Bede’s History of the English Church and People Critique

History has continually been documented and these records form a basis of the knowledge we have in the present day of the world that was and how the world has progressed over the years. As such, these historical records serve the role of filling information gaps to inform the happenings of the era. One such aspect in history is the history of Christianity in England and England in its entirety which is documented by Bede is his revered masterpiece “History of the English Church and People”. Although it was originally written in Latin, it has been translated by several authors to expand its readership. That being said, the aim of this paper is to critique the book by Bede to determine its larger context, its role in historical discourse and the reliability of the presented information. 

Content

As earlier described, the role of historical records is to document key historical events to ensure there is no knowledge gap. Bede’s work largely fits this profile because the book provides knowledge on an era that has little alternative material. Notably, Bede details the happenings from the Roman departure in 410 to his era, the 720s. He presents information on the comprehensive history of the early English secular life and the English Christian church. Evidently, much of England’s history before the texts by King Alfred is covered in the book. Bede’s work is split into five books each focusing on a different era. The first book outlines Britain’s history from when Rome was invaded by Julius Caesar to around 600 C.E. In this book, Bede details the early races in Britain, warfare between the Scots and the Picts, the advent of the Saxons following the departure by the Romans and the inhabitation of Rome.

The second book explains the life of Gregory the great who was a revered early church leader. In line with this, Bede details the events before and after his death. That is, how the Kingdom of Kent got converted to Christianity which is a crucial period for the English Church. The third book builds from the second one in that, in the second book, he presented an argument presented to cause Northumbria to convert to Christianity and in the third book he outlines how Northumbria returned to paganism and later to Christianity and the role the monks from the Island of Iona played in it. Notably, he also describes the setbacks the early Christian church faced when setting up in the Kingdoms of Essex, Northumbria, and Mercia.

Book four then highlights the development and organization of the English church while it also outlines the secular history of various kingdoms. Notably, Bede outlines how Christianity was established in all the Kingdoms except one in England. The final book presents the personal history of Holy Ethelwald and a miracle ascribed to this influence. In addition to this, Bede also discusses the advancement of the English church and how the Picts of the Roman rule came to embrace Easter and the monks’ haircut. This section ends with a sum-up of the development of the apostolic successions from one bishop to another in the English church. 

Date

The text is written in the first person which is evidence that the author was writing about his era which describes that it is a historical text. Furthermore, the author clearly delineates the happenings that took place since the Roman invasion by Julius Caesar and the establishment of the English church in England. Following the events presented in the book, it is evident that the book was written over a long period of time but completed in 731 AD which is marked by the summary of the episcopate in the English Church. As such, it is plausible to assume that the book was completed in 731 and published after his death.

Audience

While the book offers information on the development of the English church in a coherent manner, it cannot be assumed that it was meant for the general audience. Instead, it was meant for an ecclesiastical scholarly audience. It is prudent to note that its scholarliness cannot be evaluated purely using the present-day standards but it should be evaluated from its historical context. First, by being a Roman Catholic monk, this gave him scholarly jurisdiction to cover the area of study surrounding the development of the church. Additionally, as earlier outlined, the initial text was written in Latin; therefore, it is worth noting that during that era, Latin was the international scholarly language in Europe at the time. Moreover, since the text outlines the ecclesiastical history while also delineating the power of Christianity, miracles, and outlining how Christianity supersedes paganism, this shows that the text was largely aimed at an ecclesiastical scholarly audience. 

Author

As earlier mentioned, Bede was a Roman Catholic monk revered for his wisdom and religiousness. He mainly spent his time at Saint Peter’s monastery in Monwearmouth and Saint Paul’s monastery in modern Jarrow. Here, he had access to the most extensive library in Anglo-Saxon Britain which granted him wide literary exposure. Concerning authorship of the text, Bede was not only knowledgeable in the available literary materials but his work was also bound by academic ethics and religious morals. This shows that he was an esteemed individual during his time; this is reinforced by the fact that after his death he was accorded the title “Venerable” in respect of this wisdom and righteousness and his writing is widely known for his academic integrity.

Purpose

Reading the text gives the impression that Bede was making a case for Christianity that, it was superior to the practices and gods of paganism practiced in historical times. He compared paganism and Christianity in relation to its universality where he outlined that paganism was limited, local, nonintellectual and shallow. On the other hand, Christianity is both wide in scope and thorough. Through the text, one is able to get the worldview of Christianity and its supernatural elements especially miracles. He demonstrates the power of Christianity by providing accounts of Christianity works such as winning victories, healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead among others. He uses witness accounts to credit works of Christianity to spark a belief in miracles and the power of Christianity. Here, he outlines that Christianity is the real power that pagans pretend to channel. This way, it is evident that, by outlining Christianity as the higher and real power, the aim is to provide good and practical reflections for his ecclesiastical scholarly audience to read and ponder about.

Reliability

Reliability is described as the quality of being trustworthy and accurate. In literature, this can be largely determined by the chosen rhetorical appeal by the author. For this particular text, Bede combines both ethos and logos forms of rhetorical appeal. In relation to ethos, Bede provides an autobiography about himself in the opening sections of the book. This way, he outlines his character, expertise, and experience to enhance his credibility and authority among the readers to invoke feelings of trust. On the other hand, using logos appeal Bede uses logic to appeal to the reader. This is shown by him presenting a plausible claim about the superiority of Christianity and its works in relation to paganism and by using eyewitness accounts as well as those who have experienced these works in first person, Bede succeeds in providing evidence to support his claims. Therefore, when a reader follows Bede’s line of thought, one is able to identify coherence in the provided information which bolsters the level of trustworthiness and accuracy of the book. 

Finally, the reliability of this text is informed by academic integrity practiced by Bede. All the information provided in the text is informed from a plethora of sources whereby, Bede consulted the Monastery’s library where he consulted early writings coupled up with primary information obtained from the eyewitness accounts from his network of clerics and the letters he sent all over Europe. This proves the accuracy of the presented information which most is used to back the made claims. 

Conclusion

Although Bede does not clearly outline what pagans believed in, he offers a balanced view of both Christianity and paganism and presents information to support his argument that Christianity is powerful between the two. Notably, while authors present their suppositions to their audience, Bede is not patronizing but instead, he is logical in that, he bases his ideas and interpretations from reference to other historical sources. This way, Bede succeeds in not only making his text reliable but also being a hallmark in history on England and the English church. In this regard, while the purpose of the text was to present a case for Christianity, the chronology of the information as presented by Bede is of historical importance as it outlines key events that inform England’s historical scene. Therefore, Bede achieved his intended aim but his work also served a greater historical purpose.

Bibliography

Bernanke, Ben. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Definition and Examples. August 27, 2010, http://pathosethoslogos.com/. 

Bede,and A. M. Sellar. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England. Book III. London: George Bell & Sons, 1909. 

Simon. “A History of the English Church and People by the Venerable Bede (732),” December 9, 2013, https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/a-history-of-the-english-church-and-people-the-venerable-bede/.