History of the English Church and People

Written in the eighth century, this Latin ecclesiastical history recounts the conversion of the English peoples to Christianity. Bede begins with a brief account of Britain and the Roman province, then follows the coming of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, Augustine's mission from Rome, the rivalry of Roman and Irish customs, and the growth of sees, monasteries, and kingdoms to his own day in the 730s. He names kings, bishops, and miracle-working saints, and dates events by emperors and pontiffs. The book is a church history of early England, not a secular chronicle of battles alone, and it remains the principal narrative source for that conversion.

Bound in maroon cloth, blocked with a design by Neil Packer, based on the opening page first published in Canterbury, 800‒50. Black slipcase.