• Title: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People
• Author: The Venerable Bede
• Genre/Subject: English history
• Publisher: Oxford
• Publication Date: 731 A.D. (waaaay back)
• Start date: 1/10/2023
• Finish date: 1/16/2023

Review:

You can’t speed read Bede, indeed, no need.

I have always wanted to read the Venerable Bede, if for no other reason than to find out what was so venerable about the chap. Now I know. Bede was a scholarly monk who lived from around 673-735 AD in what we now call the United Kingdom. He wrote this history, starting with the invasion by Julius Caesar in the first century BC and moving right through to 731 when he published his histories.

Surprisingly easy to read, at least it seemed that way to me. Took me six days, but I needed to pay attention to the text as it takes detours frequently, and digresses into accounts of miracles or the characters of certain kings.

A very worthy endeavour undertaken by a remarkable (venerable!) man, and this reading has made my life richer as a result.