[Illustration: BEDE'S CHAIR.]
This curious relic is preserved in the vestry of the ancient church of
Jarrow, two miles from South Shields, in the county of Durham. It is a
large chair of oak, traditionally said to have been the seat of the
VENERABLE BEDE, the pre-eminent boast of the monastery, a portion only
of the church of which establishment remains at Jarrow. The chair is
very rudely formed, and, with the exception of the back, is of great
age. To have been possessed by Bede, it must be eleven hundred years
old; but there is no precisely authentic testimony of its belonging to
that learned writer. The Danes and Normans are said to have plundered
the monastery of all its valuables; though it is reasonable to suppose,
that the monks would preserve the seat of their principal with more
reverential care, and attach to it more importance, than they would to
any other article of furniture. Mr. Fosbroke, the diligent antiquarian,
refers to it as Bede's Chair in accredited manner; that is, as taken
for granted, or without note or comment of doubt.
Venerable Bede was born at Wearmouth, A.D. 672, only a few years after
the introduction of Christianity into Northumberland. When seven years
of age, he was received into the monastery of his native place, where
his infant mind acquired the rudiments of that knowledge which has
rendered his memory immortal. When only nineteen, he was ordained
deacon; and, even at that early age, was regarded as exemplary for
his piety and studious life: he was subsequently removed to the new
foundation at Jarrow, where he continued to study throughout a long
life. The results of his monastic seclusion furnish a bright page even
in these dark ages. "Such was the authority of his writings, that,
though only a humble monk in the most remote, barbarous, and recently
converted of the Saxon principalities, he attained (what was even then)
the singular honour of being the most celebrated writer of Christendom
for more centuries than one."[5] His great work is entitled, an
"Ecclesiastical History," detailing ecclesiastical with civil events;
which was, indeed, inevitable, when the ecclesiastics were the only men
of knowledge. Bede believed in miraculous interpositions, and honestly
related them; nevertheless, our obligations to his industry are
invaluable. To him we owe all our knowledge of English history, from the
landing of the Saxons in Kent to his time, (nearly three centuries,)
and all our certain information respecting the various tribes who then
inhabited the island: from him it is apparent that the work called the
Saxon Chronicle copies long passages. Bede also translated St. John's
Gospel into English; and it is said, that a copy of some of St. Paul's
Epistles, in Bede's handwriting, is still preserved in the library of
Trinity College, Cambridge. His works, published at Basle, extend to
eight folio volumes.
Bede died May 26, 735, in the sixty-third year of his age. He was first
buried in his own monastery, but his remains were afterwards removed,
and interred in Durham cathedral; and, being subsequently canonized, he
was enrolled in the Romish calendar of saints. His character is thus
drawn by William of Malmsbury:--"He was a man, that, although born
in the extreme corner of the world, yet the light of his learning spread
over all parts of the earth. All the hours which he had to spare from
the monastic exercises of prayer, and singing in the choirs by day and
night, (in which he was constant, and very devout,) he most diligently
spent in study, and divided his whole time between that and his
devotions."
The Chair is not the only memorial of Bede preserved in this
neighbourhood. About one mile west of Jarrow is a _Well_, still
called _St. Bede's_, to which it was customary, almost as late as
the middle of the last century, to convey diseased children, and, after
dropping in a crooked pin, to dip them for the recovery of their health:
round the Well, also, on every Midsummer Eve, was a great resort of the
neighbouring people, with bonfires, music, and dancing. The mystical
properties of the Well are not of difficult solution: since it was
reasonable enough to associate the restorative effects of cold bathing
with sanctity; and the rejoicings at the spring were indicative of the
gladness of the people, in connexion with a name endeared to them, by
the wisdom, virtue, and benevolence, of its possessor.
[5] Sir James Mackintosh.
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