His monastery of Selsey was built on land granted by the under-king (now a tributary of Wessex), and his first act was to emancipate the slaves whom he found upon the soil.

Equally devoted to Rome was the young Northumbrian noble, who took the religious name of Benedict Biscop.
Benedict became at first an inmate of the Abbey of Lerins, near Cannes.
He afterwards founded two regular Benedictine abbeys on the same model at Wearmouth and Jarrow, and made at least four visits to the papal court, whence he returned laden with manuscripts to introduce Roman learning among his wild Northumbrian countrymen.

He likewise carried over silk robes for sale to the kings in exchange for grants of land; and he brought glaziers from Gaul for his churches.

Jarrow alone contained 500 monks, and possessed endowments of 15,000 acres.
It was under the walls of Jarrow that Baeda himself was born, in the year 672.

Only fifty years had passed since his native Northumbria was still a heathen land.