Bede’s Ecclesiastical History and the ‘English’ People: The Venerable Bede and the formation of an ‘English’ identity
Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum has been the cornerstone of
the historiography of English history for hundreds of years, earning Bede the accolade of ‘Father of English History’. 1 Bede and his work have played a significant role in defining English national identity and destiny, raising the question of how Bede cultivates a sense of ‘English’ identity in the Historia . 2 For Bede, ‘English’ is a general term for ‘inhabitants of England’, regardless of ethnic origins, emphasising the importance of the land of England in the identity of its people. 3 He pinpoints two foundational moments in ‘English’ history – the “English arrival” and the conversion. 4 Bede was passionate about ‘English’ Church unity and this work is specifically called ‘ecclesiastical’, making its perspective clear. 5 It is also driven by a want to place England into world history through its religious position. 6 The Historia intends to present the emergence of a unified ‘English’ people, not necessarily under a single ruler, who were brought into existence by the special favour of God. 7
Bede, born in the area where the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery would shortly
be built, was educated and spent most of his life in that monastery, quickly rising in the monastic ranks. 8 He was also appointed magister , for which he studied intensely. 9 Although devoted to monastic life, Bede had great knowledge of both sacred and secular spheres. 10 He made extensive use of the bountiful monastery library and gives a detailed list of sources at the end of the Historia . 11 The broader
agenda of the Historia is showing the importance of England in the wider Christian
1 George Hardin Brown, A Companion to Bede , (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2009), p. 13 2 Patrick Wormold, ‘The Venerable Bede and the “Church of the English”’ in The Times of Bede: Studies in Early English Christian Society and its Historian , ed. Patrick Wormold and Stephen Baxter, (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), p. 218; Brown, p. 13 3 Bede the Venerable, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People , tr. Bertram Colgrave, ed. Judith McClure and Roger Collins (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 61-2 4 Nicholas J. Higham, ‘Bede’s vision of an English Britain’ in The Anglo-Saxons: The World Through Their Eyes , Ed. Gale R. Owen-Crocker & Brian W. Schneider (BAR British Series 595), (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2014), p. 17
5 Brown, p. 102 6 Brown, p. 103
7 George Molyneaux, ‘The Old English Bede: English Ideology or Christian Instruction?’ in The English Historical Review , Vol. 124, No. 511, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 1289; Wormold, p. 211 8 Bede, p. 293; Brown, pp. 9-11
9 Brown, p. 11 10 Brown, p. 1 11 Bede, pp. 294-5; Brown, p. 8
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