According to this view, Beowulf can largely be seen to be the product of antiquarian interests and that it tells readers more about " an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon ’ s notions about Denmark, and its pre-history, than it does about the age of Bede and a 7th-or 8th-century Anglo-Saxon ’ s notions about his ancestors ’ homeland.

He says relatively little about the achievements of Mercia and Wessex, omitting, for example, any mention of Boniface, a West Saxon missionary to the continent of some renown and of whom Bede had almost certainly heard, though Bede does discuss Northumbrian missionaries to the continent.

Bede does not state that Æthelberht had a palace in Canterbury, but he does refer to Canterbury as Æthelberht's " metropolis ", and it is clear that it is Æthelberht's seat.

As Bede does not describe Justus ' origins, nothing is known about him prior to his arrival in England.

According to Bede, Justus received letters of encouragement from Pope Boniface V ( 619 – 625 ), as did Mellitus, although Bede does not record the actual letters.

Bede records Justus as having died on 10 November, but does not give a year, although it is likely to have between 627 and 631.

Bede puts a clear emphasis on Oswald being saintly as a king ; although he could be interpreted as a martyr for his subsequent death in battle, Bede portrays Oswald as being saintly for his deeds in life and does not focus on his martyrdom as being primary to his sainthood — indeed, it has been noted that Bede never uses the word " martyr " in reference to Oswald.

Ten centuries after Bede, the French astronomers Philippe de la Hire ( in the year 1702 ) and Jacques Cassini ( in the year 1740 ), purely to simplify certain calculations, put the Julian Dating System ( proposed in the year 1583 by Joseph Scaliger ) and with it an astronomical era into use, which contains a leap year zero, which precedes the year 1 ( AD ) but does not exactly coincide with the year 1 BC.

The author of a continuation of Dionysius's Computus, writing in 616, described Dionysius as a " most learned abbot of the city of Rome ", and the Venerable Bede accorded him the honorific abbas, which could be applied to any monk, especially a senior and respected monk, and does not necessarily imply that Dionysius ever headed a monastery ; indeed, Dionysius's friend Cassiodorus stated in Institutiones that he was still only a monk late in life.

This source is higly influenced by the contemporary concerns of its writer, but does attempt to provide some new material besides reworking Bede.

Penda's queen, Cynewise, is named by Bede, who does not mention her children ; no other wives of Penda are known and so it is likely but not certain that she was Æthelred's mother.

Bede does not mention the cause of the battle, simply saying that it occurred in the ninth year of Ecgfrith's reign.

This does not seem to have been the case with Mercia, about which Bede is less informative than about other kingdoms.

Penda's queen, Cynewise, is named by Bede, who does not mention her children ; no other wives of Penda are known and so it is likely but not certain that she was Wulfhere's mother.

Bede does not list him as one of the rulers who exercised imperium, but modern historians consider that the rise to primacy of the kingdom of Mercia began in his reign.

Bede does not report the fighting, nor is it mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but according to Stephen, Ecgfrith defeated Wulfhere, forcing him to surrender Lindsey, and to pay tribute.

It is likely that the Hwicce were converted to Christianity by Celtic Christians rather than by the mission from Pope Gregory I since Bede was well-informed on the latter yet does not mention the conversion of the Hwicce.

Although Bede does not explicitly say Æthelfrith married Acha, it is thought that he did so ; he may have married her prior to taking power in Deira, in which case the marriage may have facilitated it, or he may have done so afterwards in order to consolidate his position there.

The Historia Brittonum says that Æthelfrith gave the town of Din Guaire to his wife Bebba, after whom it was named Bamburgh ; Bede also says that Bamburgh was named after a former queen named Bebba, although he does not mention Æthelfrith.

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.

Bede says that Oswald held imperium for the eight years of his rule ( both Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle say that Oswald's reign was actually considered to be nine years, the ninth year being accounted for by assigning to Oswald the year preceding his rule, " on account of the heathenism practised by those who had ruled that one year between him and Edwin "), and was the most powerful king in Britain.

In her 1859 novel Adam Bede, George Eliot refers to this when she makes Jacob Storey say: " He thought it < nowiki ></ nowiki > had only been put to finish off th ' alphabet like ; though ampusand would ha ' done as well, for what he could see.

However, Chad was the teacher of Bede's own teacher, Trumbert, so Bede has an obvious personal interest in rehabilitating him, to say nothing of his loyalty to the Northumbrian establishment, which not only supported him but had played a notable part in Christianising England.

This has been taken to mean that Cædwalla himself ended the reign of the underkings, though Bede does not directly say this.

A particularly famous and often cited example is from the Venerable Bede, using both constructions within the same sentence: " Dico me scire et quod sum ignobilis " = " I say that I know ( accusative and infinitive ) and that I am unknown ( new construction )".

A possible explanation for Bede's discretion may be found in his comment that one should not make public accusations against church figures, no matter what their sins ; Bede may have found little good to say about the church in his day and hence preferred to keep silent.

There might have been minor orders ranking below a deacon ; but there is no record of whether Bede held any of these offices.

York later became the diocesan city partly because it had already been designated as such in the earlier Roman-sponsored mission of Paulinus to Deira, so it is not clear whether Bede is simply echoing the practice of his own day, or whether Oswiu and Chad were considering a territorial basis and a see for his episcopate.

Bede was not sure whether or not the vision was actually Egbert's own.

For example, Bede quotes at length some speeches by people who were not his contemporaries and whose speeches do not appear in any other surviving source ; it is doubtful whether oral traditional history supported these ostensible quotations.

What little is known about him comes from 8th-century writer Bede, but inconsistencies between various works have led to confusion about the exact circumstances of Wighard's election and whether he was ever confirmed in that office.

As the story would later be told by the Anglo-Saxon monk and historian Bede, Gregory was struck by the unusual appearance of the slaves and asked about their background.

Ælle was the first king recorded by the 8th century chronicler Bede to have held " imperium ", or overlordship, over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

Bede states that Theodore, a Greek, was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 668, and he taught Greek.

Bede ( ; ; 672 / 673 – 26 May 735 ), also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede (), was an English monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow ( see Monkwearmouth-Jarrow ), both in the Kingdom of Northumbria.

In 1899, Bede was made a Doctor of the Church by Leo XIII, a position of theological significance ; he is the only native of Great Britain to achieve this designation ( Anselm of Canterbury, also a Doctor of the Church, was originally from Italy ).

Bede was moreover a skilled linguist and translator, and his work with the Latin and Greek writings of the early Church Fathers contributed significantly to English Christianity, making the writings much more accessible to his fellow Anglo-Saxons.

It was completed in about 731, and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year, which would give a likely birth date of about 672 – 673.

Bede says nothing of his origins, but his connections with men of noble ancestry suggest that his own family was well-to-do.

Bede's first abbot was Benedict Biscop, and the names " Biscop " and " Beda " both appear in a king list of the kings of Lindsey from around 800, further suggesting that Bede came from a noble family.

The name " Bede " was not a common one at the time.

Some manuscripts of the Life of Cuthbert, one of Bede's own works, mention that Cuthbert's own priest was named Bede ; it is possible that this priest is the other name listed in the Liber Vitae.

The name probably derives from the Old English bēd, or prayer ; if Bede was given the name at his birth, then his family had probably always planned for him to enter the clergy.

Monkwearmouth's sister monastery at Jarrow was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, and Bede probably transferred to Jarrow with Ceolfrith that year.

The young boy was almost certainly Bede, who would have been about 14.

When Bede was about 17 years old, Adomnan, the abbot of Iona Abbey, visited Monkwearmouth and Jarrow.

In about 692, in Bede's nineteenth year, Bede was ordained a deacon by his diocesan bishop, John, who was bishop of Hexham.

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.