would become king of Northumbria (737). Whereas
the Ecclesiastical History ends on an optimistic note
of Christian progress, the letter paints a bleak picture
of greed, subterfuge, and fraud. Outspoken and con-
demnatory of pseudo-monasteries and ecclesiastical
and secular abuses, Bede details a program of reform.
To meet the needs of far-fl ung and hard-to-reach com-
munities, he proposes that new bishoprics be founded,
based, and fi nanced at prosperous monasteries.
Bede became an author in great demand after his
death. By the 9th century the admiration for Bede was
so extensive that he was considered a Father of the
Church. Venerated now by Anglicans and Catholics
alike, he bears the title of saint and doctor of the Catholic
church.
See also Alfred the Great;
Augustine of Canterbury; Cædmon
Further Reading
Primary Sources
The collected works of Bede (Bedae venerabilis opera) are being
reliably edited by various hands in the Corpus Christiano-
rum Series Latina (CCSL). Turnhout: Brepols, 1955–[vols.
118A–22 so far].
Colgrave, Bertram, ed. and trans. Two Lives of St. Cuthbert,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940.
Colgrave, Bertram, and R.A.B. Mynors, eds. and trans. Bede’s
Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Oxford: Clar-
endon, 1969.
Connolly, Seán, trans. Bede: On the Temple. Liverpool: Liverpool
University Press, 1995.
Holder, Arthur G., trans. Bede: On the Tabernacle. Liverpool:
Liverpool University Press, 1994.
Hurst, David, trans. The Commentary on the Seven Catholic
Epistles. Cistercian Studies 82. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Pub-
lications, 1985.
Jaager, Werner, ed. Bedas metrische Vita sancti Cuthberti. Pa-
laestra 198. Leipzig: Mayer & Müller, 1935 [verse life of
Cuthbert].
Martin, Lawrence T., and David Hurst, trans. Homilies on the
Gospels. 2 vols. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1991.
Miller, Thomas, ed. and trans. The Old English Version of Bede’s
Ecclesiastical History of the English People. EETS o.s. 95,
96, 110, 111. London: Trübner, 1890–98.
Plummer, Charles, ed. Venerabilis Baedae opera historica. 2 vols.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1896. Repr. in 1 vol. Oxford: Clarendon,
1946 [introduction and notes still valuable].
Sherley-Price, Leo, trans. The Ecclesiastical History of the
English People. Rev, R.E. Latham. Harmondsworth: Pen-
guin, 1968.
Tanenhaus, Gussie Hecht, trans. “Bede’s De Schematibus et
Tropis—A Translation.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 48
(1962): 237–53. Repr. in Readings in Medieval Rhetoric,
ed. Joseph M. Miller et al. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1973, pp. 76–80.
Secondary Sources
For recent Bedan research see “The Year’s Work in Old English
Studies.” Old English Newsletter, Winter issues, and the an-
nual bibliography in Anglo-Saxon England.
Brown, George Hardin. Bede the Venerable. Boston: Twayne,
1987 [with bibliography of editions and studies until 1986]
Goffart, Walter. The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D.
550–800). Ch. 4, “Bede and the Ghost of Bishop Wilfrid,”
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988, pp. 235–328
[extensive, speculative investigation of Bede’s motives as
an historian].
Lapidge, Michael. “Bede’s Metrical Vita S, Cuthberti.” In St.
Cuthbert, His Cult and His Community to AD 1200 , ed. Gerald
Bonner, David Rollason, and Clare Stancliffe. Woodbridge:
Boydell, 1989, pp. 77–93.
Lapidge, Michael, ed. Bede and His Wo r l d: The Jarrow Lectures
1958–1993. 2 vols. Aldershot: Variorum, 1994.
McCready, William D. Miracles and the Venerable Bede. Toronto:
Pontifi cal Institute, 1994.
Wallace-Hadrill, J.M. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the Eng-
lish People: A Historical Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon,
1988.
Webb, J.F. The Age of Bede, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983
[with translations of selected works].
George Hardin BrownBEDFORD, JOHN DUKE OF (1389–1435)
Third son of Henry IV; created duke of Bedford in 1414,
he was a courageous soldier and gifted administrator. He
served with distinction during the reign of his brother,
Henry V, safeguarding the Scottish border and defeat-
ing a Franco-Genoese fl eet at the Battle of the Seine
(1416). After Henry’s death in 1422 he became Regent
of France. His determined efforts to protect the rights
of Henry VI, the young heir of Henry and Katherine of
Valois, were a remarkable accomplishment upon which
his fame and political reputation deservedly rest.
In the fi rst years of regency Bedford was able to
extend Henry V’s conquests. His emphatic victory at
Verneuil (1424), where he fought with “the strength of
a lion,” led to the subjugation of Maine and northern
Anjou. But the advent of Joan of Arc in 1429 trans-
formed the situation. The English were forced onto
the defensive, and Bedford, conservative in religious
outlook, saw Joan as a witch whose enchantments and
sorcery punished the English for a lack of sound faith.
The constant campaigning of Bedford’s last year wore
away his strength; his death in September 1435, com-
bined with the defection of the Burgundians as allies,
dealt Lancastrian France a blow from which it never
recovered.
Bedford earned high praise from English and French
chroniclers alike. A great landowner and possessor of
rich manuscripts, vestments, and plate, he cleverly ex-
ploited the media of painting, pageantry, and poetry to
promote the cause of the dual monarchy of Henry VI
over England and France. His strong sense of justice,
whether disciplining his troops or punishing brigands,
won him universal respect. His encouragement of
trade and commerce led to a revival of Normandy’s
economic fortunes; his willingness to employ FrenchBEDFORD, JOHN DUKE OF