Bede's Agenda in Book IV of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Tricky Matter of Advising the King (original) (raw)

The starting point for any comment on Bede's agenda in his later years must be Alan Thacker's essay, 'Bede's Ideal of Reform', published in 1983, which explores his intentions in reference particularly to the prose Life of St. Cuthbert (c. 721) and the Ecclesiastical History (731). 2 Thacker is also, however, always mindful of the Letter to Ecgberht, 3 written late in 734 only months before Bede's death, 4 which provides by far his most explicit comments on the reform of the Northumbrian Church. In a consummate analysis, Thacker argued that Bede was looking to the past to construct exemplary individuals with whom he could contrast the sloth and ignorance he was witnessing among contemporaries, and that he was writing with a view to restoring moral and spiritual values in the present to the heights that he considered that they had attained in an earlier, 'golden' epoch. As a Northumbrian, he was interested particularly to address the ills which he saw in that kingdom. The audience for which the Letter was intended allowed him to argue quite explicitly in favour of suppressing monasteries where no proper rule was kept, using the resources released thereby to establish new sees and improve pastoral care. With some passion, he was advocating more teachers, more bishops, better training of clergy and an end to the abuse posed by 'secular' monasteries. That this agenda is not unique to Bede's later 'historical' works but also pervades his exegesis, in particular the commentaries that he wrote in later life, was recognised by Thacker but has since been elaborated in a series of important studies by Scott DeGregorio. 5 His work has identified Bede's On Ezra and