The Writings of the Venerable Bede: A Bilingual Anthology

• The Venerable Bede (c. 673–735) was a polymath, priest, poet, exegete, historian, and natural philosopher; he was the first great English intellectual, and one of the defining figures of the early medieval period in Europe. In spite of this, with the exception of his magisterial Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the majority of Bede’s writings are relatively unknown to the general public; some texts can be found only in the original Latin, while others are translated only in rare and expensive editions. The Writings of the Venerable Bede aims to counter this by providing readers with selections from over twenty different works, including poems, homilies, biblical commentaries, letters, educational treatises, and even a collection of riddles, all presented alongside the original Latin in an accessible translation. This bilingual anthology, the first of its kind in the history of Bede scholarship, provides a holistic image of the monk’s style, education, spirituality, and thought.

Bede, Medieval, Latin, History, Old English

• GRAHAM SCHEPER is an instructor at Latinitas Animi Causa, where he teaches Old English. He studied at the University of Maryland, and he has published articles in English Studies and Journal of Tolkien Research. His YouTube channel has over 20 million views and has made Anglo-Latin and Old English literature available to the general public.

• TOM SHIPPEY taught at six universities, including Oxford and Harvard, in an academic teaching career lasting 43 years (1965-2008). He has published well over a hundred academic articles, and more than twenty monographs and edited collections. His works include The Road to Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, and Beowulf: Translation and Commentary.