Bede (Baeda or Beda), Saint, The Venerable

(673-735)

   Anglo-Saxon monk whose Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (History of the English Church and People) (1731) chronicled the occupation of England by the Romans and the centuries after they departed. He gives accounts of early English saints and tells the story of Caedmon and the creation of Caedmon's Hymn. He wrote many other biblical commentaries. The Monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth (near Sunderland, Durham) was his home. His remains are entombed in the Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral. His Feast Day is 25 May. Most of what he wrote is in Latin. Some of those that have been translated into English: "Bede's Death Song" (a modern English translation is held at http://eir.li brary.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poet20.html); "A Sparrow's Flight"; "Hymn" (six stanzas, available in English).

   Sources: A Little Book of Comfort. Anthony Guest. Harper Collins 1993. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Encyclopedia of Britain. Bamber Gascoigne. London, Macmillan, 1994. Medieval Sourcebook: Bede: Ecclesiastical History of England (English translation) (www.fordham. edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.html). The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology. Kevin Crossley-Holland, ed. Oxford University Press, 1982. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbia grangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.