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How an Early Medieval Historian Worked How an Early Medieval Historian Worked: Methodology and Sources in Bede’s Narrative of the Gregorian Mission to Kent by Richard Shaw A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Richard Shaw (2014) ii How an Early Medieval Historian Worked: Methodology and Sources in Bede’s Narrative of the Gregorian Mission to Kent Richard Shaw Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines the methods and sources employed by Bede in the construction of his account of the Gregorian mission, thereby providing an insight into how an early medieval historian worked. In Chapter 1, I begin by setting out the context for this study, through a discussion of previous compositional analyses of Bede’s works and the resulting interpretations of the nature and purpose of his library. Chapters 2-4 analyze the sources of the narrative of the Gregorian mission in the Historia ecclesiastica. Each of Bede’s statements is interrogated and its basis established, while the ways in which he used his material to frame the story in the light of his preconceptions and agendas are examined. Chapter 5 collects all the sources identified in the earlier Chapters and organizes them thematically, providing a clearer view of the material Bede was working from. This iii assessment is then extended in Chapter 6, where I reconstruct, where possible, those ‘lost’ sources used by Bede and consider how the information he used reached him. In this Chapter, I also examine the implications of Bede’s possession of certain ‘archival’ sources for our understanding of early Anglo-Saxon libraries, suggesting more pragmatic purposes for them, beyond those they have usually been credited with. The Chapter ends with an assessment of Bede’s primary sources for the account of the Gregorian mission and an examination of the reasons he possessed so few. Finally, in Chapter 7, I discuss those passages of Bede’s account of the ‘mission fathers’, whose origins were not able to be established in Chapters 2-4. Bede’s use of a set of proto-homiletic sources of a hagiographic nature, dedicated to the early bishops of Canterbury and the mission, emerges. The basic outlines of this collection are set out and the context for their composition described. Throughout, the dissertation is intended not only as end in itself, but as the basis for further investigation both of Bede’s methods and sources, and those of others. In particular, the provision of a more comprehensive awareness of Bede’s resources enables future work to dispense with the narrative Bede has superimposed on his evidence. This thus lays the foundations for re-writing, and not merely re-interpreting, the history of early Christian Kent on a firmer evidential basis than previously possible. iv Acknowledgments It is a great pleasure to be able to thank the many people who have inspired and assisted me on the often circuitous journey to this point. First and foremost among these is Sandy Murray, my supervisor. The wise guidance I have received from Sandy is only matched by his generosity with both his time and his work. He has truly been a mentor. The advice of the other members of my committee – Nick Everett and Andy Orchard – has been scarcely less helpful. Their rigour and scholarship has continually improved my work and the dissertation which follows owes much to their encouragement. Sadly, many of those who guided me most at the start of my interests in medieval studies and Anglo-Saxon England have already faced that “enforced journey” Bede spoke of. Patrick Wormald was for me undergraduate tutor, Masters’ supervisor, and friend. The speculation that I may well be the last of his students to gain their doctorate fills me with some pride. Others who have passed away, but without whom I should never have reached this point, merit equal thanks: Maurice Keen and Rees Davis at Oxford, and Dom Daniel Rees, monk of Downside Abbey, who first directed my interests towards the Middle Ages. I am glad that one, at least, of my early inspirations is able to see her efforts come to some fruition: my gratitude to Henrietta Leyser for all of her generous enthusiasm over the years cannot be overstated. Without her I should never have undertaken graduate studies in the first place. I am grateful for the assistance provided by both the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, who gave me a Fellowship to support my doctoral studies, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, who awarded me a two- year scholarship. At the former my thanks go especially to Grace Desa, whose knowledge and support have been crucial over my years at Toronto, and to Michael Elliott without whose stimulating and erudite conversation my understanding of canonical issues, especially relating to the Libellus Responsionum, would be much poorer. I should also like to thank Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, in Barry’s Bay, Ontario, where, in my new role as Chairman of History, I completed work on this thesis and who generously put their resources at my disposal even before I began work v formally. The institution’s motto, Veritas Vos Liberabit, was the motto of my father’s doctorate and a model for my own. My greatest thanks must go to my family. My debt to my parents, grandmother and great aunt for the support they have provided can never be repaid. In ways well beyond the obvious, I would not be here were it not for them. Finally, my deepest appreciation goes to my wife, Christine, and my children. It is almost a cliché to say that without them this thesis would have been finished faster; in this case it would be truer to say that without them it would never have been begun. Christine has been a constant source of encouragement and inspiration throughout my work and it is to her that this work is dedicated. 19 September 2013 The Feast of St Theodore of Canterbury vi Contents Abstract . ii Acknowledgments . iv Contents . vi Abbreviations . viii 1. Introduction: How Bede Worked 1 1.1 Bede’s Method and Materials . 1 1.2 The Structure of this Study . 16 1.3 Methodology . 17 1.4 What this Study will not do . 20 PART ONE Constructing the Narrative of the Gregorian Mission to Kent 2. Gregory and the Mission: HE 1.23-33 . 24 3. The Mission Fathers: HE 2.1-11; 15-20 . 134 4. Canterbury Before Theodore: HE 3.8; 3.14; 3.20; 3.29; 4.1 . 237 PART TWO Bede’s Sources for Kent before Theodore 5. Identifying Bede’s Sources . 262 5.1 Political . 262 5.2 Ecclesiastical . 263 5.3 ‘Literary’ Sources . 266 5.4 Other . 267 vii 5.5 Oral information . 268 6. The Lost Sources Reconstructed . 270 6.1 Political . 270 6.1.1 Kings’ lists . 270 6.1.2 Genealogies . 272 6.1.3 The context for the preservation and maintenance of Bede’s kings’ lists and genealogies . 274 6.1.4 ‘Hegemony’ list . 279 6.1.5 ‘Hidage’ document of the ‘tribute’ type . 280 6.2 Ecclesiastical . 282 6.2.1 Episcopal Lists . 282 6.2.2 The origins of Bede’s episcopal lists . 287 6.2.3 Inscriptions from (Re-)Foundation stones . 290 6.2.4 Epitaphs . 293 6.2.5 Other Canterbury sources? . 304 6.3 Conclusions: the disappearance of ‘Canterbury tradition’ . 305 7. Bede’s ‘Canterbury tales’ . 317 7.1 The unexplained sections of the Gregorian mission narrative . 317 7.2 Characteristics of the ‘Canterbury tales’ . 320 7.3 The shape and content of Bede’s ‘Canterbury tales’. 323 7.4 Nature of the ‘Canterbury tales’ . 330 7.5 Dating the ‘Canterbury tales’ . 333 7.6 Conclusions . 335 8. Conclusion: Bede’s methods and ours . 340 Bibliography . 348 viii Abbreviations CCSL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina DTR Bede, De temporum ratione, ed., C. Jones CCSL 123B (Turnhout, 1977); tr. F. Wallis, Bede: The Reckoning of Time (Liverpool, 1999) EHR English Historical Review HA Historia abbatum auctore Baeda, ed. C. Plummer in Venerabilis Baedae opera historica 2 vols (Oxford, 1896), I, pp. 364-87; tr. D. Farmer in The Age of Bede (London, 1998) HE Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, ed. and tr., B. Colgrave and R. Mynors (Oxford, 1969) [reprinted with corrections, 1991] LP Liber Pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, 2 vols, Bibliothèque des Écoles Françaises d’Athènes et de Rome, Series 2, 3 (1886-92). Translated in R. Davis, tr., The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis): the Ancient Biographies of the First Ninety Roman Bishops to AD 715 (Liverpool, 1989) S Anglo-Saxon Charters: an Annotated List and Bibliography, ed., P. Sawyer, (London, 1968) Gregory of Tours, Histories Gregory of Tours, Historiarum libri X, ed., B. Krusch and W. Levison, MGH SRM 1.1 2nd edn. (Hanover, 1937-51). Translated in: L. Thorpe, tr., Gregory of Tours: The History of the Franks (London, 1974); A. Murray, ed. and tr., Gregory of Tours: the Merovingians (Peterborough ON, 2006) MC Bede, Major Chronicle (Chronica Maiora) from De Temporum Ratione, c. 66 MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica PL Patrologiae cursus completus, Series latina, ed., J.- P. Migne 1 Chapter 1 Introduction: How Bede Worked 1.1 Bede’s method and materials The aims in this thesis are simple: to show that both the process and the sources for Bede’s creation of the Historia ecclesiastica’s account of the Gregorian mission to Kent can be reconstructed and thus, potentially, that his narrative can be replaced.1 This exercise in the identification and reconstruction of the lost sources available to Bede is closely akin to the process Michael Lapidge termed ‘palaeobibliothecography’ – the reassembly of ancient libraries and the works within them – though operating on a narrower canvas than is usually the case.2 The conclusions will extend beyond the classification of Bede’s materials, to provide a better appreciation of the way Bede worked in writing his history.
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