ABSTRACT
The serious study of any historical period or subject requires some understanding of the nature of the available evidence, of how and why it came into being and has been preserved, and, consequently, of what questions it can and cannot be used to answer. In the case of the history of religion, politics and society in Britain between 800 and 1066 there are additional reasons for identifying and examining the evidence with special care. First, a great deal of it illustrates that these three themes were both inextricably interwoven and perceived as such. Second, the fact that much of it was produced and preserved by ecclesiastics means that everything we know, or can know, is influenced both directly and indirectly by ecclesiastical interests and perceptions.
