The Venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People tells the story of Britain, especially designed for an Anglo-Saxon audience, providing the reader with a portrait of seventh/eighth-century England. Bede’s partiality in favour of Roman traditions – as opposed to Ionan ones – is evident, as it is his aim to show the Anglo-Saxons as a unity, instead of as competing kingdoms. This one-day course will examine early Anglo-Saxon England as Bede interprets it and will contrast his view against archaeological and historical evidence.
