The Venerable Bede
“In 731 AD, in the most far-flung corner of the known universe, a book was written that represented a height of scholarship and erudition that was not to be equalled for centuries to come. It was called the Ecclesiastical History of the Angle Peoples and its author was Bede. A long way from Rome, in a monastery at Jarrow in the North East of England, his works cast a light across the whole of Western Civilisation and Bede became a bestseller, an internationally renowned scholar and eventually a saint. His Ecclesiastical History has been in copy or in print ever since it was written in the eighth century and his edition of the Bible remains the Catholic Church’s most authoritative Latin version to this day. How did Bede achieve such ascendancy from such an obscure part of Christendom? And what was so remarkable about his work?”
Words from Melvyn Bragg
So begins a radio programme from the long-running ‘In Our Time’ series on Radio 4 (first broadcast in 2004). It caught my ear then as Radio 4 programmes often seem to do – one minute I’m happily washing up with the radio burbling away in the background, then something catches my attention and I just have to sit down and listen. This programme was one such moment. I’d known the Venerable Bede’s name since I was a child and remembered it perhaps just because it sounds so, so… so memorable I guess! But that half hour radio programme gave me a deeper insight into one man’s life and achievement. Insight also into monastic existence, and a realisation that these so called ‘dark ages’ weren’t quite so dark after all. Apparently scholars no longer use the term dark ages to describe the medieval period – we may not have many cultural records from these times, but what we do have shows remarkable depths of study and considerable awareness of the wider world.
Even in the northern lands of what were yet to be called England. For Bede lived in the kingdom of Northumbria, in Jarrow and Monkwearmouth, between the years of 672 to 735. We know little of his family, although it is most likely that he came from a noble background. He himself describes his home as being near to the monastery. The Anglo Saxons were Germanic and noble families had a tradition of fostering out their children – and so it was that Bede at the age of 7 joined the monastery – a bit like going to boarding school. He was rarely to leave the place from then on. Was he a particularly scholarly or spiritual child? We’ll never know if something marked him out as suitable for a monastic life from a young age, but it seems that he flourished in that environment.
And what was the monastic life like? I don’t know what the word monastery conjures up for you – especially a monastery in the north east of our land? Chilly? A bit bleak perhaps? Well, it was a religious order and the day would have been punctuated by regular services – 8 in all – from early in the morning through to early evening. All monks would be expected to do some manual work each day in order to remind them of the value of humility. The monks would have their particular areas of expertise and in a medieval monastery being a scribe and a scholar were often interchangeable and much time would have been spent in reading and writing. And this is what Bede spent most of his life doing. But it is perhaps not accurate to think of such a monastic life as especially harsh or lacking in comfort. These seem to have been cultured people who received visitors from far afield, dined together, sang beautifully and had harp music played for them.
And Bede had access to one of the best libraries in Christendom – with books collected by the nobleman Benedict Biscop – who founded the Monkwearmouth monastery in 674. Biscop travelled the world and collected books and relics and other treasures, which then needed to be cared for. Such a library would only have had 200, perhaps 300 volumes, a tiny collection to our modern minds, but at the time it really was a remarkable collection – the very best of writing available and containing the key works of early Christianity. Bede’s own studies were based on these volumes but also demonstrate a breadth of originality that is impressive. He wrote at least 30 works of his own – much is Biblical commentary but he also covered issues of natural history, time, grammar and poetry. Many of his works survive to this day, some of which can be found translated online. The most famous of these is Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, or An Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
In this five volume work he laid out the history of the coming of Christianity to these shores from the arrival of Julius Caesar to his own time. It is credited as the first writing of English history and in many ways it is an impressive work of scholarship. No modern student can get away with writing an essay that does not credit its sources – Bede in the 700s pioneered the use of footnotes to explain his sources and he developed a sort of bibliography to list the other works he had consulted. He used oral testimony where he could. No work of history can claim to be unbiased and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History is no exception. His purpose was to show the unfolding of God’s plan for this land. His take on the pagans is of foolish, misguided souls who must be saved. But despite this, his work is a detailed and fascinating account of the issues of his time. And what makes it timeless perhaps is its view of the English as having a distinct identity as a people – an idea otherwise not yet considered in that era.
Of his many other works perhaps the key one to be aware of was his new translation of the Bible into Latin – written in the 700s AD, no doubt by a team of monks of which Bede was probably in charge – it was until the 1960s the authorised translation used by the Catholic Church. And his feast day is still marked on the date of his death – May 26th. What an achievement for a medieval monk working in the northernmost reaches of the known world.
I mentioned AD – Anno Domini – the year of Our Lord – it was Bede who pioneered the use of AD and BC to define time. And there are so many other aspects of his life and work we could explore. But something that comes across in much of his writing is his essence – he seems to have been a gentle character who used his position to attempt to guide people in how best to live. He warns kings and rulers of the power of the written word to record their deeds – that what they do for good or ill will live on long after their deaths. He encourages his students to work hard and is critical of English people’s laziness in learning languages. No change there then. The quotation we have used on the front of today’s order of service,
“Better a stupid and unlettered brother who, working the good things he knows, merits life in Heaven than one who though being distinguished for his learning in the Scriptures, or even holding the place of a doctor, lacks the bread of love.”
gives a picture of a man who knows human beings, and their strengths and weaknesses, well. Bede himself describes his life: “While attentive to the discipline of mine order and the daily care of singing in the church, my constant delight was in learning or teaching or writing”. His student Cuthbert wrote of Bede’s love of music and poetry and conveys Bede’s deep contentment with his monastic life. And Bede himself conveys the importance he placed on Christian values of love and charity. We must do what we can whilst here on earth and be ever aware of the mysteries beyond. This is famously demonstrated in his image of human life as the flight of a swallow across a hall. These words are reported by Bede as having being said by a pagan ruler who was about to convert to Christianity.
“This present life of man, O king, in comparison with the time that is hidden from us, is as the flight of a sparrow through the room where you sit at supper, with companions around you and a good fire on the hearth. Outside are the storms of wintry rain and snow. The sparrow flies in at one opening, and instantly out at another: whilst he is within he is sheltered from the winter storms, but after a moment of pleasant weather he speeds from winter back to winter again, and vanishes from your sight into the darkness whence he came. Even so the life of man appears for a little time; but of what went before and of what comes after we are wholly ignorant. If this new religion can teach us anything of greater certainty, it surely deserves to be followed.”
[Footnote: a free translation from Bede’s Historia, Book II]
Bede was a man of deep faith, a man of his time, yet someone who through his studies and his writings reached out to people who would live centuries beyond him. He knew many of the mysteries that puzzle us to this day and he found certainty, in the face of the unknown, through his faith. The Venerable Bede. Amen.
Rev. Sarah Tinker
Sermon – 13th May 2012