Bede was a monk of the joint monastery of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow in the late seventh century into the early eighth, and England’s first historian: his ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ is our greatest source for the history of early Anglo-Saxon England. Yet Bede was also a leading scholar of the Church, and much of his effort went into biblical exegesis, many of his works in this field surviving to this day.

In this book, Clive Tolley looks at some events in the reigns of three early kings of Northumbria, Bede’s own homeland, and seeks to develop a better understanding not only of what took place from a secular point of view, but also of how the recounting of these events was informed by a spiritual perception of history such as Bede and his contemporaries espoused.

The topics dealt with include the battle of Chester and the slaughter of the monks of Bangor-is-Coed by AEthelfrith, the conversion of Eadwine and desecration of the pagan sanctuary of Goodmanham, and the victory of Oswald following his raising of the cross at Heavenfield.