Bede an Einstein?

Church leaders applying to get a local monastery approved as an UNESCO World Heritage Site have made a bold claim: that Bede, the late seventh to early eight century monk and author, was the “Einstein of his time”. Bede is probably the greatest scholar of the early medieval era, writing in history, biography, theology and science, and is the centrepiece in the bid to win the place of his monastry, Wearmoth-Jarrow, World Heritage status. I suppose the comparison really hinges on how you view Einstein, as well as how you view Bede. More information on the bid can be found here.