Conclusion

This Chapter concludes the book, bringing together the findings from the earlier Chapters and setting out paths for future work on Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica (Ecclesiastical History) and on other works, developing the themes in this study. In particular, it is argued that the provision of a more comprehensive awareness of Bede’s resources provided by this book enables future scholarship to dispense with the narrative Bede has superimposed on his evidence. This thus lays the foundations for rewriting, and not merely reinterpreting, the history of early Christian Kent on a firmer evidential basis than was previously possible.