Perhaps I should have entitled this entry as “Names”. Do you find that some names stick in your mind? They do with me. For the life of me, I cannot remember when I first heard the name The Venerable Bede. I had no idea who it was.
I think I found out a while ago that he was a monk, and that he was famous. I didn’t know what he was famous for. I was surprised today to find somebody who’d never heard of The Venerable Bede. I don’t know why I should be surprised at that. I don’t think I’ve ever discussed Bede with anybody. I don’t know why I should think that everybody would know about a 6th century Monk.
I can’t now remember what triggered me to dig a bit deeper in to him. Something did though. Anyhow, I found out that he lived in the 6th century, or thereabouts and he wrote “The Ecclesiastical history of the English People” I looked him up on amazon and acquired a book for a few pence. The book is about him, not the history, but I’ve just found an audible version, 13 hours of listening. I’m not yet sure if I want to commit one of my credits to it.
Apparently, Bede was prodigious in his output. Not only the history, poems, prose, educational material and other religious texts. In that age, when the only method was by hand how did they manage to be so productive? Perhaps I might get an indication as I read the book. I’m not far into it. I can’t help thinking; what would he have been like if he’d had a computer and a printer?
Fascinating stuff.
Here are some random pictures;
Bills Posts 