For early medieval historians it is rare to possess multiple near‐contemporary accounts of the careers of individuals or the history of particular monasteries. Exceptionally, for the associated monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, we have just that. Even more significantly, Jarrow was home to one of the greatest early medieval historians – Bede. Collected together in this excellent new edition and translation are Bede's Homily on Benedict Biscop, the founder of Wearmouth, Bede's History of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow, and an anonymous Life of Ceolfrith, founder of Jarrow. To set against the history of Wearmouth and Jarrow, Bede's Letter to Ecgbert, Bishop of York is also included, a sustained criticism of episcopal and monastic organization. Together these texts provide all the more valuable witness because Bede chose to present no details about Wearmouth and Jarrow in his most famous work, the Ecclesiastical History of the English people.
Of course, as Christopher Grocock and Ian Wood note in the preface, editions and translations already exist. All but the Homily were edited in Charles Plummer's Venerabilis Baedae Opera Historica (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1896) and are translated in J. F. Webb, The Age of Bede, Penguin Classics (London: Penguin, 1965) and Judith McClure and Roger Collins, Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Oxford World's Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994). The Homily on Benedict Biscop was edited by David Hurst in Bedae Venerabilis Homeliarum Evangelii Libri II, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina cxxii (Turnhout: Brepols, 1955) and translated in Lawrence Martin and David Hurst, Bede the Venerable, Homilies on the Gospels, Book One: Advent to Lent (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1991). But, as Grocock and Wood also explain, there are ample justifications for new editions and translations.
First, there is some new manuscript context. For the Homily Grocock and Wood discovered that Hurst had not used a critical early witness to the text – London, BL Harley 3020 – which suggested a new stemma and supported readings he consigned to his critical apparatus. A reconsideration of the manuscripts for the History of the Abbots justified departing from Plummer's favoured manuscript H
Within this broader context, Grocock and Wood succeed in setting out important and persuasive new arguments in their introduction. It has generally been argued that the anonymous Life of Ceolfrith was earlier than Bede's History of the Abbots; it has sometimes been suggested that Bede deliberately omitted some uncomfortable details. Conversely, Grocock and Wood argue that Bede's History of the Abbots was the earlier text: to them it seems likely that it was written before the return of those Wearmouth−Jarrow monks who set out for Rome with Ceolfrith and returned with a papal letter in 717, because Bede says nothing about their return, whereas the Life of Ceolfrith does. Moreover, it has often been suspected that Bede wrote the Life of Ceolfrith. Through a sustained and detailed comparison of the Latin styles of Bede and the author of the Life of Ceolfrith, Grocock and Wood show that the latter work was by a different author. Building on Wood's existing essays on the origins of Wearmouth and Jarrow, they make a strong case that the two were originally separate institutions, only united under a single abbot after Biscop's death. Hence, the concern for abbatial succession and unity may explain the creation of this cluster of texts within a relatively short period and their divergences in emphasis. Even so, in line with other analyses, they allow for the role of regime change, the ghost of Bishop Wilfrid, and the pressures felt from familial interests in the communities, in shaping the details of each work. Fulfilling their aims, they provide a more literal translation, alive to the potential technical implications of some Latin terms and the possible authorial concerns betrayed by others, and they present exemplary textual and historical notes. There are more comprehensive identifications of the scriptural reference points and echoes of scriptural commentaries throughout, and more precise attention to influences from the Rule of Saint Benedict in the History of the Abbots and Life of Ceolfrith, and from Gregory the Great's Pastoral Rule in the Letter to Egbert. There is consistent focus on the rhetorical patterns and historical discrepancies identified in the introduction. There are significant observations about individual Latin terms: nativitas may be used to indicate Biscop's second birth into heaven (pp. 3–4, n. 1); civitates might mean ‘dioceses’ rather than urban centres (pp. 16–17, n. 48); Gallias (‘Gauls’) may imply Bede was using a Roman geographical framework or indicate an interesting perception of contemporary Francia (pp. 32–3, n. 44). And there are up‐to‐date references to arguments about the locations of key places mentioned in the texts – Ingetlingum (Gilling West or Gilling East) and Cornu Vallis (Kirkdale, Adlingfleet, or Spurn Point).
By Thomas Pickles
