Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 04.djvu/103

Bede of William of Malmesbury, and is mentioned by him (Gest. Reg. i. 57). Malmesbury gives a letter of Pope Sergius to Ceolfrith, telling him that he had need of a learned man to help him in certain matters of ecclesiastical law, and asking him to send Bæda to him–'Dei famulum Bedam venerabilis tui monasterii presbyterum.' Now, as Sergius died in 701, Bæda could not have been a priest at the time of this invitation. The letter of Sergius, however, exists in a manuscript (Cotton, Tib. A. xv. 50-52) which is two centuries earlier than the time of Malmesbury. This manuscript, in place of 'Bedam,' has 'N' = nomen, signifying that a name was to be supplied, and the word 'presbyterum' is also left out in it. Both are interlined by a later hand. It is, however, possible that Bæda may have been specially invited to Rome; for Malmesbury may have copied from a still earlier manuscript, and the omission of his name in the Cotton MS. may have been through carelessness. As this manuscript stands (without 'presbyterum'), it seems as if some word was left out, and 'presbyterum' may have been written in the original papal letter, through ignorance of the fact that Bæda had not at that time entered priest's orders. Sergius, when in need of advice, may well have asked for Bæda. He would scarcely have asked Ceolfrith for one of his monks without naming any one in particular. Nor would it be wonderful that the pope should have heard of the learning of the young Northumbrian monk; for the visits of Benedict to Rome had drawn his monasteries into close connection with the papal see, and the letter, whichever way we read it, illustrates the high position which the houses of Wearmouth and Jarrow already held in Christendom. Some of Bæda's fellow-monks were sent by Ceolfrith to Rome in 701, and came back with a papal privilege for their house. Bæda did not go with them (Vit. Abb. 15; De Temporum ratione, 47). The various legends which relate to his supposed visit to Rome may therefore be passed over. The story which takes him to Cambridge no longer demands refutation, though it once formed the subject of much bygone antiquarianism (T. Caii Vindiciæ, p. 321, &c. ed. Hearne, 1719).

With the exception of a few visits to friends, Bæda spent all his life at Jarrow from the time when he moved thither as a child. He studied the Scriptures with all his might, and while he was diligent in observing the discipline of his order, and in taking part in the daily services of the church, he loved to be always learning, teaching, or writing (H. E. v. 24). His character and opinions are to be gathered chiefly from his books. He was a man of gentle and cultivated feelings, full of kindly sympathies, and with a singular freshness of mind, which gave life and beauty to his stories. The chapter on the conversion of Northumbria, the tale of how poetic inspiration came to Cædmon, and of how he died, and the whole 'Life of Cuthberht' are but instances of his exquisite power of story-telling. With this power was combined a love of truth and fairness. His condemnation of the cruel and foolish war made by Ecgfrith, the benefactor of his house, against the Irish Scots (H. E. iv. 26), and his ungrudging record of the good deeds of Wilfrith (H. E. iv. 13, v. 19), are striking proofs of his freedom from prejudice. Brought, as he was from his earliest years, under the influences alike of Iona and Rome and Gaul and Canterbury, he had broad ecclesiastical sympathies. While he condemned and wrote against the Celtic customs concerning the date of Easter and the form of the tonsure, he dwelt much on the holiness of Aidan (H. E. iii. 5, 15-17), and he wrote the 'Life of Cuthberht' both in prose and verse. His love for the monastic profession led him to regard with evident admiration the powerful position held by the abbot of Iona (H. E. iii. 4), and the universal monachism of the church of Lindisfarne (Vit. S. Cuth. 16), though, as a zealous follower of the Benedictine order, which had found its way from the great houses of the continent to the new foundations of Northumbria, he disapproved the laxity of the Celtic rule. Filled with the desire of seeing an increase in the episcopate, he contemplated the possibility of providing for new bishops out of the possessions of those religious houses which were unfaithful to their profession, a plan which would have tended to purify the monasteries by reducing their means of luxury, and to exalt their power by closely connecting them with the episcopate (Ep. ad Ecgb. 10-12). With views so far-reaching and catholic, Bæda could have had little sympathy with the eager and narrow-minded Wilfrith. The circumstances of his life made Wilfrith look on Cuthberht and on John of Beverley as intruders (Hist. of York,, xxxiv). To Bæda they were saints, and he records with evident disapproval how Eata and Cuthberht and their fellows were driven out of Ripon to make room for Wilfrith (Vit. S. Cuth. 8).

The names of several of the friends of Bæda are well known. Most of his works are dedicated to them, and some were written at their request. Among them were Nothelm, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, and an