INTRODUCTION

He also took great pains to get his chronology correct. His value for the century of which he wrote can best be estimated by comparing his work with that of his predecessor Gildas,¹ upon whom Bede had to depend for much of the earlier history of Britain, and in whose vague rhetoric it is difficult to find any solid basis of fact. Historians would have been grateful if a scholar of Bede’s character had recorded with the same clearness and honesty the secular transactions of the inhabitants of Britain, and described their social and political life and institutions. But Bede is only concerned with wars and statecraft and Witenagemots councils of wise men, so far as they belong to the story of the introduction of Christianity into Britain and the progress of the Church throughout the land. He tells us but little of the beliefs and cults which Christianity supplanted. Their hold upon the people does not appear to have been very strong, and judging by the words and conduct of Coifi,² the priests were neither of great importance nor devoted to the older worship. Though the Christian missionaries were sometimes driven out, they seem to have suffered no actual persecution, and there is no record that any of them were put to death. Even the grim Penda did not persecute. He would not become a Christian, but despised those who accepted Christianity without showing the works of the faith.³ The attitude of the kings to the new teaching was of great importance, for their people followed their lead, sometimes under compulsion.⁴ They presided at conferences held to determine ecclesiastical questions, as Oswy did at Whitby.⁵ They were

¹ P. 56. Oman p. 186.                         ² II. 13.
³ III. 21.                 ⁴ III. 8.                 ⁵ III. 25.