The World of Bede

by Peter Hunter Blair , Foreword by Michael Lapidge

• ISBN13: 9780521391382
• ISBN10: 0521391385
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1990-10-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

An engaging and accessible introduction to the writings and intellectual development of the Venerable Bede (d.735), this book (originally published in 1970) is available again for the enjoyment of all those interested in the early medieval world. With an updated preface and supplementary bibliography by Michael Lapidge, the book is based almost entirely on primary sources, particularly Bede's own writings. The book surveys the fragmented state of Britain after the Anglo-Saxon conquests, tracing the - sometimes faltering - rebirth of Christianity from the time of St. Augustine through to the glories of the golden age of Northumbria in the eighth century. What was Bede's contribution to the growth of scholarship? Why is his famous Ecclesiastical History of the English Church and People still so highly regarded? How did Bede see his own age? What traditions most influenced him? Peter Hunter Blair answers all these questions, assessing Bede sympatheticaly in all the fields in which he was active, as teacher, orthographer, moral philospher, grammarian, theologian, natural scientist and, above all, as our first modern historian.

Table of Contents

Preface

List of abbreviations

Part I. Alter Orbis: 1. Change in the West

2. Bede's view of Britain

3. Britons and English

4. English foundations

Part II. Towards Christianity: 5. The initiation of a mission

6. The journey to England

7. Gregory's English correspondence

8. Bede's account of the mission

9. The first Archbishops of Canterbury

10. Paulinus in Northumbria

11. 'Celtic' and 'Roman' missionaries

Part III. the Growth of Monasticism: 12. Gaulish and Italian influences

13. Spanish influences

14. Aspects of English monasticism

15. Benedict Biscop's early years

16. The Foundation of Wearmouth

17. The Foundation of Jarrow

18. The Abbacy of Ceolfrith

Part IV. Learning, Teaching and Writing: 19. The regular life

20. The Bible in the West

21. The Northumbrian Bible

22. Education and grammarians

23. Reading and psalmody

24. Number and time

25. The lives of saints

26. Secular and Christian books

27. Candela Ecclesiae

Select Bibliography