A monk, scholar, teacher, and Doctor of the Church, Bede (also
spelled Baeda or Beda) was the first English historian and is most
well known for his extensive Ecclesiastical History of
England, which would later serve as a major source for the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. His work had a significant influence
on English and European scholarship.
Brought to the monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth at age
seven, Bede would move to Jarrow, the monastery where he would
spend most of his life, by the year 685. He was ordained a deacon
at age 19 and a priest at age 30. By the year 703 he had written
his first treatise.
Although Bede wrote extensively about history, saints' lives,
and chronology, he also wrote allegorical interpretations of
scripture in both prose and verse. The method of dating events
relative to Christ's birth (A.D. and B.C.) was popularized with
Bede's works. His student Egbert, who became Archbishop of York,
founded a school at York in which Bede's influence remained strong
and which would later influence Alcuin.
Except for a few trips to Lindisfarne and York, Bede stayed at
Jarrow until he died and was buried there. His remains were later
moved to the Galilee Chapel of the Durham Cathedral.
