Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England

CHAP. XVI. The account given in the aforesaid book of the place of our Lord’s Nativity,
Passion, and Resurrection.
HE wrote concerning the place of the Nativity of our Lord, after this manner: "Bethlehem, the
city of David, is situated on a narrow ridge, encompassed on all sides with valleys, being a mile in
length from west to east, and having a low wall without towers, built along the edge of the level
summit. In the eastern corner thereof is a sort of natural half cave, the outward part whereof is said
to have been the place where our Lord was born; the inner is called the manger of our Lord. This
cave within is all covered with rich marble, and over the particular spot where our Lord is said to
have been born, stands the great church of St. Mary." He likewise wrote about the place of His
Passion and Resurrection in this manner: "Entering the city of Jerusalem on the north side, the first
place to be visited, according to the disposition of the streets, is the church of Constantine, called
the Martyrium. It was built by the Emperor Constantine, in a royal and magnificent manner, because
the Cross of our Lord was said to have been found there by his mother Helena. Thence, to the
westward, is seen the church of Golgotha, in which is also to be found the rock which once bore
the Cross to which the Lord’s body was nailed, and now it upholds a large silver cross, having a
great brazen wheel with lamps hanging over it. Under the place of our Lord’s Cross, a crypt is hewn
out of the rock, in which the Sacrifice is offered on an altar for the dead that are held in honour,
their bodies remaining meanwhile in the street. To the westward of this church is the round church
of the Anastasis or Resurrection of our Lord, encompassed with three walls, and supported by
twelve columns. Between each of the walls is a broad passage, which contains three altars at three
different points of the middle wall; to the south, the north, and the west. It has eight doors or
entrances in a straight line through the three walls; four whereof face the south-east, and four the
east.’ In the midst of it is the round tomb of our Lord cut out of the rock, the top of which a man
standing within can touch with his hand; on the east is the entrance, against which that great stone
was set. To this day the tomb bears the marks of the iron tools within, but on the outside it is all
covered with marble to the very top of the roof, which is adorned with gold, and bears a large golden
cross. In the north part of the tomb the sepulchre of our Lord is hewn out of the same rock, seven
feet in length, and three handbreadths above the floor; the entrance being on the south side, where
twelve lamps burn day and night, four within the sepulchre, and eight above on the edge of the
right side. The stone that was set at the entrance to the tomb is now cleft in two; nevertheless, the
lesser part of it stands as an altar of hewn stone before the door of the tomb; the greater part is set
up as another altar, four-cornered, at the east end of the same church, and is covered with linen
cloths. The colour of the said tomb and sepulchre is white and red mingled together."
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The Venerable Bede
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England

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