[Bell Historians] Re: Oldest Christian Bell

[Richard Smith]

nitramwe wrote:

> Bede was talking about an incident involving two religeous 
> houses 13 miles apart and that the Abbess died at the one 
> and the bell rung at that place was heard by a nun living 
> at the other. As you say, it could have been a titchy 
> little bell - miracles do happen - & perhaps it was 
> miraculously heard by the nun, but I'm not so sure.The 
> miracle that Bede related was the vision that the nun saw.

As you say, Begu was in Hackness, 13 miles from Whitby, 
where Hilda was dying.  But I don't think the text is 
implying that Begu heard (or thought she heard) the bell at 
Whitby.  Rather I think it's saying she heard (or thought 
she heard) the bell at Hackness.  But even if Bede is 
meaning the bell at Whitby was heard in Hackness, given that 
in the next sentence we're told about mysteriously vanishing 
rooves, angels, and various other miraculous phenomena, I 
don't have a problem supposing the bell's audibility was 
part of the miracle too.

In any case, the real value of the quote is that it tells us 
that a bell was commonly used to wake the nuns and call them 
to prayer.  And for that purpose, we don't need to assume a 
bell of any significant size.  It may have been bigger, but 
I don't think we can infer that from the text.

> I believe that the only word for `bell' in classical Latin 
> (as used pre-Christian times) is `tintinnabulum' probably 
> onomatopoeic as in `ping-ping' or `ting-ting' and if so, 
> refers to very small bells, probably similar to crotals. 
> Another word of that period `signum' simply = signal or 
> sign & really gives us no idea of the size of the bell, or 
> if indeed it referred to a bell at all. However, in 
> medieval (Christian) writings one comes across the 
> additional & increasing use of the word `campana'.

> The Latin used by Bede (Hæc tunc in dormitorio sororum 
> pausans audivit subito in aere notum campanæ sonum,) uses 
> the word based on `campana'. Had he been referring to 
> crotals or door-bells, why not use the established words 
> `tintinnabula' or `signa'? but no, he uses the new word 
> `campana'

Bede's use of the word 'campana' is one of the earliest uses 
of it to mean a bell, and just because a century later in a 
different country, Strabo tells us that 'campana' meant a 
large bell, doesn't mean that it had yet evolved that 
specific meaning.  For example, in the 1st century BC, 
Horace uses the word, probably meaning bronzeware.

Bede was also likely to be familiar with the Celtic 
quadrangular style of bell which Strabo, further removed 
from Ireland, may well not have been.  It's entirely 
possible that Bede used 'campana' to distinguish Celtic 
quadrangular bells from smaller 'tintinnabula' that may have 
been like Roman votive bells.

In any case, my point is not that Bede was definitely 
referring to one particular type of bell; rather it's that I 
don't find the the evidence to be sufficiently compelling o 
assume he is definitely referring to a tower bell.

> Somewhere he is said to have imported a bell from Italy 
> but I can't find the ref at present.

I would be extremely interested to hear about that, if you 
can trace the reference.

RAS