Founded by Benedict Biscop in the late 7th century, the twin monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow achieved an international reputation through the writings of Bede. Destroyed in the mid 9th century the house was refounded in the 11th and survives to this day as a seat of religious scholarship. This report describes the excavations undertaken at the two sites by Rosemary Cramp between 1959 and 1988. They showed that the founder did indeed build in stone "in the Roman manner" as the early texts describe, and they provide important evidence into the evolution of monastic plans at this early period. The finds indicate the economic and the international contacts maintained by the monastery, including exotic pottery, and the greatest quantity of 7th and 8th century coloured window glass from any comparable site. From the later monasteries the evidence demonstrates the changing local and regional economies, and the cemeteries provide long-term demographic evidence. This first volume provides an authoritative study of the fabric and strctures of these two establishments; a second volume will describe the finds and their contexts.

Founded by Benedict Biscop in the late 7th century, the twin monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow achieved an international reputation through the writings of Bede. Destroyed in the mid 9th century the house was refounded in the 11th and survives to this day as a seat of religious scholarship. This volume describes the material remains from the excavations.

A scholarly and detailed but readable presentation of four key texts which shed light on the activity of the Venerable Bede (659-735) and the world of Early Medieval Northumbria.

Presenting the results of new research on the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow—among the most sophisticated centers of learning and artistic culture in 17th- and 18th-century Europe, and the home of Bede—and their churches, this study examines the long-lasting effect of their buildings and estates on the surrounding region from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day. The authors trace these relationships through time with new studies of the changing landscape, the monastery precincts, and the surviving structures themselves, detailing how the historical archaeology of the sites reveals how the churches and their communities were rooted in the landscapes of Northumbria but flourished through their links with other parts of Britain and Europe. Researchers from many different backgrounds contributed to the project, using aerial, geophysical, geoarchaeological, and palaeoenvironmental surveys and digital mapping to examine the monasteries and surrounding lands. This book reveals not only the link between the churches and the region’s political and economic history, but also demonstrates how their cultural significance for local people in northeast England has changed over time.

The Codex Amiatinus and its “Sister” Bibles examines the full Bibles made at Wearmouth–Jarrow under Ceolfrith (d. 716) and Bede (d. 735), and the circumstances of their production. Amiatinus is the oldest Latin full Bible to survive largely intact.

As the major writer and thinker of the Anglo-Saxon period, the Venerable Bede is a key figure in the study of the literature and thought of this time. This Companion, written by an international team of specialists, is a key introductory guide to Bede, his writings, and his world. The first part of the volume focuses on Bede's cultural and intellectual milieu, covering his life, the secular-political contexts of his day, the foundations of the Latin learning he inherited and sought to perpetuate, the ecclesiastical and monastic setting of early Northumbria, and the foundation of his home institution, Wearmouth-Jarrow. The book then considers Bede's writing in detail, treating his educational, exegetical and historical works. Concluding with a detailed assessment of Bede's influence and reception from the time of his death up to the modern age, the Companion enables the reader to view Bede's writings within a wider cultural context.