VENERABLE

BORN IN THE

735;

BURIED

BISHOPRIC
IN THE

OF DURHAM,

CHURCH

OF THE

ENGLAND,
ABBEY

IN

BEDE,
A.D. 672

OF ST.

PAUL,

OR

673;

DIED

ON MAY

AT JARROW, IN THE

26, A.D.

PALATINE

DURHAM.

on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:55:30 UTC

OF

OF SCIENCE

THE PROGRESS
BAEDA

VENERABILIS

TWELVE
centuries have passed since
Baeda (Beda, Bede), one of the firstof
the British scholarsof the Middle Ages,
completed his work at Jarrow. Four
years before his death, which probably
occurred in 735, he added a note to his
Magnum Opus, the "Historia Ecelesiastica gentis Anglorum," setting forth
in briefthe major eventsof a life passed
in the monasteriesof St. Peter in Wearmouthand St. Paul in Jarrow. The note
reads in part: "I was born in the territory of the said monastery,and at the
age of seven I was, by the care of my
relations,given to the reverendAbbott
Benedict-to be educated. From that
time I have spent the whole of my life
within this monasterydevoting all my
pains to the studyof the scriptures;and
amid the observance of monastic discipline, and t;hedaily charge of singing
in the chureh,it has everbeen mydelight
to learn or tIoteach or to write"-semper
auttdiscere auttdocere att scriberedulce
hab,ti. What more noble epitaph for a
scholar!
Since the current year marks the
twelve-hundlredthanniversary of the
death of Baeda, it is fittingto recall in
a scientificjournal his contributionsto
science,even thoughtheywere of minor
importance when compared with the
"Ecelesiastical History," whichhe completed in 731. In this field he wrote
upon physicalsciences ("De Natura Rerum,") his material being chieflygathered from sLich writers as Isidore of
Seville who, in turn, had depended
largely upon various earlier Latin writers. This is seen in his treatmentof
such subjects as the rainbow,volcanoes,
thunder and the salt in the seas. He
also venturedupon the vexed questionof
the church calendar ("De Temporum
Ratione"), chronology,fingerreckoning
("Tractatus de computo,vel loquela per

(672-735)

gestumdigitorum"), fractions(" De ratione unciarurn") and the difficultsubject of computationin the age of Roman
numeralsand of calculationby counters.
It was he who introduced into England the measuriingof time from the
it to Dionybirth of Christ,attributing,
sius, who had announced his systemin
Rome beginning with March 25, 527,
althoughit appeared in papal documents
somewhatearlier.
The represe-nting
of numbersby means
of fingershas a long history,as indeed
has the computationby similar devices.
Even at the presenttimein certainparts
of the world -peoplemultiply8 by 6 by
leaving threefingersup on the left hand
to represent 5 + 3, the rest (2) being,
closed; they also leave 1 fingerupon the
right hand, the rest (4) being closed.
Then theyadd the uprightfingers(3 + 1
4) and multiplythosewhichare closed
(2 x 4 8), thus obtaining48. The process requires the learning of multiplication facts only to 4's.
The contributionmade by Baeda was
to the representingby the fingers of
larger numbers than were commonly
used in the period in whichhe lived. A
manuscriptcopy of his works,withillustrations of the fingerarrangements,is
now in the F3ibliotecaNational at Madrid, dated about 1140. Another description of these symbols is in the
"Codex Alcobatiensis" in the same library. Of the several early printed illustrationsof fingernumeralsthe one in
Pacioli 's " Silma de Arithmetica Geometria Proportioni & Proportionalita"
(Venice, 1494) and a similar one in
the "Abaevs" of Johannes Aventinus
(Niirnberg, 1522) are the best. The
latter writer, in his title page, pays
tributeto Baeda in these words: Abacvs
atqve vetvstissimna, vetervnmlatinorunt
per digitos mtanasqz nunerandi (qui-

2 79

on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:55:30 UTC

280

THE SCIENTIFIC

nettianloquendi)costetudo, Ex beda cupicturis& itagini bus.... From the 1532

edition).
A furthercontributionto arithmetie
is th- one on thestudyof fractions. This
appears in his brief essay "De ratione
vneiarvm," referringto the Roman submultiples of the as into unciae, practically the scale of twelveapplied to mensuration (linear and monetary). It is
particularlyvaluable since thereis given
(in the 1525 edition,Venice, whichI am
here consulting) the symbols for such
measuresas the "Deunx, vel Dextans,"
often puzzling to the beginner in the
stutdyof medieval documents. This editioncontainsalso extractsfromtheworks
of M. Valerianus Probus, Petrus Diaconus and Demetrius Alabaldus-all
germaneto his own subject.
A man of such repute as a scholarand
of prominencein the church naturally
attractedthe attentionof the faithfulin
all parts of Britain. So great was his
renown,even after his death, that his
tombat Jarrowbecame a shrinefor pilgrims,urged by the belief that his relics
could performmiraclesin thisworld and
could relieve souls in purgatory. Especially on the anniversariesof his death
did priests and people assemble at his
place of burial to watch and pray and
chant the servicesfor which he had led
the singing in his monasteryfor many
years.
In the ninth centuryAleuin of York
urged the monksof Northumbriato follow the path laid out by Baeda and not
to forget the praise which he had receivedfrommen and the gloriousreward
from God. It was because of his great
repute and the miracles reported by
visitorsto his shrine that his grave was
later rifledfor the purpose of carrying
relies to various churches. In the
eleventhcenturyone Elfred (Alfred), a
priest in the cathedral at Durham, announced himself as commissionedby
heaven to collectbones fromthe graves
of saints and expose themto the faithful.

MONTHLY

In thisway it is assertedthathe stole the

bones of Baeda fromJarrowand carried
themto Durham. The storyis too long
for repetitionhere,but to-daythe traveler may see in the Galilee chapel of the
noble cathedral of that city a slab bearing the inscription,"Hac sunt in fossa
venerabilisossa."
Boedwe
As to the term"Venerable," this can
hardly have been given him on account
of his great age, since he died at or abont
the age of sixty-three.It is more probable that it was a titleused somewhatas
in the case of archdeaconsin the Church
of England to-dayand for anotherpnrpose in the Churchof Rome.
The portraitaccompanyingthis sketch
is froman engravingof the eighteenthor
the nineteenthcenturyand can hardly
lay claim to any antiqntity. In those
professingto be authentic,however,there
is a general resemblancewhich suggests
an earlier drawing fromwhich all were
taken.
For those who care to follow more at
length the contribntionsof Bede to science, referencemay be made to his collected works, edited by J. A. Giles
(twelve volnmes,1843-44), and the essay prefixed to his " Historia Ecelesiastica" by Charles Plnmmer (Oxford,
1896).
Baeda's workswere pnblishedseveral
times in the sixteenth century as in
Basel (1521, 1563), the 1563 edition appearing in eightvolnmesbonnd in four.
The firstof these volumescontains"De
Arithmeticisnvmerisliber," chieflydevoted to an extensivetable of prodncts;
"De Arithmeticisproportionibvs";"De
ratione calcvli," dealing with Roman
nmoney;"De loqvela per gestvm digitorvm, et temporvm ratione"; "De
rationevnciarvm" and a treatiseon the
calendar with a descriptionon the astrolabe. There was also an edition by
Noviomagus (Cologne, 1537). The "De
natura Rerum" was published at Basel
in 1529.
DAVID

EUGENE

on Sat, 16 May 2015 01:55:30 UTC

SMKITH