The Venerable Bede

      There was a time when England was not called by that name. The people who inhabited that land were called the Britons and they had been part of the Roman Empire since the first century AD.  The problem came when Rome began to lose her grip on the empire.  Sometime around the year 410 Rome pulled all of her soldiers out of the island and despite the cries of protest from the Britons, that era was now over. The funny thing about leaving a large area completely unprotected is that other people decide to go there. Soon three groups of Germanic people (the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes) moved across the sea from Germany into Britain, bringing with them a culture we call Anglo-Saxon. Yes, the poor Jutes got snubbed.

    As civilization and writing began to dissipate across western Europe, there was one group who picked up the torch. This group was the Catholic Church; specifically the monastic communities of monks and nuns. Ireland and England became hot beds of learning within monasteries, and probably the prime example of an enlightened monk was the Venerable Bede. Some time around 731 A. D. Bede wrote the book The Ecclesiastical History of the English People which told the history of Britain from the invasion of Julius Caesar (54 B.C.) to his present day. This history was both political and religious, and is considered one of the finest historical works of the Middle Ages.  He is probably the most important source we have for early English history and so influences the way everyone thinks of the island.



Why did Bede leave us this large historical account? Let's look at his own words from the beginning of his book.
  
    "For if history records good things of good men, the thoughtful hearer is encouraged to imitate what is good; or if it records evil of wicked men, the good, religious reader or listener is encouraged to avoid all that is sinful and perverse, and to follow what he knows to be good and pleasing to God."

     The reason Bede is a Patriarch of Story is because his influence is so wide, but the reason he wrote to begin with is because he believed history taught us how to behave.  He was a moralist, a man who thought history should be taught because it is a series of lessons on how to live our lives. Something Plutarch,  a Roman writer was famous for in his biographies of famous Greeks and Romans (who will probably get his own blog entry at some point.)

Why do they call me Venerable you ask? Because it sounds awesome!

     Bede however, was not totally boring as you would expect something called The Ecclesiastical History of the....Zzzzzzzzzz! Here is my gem of interesting for you today.


"No reptiles are found there (in Ireland), and no snake can live there; for, though snakes are often carried there out of Britain, as soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent of the air reaches them, they die. On the contrary almost all things in the island are effective against poison."

Many people know the story of St. Patrick driving snakes out of Ireland,  but according to Bede the air is so good there they just kill over! Every good history book needs things magically dieing from potent smell!....And that's my message for you aspiring writers out there. Put more stench in your story!

-Jason

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