Bede

Basics

• Writing in and mainly about Northumrbia 
  • Most of his sources from eastern England
• Writing c. 725; EH finished 731
• Usually cites sources/quotes letters
• Avoids Mercia

Caution

• Not always true to source material
• Proud Northumbrian
  • Focuses on Nothumbria and its conversion (and Kent's conversion) more than anywhere else
• Focuses on key figures of the conversion and events, not on wider impact
• McClure and Collins argue Bede edited letters used to suit his purpose 

Aims and Agenda

• Trying to present own desired view of a civilised, unified, Romanesque, Christian society
  • Influenced by ideology of the time
  • Other historians show these Romanesque ambitions:
    • 'Life of Pope Gregory the Great' - describes Gregory as  the 'apostolic saint of ours'
• Creating an ethnogenesis for the English people?
  • = single group creating an ethnic identity for itself
  • Even though England was still fragmented at this point

Aims and Agenda - according to Wormold

• Focuses on key figures:
  • Oswald, Aiden, Cuthbert
  • Skims more complex ones - e.g. Wilfred, Aldhelm, Guthlac
• Argues Bede depicts key figures as + saints, not heroic secular leaders

Obtuseness of Source

• E.g. 'Augustine's AC', 'on the borders of the Hwicce and the West Saxons'
• Describes holders of imperium as ruling over all the people of Britain,e xcept Kent, incl. Anglesey and Man
  • No corroborating evidence for or against it => no idea how reliable
• Same problem with ASC and other sources - Clofesho

Reliability Question

• YES - used other sources, cites them, can be compared to other historical sources (charters, archaeology, etc.)
• NO - often vague, not always comparable evidence, personale agenda, not actively trying to be objective

• "They came from three very powerful tribes of the Germans, namely the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes'
  • Jutes = people of Kent and Isle of Wight
  • Saxons = East, South and West Saxons; from region now called Old Saxon
  • Angles = East Angles, Middle ANgles, Mercians, whole race of the Northumbrians
    • First leaders = Hengest and Horsa
    • Horse killed afterwards by the Britons in battle; monument inscribed with his name in E. Kent
    • Sons of Wihtgils, son of Witta, son of Wecta, son of Woden - royal race of many provinces descended from them

Context

• Bede writing c. 731; claimed conversion started in 597
• Portrays conversion of the English in terms of actions of saints and kings
  • King Oswald (Irish-Christian Bernician king) cast as King David from the Bible
  • Symbolic image of perfect monarch and saint
• Leading saints in Bede's work = Roman and Irish
  • Roman: sent by Pope or had connections with Canterbury
  • Irish: saints from Iona or one of its dependencies, usually Lindisfarne
  • Difference: liturgical practices
• Were the Irish more successful in conversion? - infer from Bede
  • Parallels between Irish and English: converting to religion whose liturgy and scriptures were written in a foreign language (Latin)
  • Better sense of social norms of a tribal society than Roman figures such as Agustine?
  • BUT Irish converting areas that Roman missionaries had already visited and had then relapsed into paganism (e.g. Northumbria and Essex)

Date of Conversion

• Bede: conversion began 597 with arrival of Augustine and co., sent by Pope Gregory the Great
  • But relatively uninformed about events of the 6th cent. - understandably as 200 years ago
  • Campbell: Bede appears to know little about Agustine's conversion mission other than what the letters of Gregory the Great told him
    • When Bede wrote 'De Temporibus' in 703, apparently unaware of the actual date of the mission (before he was familiar with Gregory's letters)
    • Hunter Blair: questions whether Bede knew anything about Gregory's connection with the mission or about Augustine at this point
• Did conversion begin earlier?
• Adomnan's Life of Columba: two already Christian men, Pilu and Genere, at Iona before the death of Columba in 597
• Continental ties, esp. people of E. Kent, could have meant early Christianisation
  • Likely some German Christians came to England - first Saxons known to convert = group living in the diocese of Nantes (area known to have had sustained commercial contact w/ England); converted c. 560 AD

Baptism of Æthelberht

• Bede: no description, location, date
• Compare with baptism of King Edwin
  • York on Easter Day in 627
• Were Bede's Canterbury sources insufficient to record King Æthelberht's baptism?
  • Seems unlikely
• More likely Bede exercising a degree of editorial discretion
  • Down-playing Æthelberht's conversion to the advantage of the subsequent avalanche in the conversion process: Bede wanted Christianity to triumph first at the royal courts of Northern England, first Edwin then Oswald
• => Question of reliability and subjectivity

When did English people become at least nominally Christian?

• General tone and implied context of EH suggest this was case by time of writing, => c. 731
• Likely that the final pagan kingdom in England was Wight - conversion did not begin until 686

Bede vs. Contemporary Secular and Canon Law

• Laws of Ine (late 7th cent.): heavy penalties for failing to baptise a child within 40 days of birth or for working on a Sunday
• Egbert's 'Dialogue' (8th cent. - after 735): suggest from the time of 7th cent. Theodore of Taurus, for the 12 days before Christimas the English people practised feasts, vigils, prayers and the giving of Alms as if this was prescribed by law
  • Contemporary to Bede's EH
  • Egbert's rchiepiscopal status (achieved 735) suggests work written for entire church of England, not just Northumbria => whole of England at least nominally Christian by this stage

Bede vs. Archaeology: Sutton Hoo

• Ship burial found in mound 1
• All mounds date to 7th cent. (based on objects found in them) = slightly earlier than Bede, but during time he claims conversion was happening
• Variety of burial rites, ranging from cremation to ship burial - shows strong French and Scandinavian links
  • Variety and diversity of burial techniques and rites = representative of the conversion process, showing itrs progression throughout the seventh century, with pagan elements remaining present throughout

Bede vs. Archaeology: Taplow Burial

• 7th cent. barrow
• Dead man was facing east - shows progressive nature of Christian conversion; again pagan and Christian elements combined

Bede vs. Archaeology: Cemeteries

• Pagan-style burial ceased in England during the early 8th cent.
• By mid-8th cent. Christianity established enough to organise new graveyards, often associeted with high crosses, minsters and newly founded local churches
  • Popular characteristic in this period = west-east orientation of burials, often with a distinct absence of dress-items or grave-goods
    • E.g. Elstow, North Elmham and Raunds - graves appear thoroughly Christian
• 7th cent. = time of transition demonstrated by series of early or proto-Christian burials, in which grave-goods and treasures were not yet abandoned and pagan practices lingered
  • Finglesham cemetery
    • Continued use of heathen burial practice, but in 7th cent. grave orientation changed to west-east - suggests people at least nominally Christian
  • Leighton Buzzard and Winnal, where the conversion cam laer, new cemeteries w/ west-east orientated burials found slightly distanced from an older burial ground
• Archaeology shows English people were at least nominally Christian during early 8th cent.