The World of Bede

An engaging and accessible introduction to the writings and intellectual development of the Venerable Bede (d. 735), first historian of the English and one of the greatest scholars of the Middle Ages.

Peter Hunter Blair (Author), Michael Lapidge (Foreword by)

9780521398190, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 October 1990

356 pages
22.5 x 15 x 2.5 cm, 0.536 kg

"In the foreword, Michael Lapidge, who supervised the reprinting, says, 'Hunter Blair's book stands up well to the passage of time: being concerned with Bede himself and not with the industry of Bede scholarship.' Anyone (such as this reviewer) who read this book twenty years ago and who has just returned to it will agree....This remains a fine book." Joseph F. Kelly, Church History

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.

Foreword Michael Lapidge
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 the grammarians
23. Reading and psalmody
24. Number and time
25. The lives of saints
26. Secular and Christian books
27. Candela Ecclesiae
Select Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], British & Irish history [HBJD1]