ABSTRACT

Bede's thoughts in De temporum ratione brought together a variety of strands which showed the intersections of computus, history and apocalyptic thought. His opponents needed to understand their compounded mistakes: their trust in dubious authorities such as Victorius of Aquitaine, and their misappropriation of faulty chronographical material to prophesy the end of time. De temporum ratione was less a school book and more a polemic against people in Wearmouth-Jarrow, and perhaps as far afield as Canterbury and Ireland, who held alternative points of view and criticised Bede and his friends. The reception of De temporum ratione on the continent reveals the difficulties Bede had in maintaining such an argument. But sometimes, as the Karlsruhe Bede and the Chronicle of 741 show, De temporum ratione could become the battleground, as traditions clashed and the text was changed accordingly. In these instances, the problem was whether to maintain the authority of Eusebius-Jerome or to follow the Iro-Bedan model.