Bede (672–735)
Born 672 CE, died 735 CE.
Bede, OSB (; Old English: Bēda [ˈbeːdɑ]; 672/3 – 26 May 735), also known as the Venerable Bede or Bede the Venerable, was an English Benedictine monk, author and scholar. He was one of the best known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most famous work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, gained him the title "The Father of English History". He served at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom of Northumbria of the Angles. Born on lands belonging to the twin monastery of Monkwearmouth–Jarrow in present-day Tyne and Wear, England, Bede was sent to Monkwearmouth at the age of seven and later joined Abbot Ceolfrith at Jarrow. Both of them survived a plague that struck in 686 and killed the majority of the population there. While Bede spent most of his life in the monastery, he travelled to several abbeys and monasteries across the British Isles, even visiting the Archbishop of York and King Ceolwulf of Northumbria. His theological writings were extensive and included a number of Biblical commentaries and other works of exegesis.
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