As the story would later be told by the Anglo-Saxon monk and historian Bede, Gregory was struck by the unusual appearance of the slaves and asked about their background.

It was completed in about 731, and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year, which would give a likely birth date of about 672 – 673.

Bede does not say whether it was already intended at that point that he would be a monk.

The dedication stone for the church has survived to the present day ; it is dated 23 April 685, and as Bede would have been required to assist with menial tasks in his day-to-day life it is possible that he helped in building the original church.

The young boy was almost certainly Bede, who would have been about 14.

Bede would also have been familiar with more recent accounts such as Eddius Stephanus's Life of Wilfrid, and anonymous Lives of Gregory the Great and Cuthbert.

However, Bede ignores the fact that at the time of Augustine's mission, the history between the two was one of warfare and conquest, which, in the words of Barbara Yorke, would have naturally " curbed any missionary impulses towards the Anglo-Saxons from the British clergy.

Another difficulty is that manuscripts of early writers were often incomplete: it is apparent that Bede had access to Pliny's Encyclopedia, for example, but it seems that the version he had was missing book xviii, as he would almost certainly have quoted from it in his De temporum ratione.

It also is possible that Bede had the date of Æthelberht ’ s death wrong ; if, in fact, Æthelberht died in 618, this would be consistent with his baptism in 597, which is in accord with the tradition that Augustine converted the king within a year of his arrival.

If Bede is interpreted literally, the marriage would have had to take place before 567, when Charibert died.

Bede places the homeland of the Jutes on the other side of the Angles relative to the Saxons, which would mean the northern part of the Jutland Peninsula.

* Bede computed that the world would end in 2076, extrapolating from Biblical references and the year of Jesus ' birth.

In her 1859 novel Adam Bede, George Eliot refers to this when she makes Jacob Storey say: " He thought it < nowiki ></ nowiki > had only been put to finish off th ' alphabet like ; though ampusand would ha ' done as well, for what he could see.

Bede reports that Augustine is said to have then delivered a prophecy that the British church's failure to proselytize the Saxons would bring them war and death at their hands.

Equally, 665 would be a year when, as Bede writes, " that Easter was kept twice in one year, so that when the King had ended Lent and was keeping Easter, the Queen and her attendants were still fasting and keeping Palm Sunday ".

Wulfhere's date of birth is unknown, but Bede describes him as a youth at the time of his accession in 658, so it is likely he was in his middle teens at that time ; Penda would then have been in his thirties at the time Wulfhere was born.

R. L. Poole ( Studies in Chronology and History, 1934 ) put forward the theory that Bede began his year in September, and consequently November 655 would actually fall in 654 ; Frank Stenton also dated events accordingly in his Anglo-Saxon England ( 1943 ).< sup > 1 </ sup > Others have accepted Bede's given dates as meaning what they appear to mean, considering Bede's year to have begun on 25 December or 1 January ( see S. Wood, 1983: " Bede's Northumbrian dates again "

It is said by Bede that Eadbald would only agree to marry his sister to Edwin if he converted to Christianity.

Bede says that Æthelfrith's victory was so great that the Irish kings in Britain would not make war on the English again, right up to Bede's own time.

In this dream, according to Bede, a stranger told Edwin that power would be his in the future when someone laid a hand on his head.

The Historia Brittonum contradicts Bede regarding the treasure, saying that Penda distributed it among his British allies, which would presumably mean that he accepted it.

Since the Historia Brittonum says Penda ruled for only ten years ( Bede says 22 years: 633 – 655 ), this may mean that it was dating Penda's reign from the time of his victory at Maserfield ; this would make sense if Eowa's death removed an important rival to Penda, enabling him to claim or consolidate authority over all the Mercians.

Pope Gregory issued more practicable mandates concerning heathen temples and usages: he desired that temples become consecrated to Christian service and asked Augustine to transform pagan practices, so far as possible, into dedication ceremonies or feasts of martyrs, since " he who would climb to a lofty height must go up by steps, not leaps " ( letter of Gregory to Mellitus, in Bede, i, 30 ).

After this defeat, according to Bede, the Irish kings in Britain would not make war against the English again, right up to Bede's own time ( 130 years later ).

The name probably derives from the Old English bēd, or prayer ; if Bede was given the name at his birth, then his family had probably always planned for him to enter the clergy.

Monkwearmouth's sister monastery at Jarrow was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, and Bede probably transferred to Jarrow with Ceolfrith that year.

Because Justus was probably not a monk ( he was not called that by Bede ), his cathedral clergy was very likely non-monastic too.

Bede offers a different, and probably older, account wherein Dál Riata was settled by a certain Reuda, which is more internally consistent, given that Old Irish Dál means portion or share, and is usually followed by the name of an eponymous founder.

Wilfrid is also mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but as the Chronicle was probably a 9th-century compilation, the material on Wilfrid may ultimately have derived either from Stephen's Vita or from Bede.

Bede is silent on the subject of Wilfrid's monastic status, although Wilfrid probably became a monk during his time in Rome, or afterwards while he was in Gaul.

The Lichfield monastery was probably similar to that at Lastingham, and Bede makes clear that it was partly staffed by monks from Lastingham, including Chad's faithful retainer, Owin.

This region, probably connected to the early tribal grouping known as the Gewisse, a term used by Bede for the West Saxons, lay on the frontier between the later kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia.

English scholars since the time of Bede had believed the world was probably round, but Johannes de Sacrobosco estimated the circumference of the earth in the 13th century.

The first plant ornament, with leaves and grapes, was already seen in an initial in the Leningrad Bede, which can probably be dated to 746.

The source of the text for this manuscript and the Lindisfarne Gospels was probably a hypothetical " Neapolitan Gospelbook " brought to England by Adrian of Canterbury, a companion of Theodore of Tarsus who according to Bede had been abbot of Nisida, an ( also hypothetical ) monastery near Naples.

Hibald was an abbot, probably of Bardney, and is mentioned by Bede.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles record Aelle as both the first Bretwalda and king of the South Saxons, although Slaughter refers to Bede on ancestral Saxon aldermen and argues that Aelle was probably the South Saxon Warlord ( Rulers of the South Saxons before 825 ).

King Alfred the Great and the chronicler Æthelweard identified this place with the district that is now called Angeln, in the province of Schleswig ( Slesvig ) ( though it may then have been of greater extent ), and this identification agrees with the indications given by Bede.

Ælle was the first king recorded by the 8th century chronicler Bede to have held " imperium ", or overlordship, over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

There might have been minor orders ranking below a deacon ; but there is no record of whether Bede held any of these offices.

Not all of his output can be easily dated, and Bede may have worked on some texts over a period of many years.

A 6th-century Greek and Latin manuscript of Acts that is believed to have been used by Bede survives and is now in the Bodleian Library ; it is known as the Codex Laudianus.

Bede may also have worked on one of the Latin bibles that were copied at Jarrow, one of which is now held by the Laurentian Library in Florence.

Nothhelm, a correspondent of Bede's who assisted him by finding documents for him in Rome, is known to have visited Bede, though the date cannot be determined beyond the fact that it was after Nothhelm's visit to Rome.

Bede quotes from several classical authors, including Cicero, Plautus, and Terence, but he may have had access to their work via a Latin grammar rather than directly.

Bede also appears to have taken quotes directly from his correspondents at times.

In the words of Charles Plummer, one of the best-known editors of the Historia Ecclesiastica, Bede's Latin is " clear and limpid ... it is very seldom that we have to pause to think of the meaning of a sentence ... Alcuin rightly praises Bede for his unpretending style.

Modern historians and editors of Bede have been lavish in their praise of his achievement in the Historia Ecclesiastica.

Bede dedicated this work to Cuthbert, apparently a student, for he is named " beloved son " in the dedication, and Bede says " I have laboured to educate you in divine letters and ecclesiastical statutes " Another textbook of Bede's is the De orthographia, a work on orthography, designed to help a medieval reader of Latin with unfamiliar abbreviations and words from classical Latin works.

Bede, the earliest source to give dates, is thought to have drawn his information from correspondence with Albinus.

Augustine ’ s mission from Rome is known to have arrived in 597, and according to Bede, it was this mission that converted Æthelberht.

Bede records Aethelbert of Kent as being dominant at the close of the 6th century, but power seems to have shifted northwards to the kingdom of Northumbria, which was formed from the amalgamation of Bernicia and Deira.

In particular, he felt that the two separate addresses were incongruous and suggested that the first address, occurring before the preamble, may have been inserted by someone familiar with Bede to echo Eadbald's future conversion ( see below ).

Bede records Justus as having died on 10 November, but does not give a year, although it is likely to have between 627 and 631.