Dates and Facts Relating to Bede's
Life and the Composition of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica (Ecclesiastical
History)
- monk known as the Venerable Bede,
born ca. 672/3, died ca.735
- entered twin monastery at Monkwearmth-Jarrow
(Northumbria) at age of 7 and never traveled more than 75 miles from home,
yet he wrote about all of Britain with great knowledge and skill
- Bede's historical method
- he used historians (e.g.,
Gildas) as sources
- used library at Jarrow, which
had many volumes, some brought from the Continent
- got reports from travelers
who came to the monastery and from monks who left on pilgrimages or trips
to the Continent and returned home
- he relied on reports,
but preferred to have these reports corroborated by at least 2 sources
- Bede's Ecclesiastical History,
written ca. 731
- was written in Latin, not
Anglo-Saxon
- exhibits a religious perspective
on culture
The Conversion of King Edwin
- Conversion was a top-down process.
Convert the king and the people will follow.
- Anecdotes uses various forms of
authority to convince readers of rightness of Christian religion
- Paulinus is voice of Christianity
(Christian auctoritas)
- Edwin was shown through a
miracle (sign) the rightness of converting and made a covenant
with God to become Christian (but then isn't sure if he should honor it)
- Coifi takes approach of pragmatic
self-interest (symbol of authority of the old religion used to convert
the people and rational argument used to sway listeners)
- Other Ealdorman exemplifies
symbolic approach, using the similae of the sparrowin the mead hall simile--he
shows that Christian's have certainty about life and the afterlife that
pagans do not possess.
- Symbolic destruction of the
old ways as an emblem of the new ways
- Coifi rides a stallion
and carries a spear to destroy old holy places--uses emblematic Christian
warrior approach
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