Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People was completed in 731 and still ranks among the most popular of history books. By the end of the eighth century, copies of it were to be found in many parts of England and on the Continent, some of which are still extant. If it were not for Bede's History we should know little about the Anglo-Saxon invasion and the beginnings of Christianity in England, and such familiar names as Edwin and Oswald, Cuthbert and Chad, Hilda and Caedmon would be almost forgotten.
First published in 1969, Colgrave and Mynors's edition made use for the first time of the mid-eighth-century manuscript now in Leningrad, provided a survey of the extant manuscripts, and a new translation; it also brought up to date Plummer's invaluable edition. This revised edition takes into account J.M. Wallace-Hadrill's Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary (Oxford Medieval Texts, 1988), enabling the reader to use the two in conjunction.
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, is a masterpiece of historical writing. Bede's clear narrative, his scrupulous sifting of evidence and his vigorous pursuit of information from many sources written and oral are all features which commend themselves to modern readers. The work was read in every part of Europe throughout the Middle Ages, and today it still remains the best-known text to have survived from Anglo-Saxon England. From its pages we learn the stories of Edwin and Oswald, Cuthbert and Caedmon, and many more which have become an indelible part of English national consciousness. The present edition, first published in 1969, is recognized as standard and authoritative: its text is based on all the important early witnesses (including, for the first time, the 'Leningrad Bede'), and the Introduction contains Sir Roger Mynors's classic account of the work's complex manuscript transmission. A number of printer's errors has now been corrected, and marginal cross-references to discussion in J. M. Wallace-Hadrill Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Oxford Medieval Texts, 1988) have been added.
