bede was called the father of english history.
bede was called the father of english history.
who is called the father of english history?
bede
one of the best sources of information that contemporary historians have about the anglo-saxon period of english history are the records made by an anglo-saxon monk named bede (672/673-735) who lived at the monastery in jarrow. considered to be "the father of english history", bede wrote a number of texts dealing with the anglo-saxon migration and conversion, most notable the "historia ecclesiastica gentis anglorum" ("ecclesiastical history of the english people"), completed circa 731 and divided up into various books. it was in the second book of the "historia ecclesiastica" that bede mentioned a royal township, "ad gefrin", which he located as being at a point along the river glen. he described how king edwin of bernicia, shortly after converting to christianity, brought a christian preacher named paulinas to his royal township at ad gefrin where the priest proceeded to convert the local people from their original pagan religion to christianity. this passage goes thus:
yeavering
in his will, ford left a number of bequests, some of which were held in trust for the support of his surviving siblings. after they had all died, oxford university received his bequest of £2,000 to fund a professorship of english history, which was to be established when the principal had grown to support payment of £100 per year. when this goal was reached in 1894, the sum was not enough to support a professor at the current stipend. after considerable discussion within the university, the funds were assigned to fund an annual lectureship in english history by a lecturer who was to be chosen annually by a board of electors. the first ford's lecturer in english history was s. r. gardiner, elected for the academic year beginning in 1896. in 1994, the university of oxford formally changed the official title of the series from "ford's lectures in english history" to "ford's lectures in british history".
ford lectures