Hello and welcome to Life of the Week, where leading historians delve into the lives of some of history's most intriguing and significant figures,

from ancient Egyptian pharaohs and medieval warriors to daring 20th century spies.

The venerable Bede was a monk he lived in 20th century spies.

The venerable Beed was a monk he lived in Northumbria some 1,300 years ago,

but his influence reached far beyond the confines of his monastic home.

In fact, he is remembered today as the father of English history.

In this Life of the Week episode, David Musgrove explores the life and long-lasting legacy of this early medieval scholar and saint in the expert company of Professor Michelle P. Brown.

Let's start off with the basics. Who was Beed and why was he important? Okay,

Beed was a little Anglo-Saxon lad who was born somewhere between the River's Tyne and Weir in

673. So we've just had his 1350th birthday. And at the age of seven seven he entered the double monastery of monk

weymouth jarrow and he remained there until he died the age of 62 now we might

think well why do we want to know about a fasty old monk who never did anything but what we're

going to find out today is that Bede had an incredible intellect.

He became one of the greatest minds of the post-Roman world in the early Middle Ages.

He gave us the beginnings of the identity of England and the English.

And beyond that, he just had the most amazingly rounded view of how everything came together to actually give him a picture

of the multiverse and its even bigger significance. Right. Okay. There's a lot to get into there.

I just want to situate us geographically just a little bit more for our international listeners.

So he lived in the northeast of what is now England now, didn't he?

Yeah, the northeast of England.

Yeah, Tyne and Weir on the northeast coast.

And that had been obviously part of the Roman province of Britannia under the Roman Empire,

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