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Brian Grafton
Victoria
BC Canada
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Posts: 4720
Joined: 2004
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Bede and the “smoking quill”
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I never know where to place topics such as this. But I thought it sufficiently of interest to note somewhere on a history site.
No student of English history, literary history, art or faith can dodge at least a passing acquaintance with the Venerable Bede. He was a “religious” of the early 8th century (673?-735), entering a monastery at about seven years of age. He was to prove exceptionally capable as a writer, linguist and Church scholar, and was best known as a teacher. Many of his writings at the time were, in fact, meant to be text references for those who studied under him.
I offer the following article because, for the first time ever, it is thought that some words written in Bede’s own hand may have been identified. No big deal except to scholars of a certain bent, perhaps, but an amazing thing to think of. For those who might like a framework for English language and literature, let me offer the following timeline:
• Bede (c. 700). Largely a Latin written culture (consider Church influence), but growing written evidence of a rich-sounding local language which would become Old English. 1500 yrs before present.
• Chaucer (c. 1400). A culture with Latin as a religious and diplomatic language, French a the language of “society” and “court”, and four distinct English dialects which existed both in oral tradition and in some writing such as Chaucer’s many works. These four dialects comprised Middle English. 800 years before present.
• Shakespeare (c. 1600). Elizabethan English. Over a remarkably swift time (maybe some 80 years), various renaissance dialects amalgamated into the rich, subtle, nuanced language we recognize to be (but which is not) modern English. Much of the literature of the time (see Marlow; see Wyatt; see Sir Philip Sidney, e.g.) seems older and less easily read than Shakespeare, but it offers a rich alternative to the Bard. 600 years before the present. Not Old English; not Middle English; not Modern English.
• Addison and Steele (1720). The birth of prose as a central medium (what I see as a huge shift in literary values). This as the rise of prose as a communication medium. I chose Addison and Steele in part for US members; Ben Franklin used their essays to learn both the finer aspects of writing and the art of persuasion. I could as easily have chosen Milton or Defoe. 500 years before the present.
[Read More]
It’s not, of course, an important realization in some ways. But there is something awesome in touching so closely the mind of a man ho lived 1500 years ago.
Cheers
Brian G
© 2023 - MilitaryHistoryOnline.com LLC
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"We have met the enemy, and he is us." Walt Kelly.
"The Best Things in Life Aren't Things" Bumper sticker.
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Lightning
Glasgow
UK
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Posts: 1042
Joined: 2005
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Bede and the “smoking quill”
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Brian,
Thank you for sharing this. It's a fascinating thought, to think we are looking at the scribbles of the grandfather of the English language in its written form.
Literacy was not widespread across the British and Irish Isles during the 7th and 8th centuries. For those who were literate, very few people knew how to write in anything other than Latin. Furthermore how many people in what is now Britain would have known Greek? We're now looking at a very shallow pool of candidates as to who wrote these lines. Given the Bible sent to Florence was from Jarrow, and the fact the notes are in Greek, I would say the chance that these are Bede's notes are very high.
Cheers,
Colin
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"There is no course open to us but to fight it out. Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight to the end."
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Phil Andrade
London
UK
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Posts: 6386
Joined: 2004
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Bede and the “smoking quill”
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Bede’s history was compulsory reading for me in my opening term to read Modern History at university.
Three set books : Bede, de Tocqueville ( L’Ancien Regime) and certain volumes, or parts thereof, from Gibbon’s Decline and Fall.
If you failed this hurdle, in an examination called “ Prelims”, you would not be allowed to progress with your degree course.
For those of us who’d left school and had a year off, it was a tough hurdle, especially if you had to relearn Latin and French.
This was more than fifty years ago, but I still remember some of the anecdotes from Bede’s history, especially lurid tales of the murderous Mercian King Penda, and his Welsh counterpart, Cadwallon. There were also some wicked women with old Saxon names who were notorious for dynastic murders.
If my memory serves me, Bede was dubbed “ The Father of English History “.
Regards, Phil
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"Egad, sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox!"
"That will depend, my Lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."
Earl of Sandwich and John Wilkes
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Lightning
Glasgow
UK
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Posts: 1042
Joined: 2005
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Bede and the “smoking quill”
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Quote:
If my memory serves me, Bede was dubbed “ The Father of English History “.
Regards, Phil
Hi Phil,
You're right, he has been dubbed that by many academics. I always thought that was a bit harsh on Gildas, to be honest.
Cheers,
Colin
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"There is no course open to us but to fight it out. Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight to the end."
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Brian Grafton
Victoria
BC Canada
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Posts: 4720
Joined: 2004
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Bede and the “smoking quill”
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I cheated. I came to this both by a basic course in Old English literature, which spanned a huge number of centuries of largely unknown poetry (“Beowulf” and some of the Ubi sunt poets excepted), and by the much more rollicking literary genre known as The Matter of Britain – which incorporated lore, history, hagiography and literature. perhaps pathetically, Geoffrey of Monmouth was my “Father of English History”, though he notes for recognition and importance both Bede and – IIRC – Gildas.
It’s fascinating but also discouraging how differently various disciplines dealt with various topics of historic significance.
Cheers
Brian G
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"We have met the enemy, and he is us." Walt Kelly.
"The Best Things in Life Aren't Things" Bumper sticker.
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