 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 certain — not all manuscripts name Bede as the author , and the ones that do are of later origin than those that do not . Bede 's remains may have been transferred to Durham Cathedral in the 11th century ; his tomb there was looted in 1541 , but the contents were probably re @-@ interred in the Galilee chapel at the cathedral . 
