As the major writer and thinker of the Anglo-Saxon period, the Venerable Bede is a key figure in the study of the literature and thought of this time. This "Companion", written by an international team of specialists, is a key introductory guide to Bede, his writings, and his world. The first part of the volume focuses on Bede's cultural and intellectual milieu, covering his life, the secular-political contexts of his day, the foundations of the Latin learning he inherited and sought to perpetuate, the ecclesiastical and monastic setting of early Northumbria, and the foundation of his home institution, Wearmouth-Jarrow. The book then considers Bede's writing in detail, treating his educational, exegetical and historical works. Concluding with a detailed assessment of Bede's influence and reception from the time of his death up to the modern age, the "Companion" enables the reader to view Bede's writings within a wider cultural context.
Author(s): Scott DeGregorio (ed.)
Series: Cambridge Companions to Literature
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: XXVI+276
List of maps page vii
List of illustrations viii
Notes on contributors ix
Note on editions and translations xii
Preface xv
Chronological table xviii
Maps xxi
PART I. BEDE'S LIFE AND CONTEXT 1
1. Bede’s life in context / Michelle P. Brown 3
2. Secular and political contexts / James Campbell 25
3. The world of Latin learning / Rosalind Love 40
4. Church and monastery in Bede's Northumbria / Sarah Foot 54
5. British and Irish contexts / Clare Stancliffe 69
6. The foundation of Bede's Wearmouth-Jarrow / Ian Wood 84
PART II. BEDE'S WRITINGS 97
7. Bede and education / Calvin B. Kendall 99
8. Bede and science / Faith Wallis 113
9. Bede and the Old Testament / Scott DeGregorio 127
10. Bede and the New Testament / Arthur G. Holder 142
11. Bede and preaching / Lawrence T. Martin 156
12. Bede and history / Alan Thacker 170
PART III. RECEPTION AND INFLUENCE 191
13. The cult of Bede / David Rollason 193
14. Bede and the continent in the Carolingian age and beyond / Joshua A. Westgard 201
15. Bede in later Anglo-Saxon England / Sharon M. Rowley 216
16. The Englishness of Bede, from then to now / Allen J. Frantzen 229
Further reading 243
Bibliography 246
Index 265
