The Age Of Bede
Containing Bede's "Life of Cuthbert" and "Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow"; and Eddius's "Life of Wilfrid" and "The Voyage of St Brendan". These four texts are important sources for the early history of the Christian Church in England and Ireland. The saints described in them lived in the sixth and seventh centuries. Each was an attractive pioneer both of monasticism and of the primacy of the spiritual. In an age and environment in which the heroic was deeply appreciated, each of them embodied a heroism comparable to, yet different from, that of mythical gods and warriors. They fought spiritual battles against invisible diabolical enemies with the weapons of prayer, fasting and solitude; yet each also contributed powerfully to building Christian cities, communities of monks. Each obtained posthumous and permanent, as well as transient, glory. Penquin Classics paperback. 255 pages.