ℹ️ This corpus has no morphological tagging. Glosses are matched by word form against a dictionary — a match does not prove it is the same word (an inflected form can coincide with another word’s lemma). Verify against the original and a specialist lexicon where precision matters.
ℹ️ The Chinese and English alongside are this site's own translation, made directly from the original text on this page (not the CUV or the WEB, which follow the Masoretic Text and a different textual tradition).
In the year 680, a synod was held in the field of Hatfield concerning the catholic faith, with Archbishop Theodore presiding; at which John the Roman abbot was present. In which year the abbess Hild died at Whitby. In the year 685, Ecgfrith king of the Northumbrians was slain. In the same year Hlothhere king of the people of Kent died. In the year 688, Cædwalla king of the West Saxons set out from Britain for Rome. In the year 690, Archbishop Theodore died. In the year 697, Queen Osthryth was killed by her own, that is, by the chief men of the Mercians. In the year 698, Berhtred the royal ealdorman of the Northumbrians was slain by the Picts. In the year 704, Æthelred, after he had presided over the Mercian nation thirty-one years, having become a monk, gave the kingdom to Coenred.
In the year 705, Aldfrith king of the Northumbrians died. In the year 709, Coenred king of the Mercians, after he had reigned five years, set out for Rome. In the year 711, the ealdorman Berhtfrith fought with the Picts. In the year 716, Osred king of the Northumbrians was killed, and Ceolred king of the Mercians died; and the man of the Lord, Ecgberht, corrected the monks of Iona to the catholic Easter and the ecclesiastical tonsure. In the year 725, Wihtred king of the people of Kent died. In the year 729, comets appeared, the holy Ecgberht passed away, Osric died. In the year 731, Archbishop Berhtwald died. In the same year Tatwine was consecrated archbishop, the ninth of the church of Canterbury, Æthelbald king of the Mercians being in the fifteenth year of his reign.
These things concerning the ecclesiastical history of the Britains, and especially of the English nation, as far as I could learn either from the writings of the ancients, or from the tradition of our elders, or from my own knowledge, I, Bede, servant of Christ and presbyter of the monastery of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, which is at Wearmouth and Jarrow, have, with the Lord's help, set in order. Born in the territory of that same monastery, when I was seven years of age I was given by the care of my kinsfolk to be educated by the most reverend abbot Benedict, and afterward by Ceolfrith; and spending all the rest of the time of my life in the dwelling of that monastery, I gave all my effort to the meditation of the Scriptures;
and amid the observance of the regular discipline and the daily care of singing in the church, it was always sweet to me either to learn, or to teach, or to write. In the nineteenth year of my life I received the diaconate, in the thirtieth the rank of the presbyterate, both through the ministry of the most reverend bishop John, at the bidding of Abbot Ceolfrith. From the time I received the presbyterate until the fifty-ninth year of my age, I have taken care to make these brief notes upon Holy Scripture, for my own need and that of my brethren, out of the works of the venerable fathers, or even to add something according to the pattern of their sense and interpretation: On the beginning of Genesis, up to the birth of Isaac and the casting out of Ishmael, four books.
On the tabernacle and its vessels, and the vestments of the priests, three books. On the first part of Samuel, that is, up to the death of Saul, three books. On the building of the temple, an allegorical exposition, as is the rest, two books. Likewise, on the book of Kings, thirty questions. On the Proverbs of Solomon, three books. On the Song of Songs, seven books. On Isaiah, Daniel, the Twelve Prophets, and part of Jeremiah, distinctions of chapters excerpted from the treatise of blessed Jerome. On Ezra and Nehemiah, three books. On the Song of Habakkuk, one book. On the book of the blessed father Tobias, an allegorical explanation concerning Christ and the Church, one book. Likewise, Chapters of readings on the Pentateuch of Moses, Joshua, Judges; on the books of Kings and Chronicles;
on the book of the blessed father Job; on the Parables, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs; on the prophet Isaiah, and also on Ezra and Nehemiah. On the Gospel of Mark, four books. On the Gospel of Luke, six books. Of homilies on the Gospel, two books. On the Apostle, whatever I found expounded in the works of Saint Augustine, I took care to transcribe all in order. On the Acts of the Apostles, two books. On the seven catholic Epistles, single books on each. On the Apocalypse of Saint John, three books. Likewise, Chapters of readings on the whole New Testament, except the Gospel. Likewise, a book of letters to various persons: of which one is on the six ages of the world; one on the dwelling-places of the children of Israel; one on that which Isaiah says:
'And they shall be shut up there in prison, and after many days they shall be visited'; one on the reckoning of the bissextile day; one on the equinox according to Anatolius. Likewise, on the histories of the saints: I translated into prose, from the metrical work of Paulinus, the book of the life and passion of Saint Felix the confessor; the book of the life and passion of Saint Anastasius, badly translated from the Greek and worse emended by some unskilled person, I corrected as best I could to the sense; the life of the holy father, monk and likewise bishop, Cuthbert, I described both first in heroic verse and afterward in plain prose. The history of the abbots of this monastery, in which I rejoice to serve the heavenly goodness—Benedict, Ceolfrith, and Hwætberht—in two little books.
The ecclesiastical history of our island and nation, in five books. A martyrology of the birthday-feasts of the holy martyrs, in which I diligently strove to note down all whom I could find, not only on what day, but also by what kind of contest, and under what judge, they overcame the world. A book of hymns in diverse meter or rhythm. A book of epigrams in heroic or elegiac meter. On the nature of things, and on the times, single books; likewise, on the times, one larger book. A book on orthography, arranged in the order of the alphabet. Likewise a book on the metrical art, and added to this another little book on the figures or tropes, that is, on the figures and modes of speech with which Holy Scripture is woven.
And I beseech you, good Jesus, that, as you have graciously granted me to drink sweetly the words of your knowledge, you would also of your kindness grant me one day to come to you, the fountain of all wisdom, and to stand forever before your face.