Bede and the End of Time

Peter Darby

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781138272767
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317175803
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: World History

Bede (c. 673-735) was the leading intellectual figure of the Anglo-Saxon Church, and his writings had a profound influence on the development of English Christian thought. Among the many issues he wrote about, eschatology - the study of the day of judgment and the end of time - was a recurring theme. Whilst recent research has furthered our knowledge of this subject in the later Middle Ages, Dr Darby's book provides the first comprehensive analysis of Bede's eschatological thought and its impact upon the Anglo-Saxon period. Taking account of Bede's beliefs about the end of time, this book offers sophisticated insights into his life, his works and the role that eschatological thought played in Anglo-Saxon society. Close attention is given to the historical setting of each source text consulted, and original insights are advanced regarding the chronological sequence of Bede's writings. The book reveals that Bede's ideas about time changed over the course of his career, and it shows how Bede established himself as the foremost expert in eschatology of his age. The eight chapters of this book are organised into three main thematic groups: the world ages framework, Bede's eschatological vision and Bede's eschatological perspective. It will be of interest to those studying early medieval history, theology or literature as well as anyone with a particular interest in Bede and Anglo-Saxon England.

PART I
The World Ages Framework

Chapter 1
Chronology and the World Ages in De temporibus

De temporibus is a brief but focused introduction to the subject of computus which is designed to give the reader a grounding in the methods of calculation employed in reckoning the date of Easter.¹ The work also explains the different units of time, the calendar and the structure of universal history. The preface to De temporum ratione states that De temporibus was compiled for the benefit of Bede’s own pupils: ‘Formerly, I composed two small books in a summary style that I deemed necessary for learners: on the nature of things (de natura rerum) and the reckoning of time (et ratione temporum).’² Although Bede’s Latin refers to the earlier work as [De] ratione temporum, it became known by the title De temporibus.³ Bede’s description of the work as being written ‘in a summary style’ (stricto sermone) is apt: the average sentence in De temporibus is just nine words long.⁴ The curt style adopted in De temporibus made the text accessible for beginners, and Bede clearly appreciated that the tricky subject of Paschal calculation required straightforward and concise exposition. De temporibus was completed in the year 703. Chapter 14 explains how to calculate the number of years that have elapsed since the Incarnation of the Lord. In doing so, Bede calculates the present year, the fifth year of Tiberius III, as 703.⁵ In the final chapter, Chapter 22, Bede once again refers to the present day as being in the fifth year of Tiberius,⁶ but a curious discrepancy with the number given in Chapter 14 exists in some manuscripts. Two of the earliest manuscripts of De temporibus state, in Chapter 22, that 709 years have elapsed in the sixth age thus far,⁷ whilst others omit the number altogether.⁸

The reference to the year 709 has traditionally been interpreted as a scribal error,⁹ although an alternative theory, that the text of Chapter 22 was altered by computists in Gaul to fit a Victorian chronology, has been proposed by Ohashi.¹⁰ As there was a difference of six years between the Victorian chronology and the Dionysian reckoning followed by Bede, the number may have been altered to fit the Victorian date for the fifth year of Tiberius III (709). If this was the case, it is not clear why the figure for the present year in Chapter 14 was not also amended. Alternatively, it is possible that the discrepancy in Chapter 22 was introduced at Wearmouth-Jarrow: the manuscripts that refer to the passing of 709 years in Chapter 22 could derive from a copy (or copies) which had been amended in the course of classroom teaching by Bede or a colleague, or the discrepancy may have been introduced into a copy of De temporibus prepared to mark the occasion of Acca’s elevation to the bishopric of Hexham in 710 (in that year, 709 complete years of the sixth age would have passed). Whether the internal discrepancy in these manuscripts is a result of editorial manipulation, scribal mishap or an alternative reason, the correct year of composition for De temporibus is undoubtedly 703 (the correct date for the fifth year of Tiberius III) as given in Chapter 14. This places the work at the beginning of Bede’s career; its completion would have been contemporaneous with his ordination to the priesthood aged 30.¹¹

The completion of De temporibus almost certainly coincided with that of another work, De natura rerum. De natura rerum provides an introduction to the study of the natural world and it had many precedents in classical and post-classical literature. The text was very popular after Bede’s death and it survives in well over a hundred medieval manuscripts.¹² De natura rerum offers no explicit clues about its date of composition. The main body of the work is prefaced by four lines of verse which are preserved in numerous manuscripts under the title ‘a poem of Bede the priest’ (versus Bedae presbiteri). The reference to Bede’s priestly status would seem to imply that the text was written after Bede’s ordination (c. 703), but no autograph manuscript of De natura rerum has survived and it is possible that the title of the quatrain may not have originated with Bede himself. It would therefore be unwise to put too much faith in the title’s reference to Bede’s status as presbiter (the title could have been an introductory label added later by a scribe). Most scholars accept De natura rerum as an early work but there is no consensus about its date of composition. Many have chosen to see this text as contemporaneous with De temporibus but Plummer did not consider this to be a safe assumption.¹³ C.W. Jones, who edited the Corpus Christianorum Series Latina edition of De natura rerum, was confident that the text was one of Bede’s earliest compositions.¹⁴ In contrast, Sharpe has classified De natura rerum as a mid-career work.¹⁵

Several factors indicate that De natura rerum was written relatively early in Bede’s career. Many of its chapters suggest that Bede had not yet achieved the sophisticated level of scientific understanding that is evident in De temporum ratione, a text which displays significant advances in certain fields such as tidal theory. In De natura rerum, Bede describes an eight-year tidal cycle which is based upon Book 2, Chapter 99 of the Historia naturalis (an encyclopedia complied by the in the first century by Pliny the Elder).¹⁶ In De temporum ratione, Bede rejects the eight-year cycle and replaces it with a more sophisticated nineteen-year cycle.¹⁷ Bede’s willingness to use sources that he later came to mistrust is another indication of an early date for De natura rerum, especially his liberal use of works by Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636). Bede drew heavily upon Isidore’s Etymologiae and De natura rerum; the latter of these probably suggested the title of Bede’s work to him.¹⁸ Bede cited these texts less frequently as he advanced in age, and it seems that his attitude towards Isidore cooled considerably in his later years. De temporum ratione borrows far fewer passages from Isidore than De natura rerum, despite the former work being a great deal longer. Furthermore, an unkind comment in Chapter 35 of De temporum ratione suggests that Bede did not consider Isidore to be a particularly reliable authority by the time he came to write that chapter (c. 725).¹⁹

A strong case can be made for seeing De natura rerum and De temporibus as companion pieces. The two works are mentioned together in De temporum ratione and the Historia ecclesiastica, which suggests that Bede considered them to be a pair.²⁰ De temporibus does not have its own preface, but the preface to De natura rerum may well have been intended for both works. The authenticity of the verse epigraph found at the beginning of De natura rerum is beyond question.²¹ This quatrain, which is reproduced below, does not seem appropriate for De natura rerum alone. It would, however, fit a hypothetical fusion of the two works:

In brief chapters, I, Bede, the servant of God, have lightly touched on the varied natures of things, and on the broad periods of fleeting time.
You who study the stars above, fix your mind’s gaze, I pray, on the Light of the everlasting day.²²

De natura rerum does not cover ‘broad periods of fleeting time’ (labentis … aeui … tempora lata) and it contains very little that is relevant to the wider topic of computus. The reference to ‘broad periods’ seems to be a far more appropriate description of De temporibus, particularly the world chronicle of Chapters 17–22. It seems likely, therefore, that, although De natura rerum and De temporibus were envisioned as separate works, they were intimately connected to each other in the mind of their author and issued together in 703.²³

The World Ages and the Ages of Man

The world chronicle that occupies Chapters 17–22 of De temporibus is often referred to as Bede’s ‘lesser chronicle’, or Chronica minora, to distinguish it from the much larger chronology in De temporum ratione (Chapter 66). Both of Bede’s chronicles are based upon a six-part method of temporal division. In Chapter 16 of De temporibus, Bede explains that universal history is split into six world ages. Each of these ages is defined by well-known biblical events: the flood described in Genesis 6–8 provides the splitting point for ages one and two; the divisions for ages three to six derive from the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Matthew.²⁴ The ages are reckoned as follows:

Table 1.1 World age divisions in De temporibus

Chapter 16 of De temporibus represents Bede’s earliest comprehensive discussion of the world ages theme. He returned to this subject many times throughout his career,²⁵ and it has been described as Bede’s ‘favourite doctrine’.²⁶ The ages of the world were certainly an important part of his educational programme: this subject intersects with almost all of Bede’s identifiable interests as a teacher.²⁷ The world ages scheme provided a historical framework for the biblical and post-biblical events of the past and it also defined Bede’s perception of the present. According to the scheme outlined in De temporibus, the present day fell within a sixth and final age of historical time which would end with the death of the whole world.²⁸ The notion that the present age and the end of time were connected in a continuous sequence was a fundamental aspect of Bede’s understanding of time. At some point in the future, the present era could be expected to merge seamlessly with the events that will bring about the end of the world (the conversion of the Jews, the time o...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations and Conventions
• Introduction: Bede and the Future
• PART I: THE WORLD AGES FRAMEWORK
• PART II: BEDE’S ESCHATOLOGICAL VISION
• PART III: BEDE’S ESCHATOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
• Conclusion
• Appendix I: Systems of Chronological Division
• Appendix II: Glossary of Terms
• Bibliography
• Index