Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England

Bede's best-known work is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, or An Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Completed in about 731, the first of the five books begins with some geographical background, and then sketches the history of England, beginning with Caesar's invasion in 55 B.C. A brief account of Christianity in Roman Britain, including the martyrdom of St Alban, is followed by the story of Augustine's mission to England in 597, which brought Christianity to the Anglo...