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

Richard Shaw is Associate Professor and Chairman of the History Department at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College, in Ontario, Canada. His first book, The Gregorian Mission to Kent in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History: Methodology and Sources, was published by Routledge in 2018.

• 1. Introduction 2. The process and logistics of collecting and analysing material for the HE 3. Bede, Canterbury, and the origins of the HE 4. The original context for the HE: Easter and ecclesiastical authority 5. The HE after 731 6. Post-731 Northumbria and the HE 7. Conclusion: the HE's shifting purposes in context

‘The results [of Shaw’s research] are illuminating and thought-provoking … He has read very widely and thoroughly, and his book provides an excellent overview of the current state of play in the study of Bede’s most famous work’ – Barbara Yorke in Northern History.‘Shaw’s textual analysis often provides intriguing insights … The most compelling part of this argument is the discussion of Bede’s source collection, particularly when Shaw uses the differences between the narratives in Bede’s chronicles, the Historia abbatum, and the Historia ecclesiastica to identify potential dates for Bede’s reception of specific sources. Likewise, the discussion of redrafts under Ceolwulf ’s patronage is equally compelling in fleshing out the argument for a post-731 dating of the Historia’s final version … The monograph’s overall thesis is an interesting and often compelling one’ - Peritia, 34 (2023).‘All specialists know that Bede the Venerable wrote his ecclesiastical history in the year of grace 731. We know this date thanks to him: it is indeed Bede himself … who claims, in chapter 23 of book V, to have completed his work that year. Why, in this case, question the very word of the monk of Jarrow? Yet this is what R.S. is doing, with talent and panache, in an extremely well-argued work … R.S.'s book represents a major contribution to the study of the major work of a major author’ - Alban Gautier in Le Moyen Age (2024/2; Volume CXXX). Translated from the French original.