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1. Bede
Born in 673 A.D. an orphan and
was brought up in a monastery by
Benedict, a generous and great church
founder. Bede expanded his knowledge of Latin and developed strong interests
on books under the influence of Benedict. He joined Benedict’s first
monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth, where he became an Abbot. Later he went
to the monastery of St. Paul in Jarrow and lived there all his life. He
became a
deacon at the age of 19 and a priest at 30. He carried out the
regular duties in the church carefully, devoted himself to the religion, and
mastered much knowledge.
His writings, all in Latin, covered all kinds of subjects, including
grammatical and critical handbooks, scientific theses, biblical comments,
sermons and saint’s lives. The main theme is spreading Christianity and the
development of English church. Many works were widely read in Europe for
centuries. Since an Egyptian monk invented date calculation, Bede adopted
this method, and began writing in this way. This method was generally
accepted and is still used everywhere today.
His masterpiece is his Latin work Historia
Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English
people) was published in 631 and then was translated into Anglo-Saxon by
King Alfred in 891. It is the first great English history book before
Shakespeare. It covers the whole length of early English history, from the
Roman invasion led by Julius Caesar to 731 A. D., four years before Bede’s
death. This history book reviews the early English life, the English
Conquest and colonization, the
Christianity, its cultural influence and the
most famous story about Caedmon. So, this book has been regarded as the most
important source of knowledge about the Anglo-Saxon period until today. This
book is full of strange stories and miracles, which represent the religious
points of view. Even though, this prose work, generally speaking, is
considered the first truly great work written in English, for it is not only
a great historical work but also for its vivid style of narration and Bede’s
serious attitude in writing this work. He gathered and examined all
available records of the events and documents of that age. In some passages
of this prose work, Bede used some poetic elements. For instance, in the
passages about Caedmon, Bede used a direct and simple style, which is much
better than any other works of that age. Thus, he is a spiritual leader of
the culture center in the Northumbria of England. For his masterpiece, Bede
got the title of “Father of English History”.
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