The Writings of the Venerable Bede

The Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) was a polymath, priest, poet, exegete, historian, and natural philosopher; he was the first great English intellectual, and one of the defining figures of the early medieval period in Europe. In spite of this, with the exception of his magisterial Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the majority of Bede's writings are relatively unknown to the general public; some texts can be found only in the original Latin, while others are translated only in rare and expensive editions. Graham Scheper's anthology counters this by providing readers with selections from over twenty different works, including poems, homilies, biblical commentaries, letters, educational treatises, and even a collection of riddles, all presented alongside the original Latin in an accessible translation. This bilingual anthology, the first of its kind in the history of Bede scholarship, provides a holistic image of the monk's style, education, spirituality, and thought.