Editing Bede (section)

===Childhood===
Almost everything that is known of Bede's life is contained in the last chapter of his ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', a history of the church in England. It was completed in about 731,<ref name="Deconstruct5">{{harvnb|Brooks|2006|p=5}}</ref> and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year, which would give a birth date in 672 or 673.<ref name="ASEEncBede">{{harvnb|Ray|2001|pp=57–59}}</ref><ref name="CM_xix">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|p=xix}}</ref><ref name="ODNB">{{harvnb|Campbell|2004}}</ref>{{efn|Bede's words are "''Ex quo tempore accepti presbyteratus usque ad annum aetatis meae LVIIII&nbsp;...''"; which means "From the time I became a priest until the fifty-ninth year of my life I have made it my business&nbsp;... to make brief extracts from the works of the venerable fathers on the holy Scriptures&nbsp;..."<ref name="CM_566–7">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=566–567}}</ref><ref name="World253"/> Other, less plausible, interpretations of this passage have been suggested—for example that it means Bede stopped writing about scripture in his fifty-ninth year.{{sfn|Whiting|1935|p=4}} }} A minor source of information is the letter by his disciple Cuthbert (not to be confused with the saint, [[Cuthbert]], who is mentioned in Bede's work) which relates Bede's death.<ref name="Reread9" />{{efn|Cuthbert is probably the same person as the later abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, but this is not entirely certain.<ref name=Reread9/>}} Bede, in the ''Historia'', gives his birthplace as "on the lands of this monastery".<ref name="HE_V_24_329">Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', V.24, p.&nbsp;329.</ref> He is referring to the twin monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow,<ref name="Farmer2004p47-48">{{harvnb|Farmer|2004|pp=47–48}}</ref> in modern-day [[Wearside]] and [[Tyneside]] respectively. There is also a tradition that he was born at [[Monkton, Tyne and Wear|Monkton]], {{convert|2|mi|spell=in}} from the site where the monastery at Jarrow was later built.<ref name="ASEEncBede" /><ref name="CM_xix-xx">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=xix–xx}}</ref> Bede says nothing of his origins, but his connections with men of noble ancestry suggest that his own family was well-to-do.<ref name="World4">{{harvnb|Blair|1990|p=4}}</ref> Bede's first abbot was [[Benedict Biscop]], and the names "Biscop" and "Beda" both appear in a list of the kings of [[Kingdom of Lindsey|Lindsey]] from around 800, further suggesting that Bede came from a noble family.<ref name="ODNB" />

[[Beda (name)|Bede's name]] reflects [[West Saxon dialect|West Saxon]] ''Bīeda'' (Anglian ''Bēda'').<ref>J. Insley, "Portesmutha" in: ''[[Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde]]'' vol. 23, Walter de Gruyter (2003), 291.</ref> It is an [[Old English]] short name formed on the root of ''bēodan'' "to bid, command".<ref>Förstemann, ''Altdeutsches Namenbuch'' s.v. BUD (289) connects the [[Old High German]] short name ''[[Bodo (given name)|Bodo]]'' (variants ''Boto, Boddo, Potho, Boda, Puoto'' etc.) as from the same verbal root.</ref>
The name also occurs in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', s.a. 501, as ''Bieda'', one of the sons of the Saxon founder of [[History of Portsmouth#Pre-Norman|Portsmouth]]. The ''[[Durham Liber Vitae|Liber Vitae]]'' of [[Durham Cathedral]] names two priests with this name, one of whom is presumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the ''Life of Cuthbert'', one of Bede's works, mention that [[Cuthbert]]'s own priest was named Bede; it is possible that this priest is the other name listed in the ''Liber Vitae''.<ref name="Reread8" /><ref name="ASC14">{{harvnb|Swanton|1998|pp=14–15}}</ref>