BedeCritiques

One of those rare classic texts that proves to be enjoyable and informative reading.

text and notes

I don’t normally rate or review books that I give up reading but decided to do so in this case because I got beyond the halfway mark.

The earlier chapters I consider quite interesting, but the further into it I got, the harder I found it to keep my concentration. It feels repetitive in some respects, yet the aspect that made me stop reading was yet another vision being recounted as a historic fact. Some such visions occur when people are awake, while at least one happened during sleep, so in other words it was a dream.

The number of miracles recorded as facts are as tedious as they are unbelievable. For instance, the dust were Oswald, King of Northumbria, was slain was able to cure deadly illnesses, simply because Oswald was sainted.

Bede also declares that certain kings should have their names erased from history and their reigns forgotten because of their disbelief in the Christian faith. So, ‘cancel culture’ sadly existed in Anglo-Saxon times. Such omissions don’t make for good history.

This is a didactic and biased text by an early historian. I accept, of course, that the mindset of someone living in the eight century is worlds away from that of the present day. Despite this, it didn’t make this book any more enjoyable for me to read.

A foundational work on the history of the English Church. My second time reading this after a long time away. There are some incredibly inspiring stories of faith and missionary ministry here, my fave being St. Alban.

My fourth reading of Bede's magnum opus and I struggled for several reasons: it was my first time not reading my beloved Sherley-Price translation and my first time reading the History during a worldwide pandemic and very serious family health crisis. Thank goodness for the good people at LibriVox.org who had recorded an audiobook of Sellar's translation.

Bede's chronicle of the rise, expansion, and consolidation of Roman Catholicism among the Anglo-Saxon tribes in England from the fifth through the early part of the eighth centuries.

Bede is one of our primary sources for the period. His chronicle thinks highly of the bishops and monks from Augustine onward as well as those rulers who converted or proved zealous for the faith. A lot of miracle stories are recorded.

Bede is not quite as kind about British/Celtic Christianity. He recognizes their greater antiquity and speaks of the developments which led to their faith, but regarded them generally in contempt. The big concern throughout is when Easter should be observed: we today may find it trifling, but for Bede it proves almost all-important. One needs to have the virtues of an Aidan to be able to overcome that bias.

In Bede's account can be seen the imposition of the "order" of Roman Catholicism on Celtic Christianity via the conversion and continual correction of the English by Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory, and those who came after him.

This version is highly readable with helpful notes and also includes a letter of Bede to a bishop and Cuthbert's chronicle of Bede's death.

An indispensable resource to understanding the development of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England.

Det är kanske inte helt rättvist att sammanfatta den vördnadsvärde Bedes historia som en bok som till stor del handlar om vilka dagar man skall fira påsk på, men när karln valt att lägga in ett långt brev om detta på de allra sista sidorna kan man nästan inte låta bli. I huvudsak handlar boken om kristnandet av de anglosaxiska folken, vilket gjordes av utsända från Irland och Rom, medan britannerna tycks ha hållit sig mer på sin egen kant. Irländare och brittanner firade ävenledes påsk på andra datum än resten av Europa, och även om detta inte riktigt ansågs som kätterskt var det i alla fall suspekt, vilket föranledda sagda brev.

Grovt sett skildrar boken tre faser: Brittanniens fornhistoria, då det erövrades och försvarades av Rom innan de germanska erövrarna kom, missionsfasen, då dessa germaner långsamt kristnades, samt kristendomens konsolidering och enande, då de motsträviga irländarna fås att ta sitt förnuft till fånga. Har man inte ett speciellt intresse för kristen organisering, grundande av kloster och stift, så är de två första delarna klart mest livliga (även om det aldrig blir riktigt tråkigt förrän det ovan nämnda brevet): det är strider mellan diverse olika folk och kungar, heliga män som gör mirakel, fromma kungar och hedniska reaktioner, och i alla fall i min översättning berättat nöjaktigt medryckande.

Miraklen är ofta tämligen rättframma saker: någon helas från sjukdom, stormar stillas, ting skonas från eld eller en död förutses. Mest intressant är kanske Caedmon, en djurskötare som fick en drömsyn och sedan kunde dikta vacker vers om bibliska ämnen. Ett litet stycke av hans poesi citeras, vilket är allt som finns kvar av den förste kände engelske poetens alster.

Bede räknas som den engelska historiens fader, och även om hans verk inte alltid är det mest spännande man kan läsa är det likväl inget att fnysa åt.½

Written in the midst of the 'Dark ages' by a monk of Jarrow monastery, in the modern country of Northumberland, England, this book is more than a historical text, it is the story of a people, and their embryonic nation.
From the invasion of Julius Ceasar to his own time Bede tells the story of Britain in his own words.

Focusing upon the coming of the Saxons, and their conversion to the Catholic religion under Augustine, Bede's voice permeates this text. Sometimes praising the warrior Kings of Legend and history, passionately recording the conversion of his countrymen, or pouring scorn upon the 'Britons', it is an authentically human account.
Though his methodology and the didactic purpose of his writing would be frowned upon by modern Historians, Bede's belief in the importance of verifying accounts, and gleaning as much information as he could from eyewitnesses (or people who had known eyewitnesses) shows that Bede was no amateur and his epithet `the father of English history' is perhaps well deserved.

The nature of Bede's contacts and some of his sources of information shed a fascinating light on the cosmopolitan nature of Medieval monasteries - how else could a monk of in a remote corner of Northern England have known about an the Islamic invasions of North Africa and Spain happening thousands of miles away?

The one time mayor of London Ken Livingstone once rejected this work out of hand because Bede 'did not mention King Arthur' and others in recent years have condemned the history because of Bede's bias against the Britons and other. Whilst the latter is at least historically justifiable; the former is utterly ludicrous as a criticism of The Ecclesiastical History.
Yet for all its shortcomings, be they Bede's obvious bias, polemics and rants, and his unlikely miracle stories, and occasional errors of fact, the Ecclesiastical History still stands as the penultimate contemporary source for the Early Anglo Saxon period and essential reading for students or curious lay-people alike.

Love him or hate him, Bede is inescapable and without the Ecclesiastical History out knowledge of 6th-8th century England would be severely lacking. Indeed, its very existence bears testament to a complex, literate and multi-faceted society, far removed from traditional image of the Anglo Saxons as ignorant, backwards grunting barbarian savages.

More readable than I thought it would be. What he doesn't tell you is frustrating, but almost as interesting as what he does.

While it would be a lie to say I found Bede's history to be a riveting experience, I still consider it a largely informative one. Bede's history is one of the most extensive primary sources we have on British history before and during the time of the Anglo-Saxons, with it chronicling the first contact of Rome with the British isles, up to the year 731 just prior to Bede's death.

What with it being an "ecclesiastical history", it is obviously mainly concerned with the early history of the English church, and as a source on this subject in particular it excels, although it is obviously at times coloured by Bede's own beliefs and as a result has certain events omitted, and the book does on occasion seem preoccupied with such things as the true date of Easter and the relating of many dubious and repetitive miracles supposedly enacted at the time. If one looks slightly beyond the obvious Christian message being enforced in this they will nevertheless find Bede's history an incredibly detailed source on general early British (and Irish) history, with the work including details on the lives of many kings and notable members of the clergy, as well as the various peoples and kingdoms inhabiting Britain in this time period.

I won't claim Bede's history is a particularly fun read, because it can be incredibly dense at times and frustrating at others, however these small qualms are heavily counterbalanced by the wealth of interesting knowledge contained within its pages, which make it a definite must read in my eyes. I feel as if, after reading this I know a great deal more about the origins of my country than I did before, and while my liking of this history may be slightly biased due to my own national ties, I would still recommend it wholeheartedly to anybody with an interest in early British history (P.S. having a rough geographical awareness of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain before starting will be greatly beneficial, and finding a good heavily annotated version with an introduction like I did will greatly enhance your enjoyment of this text).

This is primarily an ecclesiastical record, but the best we have about a time period that has only the Anglo Saxon Chronicles as another written source. The writing is pedestrian, but it's a translation, so one could hope the original is spritely. But we have it at all, so....

GREEN - Saints Lives, Hagiographies, Biographies, Patristics, etc.

An interesting eyewitness view of England in the process of formation. Far from being the dreary "Venomous Bede" which many people seem to remember from school, this is an engaging and sometimes quite light-hearted account of life in the early Church. And there are Vikings! Some might find the piety excessive, but that was how it was in those times and it doesnt detract from either the readability or the importance of this lovely little book.

So first of all: did you know there used to be an English king in the 4th century by the name of Sexwulfe? SEXWULFE?! That’s probably the coolest name ever. How did I get so far in life, not knowing this was a real name? And why aren’t more people (David Bowie, specifically) changing their names to SEXWULFE?

Putting that aside, this book was an interesting mix of history and fiction. Written by the monk Bede in the 7th century, it gives readers a general feel for what was going on in Great Britain at the time. I say “general feel” because you really can’t go by the letter of what Bede is saying here, because he sprinkles the narration with accounts of miracles designed to impress and astound pagans with the power of the Christian God.

The dubious history of some of these chronicles doesn’t spoil anything for me. As long as I’m clear that I’m not reading straight-up history, I don’t mind reading about holy daggers that cure illness, magical wooden posts which don’t burn, and holy men who drive out demons. That Bede wrote any of this down (and maybe even believed it) is just part of the picture of England in 600’s A.D. Christianity was still competing with assorted pagan religions for the hearts and minds of …well, mostly of the regional rulers. Once you had them in pocket, it seems the public was compelled to follow. That’s why so there are so many tales in here of pagan kings who embraced Christianity, and whom Heaven rewarded with drastically improved fortunes (usually on the battlefield). About half of these stories show the king then lapsing back into paganism and suffering for it, only to save the day by re-embracing Christianity –this time permanently. It does get a bit repetitive.

As far as actual history goes, the book faithfully describes a lot of bloody warfare between English, Angles (immigrants from Denmark), Picts in the North (modern day Scotland), the Irish, British, and assorted lesser others. I assume the names of kings, and the lineages described are accurate, but I’m not sure why I think that, given the other liberties Bede has taken.

There are quite a lot of people named Egbert, and Cuthbert, and Ekelbert other things that sound like that. It can be confusing, trying to keep track of them all.

If you’re trying to develop a broad view of British history, this book does a nice job picking up where John Morris’ Londinium leaves off. Julius Caesar first set foot on British soil in 55 B.C. From that date on, Roman power grew in fits and starts, with London a center of first military and eventually economic power. While Rome suffered repeated humiliation in wars with the Huns and Vandals, Britain remained safely remote from these, and in fact benefitted economically as a reliable supplier of materiel for Roman armies in Gaul and Germania. The gravy train ended, of course, with the complete destruction of the Western Empire in the 5th century. England might have been on its own after that, but it was really the Christian church which maintained cultural ties between Britain and Rome. That’s what this book illuminates so well. Although Roman soldiers could no longer be relied on to defend the Northumbrians from the Picts, the Vatican still had spiritual authority over monks like Bede, and through the many active and robust monasteries, members of the British congregation could learn Latin, and become versed in the classics of history and literature. The church even had an active hand in shaping politics in the British Isles (see above). Thus, the picture which emerges is that the Catholic Church seamlessly supplanted the Romans as the framework on which England was now (loosely) integrated with other components of the former empire in language, architecture, political thought, religion, science, history, and philosophy. Good stuff.

A fascinating account of the history of England and further lands in a period when often this work is the only extant chronicle. An interesting delve into the thoughts and beliefs of a superstitious people, and when not going on and on and on about the dating of Easter, often insightful.
I should cut Bede some slack about Easter though - it seems like the history of the Church from the fall of Rome until the 8th Century, in England at least, was largely concerned with how Easter was calculated, which led to most of the wars and executions, banishments and excommunications that were so frequent.

This is one I'll probably go back to. I was really enjoying it...I just kept getting distracted by other, faster-paced books.

Bede's history is essential for the serious student of Anglo Saxon history. His ancient point of view is fascinating, and the book takes you into the day to day workings of the kingdoms of the Anglo Saxons as well as other kingdoms of the era.

Amazing he had access to such a wealth of information

Bede's History (c. AD 730) provides a fascinating look at how Christianity moved across England during the first millennium. The wars and heresies, miracles and conversions all make for an interesting read which earned its author the title "Father of English History" and a place as one of my heroes.

35 cm. (fol.)Title within architectural border, with device of Johann Herwagen the Younger; another form of this device on leaf at end of v.8; initials.Vols. 2-8 have special t.p. only; v. 4-6, undated.Printed in double columns.

This book was interesting in that you got to see the formation of Christianity in England through the eyes of Bede, a monk in the 700's AD. Interesting history. It shows how Augustine became the first archbishop of Canterbury, and how Pope Gregory saw some English slaves in the market and wanted to evangelize the country. Bede quotes actual letters from the popes and other important archbishops. Then Bede tells the stories of English Kings and bishops and monks of the various regions of the Picts, West Saxons, East Angles, Mercians, and Northumbrians. But, it was also sad to see that they focused on godly people and miracles from their hair, dirt from where they died, and holy water from washing their bones, and then they focused on penance. After one man turned from his old sinful ways, he felt he needed to stand in freezing water for hours on end to atone for his sin and chastise his body. I was impressed with how willing these Christians were willing to give up everything for the furtherance of the gospel.½

The Temple Classics edition of 1903 (reproducing the translation by "Dr. Giles" from 1840) is a handsome and convenient little volume in olive-green leather, with a smart, old-fashioned title-page, ornamentally bordered and faced by an engraving of Jarrow monastery. However, it lacks the notes of the Penguin Classics edition, and a little comparison revealed that the translation is also now past its sell-by date. As regards style, where this has "tribunes" and an "ambassador to France", the Penguin edition has the more historically appropriate "ealdormen" and "mission to Gaul". I also found at least one apparent mistranslation: at the end of Book I, it is said that "from that time to this, no king of the Scots durst come into Britain to make war on the English to this day". Clearly, any king in Scotland is already in Britain, and need not come into it to make war. (The excuse that the author means by "Britain" the Roman province south of Hadrian's Wall is belied by Bede's own clear use of "Britain" for the whole island in the description at the beginning of the book.) Bede's Latin, I deduce, must be more accurately rendered by the Penguin translator, Leo Sherley-Price, as "from that day until the present, no king of the Scots in Britain has dared to do battle with the English" (i.e. as distinct from the Scots in Ireland).

Given these inadequacies, I have reluctantly placed the book on the "out" pile, and kept the more functional Penguin on the shelf.

MB 18-iii-2009

Book 1 takes us quickly through the history of Christianity in Roman Britain and then describes the Anglo-Saxon invasions as background to the main event, St. Augustine's arrival and conversion of Kent.

Book 2 describes the spread of Christianity through Anglo-Saxon England until the conversion and of Northumbria under King Edwin.

Book 3 takes the story from King Oswald down to the death of Wigbert in Rome before he can be confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Book 4 runs from the appointment of Theodore of Tarsus as archbishop of Canterbury down to the death of St. Cuthbert.

Book 5 concludes the History by taking it down to 731, when Bede wrote it.

This translation also includes a letter from Bede to a friend of his who was a bishop about Bede's ideas for the reform of English monasticism and the duties of a bishop, and a letter from one of Bede's friends describing Bede's death.

The earlier parts of Bede's History were more interesting. The later parts tended to be just -- and then this man became bishop. I wish I knew what to make of the miracle stories. Did Bede really think they'd happened? Or were they just edifying stories which didn't necessarily have to have happened? I did find the continual discussions on the right dates to celebrate Easter a bit wearisome. I suppose they thought it was important at the time, but I found it difficult to follow and not that important anyway.

The introduction discusses the texts in a different order from their order in the book. It is also (perhaps inevitably given the overlapping nature of the texts' subject matter) somewhat repetitive. I think it would have been better to put the different sections of the introduction separately with the texts they discuss.

Parts of the Voyage of St. Brendan strongly reminded me of the final chapters of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The notes in the lives seem to be mainly limited to notes of biblical references. However, some biblical references are annotated and some are not, and it's difficult to see what the criteria are.½

The great history of England in the early middle ages.