Page "Bede" Paragraph 9

Bede died on Thursday, 26 May 735 ( Ascension Day ) and was buried at Jarrow.

Cuthbert, a disciple of Bede's, wrote a letter to a Cuthwin ( of whom nothing else is known ), describing Bede's last days and his death.

According to Cuthbert, Bede fell ill " with frequent attacks of breathlessness but almost without pain ", before Easter.

On the Tuesday before Acension Day ( 26 May ) his breathing became worse, and his feet swelled.

He continued to dictate to a scribe, however, and despite spending the night awake in prayer he dictated again the following day.

At three o ' clock, according to Cuthbert, he asked for a box of his to be brought, and distributed among the priests of the monastery " a few treasures " of his: " some pepper, and napkins, and some incense ".

That night he dictated a final sentence to the scribe, a boy named Wilberht, and died soon afterwards.

Cuthbert's letter also relates a five-line poem in the vernacular that Bede composed on his deathbed, known as " Bede's Death Song ".

It is the most widely copied Old English poem, and appears in 45 manuscripts, but its attribution to Bede is not absolutely certain — not all manuscripts name Bede as the author, and the ones that do are of later origin than those that do not.

Bede's remains may have been transferred to Durham Cathedral in the 11th century ; his tomb there was looted in 1541, but the contents were probably re-interred in the Galilee chapel at the cathedral.