ABSTRACT
In chapter 2, we focused on two different parts of the EH, in particular the Preface and recapitulation, which were arguably the last major sections which Bede wrote, in order to explore how he perceived his agenda and how he responded to the comments of his first readers as he brought the work to a conclusion. This third chapter will look at evidence for his purposes at an earlier stage in the process, when setting out to write the Ecclesiastical History, first by exploring his structuring of the work overall, and secondly by comparing the core messages conveyed by the Ecclesiastical History with those offered by his earlier and much briefer excursion into English history in the Greater Chronicle. This latter will lead us in turn into a discussion of the role of book III, and the Irish and Ionan connections which it highlights, within the overall structure of the work. Throughout, this exploration has some potential to provide insights into the author’s overall agenda as he undertook and developed this, his major ‘historical’ work, in the particular circumstances pertaining around 729-31.
