Bede the Venerable

Life events

1. Born — 672

   Bede was born in 672 or 673 on lands belonging to the twin monastery of Monkwearmouth–Jarrow in the Kingdom of Northumbria; he later identified his birthplace as 'on the lands of this monastery' in the autobiographical chapter of his Ecclesiastical History.

2. Educated — 679

   At the age of seven, Bede was sent as a puer oblatus — an oblate child offered to monastic life — to the monastery of Monkwearmouth, where he was educated by Abbot Benedict Biscop; he later transferred to Jarrow with Ceolfrith when that sister monastery was founded in 682.

3. Other — 686

   Plague struck Jarrow in 686, killing most of the monastic community; Bede, then about fourteen, and Ceolfrith were among the few survivors capable of singing the full liturgical offices, and the two maintained the entire service until others could be trained.

4. Ordained — 692

   In about 692, in his nineteenth year, Bede was ordained a deacon by Bishop John of Hexham — six years below the canonical age of 25, likely reflecting his exceptional abilities.

5. Ordained — 702

   Around 702, in his thirtieth year, Bede was ordained a priest by Bishop John of Hexham, completing the major orders that would define his active teaching and writing ministry at Jarrow.

6. Wrote — 731

   Bede completed the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) around 731, a five-book account of the English church from Caesar's invasion through his own day, dedicated to Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria; approximately 160 medieval manuscripts survive.

7. Pilgrimage — 733

   In 733 Bede travelled to York to visit Ecgbert, then Bishop of York, likely to discuss the proposed elevation of the See of York to an archbishopric, which was granted in 735.

8. Died — 735

   Bede died at Jarrow on the Feast of the Ascension, 26 May 735, after weeks of increasing breathlessness and swollen feet; he continued dictating to a scribe named Wilberht until the final evening of his life, distributing 'a few treasures' — pepper, napkins, and incense — before completing his last sentence.

Relationships

Documented claims

• In 1899 Pope Leo XIII declared Bede a Doctor of the Church — the first native of Great Britain to receive this designation, and the only Englishman so honoured until John Henry Newman in 2025. (certain)
• Bede did not invent the Anno Domini dating system, but his adoption and promotion of it in De Temporum Ratione is the principal reason it became standard across medieval Europe. (likely)
• Around 1020, Bede's remains were translated from Jarrow to Durham Cathedral and placed in the same tomb as Cuthbert; they were later moved to an independent shrine in the Galilee Chapel in 1370, which was destroyed during the English Reformation. (likely)
• Bede is the only Englishman named in Dante's Paradiso, appearing at X.130 among theologians and doctors of the Church alongside Isidore of Seville and Richard of St Victor. (certain)
• In 708, drunken monks at a feast before Bishop Wilfrid accused Bede of heresy for calculating in De Temporibus that the world was 3,952 years old at Christ's birth — some 1,000 years less than the figure accepted by Isidore of Seville. Bede refuted the charge in writing within days. (likely)