How, When and Why did Bede Write his Ecclesiastical History?

Description

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History is our main source for early Christian Anglo-Saxon England, but how was it written? When? And why? Scholars have spent much of the last half century investigating the latter question – the ‘why’. This new study is the first to systematically consider the ‘how’ and the ‘when’. Richard Shaw shows that rather than producing the History at a single point in 731, Bede was working on it for as much as twenty years, from c. 715 to just before his death in 735. Unpacking and extending the period of composition of Bede’s best-known book makes sense of the complicated and contradictory evidence for its purposes. The work did not have one context, but several, each with its own distinct constructed audiences. Thus, the History was not written for a single purpose to the exclusion of all others. Nor was it simply written for a variety of reasons. It was written over time – quite a lot of time – and as the world changed during that time, so too did Bede’s reasons for writing, the intentions he sought to pursue – and the patrons he hoped to please or to placate. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Tables Acknowledgements Abbreviations Chapter 1: Introduction: The Ecclesiastical History in context 1.1 Why did Bede write the HE ? Modern theories and their evidence 1.1.1 Bede and the ‘Ghost of Bishop Wilfrid’ 1.1.2 An archbishop for York 1.1.3 Ecclesiastical (and moral) reform 1.1.4 Speculum principis 1.1.5 Religious and theological purposes 1.1.6 Other perspectives: missions, monastic competition, Canterbury, a history for the English 1.2 When did Bede write the History ? Previous commentary on the composition of the HE 1.3 How, when and, therefore, why Notes Chapter 2: The process and logistics of collecting and analysing material for the HE 2.1 The logistics behind the HE 2.2 Bede’s creative process 2.3 ‘The writings of earlier writers’ 2.3.1 Content 2.3.2 Genre 2.4 Bede’s calculation table 2.4.1 The difficulties of Bede’s dating material 2.4.2 The choice of incarnational dating 2.4.3 Earlier theories concerning Bede’s table 2.4.4 The form of the table 2.4.5 Stages in producing the table 2.4.6 Using the table in the HE 2.4.7 Preserving the events column in the 5.24 annals 2.4.8 The influence of the table: evidence in the Moore Bede Notes Chapter 3: Bede, Canterbury and the origins of the HE 3.1 Nothelm, Albinus and Canterbury material for the HE 3.2 A pre-papal letter draft of the HE 3.3 The impact of the papal letters on the HE 3.4 A terminus antequem for the pre-letters draft of the HE : the HE and the MC 13 3.5 Dating the pre-papal letters draft: the HE and the HA 3.6 Dating the origins of the HE : Bede, Albinus and Nothelm Notes Chapter 4: The original context for the HE : Easter and ecclesiastical authority 4.1 Canterbury claims to ecclesiastical authority 4.1.1 Canterbury efforts to assert its authority 4.1.2 The scale of Canterbury claims and their acceptance 4.2 The Easter question in the 710s 4.3 Easter and authority in Britain and Ireland 4.3.1 Easter and authority: Ireland 4.3.2 Easter and authority: England 4.3.3 Bede, Nothelm, Albinus and the Letter to Nechtan 4.4 Easter in the HE 4.5 Canterbury authority in the HE 4.5.1 The British scope of the HE 4.5.2 Canterbury authority in the HE Notes Chapter 5: The HE after 731 5.1 ‘731’ as a construct 5.2 The draft for Ceolwulf 5.3 Dating the draft for Ceolwulf 5.3.1 Comparative dating: a delay since the first draft 5.3.2 Positive dating: c.732–733 5.4 Further work on the HE following Ceolwulf’s comments on the draft 5.4.1 Integrating Ceolwulf's comments on the draft 5.4.2 Finishing touches 5.4.3 Lessons from the early manuscript and textual traditions 5.5 Dating the last two phases: comparative and positive Notes Chapter 6: Post-731 Northumbria and the HE 6.1 Ceolwulf, Acca and post-731 Northumbria 6.2 The impact of the post-731 world on the History 6.2.1 Wilfrid in the HE 6.2.2 Lindisfarne and the ‘Irish’ in the HE 6.2.3 Other priorities for Ceolwulf: soft power and the invention of Northumbria 6.2.4 Bedan caution 6.2.5 Influencing Ceolwulf 6.3 Ecclesiastical reform in the Northumbrian church and the HE 6.3.1 Ecclesiastical reform: issues 6.3.2 Ecclesiastical reform in the HE and other later Bedan works 6.4 Elevating York to archiepiscopal status 6.4.1 The campaign 6.4.2 York in the HE 6.5 Conclusion Notes Chapter 7: Conclusion: The HE ’s shifting purposes in context Appendix 1: Sourcing the HE Key Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book 4 Book 5 Appendix 2: Bede’s Calculation Table Key Select Bibliography Manuscripts consulted in facsimile Online databases Primary Secondary Index