Page "Bede" Paragraph 5

In about 701 Bede wrote his first works, the De Arte Metrica and De Schematibus et Tropis ; both were intended for use in the classroom.

He continued to write for the rest of his life, eventually completing over 60 books, most of which have survived.

Not all of his output can be easily dated, and Bede may have worked on some texts over a period of many years.

His last surviving work is a letter to Ecgbert of York, a former student, written in 734.

A 6th-century Greek and Latin manuscript of Acts that is believed to have been used by Bede survives and is now in the Bodleian Library ; it is known as the Codex Laudianus.

Bede may also have worked on one of the Latin bibles that were copied at Jarrow, one of which is now held by the Laurentian Library in Florence.

Bede was a teacher as well as a writer ; he enjoyed music, and was said to be accomplished as a singer and as a reciter of poetry in the vernacular.

It is possible that he suffered a speech impediment of some kind, but this depends on a phrase in the introduction to his verse life of Saint Cuthbert.

Translations of this phrase differ, and it is quite uncertain whether Bede intended to say that he was cured of a speech problem, or merely that he was inspired by the saint's works.