Acknowledgments
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The idea of doing this translation was conceived in 1998, when research on my PhD dissertation at the University of Toronto first brought me into contact with Bede's commentaries. In its earliest stages, the project was undertaken in collaboration with Stephen J.
Harris, and doubtless it has suffered to the extent that he could not continue to work on it with me. The task has been an enormous one, and its completion would scarcely have been possible without the generous assistance I have received from numerous friends and colleagues. My primary debt is to Andrew Goodson and Carlotta
Dionisotti, whose continued re-readings of the whole manuscript were instrumental in bringing it to its present state. They uncovered numerous errors, introduced corrections and many helpful additions to both the text and notes, and directed me to bibliography that I had missed. Without their gracious help and admirable learning, this volume would be much the poorer, and I remain deeply thankful for their substantial contribution to it. Mary Whitby, Arthur Holder and Father Bede Kierney, OSB, also read through and commented upon the entire manuscript, and their many insights and suggestions no doubt led to significant improvements for which I am grateful. For their advice on the Introduction and various textual cruces, I owe a special debt also to Alan Thacker, Calvin Kendall, Lawrence Martin,
Allen Frantzen, Celia Chazelle and Roger Ray. Other experts in various fields were only too willing to answer specific questions that I in desperation put to them; thanks are due here to Richard Sharpe,
Paul Meyvaert, Michael Gorman, Trent Foley, Faith Wallis, Richard Marsden, Paul Kershaw, John Blair, Catherine Cubitt, Mark Vessey,
Roger Gryson, Georges Tugenes, Drew Jones, Scott Gwara, Gordon Whatley, Michael Lapidge, Andy Orchard, David Townsend, George
Rigg, Brian Stock, Edouard Jeauneau, Michael Herren, John Magee, James O'Donnell, Lester Grabbe, P.-M. Bogaert, Brother Bruno
Heisey, OSB, and Jennifer Dines. For generous financial support, I am enormously indebted to Drew Buchanan, Director of Research
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ix and Sponsored Programs at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, who with lightning speed met requests for funding that helped keep this project afloat. Finally, my work on Bede over the past few years has benefited enormously from the camaraderie I have enjoyed with a small group of Bede scholars in whose footsteps I have, in good
Bedan fashion, endeavoured to follow – George Hardin Brown, Alan Thacker, Arthur Holder, Patrick Wormald, Trent Foley, Faith Wallis,
Calvin Kendall, Roger Ray, and Lawrence Martin. Their work on Bede has been an inspiration, as has their continual willingness to share with me their wisdom on all things Bedan. I hope this volume can in some small way return the favour.