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Bede's Death Song is the editorial name given to a five-line Old English poem, supposedly the final words of the Venerable Bede. It exists in multiple copies, in both Northumbrian and West Saxon dialects.
Contents
Attribution to Bede
Bede died on Thursday, 26 May 735 (Ascension Day) on the floor of his cell, singing Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit and was buried at Jarrow. Cuthbert, a disciple of Bede's, wrote a letter to a Cuthwin (of whom nothing else is known), describing Bede's last days and his death. According to Cuthbert, Bede fell ill, "with frequent attacks of breathlessness but almost without pain", before Easter. On the Tuesday, two days before Bede died, his breathing became worse and his feet swelled. He continued to dictate to a scribe, however, and despite spending the night awake in prayer he dictated again the following day. At three o'clock, according to Cuthbert, he asked for a box of his to be brought, and distributed among the priests of the monastery "a few treasures" of his: "some pepper, and napkins, and some incense". That night he dictated a final sentence to the scribe, a boy named Wilberht, and died soon afterwards. Cuthbert's letter also relates a five-line poem in the vernacular that Bede composed on his deathbed, known as "Bede's Death Song". It is the most-widely copied Old English poem, and appears in 45 manuscripts, but its attribution to Bede is not absolutely certain—not all manuscripts name Bede as the author, and the ones that do are of later origin than those that do not.
Text
Recorded in both Northumbrian and West Saxon, as edited in the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records series (with || representing a medial caesura) the poem reads:
Northumbrian version
Fore thaem neidfaerae || naenig uuiurthit thoncsnotturra, || than him tharf sie to ymbhycggannae || aer his hiniongae huaet his gastae || godaes aeththa yflaes aefter deothdaege || doemid uueorthae.West Saxon version
For þam nedfere || næni wyrþeþ þances snotera, || þonne him þearf sy to gehicgenne || ær his heonengange hwæt his gaste || godes oþþe yfeles æfter deaþe heonon || demed weorþe.Modern English translation
In a literal translation by Leo Shirley-Price, the text reads as:
'Before setting forth on that inevitable journey, none is wiser than the man who considers—before his soul departs hence—what good or evil he has done, and what judgement his soul will receive after its passing.'
In a verse translation by Brice Stratford, it reads:
‘Fore the enforced-walk || none comes to be wise to malice || more than him that must with mindfulness think back, || before his going hence, on what his breath’s || bad, good, right or evil, after death-day’s ending, || on judgement comes to be.