Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum

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Folio 3v from Codex Beda Petersburgiensis (746)

The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (in English: Ecclesiastical History of the English People) is a work in Latin by the Venerable Bede on the history of the Church in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity.

It is considered to be one of the most important original references on Anglo-Saxon history. It is believed to have been completed in 731, when Bede was approximately 60 years old.

Divided into five books (about 400 pages), the Historia covers the history of England, ecclesiastical and political, from the time of Julius Caesar to the date of its completion (731). The first twenty-one chapters, covering the period before the mission of Augustine, are compiled from earlier writers such as Orosius, Gildas, Prosper of Aquitaine, the letters of Pope Gregory I, and others, with the insertion of legends and traditions.

After AD 596, documentary sources, which Bede took pains to obtain throughout England and from Rome, are used, as well as oral testimony, which he employed along with critical consideration of its authenticity.

The Historia, like other historical writing from this period cannot be expected to have the same degree of objectivity as modern historical writings. It was indeed a form of literature, a mixture of fact, legend and literature. For example, Bede took liberties by making up fictional quotations from people who were not his contemporaries.