 Almost everything that is known of Bede 's life is contained in the last chapter of his Historia ecclesiastica , a history of the church in England . It was completed in about 731 , and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty @-@ ninth year , which would give a birth date in 672 or 673 . A minor source of information is the letter by his disciple Cuthbert which relates Bede 's death . Bede , in the Historia , gives his birthplace as " on the lands of this monastery " . He is referring to the twinned monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow , in modern @-@ day Sunderland , claimed as his birthplace ; there is also a tradition that he was born at Monkton , two miles from the monastery at Jarrow . Bede says nothing of his origins , but his connections with men of noble ancestry suggest that his own family was well @-@ to @-@ do . Bede 's first abbot was Benedict Biscop , and the names " Biscop " and " Beda " both appear in a king list of the kings of Lindsey from around 800 , further suggesting that Bede came from a noble family . 
