Queen Cynethryth of Mercia was one of the most distinguished rulers of Anglo Saxon Britain.

He also studied theology extensively and wrote the first martyrology, a chronicle of the lives of the saints. He wrote and translated some 40 books on topics such as natural history, astronomy and occasionally some poetry.

Bede was a polymathĭuring his lifetime, Bede found time to study. Although this episode of plague killed the majority of the population of Jarrow, Bede was spared. He survived a plague that struck in 686ĭisease was rampant in medieval Europe, as people lived closely with animals and vermin with little understanding of how illness spread. I have spent all the remainder of my life in this monastery and devoted myself entirely to the study of scriptures.”īy the time he was 30, Bede had been priested. “I was entrusted by my family first to the reverend Abbot Benedict and later to Abbot Ceolfrith for my education. St Paul’s was noted for its impressive library boasting some 700 volumes, which Bede put to scholarly use: He remained a Benedictine monk there until his death in 735 AD. The 12-year-old Bede attended the consecration of the new St Paul’s monastery on 23 April 685. Bede became a Benedictine monk at St Paul’s monastery He was sent 10 monks and 12 novices from St Peter’s monastery, and they founded the new St Paul’s monastery. At age 7 he was entrusted into the care of Benedict Biscop, who in 674 AD founded the monastery of St Peter at Wearmouth.īiscop, a Northumbrian nobleman who later became Bede’s abbot, was given the land at Jarrow by King Ecgrith of Northumbria. Nothing certain is known of his family backgroundīede was most likely born in Monkton, Durham, to a reasonably wealthy family.

Here are 10 facts about this venerable medieval figure. Within a century of his death, Bede’s work was known across Europe and his reputation had made the Anglo-Saxon monastery at Jarrow, northeast England, one of the most important historical religious sites in Europe. Often referred to as the ‘Father of British History’, Bede was the first person to record the history of England.

673-735) was a monk who became early medieval Europe’s greatest scholar. Living almost 1,300 years ago, the Venerable Bede (c.

Bede english history