Originally published on September 24, 2024 (Episode 376)
Introduction
Generations of college students have probably imagined that his first name was Venerable and his last name Bede. But Bede—just Bede—was his only name. A native of Northumbria, he spent his life within a few miles of his monastery, and probably just a few miles from where he was born.
That seemingly narrow life was filled with immense intellectual activity. Bede authored teaching texts for young monks, biblical commentaries, arithmetical works, sermons, hagiographies, and more. Yet when remembered by historians, it is above all for his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum—An Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
With me to discuss Bede as historian is Rory Naismith, Professor of Early Medieval History and Fellow of Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. This is his third appearance on the podcast.
About the Guest
Rory Naismith is Professor of Early Medieval English History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. His research spans Anglo-Saxon England, coinage and economy, and the intellectual culture of the early Middle Ages.
For Further Investigation
Related Episodes
“Making Medieval Money”, with Rory Naismith
“Talking Anglo-Saxon”, with Rory Naismith
Polybius of Megalopolis, the Greek historian of Rome
Princess Anna Komnene, the Byzantine princess-historian
Other Resources
Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, available in translations by Bertram Colgrave and D.H. Farmer; scholarly edition by Colgrave and R.A.B. Mynors (OUP, 1992)
J. Robert Wright, A Companion to Bede: A Reader’s Commentary on The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Eerdmann’s, 2009)
J. Campbell, Essays in Anglo-Saxon History (Bloomsbury, 1986)
P. Hunter-Blair, The World of Bede (Cambridge, 1990)
H. Mayr-Harting, The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd ed. (Penn State, 1991)
R. Shaw, The Gregorian Mission to Kent in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History: Methodology and Sources (Taylor and Francis, 2018)
A. Thacker, “Chapter 12: Bede and History,” in The Cambridge Companion to Bede (Cambridge, 2010)
A. Thacker, “Bede’s Ideal of Reform,” in Ideal and Reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Society: Studies presented to J. M. Wallace-Hadrill. Edited by Patrick Wormald, with Donald Bullough and Roger Collins (Blackwells, 1983)
Jarrow Hall: Anglo-Saxon Farm Village and Bede Museum
Listen & Discuss
Was Bede more a historian or a theologian? Did he invent “English history,” or was he just chronicling his monastery’s concerns? Share your thoughts in the comments—and if you know someone who still thinks his first name was “Venerable,” set them straight by sharing this episode.
