Editions and Translations of Works of the Venerable Bede

A Brief History of Bedan Editions

The history of printed versions of the commentaries before Laistner's 1939 edition of the Expositio and Retractatio on Acts makes a depressing tale. The editio princeps of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica was printed in Strassburg around 1475; so far as I have been able to discover, however, the first appearance of the Acts commentaries was in the Opera Omnia in eight folio volumes published by Johann Herwagen (Johannes Hervagius) at Basel in 1563. This notoriously poor edition contains a vast amount of non-Bedan material: Mynors remarks drily that it had "a great and on the whole perhaps unfortunate effect" (EH, Textual Introduction, lxx). Hervagius' edition was substantially taken over for the Cologne edition of 1612, which was then reprinted in 1688. Dr. J. A. Giles made a new and lamentably incompetent edition of the Opera Omnia in twelve octavo volumes (1843-1844): Laistner observes that "it is perhaps not until one has worked systematically through early manuscripts and compared them with Giles' printed text that the utter shoddiness of his performance becomes fully manifest." (M xi) Giles did at least exclude most of the spurious or dubious works which had been printed by Hervagius; but the PL, in the interests of thoroughness, reprinted Giles' text along with all of Hervagius's eccentric collection, making up volumes 90-95. The Acts commentaries are in volume 92, 937-1032 and 1033-1040, though the front and back matter of the volume do not mention them. Laistner's version of the Acts commentaries in M was for some years the only modern critical edition of any of the exegetical works; the CC has remedied this situation to some degree, though objections have been raised even to some of these editions. Meyvaert writes: "Laistner's edition of the Expositioand Retractatio on Acts, and Jones' edition of the commentary on Genesis (CC cxvii A) are the only ones that really come up to expectation. The several editions which Dom David Hurst has contributed to the Corpus Christianorum series, though they are certainly an improvement on the editions of Giles...still leave quite a lot to be desired as far as source identifications are concerned..." ("Bede the Scholar," Famulus Christi, 63). The edition of Bede's hymns in CC 122 has attracted sharp criticism (cf. Walther Bulst, "Bedae Opera Rhythmica?" Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum and deutsche Literatur 89 (1958-1959), 83-91), and B. Löfstedt supplements CC editions with two articles providing a number of textual corrections and identifications of sources: "Zu Bedas Evangelien Kommentaren," Arctos 21 (1987), 61-72, and "Zu Bedas Predigten,"Arctos 22 (1988), 95-98. The CC is sometimes irritatingly inconvenient, as well: in the edition of Bede's commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, the titles at the top of each spread indicate the chapters and verses found on those pages, but do not give the name of the epistle itself.

Some Useful Editions and Translations

This is not an exhaustive list of editions and translations; rather, it gives the items I've found useful in my own work. In general: modern editions of Bedan commentaries are in CC 118a, 119, 119a, 119b, 120, and 121; the homilies, hymns, poems and prayers are in 122; and school books--on meter, the reckoning of time, etc., in 123. The PL volumes for Bede are 90-95.

Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Ed. and trans. Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors. Oxford: Clarendon, 1969. Facing page edition and translation; note the companion volume: J. M. Wallace-Hadrill. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon, 1988.
In Cantica Canticorum.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 119B:175-375. 1983.
In Canticum Abacuc Prophetae.
Ed. J. E. Hudson. CC 119B:377-409. 1983.
Bede: On Tobit and on the Canticle of Habakkuk. Trans. Seán Connolly. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997.
De eo quod ait Isaias.
PL 94.
Bede: A Biblical Miscellany. Trans. W. Trent Foley and Arthur G. Holder. Translated Texts for Historians 28. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1999.
In Epistolas VII Catholicas.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 121:179-342. 1983.
The Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles. Trans. David Hurst. Cistercian Studies, 82. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1985.
Explanatio Apocalypsin.
PL 93, 129-206.
The Explanation of the Apocalypse. Trans. Edward Marshall. Oxford and London: Parker, 1878.
Expositio Actuum Apostolorum, Retractatio in Actus Apostolorum, Nomina Regionum atque Locorum.
Ed. M. L. W. Laistner. Cambridge: Medieval Academy, 1939. Reprint, CC 121:1-163. 1983.
Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. Trans. Lawrence T. Martin. Cistercian Studies 117. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1989.
In Ezram et Neemiam.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 119A:235-392. 1969.
In Genesim (= Libri quattuor in principium Genesis usque ad nativitatem Isaac et eiectionum Ismahelis adnotationum).
Ed. Charles W. Jones. CC 118A. 1967.
Homeliarum evangelii libri II.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 122:1-378. 1965.
Homilies on the Gospels, Books 1 and 2. Trans. Lawrence T. Martin and David Hurst. Cistercian Studies, 110-111.     Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1991.
In librum beati patris Tobiae allegorica expositio.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 119B:3-19. 1983.
Bede: On Tobit and on the Canticle of Habakkuk. Trans. Seán Connolly. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997.
Bede: A Biblical Miscellany. Trans. W. Trent Foley and Arthur G. Holder. Translated Texts for Historians 28. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1999.
De locis sanctis.
Ed. J. Fraipont. CC 175. 1965.
Bede: A Biblical Miscellany. Trans. W. Trent Foley and Arthur G. Holder. Translated Texts for Historians 28. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1999.
In Lucae evangelium expositio.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 120:1-425. 1960.
De mansionibus filiorum Israel.
PL 94.
Bede: A Biblical Miscellany. Trans. W. Trent Foley and Arthur G. Holder. Translated Texts for Historians 28. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1999.
In Marci evangelium expositio.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 120:426-648. 1960.
De octo quaestionibus.
PL 93.
Bede: A Biblical Miscellany. Trans. W. Trent Foley and Arthur G. Holder. Translated Texts for Historians 28. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1999.
In Proverbia (= Super parabolas Salomonis).
Ed. David Hurst. CC 119B:20-163. 1983.
In Regum librum XXX quaestiones.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 119: 293-322. 1962.
Bede: A Biblical Miscellany. Trans. W. Trent Foley and Arthur G. Holder. Translated Texts for Historians 28. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1999.
De tabernaculo et vasis eius ac vestibus sacerdotum.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 119A:1-139. 1979.
Bede: On the Tabernacle. Trans. Arthur G. Holder. Translated Texts for Historians 18. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1994.
De templo.
Ed. David Hurst. CC 119A:141-234. 1979.
Bede: On the Temple. Trans. Seán Connolly. Translated Texts for Historians 21. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1995.
De temporum ratione.
Ed. Charles W. Jones in Bedae opera didascalia, CC 123A-C: 241-544.
Bede: The Reckoning of Time Trans. Faith Wallis. Translated Texts for Historians 29. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1999.
Venerabilis Baedae Opera Historica (= Venerabilis Baedae Historiam Ecclesiasticam Gentis Anglorum, Historiam Abbatum, Epistolam ad Ecgbertum, una cum Historia Abbatum Auctore Anonymo).
Ed. Charles Plummer. Oxford: Clarendon, 1896. Reprint, 1946.

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This page last revised on February 21, 2000.