggbertum,
Abbatum
Auetore
Ad
Anonyme
Epistolam
tarn Critico
Denuo
Commentario
Codicum
Fidem
Manuscriptorum
Recognovit,
Instruxit
Carolus
A.M.
; J. A. Giles,
quam Hist?rico
Plummer,
1896)
(Oxford,
the Venerable.
Bede
of Venerable
works
in original
Bede
(The
complete
Latin,

12 v. London,

1843-4).

297
on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:56:09 UTC

298

PHILIP

of Durham,
Symeon
corner of the world,
who

who wrote
who

EUELONG

"
as one living
in a remote
the seas in order to learn

of Bede

never

did not visit

knowledge,
should be famous

J.

crossed

the schools

of the philosophers,
[yef]
and should be known
learning

such great
2
for the composition
of so many books."
cannot explain Bede's
production
importance.

for

in the world

everywhere
But mere quantity
are certain
There

that set him

his writing
Bede's
his variety
far above his fellows.
of intellec?
sympathy,
are
as
historian
tual interests no less than his technical
equipment
in fact

characteristics

the characteristics

which

about

place

his work

far above

that of

was
An understanding
of his life which
his contemporaries.
a
of
and
marked
purpose
by singular
sincerity
high respect for
truth is the key to Bede
the historian.
His
covered in
life which
sixty-two years, after his seventh year was passed behind
The years spent quietly at
the protecting
walls of the monastery.
Jarrow vitalized
his career. As a monk meditating
upon the reali?
have
of eternity Bede must
ties of life and upon
the verities
all some

that feeling for truth and that sense of proportion which

acquired
his work.
In this cultural oasis set in the midst
of a
characterized
torn by strife and given to destruction,
the scholar was pro?
beset the path of
influences
which
those
disturbing
against
was
of our own times. The monastery,
historians
too, apparently

world

tected

a treasury of source material

and in this treasure house Bede was
to
his
that which was worthy
sort
and dis?
able
materials,
using
of these influences
has been
The picture
the spurious.
carding
set forth by Francis
S. J.3
S. Betten,
an excur?
of
Bede
the
historian
requires
appreciation
it is
works
and while
sion along the avenue of his non-historical
to their
than a passing
to make more
not here practical
reference
admirably
A full

even this little will

subject-matter
was within
the sphere
knowledge
Doctor
variety

he was

Dryasdust,
hobbled to a single

2Thomas
Allison,
3"
the
St. Bede,
York,

1926);

eccl?siastiques

Pioneers

Venerable,"
"Bede"
Raby,
(Paris,

disclose
of Bede's

not

a specialist

point,

wandering

the fact

that all human

interest.
of

Bede

hopelessly

no

was

the present

day
a

through

1932).
Learning,
(Oxford,
p. xvii
of English
ed. P. Guilday
in Church
(New
Historians,
et de Geographie
d'Histoire
in Dictionnaire

1933).

on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:56:09 UTC

TWELVEHUNDEEDTH ANNIVEBSARY OF THE DEATH OP BEDE

299

nor direction.
Bede was
perspective
His
the model
historian must be, an explorer.
inquisitive
of the reasons
studies
led him to make
for example,
special

maze

of detail

what

neither

with

ness,
and the ways
are of special

of

time.

reckoning

Bede's

and even

studies

of

the results

chronology
have been

though
importance
as witness
among others that carried
subject of controversy,
on in the Athenaeum
and
between Sir James H. Ramsay
(1930)
:
was
Mr. A. Anscombe,
that
this
Bede
the conclusions
prove only
the

a careful

than his

careful

and

historian

he is far more
of chronology
Charles W. Jones has
Professor

in the matter

contemporaries.
to the fact that

in the subject of chronology Bede

for
assembled
completeness
library of exceptional
stood him in good stead
that time. At any rate Bede's knowledge
for history must have strict regard
when he came to write history,
called

attention

seems

to have

to chronology.
the fifth book of his Ecclesiastical
History
Indeed,
a chronological
contains
of
from
English
recapitulation
history
the Roman
invasion under Julius
to the death of Arch?
Caesar
in 731.

Bede.
This no
challenged
in computing
or
the
figures
accepting
In some of the Old English
totals of others.
of Bede's
versions
as
Ecclesiastical
there
has
been a
notes,
History,
George Hempl
are
of
numerals.4
These
not
to be
errors, however,
misreading
bishop Bertwald
him
doubt made

Mathematics

careful

to Bede

who is most
careful
about figures.
Thus,
in
third
the
book
of
the
is
to
note
he
careful
example,
history
in 655 A. D. five thousand
families
lived in southern Mercia
attributed

careful

the

ecumenical

enumeration
of

councils

of

the bishops who

from Nicea

on

took

the Church

(Book IV, cxviii).

are unquestionably
works
of Bede
of
and
these
the Ecclesiastical
productions

Constantinople
The historical

for
that

in the
part
to the second at
his most

im?

History
of the
far
his
other
out-distances
for although
English
by
works,
People
the Martyrology
has a place in the catalogue
of Bede's writings,
in
is not entirely his work.
its present
form it undoubtedly
Bede's
portant

Chronicle

of the Six

two biographies

His
*

G. Hempl,

Modem

is limited
in its appeal.
Ages
of the World
one is verse,
of St. Cuthbert,
relatively
speak

Language

Notes

(Baltimore,

1896).

on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:56:09 UTC

300

PHILIP

FUKLONG

J.

is a
But the Ecclesiastical
History
unimportant.
This is a genuine masterpiece
and upon it Bede's
or
in his fifty-eighth
fame chiefly rests. The history was written
a
of
at
Arch?
of
the
year,
Albin,
fifty-ninth
disciple
suggestion
ing, are likewise
different matter.

and Abbott

Theodore

bishop

year was consumed

is an achievement.

not more
than a
Perhaps
in itself
of the history, which

Adrian.5

in the writing
The

in Everyman's

Library
comprises
a
300
most
of
matter,
pages
representative
closely printed
nearly
in the actual writing
of this work great
But while
production.
history

to bear, in the larger sense a lifetime went

into
speed was brought
of the attractiveness
its making.
here is the explanation
Perhaps
is the one history written
of this book. In any case Bede's History
the medieval

during

of his

importance

hundreds

that towers above its fellows.

The
period
text was so clearly perceived
that it was copied
of times so that even today at least one hun?

probably
are extant which
dred thirty manuscripts
are, or were, to be found
to Mexico
from Leningrad
City. And after the invention of print?
was
the
But
this
book
first to come from the presses.
among
ing
this

does not

teristics

its greatness.
There
are, however,
explain
or less discernible
in this book more
do
which

charac?
indicate

for the appeal of Bede's masterpiece.

There is a poetry
a
is
in the history;
there
certain
that raises it
also
epic quality

the reasons
from

a standard

sides,
from

to a piece of
of the
sincerity

chronicle

the honesty

and

literature.
author

There

that

is, be?
speak forth
of
equipment

there is the technical

every page and finally
the office of historian
the writer
himself who evidently
regarded
of a historian
The effectiveness
to some
with reverence.
depends

how painstaking
his research,
upon his style for no matter
lan?
he must be able to clothe the fruits of his labor in beautiful
extent

guage.
poetry

in his

beauty

of Bede's

poet,
5
Peter

is not
Wilcock,

a poet.6 We
also. And
prose

was

Bede

here

because

writing,
less a historian;
Lives

1910).
(Sunderland,
6
Christian
P. J. R. Baby,

of

the

Latin

a writer

rather
first

Five

Poetry

verse, but we have

one
is
of
explanation

his

have

of history,
his writing
will

Abbots

(Oxford,

of Wear

mouth

his
the

for being a
be rich and
and

Jarrow

1927).

on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:56:09 UTC

TWELVEHUNDREDTH ANNIVEBSAEY OF THE DEATH OP BEDE

in the Ecclesiastical

So

complete.

Bede

History

speaks

301
"

of a

hill

and
flowers"
clothed with
adorned,
"Craggy
(Book I, cvii).
"
"
are noticed
bois?
The
uncouth mountains
(Book IV, cxxvii),
"
7
us
terous wind,"
make
definite what he wants
raging pain,"
see.

to

Professor

Abbott8

has

called

to the epic quality

is recounting
perhaps,

of

attention

Bede's

the

Bede,
writing.
unconsciously
of a tremendous
the battle between
progress
paganism
struggle,
even
had
and Christianity.
triumphed
by no means
Christianity
was
the
that
in Bede's
not
centuries
later
for
it
until
several
day,
came
the chief threat to England
peoples who constituted
cen?
seventh
the yoke of Christ.
the
itself, during
England
was
was
and
Bede
born
the process of conversion
tury,
undergoing
of
of
much
the
the
knew
the
He
therefore
power
during
eighth.

northern
under

which

forces

overcome.

must
Christianity
and how He was

And

the

conqueror?
had already been pro?
regarded
than
in The Dream
claimed
of the Rood but not more eloquently
own words
at his death preserved
in Bede's
for us in Cuthbert's
"
: The time for me to be set free is at hand, for
letter to Cutwin

Who

was

He

desires
indeed my
soul much
secret:
is
the
Here
beauty."
He

is fighting
the powers
Ecclesiastical
History.
who

to behold

my

Bede's

King,
of darkness.

Christ
in His
King
the White
is
Christ,
He

is the hero

of the

in the historian.
is taken for granted
Bede's
history
amounts to genius.
this quality explains why his
Perhaps
a grandiose
as
it
does
survey of world
by omitting
begins
a
con?
in
I
and beginning
with
statement
chapter
directly

Factual
honesty
history
history

of Britain
the geography
and the character
of its early
in
the
of
Caesar's
inva?
inhabitants,
and,
story
chapter II, giving
the practise
sion. Had Bede
of contemporary
followed
writers,
a
and later writers
also, he should have written
history
largely
cerning

in parts
apocryphal
When
dealing with

and

one

that

the miraculous,

7
A
See Jones,
Fennell,
Putnam,
Bede
1929).
of
(Cambridge,
8William
Cortez
Abbott,
Conflicts

long since had been

Bede
is carefully
to

Concordance

with

Oblivion

the Historia

(New

Haven,

forgotten.
objective.
Ecclesiastica

1924).

on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:56:09 UTC

302

PHILIP J. FUBLONG

In describing
the virtues of saintly characters
there is a complete
is
absence of pietism.
Indeed
there is a rugged honesty which
exhorta?
See, for example, Pope Gregory's
especially
appealing.
"
:
tion to Augustine
It remains,
that he glory not in his miracles
that amidst those things which
you
therefore, most dear brother,
the working
of our Lord, you always
. . . And
if any time you have
inwardly
strictly judge yourself.
. . . call it to mind
that the remembrance
offended our Creator
perform

outwardly

through

of your guilt may crush the vanity which

rises in your heart."
But the professional
historian will perhaps be chiefly interested
in Bede's method
of writing.
his method
of writing
Concerning
"
the writings
of
history he has this to say, that his sources were
of our ancestors or of my own knowl?
"
"
? They were,
of the
ancients
or the anonymous
of Wilfrid,
Life of

or the tradition

the ancients,
edge." What

were

the writing

others, Eddius'
Life
or The Life
Bede was
of Cuthbert.
Pope
Gregory,
also with Pliny,
Isidore
Orosius, Eutropius,
Vegetius,
among

Tertullian,
monastic
and was
it was
material;
as Borne

no

acquainted
of Seville,

others, for what has been called the

an efficient
was
institution
travelling
library
evidently
in
in successful
Bede's
This
operation
day.
explains why
and,

not

necessary
the sources

doubt,

for him
came

to leave

to him.

to procure material.

His

his monastery
for
friends
journeyed

source
as far

it is not always pos?

used by Bede.
Plum?

Unfortunately,
to particularize
the sources
concerning
mer remarked
some years ago that a
really critical edition of Bede,
which
should show exactly how much he borrowed
and how much
is original,
is a great desideratum.
After
this situa?
years
forty
tion has not been remedied.
Such a task would be a monumental
one because Bede
indicates
sources he
which
rarely
specifically
sible

has used; the authority may be mentioned

but not
not always be charged
This neglect must
in copying
the manuscripts
later scribes
Probably

work.

the particular
against Bede.
failed

to note

the friendship
of many
of the
enjoyed
best informed men of his day, those who had personal
knowledge
or who had been in contact with a
of the events he describes
previ
all the indications.9

E. J.

Sutcliffe,

Bede

S. J., B?blica,

(1926).

on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:56:09 UTC

TWELVEHUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 0E THE DEATH OE BEDE

ous generation
contributions
historian,
of writing
So we

that had
are for

know

the most
cannot

therefore,

fail

of these

events

first

noted.

part duly
to be satisfied

hand.

303
Their

The

with

professional
Bede's method

and his careful use of source material.

history
turn from an attempted
employed
analysis of the method
of the sources used
and the all too sketchy consideration

by Bede
by him to the man

were needed
to justify?if
justification
of his
hundredth
twelfth
anniversary
to
think
this
like
that
We
for
historians.
may
death, Bede, model
be found in the concluding words of the Ecclesiastical
History
of
"
: And now, I beseech
Bede
the English
where
writes
People,
thou hast graciously
that to whom
granted
these, good Jesus,
wisdom
of
the
words
of
to
and
knowledge,
thy
sweely
partake

?the

salutation

himself

on

the

some time or other come to

that he may
of all wisdom,
and always appear before thy
three, the fountain
"
!
end. Amen
without
world
livest
and
who
face,
reignest
thou wilt

also vouchsafe

Philip

J. Furlong.

on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:56:09 UTC