Ecclesiastical History, Books I-III

Bede 'the Venerable, ' English theologian & historian, was born in 672/3 in the territory of the single monastery at Wearmouth & Jarrow. He was ordained deacon (691/2) & priest (702/3) of the monastery, where his whole life was spent in devotion, choral singing, study, teaching, discussion & writing. Besides Latin he knew Greek & possibly Hebrew. His theological works were chiefly commentaries, mostly allegorical in method, based with acknowledgment on Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory & others, but bearing his own personality. In another class were works on grammar & one on natural phenomena; special interest in the vexed question of Easter led him to write about the calendar & chronology. His most admired production is his Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation. Here a clear & simple style united with descriptive powers to produce an elegant work. The facts diligently collected from good sources make it a valuable account. Historical also are his Lives of the Abbots of his monastery, the less successful accounts (in verse & prose) of Cuthbert & the Letter (11/734) to Egbert his pupil, so important for our knowledge about the Church in Northumbria.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Bede's historical works is in two volumes.