monastery over which the Abbess Hilda ruled or in which Caedmon
sang, for in the ninth century that was plundered and destroyed
by the fierce hordes of Danes who swept our shores. But in the
twelfth century the house was rebuilt, and parts of that building
are still to be seen.








Chapter XIV THE FATHER OF ENGLISH HISTORY

WHILE Caedmon was still singing at Whitby, in another
Northumbrian village named Jarrow a boy was born. This boy we
know as Bede, and when he was seven years old his friends gave
him into the keeping of the Abbot of Wearmouth. Under this Abbot
there were two monasteries, the one at Jarrow and the other at
Wearmouth, a few miles distant. And in these two monasteries
Bede spent all the rest of his life.

When Bede was eight years old Caedmon died. And although the
little boy had never met the great, but humble poet, he must have
heard of him, and it is from Bede's history that we learn all
that we know of Caedmon.

There is almost as little to tell of Bede's life as of Caedmon's.
He passed it peacefully, reading, writing, and teaching within