List of works by Bede

Last updated

The following is a list of works by Bede.

Bede's list of his works

At the end of Bede's most famous work, the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum , Bede lists his works. His list includes several books that have not survived to the present day; it also omits a few works of his which he either omitted or which he wrote after he finished the Historia. His list follows, with an English translation given; the title used to describe the work in this article is also given, for easier reference. [1] [2]

Contents

Bede's list of his worksEnglish translationName of the work in this article
In principium Genesis, usque ad natiuitatem Isaac et eiectionem Ismahelis, libros IIIOn the beginning of Genesis, to the nativity of Isaac, and the reprobation of Ismael, three booksCommentary on Genesis
De tabernaculo et uasis eius, ac uestibus sacerdotum, libros III.Of the tabernacle and its vessels, and of the priestly vestments, three books.De tabernaculo
In primam partem Samuelis, id est usque ad mortem Saulis, libros III.On the first part of Samuel, to the death of Saul, four books.Commentary on Samuel
De aedificatione templi, allegoricae expositionis, sicut et cetera, libros II.Of the building of the temple, of allegorical exposition, like the rest, two books.De templo Salomonis
Item, in Regum librum XXX quaestionum.Item, on the book of Kings, thirty questions.Quaestiones XXX
In Prouerbia Salomonis libros III.On Solomon's Proverbs, three books.Commentary on Proverbs
In Cantica canticorum libros VII.On the Canticles, seven books.Commentary on the Song of Songs
In Isaiam, Danihelem, XII prophetas, et partem Hieremiae, distinctiones capitulorum ex tractatu beati Hieronimi excerptas.On Isaiah, Daniel, the twelve prophets, and part of Jeremiah, distinction of chapters, collected out of St. Jerome's treatise.No extant manuscript
In Ezram et Neemiam libros III.On Esdras and Nehemiah, three booksCommentary on Ezra and Nehemiah
In Canticum Habacum librum I.On the song of Habakkuk, one bookCommentary on the Prayer of Habakkuk
In librum beati patris Tobiae explanationis allegoricae de Christo et ecclesia librum I.On the book of the blessed father Tobias, one book of allegorical exposition concerning Christ and the ChurchCommentary on Tobit
Item, Capitula lectionum in Pentateucum Mosi, Iosue, Iudicum;Also, chapters of readings on Moses's Pentateuch, Joshua, and JudgesNo extant manuscript
In libros Regum et Uerba dierum;On the books of Kings and ChroniclesNo extant manuscript
In librum beati patris Iob;On the book of the blessed father JobNo extant manuscript
In Parabolas, Ecclesiasten, et Cantica canticorum;On the parables, Ecclesiastes, and canticlesNo extant manuscript
In Isaiam prophetam, Ezram quoque et Neemiam.On the prophets Isaiah, Esdras, and NehemiahNo extant manuscript
In evangelium Marci libros IIII.On the gospel of Mark, four booksCommentary on Mark
In euangelium Lucae libros VI.On the gospel of Luke, six books.Commentary on Luke
Omeliarum euangelii libros II.Of homilies on the gospel, two booksHomilies
In apostolum quaecumque in opusculis sancti Augustini exposita inueni, cuncta per ordinem transscribere curaui.On the Apostle, I have carefully transcribed in order all that I have found in St. Augustine's works.Collectaneum on the Pauline Epistles
In Actus apostolorum libros II.On the acts of the Apostles, two books.Commentary on Acts & Retractation
In Epistulas VII catholicas libros singulos.On the seven catholic epistles, a book on each.Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
In Apocalypsin sancti Iohannis libros III.On the Revelation of St. John, three books.Commentary on the Apocalypse
Item, Capitula lectionum in totum nouum testamentum, excepto euangelio.Also, chapters of readings on all the New Testament, except the GospelNo extant manuscript
Item librum epistularum ad diuersos: quarum de sex aetatibus saeculi una est; de mansionibus filiorum Israel una; una de eo, quod ait Isaias: 'Et claudentur ibi in carcerem, et post dies multos uisitabantur;' de ratione bissexti una; de aequinoctio iuxta Anatolium una.Also a book of epistles to different persons, of which one is of the six ages of the world; one of the mansions of the children of Israel; one on the works of Isaiah, "And they shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited"; one of the reasons of the bissextile or leap-year; and of the equinox, according to Anatolius.Letter to Plegwin; Letter to Acca "de mansionibus filiorum Israhel"; Letter to Acca "de eo quod ait Isaias"; Letter to Helmwald; Letter to Wicthede
Item de historiis sanctorum: librum uitae et passionis sancti Felicis confessoris de metrico Paulini opere in prosam transtuliAlso, of the histories of saints. I translated the book of the life and passion of St Felix, Confessor, from Paulinus's work in metre, into prose.Life of St. Felix
Librum uitae et passionis sancti Anastasii, male de Greco translatum, et peius a quodam inperito emendatum, prout potui, ad sensum correxiThe book of the life and passion of St Anastasius, which was ill translated from the Greek, and worse amended by some unskilful person, I have corrected as to the sense.Life of St. Anastasius
Uitam sancti patris monachi simul et antistitis Cudbercti, et prius heroico metro et postmodum plano sermone, descripsi.I have written the life of the holy father Cuthbert, who was both monk and prelate, first in heroic verse, and then in prose.Life of St. Cuthbert (verse) and Life of St. Cuthbert (prose)
Historiam abbatum monasterii huius, in quo supernae pietati deseruire gaudeo, Benedicti, Ceolfridi, et Huaetbercti in libellis duobus.The history of the Abbots of this monastery, in which I rejoice to serve the divine goodness, viz. Benedict, Ceolfrith, and Hwaetberht, in two booksHistory of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow
Historiam ecclesiasticam nostrae insulae ac gentis in libris V.The ecclesiastical history of our island and nation, in five books.Ecclesiastical History of the English People
Martyrologium de nataliciis sanctorum martyrum diebus; in quo omnes, quos inuenire potui, non-solum qua die, uerum etiam quo genere certaminis, uel sub quo iudice mundum uicerint, diligenter adnotare studui.The martyrology of the birth-days of the holy martyrs, in which I have carefully endeavoured to set down all that I could find, and not only on what day, but also by what sort of combat, or under what judge they overcame the worldMartyrology
Librum hymnorum diuerso metro siue rhythmo.A book of hymns in several sorts of metre, or rhymeHymns (incomplete?)
Librum epigrammatum heroico metro, siue elegiaco.A book of epigrams in heroic or elegiac verseLiber epigrammatum
De natura rerum, et de temporibus libros singulosOf the nature of things, and of the times, one book of eachDe natura rerum; De temporibus
Item de temporibus librum I maioremAlso, of the times, one larger bookDe temporum ratione
Librum de orthographia, alfabeti ordine distinctumA book of orthography digested in alphabetical orderDe orthographia
Item librum de metrica arte, et huic adiectum alium de schematibus siue tropis libellum, hoc est de figuris modisque locutionum, quibus scriptura sancta contexta est.Also a book of the art of poetry, and to it I have added another little book of tropes and figures; that is, of the figures and manners of speaking in which the holy scriptures are written.De arte metrica; De schematibus et tropis

In addition, the following works are listed below but are not mentioned by Bede:

Works

Biblical commentaries

Commentary on Acts

Retractation

Commentary on the Apocalypse

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

Collectaneum on the Pauline Epistles

Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah

Commentary on Genesis

This exists in two forms; an early version in two books, and a later, revised version in four books. [9] The work comments on the first twenty chapters of Genesis and the first ten verses of the twenty-first chapter. [10]

Commentary on the Prayer of Habakkuk

It is not known when Bede composed this commentary. [11] Bede dedicated the work to "his dearly beloved sister and virgin of Christ", but gives no further clues to the dedicatee's identity. Bede's commentary draws on the work of Jerome and on Augustine's City of God. [12]

Commentary on Luke

Commentary on Mark

Commentary on Proverbs

Quaestiones XXX

Commentary on Samuel

Commentary on the Song of Songs

De tabernaculo

De templo Salomonis

Composed not long before 731. [20] This work discusses the passage in 1 Kings 3:1 to 7:51 in which Solomon builds a temple. Bede was here extending a long tradition of commentary on the temple in patristic literature. [21]

Commentary on Tobit

Laistner suggests that this may have been written at about the same time as De templo Salmonis, since in both Bede stresses allegorical interpretation; however, he comments that there is no textual evidence to support this. [22] There is no other indication of the date of composition. As with the commentary on Habakkuk, Bede draws on the work of Jerome and on Augustine's City of God. [12]

Geography

De Locis Sanctis

Hagiography

Life of St. Anastasius

There are no surviving manuscripts of this work, though one did survive as late as the 15th century. [24]

Life of St. Felix

An adaptation into prose of four poems on St Felix by Paulinus of Nola. [24]

Life of St. Cuthbert (verse)

Bede wrote two lives of St Cuthbert; this one is in verse and was probably composed between 705 and 716. [25] The first printed edition was by Canisius, in his Antiquae Lectiones, which appeared between 1601 and 1604. [26] [27] Laistner lists twenty manuscripts, including one fragment; a 20th-century edition that includes a discussion of nineteen of the manuscripts is Werner Jaager, Bedas metrische Vita Sancti Cuthberti (1935). [25]

Life of St. Cuthbert (prose)

Bede wrote two lives of St Cuthbert; this one is in prose and was composed in about 721. [25] It is in part based on an earlier life of St Cuthbert, anonymous but probably written by a monk of Lindisfarne. [28]

Martyrology

History

Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Old English version)

History of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow

Homilies

Homilies

Bede's list of his works refers to two books of homilies, and these are preserved. In addition, innumerable homilies exist that have been attributed to him; in most cases the attribution is spurious but there may be additional homilies of Bede beyond those in the main two books that survive. [33] It is unclear whether the homilies were ever actually preached, or were instead intended for devotional reading. They are organized around particular dates in the church calendar, with forty of them dealing with either Christmas or Easter. The remaining ten are concerned with the feast days of saints. The homilies are thought to be among Bede's later works, dating perhaps to the late 720s. Thirty-four of them were included in a widely disseminated anthology of readings put together in Charlemagne's reign by Paul the Deacon. It is possible that Bede composed these homilies to complement the work of Gregory the Great, who had assembled his own collection of homilies: the two sets of homilies only have one reading in common, and that reading is one which Gregory had indicated needed further attention. [34]

Letters

Bede lists five letters in the list he gives of his works in the Historia Ecclesiastica, as follows: "Item librum epistolarum ad diversos: quarum de sex aetatibus saeculi una est; de mansionibus filiorum Israhel una; una de eo quod ait Isaias; 'et claudentur ibi in carcerem et post dies multos visitabantur'; de ratione bisexti una; de aequnioctio iuxta Anatolium una". Two additional letters are known: the letter to Albinus he wrote to accompany a copy of the Historia Ecclesiastica, and the Epistle to Egbert. [35] The first five letters below are the ones Bede mentioned; they are given in the same order that Bede describes them.

Letter to Plegwin

One of Bede's works on chronology, De temporibus, led to him being accused of heresy in front of Wilfred, the bishop of York; Bede was not present but heard of the charge from a monk named Plegwin. This letter is Bede's response to Plegwin; he justifies his work and asks Plegwin to deliver the letter to a monk named David so that it could be read to Wilfred. The letter was first published in Dublin in 1664 by Sir James Ware. [36] Five manuscripts survive. [37]

Letter to Acca: "de eo quod ait Isaias"

This letter was first published in 1843 by J. A. Giles, in his edition of the complete works of Bede. Giles used the only known manuscript, Paris B.N. 2840. [35] [38]

Letter to Acca: "de mansionibus filiorum Israhel"

As with the previous letter to Acca, the first publication was in J.A. Giles' 1843 edition of Bede's works. There are two manuscripts of this letter; it appears in Paris B.N. 2840, and also in a manuscript now in Zurich. [35] [38]

Letter to Helmwald

Bede's letter to Helwmald was published in 1980 in the CCSL series, edited by C.W. Jones. An English translation by Faith Wallis appeared in 1999. [39]

Letter to Wicthede

Bede's letter to Wicthede was first printed in Hervagius's 1563 folio editions of Bede's works, but the manuscript Hervagius used included a reference to the year 776. It was argued on this basis that the letter was not by Bede, but subsequently a comparison with other manuscripts determined that the passage was a spurious interpolation, and the letter is now accepted as genuine. [40] Many manuscripts are now known; Laistner lists over thirty. [41]

Letter to Albinus

Bede wrote this short letter to Albinus, the abbot of the monastery of St Peter and St Paul in Canterbury, to thank him for providing documents to Bede to assist him in writing the Ecclesiastical History. With the letter Bede sent a copy of his De templo Salomonis, and also a copy of the History; the date of the letter is therefore after 731, when the History was completed. The letter was sent to Albinus in the hands of Nothhelm, a London priest who subsequently became Archbishop of Canterbury. [42] [43] The text was first published by Jean Mabillon in his Vetera Analecta, which began publication in 1675. [42] [44] Mabillon used a manuscript from the monastery of St Vincent in Metz which has since been lost. [35] The text survives in two twelfth-century manuscripts from Austria: London, British Library, Add. 18329 (from St. Georgenberg-Fiecht), and Göttweig, Stiftsbibliothek, 37 (rot). [45]

Letter to Egbert

This letter is not included in Bede's list of his own writings. [35] Bede completed the letter on 5 November 734, not long before his death on 26 May 735; in it he explains that he is unable to visit Egbert, as he had the previous year, and so is writing to him instead. [46] The letter contains Bede's complaints about what he saw as the errors of the ecclesiastics of his day, including monasteries that were religious in name only, ignorant and careless clergy, and a lack of monastic discipline. [47] Egbert was Bishop of York at the time Bede wrote to him; he was raised to the archbishopric later that year, and Bede was probably aware of his impending elevation.[ citation needed ] The letter was first published in Dublin in 1664 by Sir James Ware, using Harley 4688, a manuscript now in the British Museum. [48]

Hymns and poems

In Bede's list of his works, he describes a book of hymns: "Librum hymnorum diverso metro sive rhythmo" and a book of poems: "Librum epigrammatum heroico metro sive elegiaco". Although manuscripts by these names survived to the 15th century, none are extant today. However, some of Bede's verse was transmitted through other manuscripts. [49] In addition, Bede included poems in several of his prose works, and these have occasionally been copied separately and thus transmitted independently of their parent work.

Hymns

Only one hymn is definitely by Bede; his Hymn on Queen Etheldryd, which is part of his Historia Ecclesiastica but which appears independently in some manuscripts. An additional fifteen hymns are thought to be of Bede's composition. Thirteen of these now survive only in a 16th-century printed edition; two further hymns, on psalms XLI and CXXII, have survived in manuscript form. [49]

De die iudicii

The poem De die iudicii is assigned to Bede by most scholars. [50]

Liber epigrammatum

Bede refers to a book of epigrams; the work is not entirely lost but has survived only in fragments. [51] In the early 16th century, the antiquary John Leland transcribed a selection of epigrams from a now-lost manuscript; his selection includes several epigrams attributed to Bede which are likely to have come from the book Bede refers to. Leland's source was originally owned by Milred, bishop of Worcester from 745 to 775. Historian Michael Lapidge suggests that Milred's collection of epigrams was assembled early in Milred's tenure as bishop, perhaps in about 750. [52]

Bede's Death Song

Cuthbert's letter on Bede's death, the Epistola Cuthberti de obitu Bedae, is understood to indicate that Bede also composed a five line vernacular poem known to modern scholars as Bede's Death Song

Other poems

The only other surviving poem of Bede's that is not part of one of Bede's prose works is a prayer in thirteen elegiac couplets which survives in a tenth-century manuscript in garbled form; it was first printed correctly in 1912. [53]

School treatises

Bede describes two of his school treatises in his list of works as "Item librum de metrica arte et huic adiectum alium de schematibus sive tropis libellum, hoc est de figuris modisque locutionum, quibus scriptura sancta contexta est". [54] The first is "a book on the art of poetry", and the second is a "little book of tropes and figures; that is, of the figures and manners of speaking in which the Holy Scriptures are written". [55] The majority of extant manuscripts of these treatises contain both of them. [54]

De arte metrica

De schematibus et tropis

De orthographia

Scientific treatises

Mappa Mundi (world map) from De natura rerum, in a manuscript now held by the Bodleian Library Mappa Mundi from Bede, De natura rerum.jpg
Mappa Mundi (world map) from De natura rerum, in a manuscript now held by the Bodleian Library

De natura rerum

Bede completed De natura rerum shortly after De temporibus, which was written in 703. [62] The work is modelled on the De natura rerum of Isidore of Seville. [63]

De temporibus

This work was completed in 703. It contains a short chronicle which was sometimes copied separately, known as the Chronica minora. There are also manuscripts of De temporibus which omit the chronicle. [64] It is a treatise covering the basics of the computus , the medieval study of calculating the correct dates for the Christian calendar. [63] Bede used much material from Isidore of Seville's Etymologies for this work. [65]

De temporum ratione

This work was completed in 725. It contains a chronicle which was often copied separately, known as the Chronica maiora. There are also manuscripts of De temporum ratione which omit the chronicle. [64] The work was known to medieval readers as De temporibus, but since that was also the title of an earlier work by Bede it was also referred to as De temporibus liiber secundus. [66] Like De temporibus it deals with computus , but at much greater length. Bede's treatment of the topic was widely and rapidly disseminated during the Middle Ages; over one hundred manuscripts have survived to the present day, almost half of which were copied within a century of the work's composition. [67] This may be because Charlemagne instituted educational reforms that included making computus part of the curriculum. [68]

Doubtful works

De octo quaestionibus [69]

According to Eric Knibbs, the treatise entitled the De octo quaestionibus is a 12th-century creation that cannot be ascribed to Bede, though the eight individual texts gathered under this title are much older. A subset of four (called, in some manuscripts, the Solutiones) are almost certainly Bede's; the authorship of the other four is uncertain. [70]

Patrologia Latina vol. 94 includes a number of homiliae subdititiae "spurious homilies" attributed to Bede.

The so-called Paenitentiale Bedae , a disciplinary work composed between c. 700 and 800, may have been authored by Bede. The idea that Bede wrote a penitential has been accepted as uncontroversial by both medieval and modern scholars, including Hermann Wasserschleben, Bruno Albers and J.T. McNeill. [71] Others, however, including Charles Plummer and M.L.W. Laistner, have challenged the attribution of this work to Bede on the grounds that Bede (they say) was too high-minded and too talented a Latinist to have composed a work of such stylistic simplicity treating such vulgar subjects as drinking, physical violence and sexual deviance. [72] A.J. Frantzen has adopted an agnostic attitude, acknowledging several arguments for and against Bedan authorship that taken together seem to leave the matter presently unanswerable. [73] The most recent and detailed study of the text was carried out by Reinhold Haggenmüller, who pronounced definitively against Bedan authorship; however, Haggenmüller's argument against Bedan authorship is hardly persuasive (it amounts merely to noticing that the oldest manuscript dates to about 60 years after Bede's death). [74] In fact no scholar has yet been able to adduce concrete evidence that either confirms or denies Bedan authorship of the Paenitentiale Bedae . McNeill and Gamer's summary of the problem is still perhaps the most fair and concise: [75]

The fact that no penitential is included by Bede among the works he lists at the end of his Ecclesiastical History ... as of the years 702–31 can hardly be admitted as a conclusive argument against his having written one, in view of the omission from this list of a number of his other known works. The strongest objection to his authorship of this book is the lack of distinction and originality in the work itself. But the author may have intended a revision, which he did not live to make. Probably too, we should not expect to find the marks of genius in a penitential. The nature of these handbooks excludes sublimity.

Editions of the Latin text and translations into English

The following table gives the first publication of each of Bede's works listed above, and also lists a modern edition of the text and a modern translation where available. The table states "None" only where it is definitely known that no printed edition or translation exists. [39] [76]

Name of the work in this articleText first publishedModern editionModern translation
Commentary on GenesisWinters, Iunilii episcopi Africani (1538), text of 1a only; Wharton, Bedae Venerabilis Opera Quaedam Theologica (1692/1693), text of 2 but omitting 1a; Martène, Venerabilis Bedae (1717), text of 2 including all of 1a. [77] Jones, CCSL CXVIII A (1967), pp. 1242.Kendall, Bede: On Genesis (2008), pp. 65322.
De tabernaculoHervagius, Opera Bedae Venerabilis (1563), or earlier. [10] Hurst, CCSL CXIX A (1969), pp. 3139.Holder, Bede: On the Tabernacle (1994), pp. 1163.
Commentary on SamuelHervagius, Opera Bedae Venerabilis (1563), or earlier. [10] Hurst, CCSL CXIX (1962), pp. 5272.
De templo SalomonisHurst, CCSL CXIX A (1969), pp. 143234.Connolly, Bede: On the Temple (1995), pp. 1117.
Quaestiones XXXJones, CCSL CXIX (1962), pp. 293322.Foley & Holder, A Biblical Miscellany (1999), pp. 89138.
Commentary on ProverbsHurst, CCSL CXIX B (1983), pp. 23163.
Commentary on the Song of SongsHurst, CCSL CXIX B (1983), pp. 167375.Arthur G. Holder (tr.), On the Song of Songs and Selected Writings. Classics of Western Spirituality. (2011).
Commentary on Ezra and NehemiahHurst, CCSL CXIX A (1969), pp. 237392.DeGregorio, Bede: On Ezra and Nehemiah (2006).
Commentary on the Prayer of HabakkukHudson, CCSL CXIX B (1983), pp. 381409.Connolly, On Tobit and the Canticle of Habakkuk (1997), pp. 6595.
Commentary on TobitHurst, CCSL CXIX B (1983), pp. 319.Connolly, Bede: On Tobit and the Canticle of Habakkuk (1997), pp. 3963.
Commentary on MarkHervagius, Opera Bedae Venerabilis (1563), or earlier. [78] Hurst, CCSL CXX (1960), pp. 431648.
Commentary on LukeHervagius, Opera Bedae Venerabilis (1563), or earlier. [79] Hurst, CCSL CXX (1960), pp. 6425.
HomiliesHurst, CCSL CXXII (1955), pp. 1378.Martin & Hurst, Homilies on the Gospels (1991), in two volumes.
Collectaneum on the Pauline EpistlesNone exists.Hurst, Excerpts from the Works of Saint Augustine on the Letters of the Blessed Apostle Paul (1999)
Commentary on ActsLaistner, CCSL CXXI (1983), pp. 399.Martin, Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (1989), pp. 3198.
RetractationHervagius, Opera Bedae Venerabilis (1563), VI, cols 1-39, or earlier.Hurst, CCSL CXXI (1983), pp. 103163.
Commentary on the Catholic EpistlesHurst, CCSL CXXI (1983), pp. 181342.Hurst, Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles (1985), pp. 3253.
Commentary on the ApocalypseGryson, CCSL CXXI A (2001), pp. 218578.Marshall, Explanation of the Apocalypse (1878)
Letter to PlegwinWare, Epistolae Duae (1664)Jones, CCSL CXXIII C (1980), pp. 613626.Wallis, Reckoning of Time (1999), pp. 405415.
Letter to Acca "de eo quod ait Isaias"Giles, Works Vol. I (1843), pp. 203214.Migne, Venerabilis Bedae, Tomus Primus (1862), cols. 702710.Foley & Holder, Bede: A Biblical Miscellany (1999), pp. 3951.
Letter to Acca "de mansionibus filiorum Israhel"Giles, Works Vol. I (1843), pp. 198202.Migne, Venerabilis Bedae, Tomus Primus (1862), cols. 699702.Foley & Holder, Bede: A Biblical Miscellany (1999), pp. 2934.
Letter to HelmwaldJones, CCSL CXXIII C (1980), pp. 627630, or earlier.Jones, CCSL CXXIII C (1980), pp. 627630.Wallis, Reckoning of Time (1999), p. 416.
Letter to WicthedeHervagius, Opera Bedae Venerabilis (1563), or earlier. [80] Jones, CCSL CXXIII C (1980), pp. 631642.Wallis, Reckoning of Time (1999), pp. 417424.
Letter to AlbinusMabillon, Vetera Analecta (1675)Plummer, Baedae Opera Historica I (1896), p. 3; and Westgard, "New Manuscripts of Bede's Letter to Albinus," Revue Bènèdictine 120 (2010), pp. 213–14.Westgard, "New Manuscripts of Bede's Letter to Albinus," Revue Bènèdictine 120 (2010), p. 215.
Letter to EgbertWare, Epistolae Duae (1664)Plummer, Baedae Opera Historica I (1896), pp. 405423.Whitelock, English Historical Documents (1979), pp. 735745.
Life of St. FelixHervagius, Opera Bedae Venerabilis (1563), or earlier. [24] Migne, Venerabilis Bedae, Tomus Quintus (1862), cols. 789798.
Life of St. Anastasius Carnandet, Acta Sanctorum (1863)
Life of St. Cuthbert (verse)Canisius, Antiquae Lectiones (16011604) [26] [27] Jaager, Bedas metrische Vita sancti Cuthberti (1935), pp. 56133.
Life of St. Cuthbert (prose)Hervagius, Opera Bedae Venerabilis, Tertius Tomus (1563), cols. 209254. [81] Colgrave, Two Lives of St Cuthbert (1940), pp. 142306.Colgrave, Two Lives of St Cuthbert (1940), pp. 143307.
History of the Abbots of Wearmouth and JarrowPlummer, Baedae Opera Historica I (1896), pp. 364387; Christopher Grocock and I. N. Wood, eds. and trans., Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow (2013).Farmer, Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow (1983), pp. 185210; Christopher Grocock and I. N. Wood, eds. and trans., Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow (2013).
Ecclesiastical History of the English PeopleEggestein (printer); anonymous edition (c. 14751480) [82] Colgrave & Mynors, Bede's Ecclesiastical History (1969), pp. 2576.Colgrave & Mynors, Bede's Ecclesiastical History (1969), pp. 3577.
MartyrologyDubois & Reynaud, Edition pratique des martyrologues (1976), pp. 1228.Lifshitz, in Head, Medieval Hagiography (2001), pp. 179196.
HymnsCassander (1536) [83] Fraipont, CCSL CXXII (1955), pp. 407415, 419438.
Liber epigrammatumLapidge, Anglo-Latin Literature, 600899 (1996), pp. 357380 (fragments only).
De die iudiciiCassander (1536) [83] Fraipont, CCSL CXXII (1955), pp 439444.Allen & Calder, Sources and Analogues of Old English Poetry: The Major Latin Texts in Translation (1976), pp.  208212.
De natura rerumSichardus (1529), or earlier. [84] Jones, CCSL CCXXX A (1975), pp. 189234.Kendall & Wallis, On the Nature of Things and On Times (2010), pp. 69103.
De temporibusSichardus (1529), or earlier. [84] Jones, CCSL CCXXX C (1980), pp. 585611.Kendall & Wallis, On the Nature of Things and On Times (2010), pp. 104131.
De temporum rationePetrus Marenus Aleander of Padua (1505), Chronica maiora only; Sichardus (1529), entire work. [84] Jones, CCSL CCXXX B (1977), pp. 263460.Wallis, Reckoning of Time (1999), pp. 157237.
De orthographiaJones, CCSL CXXIII A (1975), pp. 757.
De arte metricaKendall, Bede's Art of Poetry and Rhetoric (1991), pp. 36167.Kendall, Bede's Art of Poetry and Rhetoric (1991), pp. 36167.
De schematibus et tropisKendall, Bede's Art of Poetry and Rhetoric (1991), pp. 168209.Kendall, Bede's Art of Poetry and Rhetoric (1991), pp. 168209.
De Locis SanctisFraipont, CCSL CLXXV (1965), pp. 251280.Foley & Holder, A Biblical Miscellany (1999), pp. 525.

Complete works

Opera Bedae Venerabilis Presbyteri Anglosaxonis (Hervagius, Basel 1563).

The first attempt to print a complete set of Bede's works was made in 1563 by Johannes Hervagius (Johann Herwagen the younger, died 1564), a printer of Basle, completing a project begun by his father (died 1557). [88] This, which is taken as the Editio princeps , followed upon the first extended edition of Bede's Commentaries, edited by Franciscus Jametius, printed at Paris in three volumes in 1544, other works being available in separate editions. [89]

The royal privilege of the first edition was granted by King Henry II of France to Bernard Brand, partner of Hervagius, in 1558, and re-granted to Hervagius the younger by Charles IX in 1561. (The latter was during the regency of Catherine de' Medici in the months preceding the Colloquy of Poissy.) In his Preface Ad Lectorem Hervagius credits Jacobus Pamelius with the assembly of texts and a significant role in their editing. [90] The entire edition was dedicated to Marquard, Freiherr von Hattstein, Prince-Bishop of Speyer (1560-1581) and provost of the collegiate church of Weissenburg, Alsace. The Epistola Nuncupatoria remarks that Hervagius had met the cost of the edition more for religious reasons than from expectations of financial return: the pure and uncorrupt doctrines of Bede offered the most useful and weighty answers to the explanation of controversies flourishing in their own times. [91]

Hervagius's edition, in eight folio volumes, was incomplete in some respects and included works that were later determined to be spuriously assigned to Bede. For example, the folio edition (following Jametius) includes a commentary on St Paul that is not by Bede (attributed by Mabillon to Florus of Lyon), and omits the commentary that Bede wrote. [92] [93] A full contents listing appears in the prefatory material to Volume 1. A newly re-set edition was printed at Cologne in 1612, also in eight volumes, following the same order of texts. A further revised edition was printed at Cologne in 1688. Casimir Oudin's commentary on the authenticity of the textual attributions to Bede in these editions was published in 1722, [94] and was reproduced by Migne. [95]

Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina. The following volumes of this series contain works by Bede:

Patrologia Latina . Volumes 9094 of this series contain works by Bede, as follows.

Notes

  1. The translation is taken from Giles' edition of Bede, with some slight modernization in regard to capitalization. Giles, Complete Works, pp. 314317.
  2. Laistner & King, Hand-List, p. 154.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 20.
  4. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 25.
  5. Gryson, "Bedae presbyteri Expositio Apocalypseos", CCSL
  6. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 31.
  7. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, pp. 3738.
  8. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 39.
  9. Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 41.
  10. 1 2 3 Giles, Works, VII, p. x.
  11. Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 43.
  12. 1 2 Connolly & Scully, Bede: On Tobit and the Canticle of Habakkuk, pp. 1821.
  13. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 44.
  14. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 50.
  15. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 56.
  16. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 62.
  17. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 65.
  18. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 66.
  19. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 70.
  20. Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 75.
  21. Connolly, On the Temple, pp. xviixviii.
  22. Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 78.
  23. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 83.
  24. 1 2 3 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 87.
  25. 1 2 3 Laistner & King, Hand-list, pp. 8889.
  26. 1 2 Giles, Works of Bede, I, p. clxviii.
  27. 1 2 "Catholic Encyclopedia: Henricius Canisius". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1908. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  28. Colgrave, Two Lives of St Cuthbert, p. 14.
  29. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, pp. 9091.
  30. Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 93.
  31. Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 111.
  32. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 112.
  33. Laistner & King, Hand-list, pp. 114116.
  34. Martin & Hurst, Homilies on the Gospels, pp. vixxii.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 119.
  36. Giles, Works, I, p. clxxiv.
  37. Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 120. The ms that Laistner lists as "untraced" is Phillipps 9428, which is now HM 27486 in the Huntington Library: see "Guide To Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library". Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 19 August 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  38. 1 2 Giles, Works, I, clxxvi
  39. 1 2 "PASE Index of Sources". King's College, London & University of Cambridge. Retrieved 25 April 2009.[ dead link ]
  40. Giles, Works, I, p. clxxv.
  41. Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 121.
  42. 1 2 Giles, Works, I, pp. clxxiiclxxiii.
  43. Keynes, "Nothhelm", pp. 335 336.
  44. "Catholic Encyclopedia: Jean Mabillon". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1908. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  45. Westgard, Joshua A. (2010). "New Manuscripts of Bede's Letter to Albinus". Revue Bénédictine. 120 (2): 208–215. doi:10.1484/J.RB.5.100545.
  46. Farmer, Bede, pp. 335337.
  47. Plummer, Bedae Opera Historica, pp. xxxivxxxv.
  48. Plummer, Bedae Opera Historica, I, p. cxlii.
  49. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, pp. 122123.
  50. Laistner & King, Hand-list, pp. 124127.
  51. See PASE, under sources Bede.Epig and Milred.Sylloge.
  52. Lapidge, Anglo-Latin Literature, 600899, pp. 357358.
  53. Laistner & King, Hand-list, pp. 129130.
  54. 1 2 Laistner & King, Hand-list, p. 131132.
  55. Giles, Complete Works, p. 317.
  56. Campbell, "Bede", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  57. Ruff, Carin (April 2005). "The Place of Metrics in Anglo-Saxon Latin Education: Aldhelm and Bede". Journal of Germanic and English Philology. 104 (2): 149–170: 166–9. JSTOR   27712491.
  58. Ruff, "Place of Metrics." 168-70.
  59. Jones, "Bedae opera didascalica", CCSL
  60. Ruff, "Place of Metrics." 166.
  61. Berkhout, Carl T. (March 2006). "An Early Insular Fragment of Bede's De Schematibus et Tropis". Notes and Queries. 53 (1): 10–12. doi:10.1093/notesj/gjj105.
  62. Wallis, Reckoning of Time, p. lxiv.
  63. 1 2 Wallis, Reckoning of Time, p. lxv.
  64. 1 2 Laistner & King, "Hand-List", pp. 144145.
  65. Wallis, Reckoning of Time, p. lxxx.
  66. Wallis, Reckoning of Time, p. xvi.
  67. Wallis, Reckoning of Time, p. lxxxvii.
  68. Wallis, Reckoning of Time, pp. lxxxviiilxxxix.
  69. Knibbs, E. (2008). "The Manuscript Evidence for the De octo quaestionibus ascribed to Bede". Traditio. 63: 129–84. doi:10.1017/S0362152900002130. JSTOR   27832080.; Gorman, M. (1999). "Bede's VIII Quaestiones and Carolingian Biblical Scholarship". Revue Bénédictine. 109 (1–2): 32–74. doi:10.1484/J.RB.5.105438.; trans. A. G. Holder in W. T. Foley and A. G. Holder, Bede: A Biblical Miscellany, Translated Texts for Historians (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999) 149–65.
  70. Knibbs, E. (2008). "The Manuscript Evidence for the De octo quaestionibus ascribed to Bede". Traditio. 63: 129–184. doi:10.1017/S0362152900002130. JSTOR   27832080.
  71. J.T. McNeill and H.M. Gamer, Medieval handbooks of penance: a translation of the principal libri poenitentiales and selections from related documents (New York, 1938), 217-20.
  72. A.J. Frantzen, The literature of penance in Anglo-Saxon England (New Brunswick, N.J., 1983), 1.
  73. A.J. Frantzen, The literature of penance in Anglo-Saxon England (New Brunswick, N.J., 1983), 69–77
  74. R. Haggenmüller, Die Überlieferung der Beda und Egbert zugeschriebenen Bussbücher, Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe 3: Geschichte und ihre Hilfswissenschaften 461 (Frankfurt am Main, 1991), 298.
  75. J.T. McNeill and H.M. Gamer, Medieval handbooks of penance: a translation of the principal libri poenitentiales and selections from related documents (New York, 1938), 220.
  76. Higham, (Re)-Reading Bede, pp. 255258.
  77. Kendall, Bede: On Genesis, pp. 6061.
  78. Giles, Works, X, pp. ixx.
  79. Giles, Works, X, p. x.
  80. Giles, Works, I, pp. ccxxivccxxv.
  81. Colgrave, Two Lives of St Cuthbert, p. 51.
  82. Colgrave & Mynors, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, p. lxx.
  83. 1 2 Giles, Works, I, pp. ccxxccxxi.
  84. 1 2 3 Wallis, Reckoning of Time, pp. xcviixcviii.
  85. Volume 1; 2; 3; 4; 6; 7; 8 (Google)
  86. Volume 2; 3; 4 & 5; 6 & 7; 8 (Google).
  87. 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8 (Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum, Digitale Bibliothek).
  88. M. Gorman, 'The glosses on Bede's "De temporum ratione" attributed to Byrhtferth of Ramsey', in M. Lapidge, M. Godden & S. Keynes (eds), Anglo-Saxon England 25 (Cambridge University Press 1997), pp. 209 ff.
  89. Venerabilis Bedae Presbyteri Theologi Doctissimi...Commentationum in Sacras Literas, 3 Vols (Apud Ioannem Roigny, Parisiis 1544), 1; 2; 3 (Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum, Digitale Bibliothek).
  90. "Ut vero in Bedae libris conquirendis, sic etiam in non paucis locis emendandis et restituendis, praeter alios, non levem operam posuit Iacobus Pamelius, vir eruditus, atque in huiusmodi rebus oculatus, et diligens; cui etiam non parvum debent lectores." Opera I, "Ad Lectorem" (front matter). (Google)
  91. "...quibus hoc nostro seculo, in tanta diversitate opinionum, nihil exhiberi potest... magis utile, aut ponderatius, ad explicationem controversiarum, quae nunc inter doctos vigent." Opera I, "Epistola Nuncupatoria".
  92. Giles, Works, I, p. cxvi.
  93. Giles, Works, I, p. cxxxii.
  94. 'Dissertatio de Scriptis Venerabilis Bedae Presbyteri, et Monachi', in Casimiri Oudini Commentarius De Scriptoribus Ecclesiae Antiquis, 3 vols (Maur. Georg. Weidmanni, Francofurti ad Moenum 1722), I, columns 1681-1712.
  95. Patrologia Latina Vol. 90, Columns 71-102.
  96. Volume 1; 2; 3; 4; 5. (Google)

Related Research Articles

Autpert Ambrose (Ambroise) (Latin: Ambrosius Autpertus) (ca. 730 – 784) was a Frankish Benedictine monk. An abbot of San Vincenzo al Volturno in South Italy in the time of Desiderius, king of the Lombards, Autpert wrote a considerable number of works on the Bible and religious subjects generally. Among these are commentaries on the Apocalypse, on the Psalms, and on the Song of Songs; a life of the founders of the monastery of San Vincenzo (Latin: Vita Paldonis, Tasonis et Tatonis); and a Conflictus vitiorum et virtutum (Combat between the Virtues and the Vices). Jean Mabillon calls him "sanctissimus" because of his great virtue and the Bollandists gave him the title "saint". His cultus has been approved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bede</span> Anglo-Saxon monk, writer and saint (672/3–735)

Bede, also known as Saint Bede, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable, was an English monk and an author and scholar. He was one of the greatest teachers and 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Eleutherius</span> Head of the Catholic Church from c. 174 to 189

Pope Eleutherius, also known as Eleutherus, was the bishop of Rome from c. 174 to his death. His pontificate is alternatively dated to 171-185 or 177-193. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

The Synod of Whitby was a Christian administrative gathering held in Northumbria in 664, wherein King Oswiu ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome rather than the customs practiced by Irish monks at Iona and its satellite institutions. The synod was summoned at Hilda's double monastery of Streonshalh (Streanæshalch), later called Whitby Abbey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cædmon</span> Ancient English poet

Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known. A Northumbrian cowherd who cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch during the abbacy of St. Hilda, he was originally ignorant of "the art of song" but learned to compose one night in the course of a dream, according to the 8th-century historian Bede. He later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational Christian poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Servius the Grammarian</span> Late 4th/early 5th century Roman grammarian

Servius, distinguished as Servius the Grammarian, was a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian. He earned a contemporary reputation as the most learned man of his generation in Italy; he authored a set of commentaries on the works of Virgil. These works, In Tria Virgilii Opera Expositio, Commentarii in Virgilium, Commentarii in Vergilii Opera, or Vergilii Carmina Commentarii, constituted the first incunable to be printed at Florence, by Bernardo Cennini, in 1471.

Ælfric of Eynsham was an English abbot and a student of Æthelwold of Winchester, and a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres. He is also known variously as Ælfric the Grammarian, Ælfric of Cerne, and Ælfric the Homilist. In the view of Peter Hunter Blair, he was "a man comparable both in the quantity of his writings and in the quality of his mind even with Bede himself." According to Claudio Leonardi, he "represented the highest pinnacle of Benedictine reform and Anglo-Saxon literature".

<i>Ecclesiastical History of the English People</i> 8th-century Latin history of England by Bede

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between the pre-Schism Roman Rite and Celtic Christianity. It was composed in Latin, and is believed to have been completed in 731 when Bede was approximately 59 years old. It is considered one of the most important original references on Anglo-Saxon history, and has played a key role in the development of an English national identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Petersburg Bede</span> Manuscript of Bedes Ecclesiastical History

The Saint Petersburg Bede, formerly known as the Leningrad Bede, is an Anglo-Saxon illuminated manuscript, a near-contemporary version of Bede's 8th century history, the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. Although not heavily illuminated, it is famous for containing the earliest historiated initial in European illumination. It is so named because it was taken to the Russian National Library of Saint Petersburg in Russia at the time of the French Revolution, by Peter P. Dubrovsky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacobus Pamelius</span>

Jacobus Pamelius was a Flemish theologian who was named bishop of Saint-Omer.

De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae is a work written in Latin by the probably 6th-century AD British cleric St Gildas. It is a sermon in three parts condemning the acts of Gildas' contemporaries, both secular and religious, whom he blames for the dire state of affairs in sub-Roman Britain. It is one of the most important sources for the history of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, as it is the only significant source for the period written by a near contemporary of the people and events described.

The Moore Bede is an early manuscript of Bede's 8th-century Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. It was formerly owned by Bishop John Moore (1646–1714), whose collection of books and manuscripts was purchased by George I and donated to Cambridge University.

The controversy over the correct date for Easter began in Early Christianity as early as the 2nd century AD. Discussion and disagreement over the best method of computing the date of Easter Sunday has been ongoing ever since and remains unresolved. Different Christian denominations continue to celebrate Easter on different dates, with Eastern and Western Christian churches being a notable example.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anastasius of Persia</span>

Saint Anastasius of Persia, also known by his native name Magundat, was a Zoroastrian soldier in the Sasanian army who later became a convert to Christianity and was martyred in 628.

The Reckoning of Time is an English era treatise written in Medieval Latin by the Northumbrian monk Bede in 725.

Primasius was bishop of Hadrumetum and primate of Byzacena, in Africa. One of the participants in the Three Chapters Controversy, his commentary on the Book of Revelation is of interest to modern scholars for its use of the lost commentary of Ticonius on the same book of the New Testament. According to M.L.W. Laistner, his disciples included the African theologian Junillus.

Anianusof Celeda was the deacon of a church at a place called Celeda in the early fifth century and a supporter of Pelagius. It is not known where Celeda was: candidates include Pannonia, Northern Italy, Campania, Syria, and Cyrenaica.

<i>Proverbia Grecorum</i> 7th-8th century Latin collection of proverbs

The Proverbia Grecorum is an anonymous Latin collection of proverbs compiled in the seventh or eighth century AD in the British Isles, probably in Ireland. Despite the name, it has no known Greek source. It was perhaps designed as a secular complement to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Proverbs.

Henry David Hurst, known also as Dom David Hurst OSB and to his colleagues and students as Father David, was a classicist and historian best recognized for his scholarship on Bede. He spent the greater part of his career as a teacher of Greek and Latin at the Portsmouth Abbey School, a prep school in Rhode Island with an attached monastery.

References