Ecclesiastical History

Ecclesiastical History of the English People by St Bede the Venerable, translated by Leo Shirley-Price, 360 pages

From his busy eighth century monastery, St Bede famously surveyed the history of the Church in England from the Roman period down to his own times, chronicling its struggles, reverses, and triumphs, charting its long, painful journey from diversity into unity.  Bede's record remains the most important early record of English history, despite his deliberate exclusion of secular material when it does not serve his moralistic purposes.

The Penguin Classics edition includes a letter from the saint to Bishop Egbert, which provides a useful corrective to an overly rosy picture of the eighth century English church implied in the History, and a contemporary account of Bede's death by his brother monk Cuthbert.