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The Medieval Church · 731
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
The Venerable Bede · c. 673–735
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What it is
The conversion of the English told from Roman Britain to Bede's own day, with named sources, dated events, and a monk's eye for the moment a king's council decides the fate of a people.
Why it lasted
The foundation of English history writing, and the book that popularised dating events from the incarnation — the reason years are counted the way they are.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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