ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on English Episcopal itineraries over the period from the lifetime of Bede to c. 1300. In a rather uneven chronological breakdown the present chapter will look at how English bishops moved around over the five centuries 700 – 1200, while the following one, by Philippa M. Hoskin, will explain what bishops did in the thirteenth century. Evidence for bishops being on the move begins very early. In the context of the Anglo-Saxon church, Bede's writings provides with good examples of the types of journeys bishops would undertake and their reasons for doing so. Episcopal charters, even though they rarely specify where they were issued, suggest that only some stopping points on episcopal itineraries were really suitable for certain sorts of Episcopal administration, because sufficient space had to be available to house the people who had to be present to participate in and witness transactions.
