Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
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2008-07-02T13:44:14Z
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[[Image:Beda Petersburgiensis f3v.jpg|thumb|200px|Folio 3v from Codex Beda Petersburgiensis (746)]]
The '''''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum''''' (in [[English language|English]]: '''''Ecclesiastical History of the English People''''') is a work in [[Latin]] by the [[Bede|Venerable Bede]] on the history of the Church in [[England]], and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman]] and [[Celtic Christianity]].
It is considered to be one of the most important original references on [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] history. It is believed to have been completed in [[731]], when Bede was approximately 60 years old.
==Scope==
Divided into four books (about 400 pages), the ''Historia'' covers the history of England, ecclesiastical and political, from the time of [[Julius Caesar]] to the date of its completion (731). The first twenty-one chapters, covering the period before the mission of [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine]], are compiled from earlier writers such as [[Orosius]], [[Gildas]], [[Prosper of Aquitaine]], the letters of [[Pope Gregory I]], and others, with the insertion of legends and traditions.
After AD 596, documentary sources, which Bede took pains to obtain throughout England and from [[Rome]], are used, as well as oral testimony, which he employed along with critical consideration of its authenticity.
The ''Historia'', like other [[English historians in the Middle Ages|historical writing from this period]] has a lower degree of [[Objectivity (journalism)|objectivity]] than modern historical writings. It is a mixture of fact, legend and literature. For example, Bede took liberties by making up fictional quotations from people who were not his contemporaries.{{Fact|date=January 2008}}
==Contents==
''The History of the English Church and People'' has a clear polemical and didactic purpose. Bede sets out, not just to tell the story of the English, but to advance his views on politics and religion.
In political terms he is a partisan of his native [[Northumbria]], amplifying its role in English history over and above that of [[Mercia]], its great southern rival. He takes greater pains in describing events of the seventh century, when Northumbria was the dominant Anglo-Saxon power, than the eighth, when it was not. The only criticism he ventures of his native Northumbria comes in writing about the death of [[Ecgfrith of Northumbria|King Ecgfrith]] in fighting the Picts at [[Battle of Dunnichen|Nechtansmere]] in 685.
Bede attributes this defeat to God's vengeance for the Northumbrian attack on the Irish in the previous year. For while Bede is loyal to Northumbria he shows an even greater attachment to the Irish and the Irish Celtic missionaries, whom he considers to be far more effective and dedicated than their rather complacent English counterparts.
His final preoccupation is over the precise date of Easter, which he writes about at length. It is here, and only here, that he ventures some criticism of [[St Cuthbert]] and the Irish missionaries, who celebrated the event, according to Bede, at the wrong time. In the end he is pleased to note that the Irish Church was saved from error by accepting the correct date for Easter.
==Editions==
*1475: printed in Germany
*1563: "basic edition" (incomplete)
*1643: first edition printed in England
*1688: "Cologne edition"
*1742: Smith
*1884: Giles, reprinted in [[Patrologia Latina]]
*1896 C. Plummer, Oxford
*1969: Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors, Oxford, Clarendon Press, reprint with corrections 1992
*2005: Michael Lapidge, Paris
==Translations==
Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History'' was translated into [[Old English]] at the insistence of [[Alfred the Great]], in the [[890s]].
*1565: T. Stapleton, Antwerp
*1866: {{de icon}}M. M. Wilden, Schaffhausen
*1903: L.C. Jane, Temple Classics.
*1907: A. M. Sellar, London, George Bell & Sons.
*1955: Leo Sherley-Price, Penguin, reprinted with revisions 1965, revised 1968, revised 1990
*1969: Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors, Oxford, Clarendon Press, reprint with corrections 1992
*1997: {{de icon}} Günter Spitzbart, Darmstadt.
*2005: {{fr icon}} Pierre Monat, Philippe Robin, Paris
*2008: {{jp icon}} Hirosi Takahashi, Kodansha
==Literature==
*Jones, P. A., ''A Concordance to the Historia ecclesiastica of Bede'', Cambridge 1919
*Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., ''Bede's Ecclesiastical history of the English people : a historical commentary'', Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York : Oxford University Press, 1988.
==See also==
* [[Religion in the United Kingdom]]
* [[St Petersburg Bede]] (The Leningrad manuscript)
* [[Moore Bede]]
* [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]
==External links==
{{Wikisourcelang|la|Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum}}
{{wikisource|Ecclesiastical History of the English People}}
* Bede, [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/bede.html ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum''], in Latin from [[The Latin Library]].
* Bede, [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.html ''Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation''], Excerpts. From the [[Internet Medieval Sourcebook]].
[[Category:8th century books]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon Christianity]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon paganism]]
[[Category:Early medieval Latin literature]]
[[Category:European history books]]
[[Category:Medieval Latin histories]]
[[Category:Medieval literature]]
[[Category:Primary sources]]
[[Category:Sources on Germanic paganism]]
[[Category:History of Christianity texts]]
[[cy:Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum]]
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[[fr:Histoire ecclésiastique du peuple anglais]]
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[[pt:História Eclesiástica do Povo Inglês]]
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