Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England was one of the first major histories of the English. As a relatively newly formed nation, it was searching for its identity and tackling the challenges of invasion and internal politics. Bede wrote his History of England in the 8th century, it was completed in 731AD. The primary focus of the work is the history of the conversion of the English from Paganism to Christianity.

Bede starts his History of England with the invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar in 55BC. He makes use of earlier sources, which he acknowledges, to describe the Roman occupation. He then looks at the mission that St. Augustine undertook and the conversion to Christianity of many Anglo-Saxons at that time.

The book is interesting for Primary School teachers as it provides a history of Roman Occupation. Though Bede himself was not a contemporary writer, his is one of the first English written accounts of the period that is written in-depth. He refers, for example, to the problems that Northern England had with invaders such as the Picts and Scots. This is tied in with the decision to build Hadrian’s Wall so extracts can be used as source material.

The History of England discusses the conversion of each of the major English Kingdoms: Kent, Mercia, Wessex and Northumberland. It also describes the expulsion of Scots by the Saxon King of Northumbria, Ethelrid, so is useful as a source on the firm establishment of Saxon rule in the north.

Bede’s History of England is widely available online so we will not post a full transcript here.

Source Material and Resources Bede’s History of England

A full copy of Book One of Bede’s History of England can be found on the Project Gutenburg website, here.

Educational Resource: Aimed at Grades 11/12 so quite advanced, this lesson plan from Passports Travel provides a range of activities based on Bede’s writing and importance.

The British Library holds several copies, some very early, of Bede’s History of England. They provide a range of images from the book and an overview of the significance here.

A brief biography of the Venerable Bede can be found on the BBC website here.

Medievalists.net provides an overview of a thesis written about the significance of Bede (and a link to the thesis itself) here.

Key Stage 2 Resources

The work of Bede is very useful when teaching Anglo-Saxon England. The BBC have resources that refer to Bede here. He is also referred to in the Historical Association’s reference guide to Anglo-Saxon England that can be read here. Don’t forget that we also have a copy of Bede’s History of St. Cuthbert hosted on our site.

Do you want to find other Primary Sources for use in your lessons, or for research purposes? Visit our Primary Sources page to see which areas we currently have a range of sources for.

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