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'''Bede the Venerable''' (b. 673; died 735)  was simplistic [[Anglo-Saxon]] man full of piety. An extraordinary scholar, perhaps the most outstanding one of his day. He learned the love of scholarship, personal devotion and discipline. He mastered [[Latin]], [[Greek]], [[Hebrew]] and had a good knowledge of the classical scholars and early church fathers. Eagerly sought by kings and other notables, including Pope Sergius. Bede is best known for his works ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People''. Bede's writings cover a broad spectrum including natural history, poetry, Biblical translation and exposition of the scriptures.<ref>http://www.bedesworld.co.uk/academic-bede.php</ref> The culture of Italy had been brought to [[Britain]] and it was combined with the simpler traditions, devotions and evangelism of the Celtic church. Bede's writings are considered the best summary of this period in history ever prepared. Some have called it "the finest historical work of the early Middle Ages." <ref>[http://www.britannia.com/bios/bede.html The Venerable Bede] Britannia Biographies</ref> Bede was made [[Doctor of the Church]] by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.

'''Bede the Venerable''' (b. 673; died 735)  was simplistic [[Anglo-Saxon]] man full of piety. An extraordinary scholar, perhaps the most outstanding one of his day. He learned the love of scholarship, personal devotion and discipline. He mastered [[Latin]], [[Greek]], [[Hebrew]] and had a good knowledge of the classical scholars and early church fathers. Eagerly sought by kings and other notables, including Pope Sergius. Bede is best known for his works ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People''. Bede's writings cover a broad spectrum including natural history, poetry, Biblical translation and exposition of the scriptures.<ref>http://www.bedesworld.co.uk/academic-bede.php</ref> The culture of Italy had been brought to [[Britain]] and it was combined with the simpler traditions, devotions and evangelism of the Celtic church. Bede's writings are considered the best summary of this period in history ever prepared. Some have called it "the finest historical work of the early Middle Ages." <ref>[http://www.britannia.com/bios/bede.html The Venerable Bede] Britannia Biographies</ref> Bede was made [[Doctor of the Church]] by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.

==Early Life==

==Life==

Little is known of Bede's childhood, and nothing is known of his parents other than he was living on land belonging to the newly founded Monastery of St. Peter, based in Wearmouth. He is believed to have been born at Monkton, [[South Tyneside]], north-east [[England]] - then part of the kingdom of [[Northumbria]]<ref>http://www.visitsunderland.com/history_and_heritage/stpeters.html</ref>. At age seven, Bede was entrusted to the care of the Abbot St. Benedict Biscop. By 685, he was moved to Biscop’s newer Monastery of St. Paul at Jarrow<ref>http://www.bedesworld.co.uk/bedesworld-monastic.php</ref>, a few miles to the north on the [[River Tyne]]. He spent the rest of his life as a monk at Jarrow, first being taught and then teaching monastic rule. Original stonework from both monasteries still exists, as part of later medieval church buildings, and Monkwearmouth-Jarrow has been approved as a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]].

Nearly everything known about Bede is contained in the short autobiography he appended to his <i>Ecclesiastical History</i>:

 

::<i>I, Bede, servant of [[Christ]] and priest of the monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul which is at [[Wearmouth]] and [[Jarrow]], have, with the help of [[God]] and to the best of my ability, put together this account of the history of the church of [[Britain]] and of the English people in particular, gleaned either from ancient documents or from tradition or from my own knowledge. I was born in the territory of this monastery. When I was seven years of age I was, by the care of my kinsmen, put into the charge of the reverend [[Benedict Biscop|Abbot Benedict]] and then of [[Ceolfrith]], to be educated. From then on I have spent all my life in this monastery, applying myself entirely to the study of the Scriptures; and, amid the observance of the discipline of the Rule and the daily task of singing in the church, it has always been my delight to learn or to teach or to write. At the age of nineteen I was ordained deacon and at the age of thirty, priest, both times through the ministration of the reverend Bishop John on the direction of Abbot Ceolfrith. From the time I became a priest until the fifty-ninth year of my life I have made it my business, for my own benefit and that of my brothers, to make brief extracts from the works of the venerable fathers on the holy [[Bible|Scriptures]], or to add notes of my own to clarify their sense and interpretation.</i><ref>Bede, <i>The Ecclesiastical History of the English People</i>, ed. and trans. J. McClure and R. Collins (Oxford, 1994), 293.</ref>

 

As he writes, Bede was entrusted to the care of the Abbot St. Benedict Biscop when he was seven years old. By 685, he was moved to Biscop’s newer monastery of St. Paul at Jarrow<ref>http://www.bedesworld.co.uk/bedesworld-monastic.php</ref>, a few miles to the north on the [[River Tyne]]. He spent the rest of his life as a monk at Jarrow.

==Works==

==Works==