Bede and the Theory of Everything

An accessible biography of the venerable Bede, regarded as the father of English history.
A 2023 History Today Book of the Year

This book investigates the life and world of Bede (c. 673-735), the foremost scholar of the early Middle Ages and the ＂father of English history.＂ It examines his notable feats, including calculating the first tide tables, creating the Ceolfrith Bibles and the Lindisfarne Gospels, writing the earliest extant Old English poetry, and composing his famous Ecclesiastical History of the English People. In addition to providing an accessible overview of Bede’s life and work, Michelle P. Brown describes new discoveries regarding Bede’s handwriting, his historical research, and his previously lost Old English translation of St John’s Gospel, dictated on his deathbed.

Michelle P. Brown is professor emerita of medieval manuscript studies at the University of London and was formerly curator of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library. Her books include Art of the Islands.