Editing Bede (section)

==== Sources ====
The monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow had an excellent library. Both Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith had acquired books from the Continent, and in Bede's day the monastery was a renowned centre of learning.<ref name="BEASE_MJ">Cramp, "Monkwearmouth (or Wearmouth) and Jarrow", pp.&nbsp;325–326.</ref> It has been estimated that there were about 200 books in the monastic library.<ref name="BEASE_286–7">Michael Lapidge, "Libraries", in Lapidge, ''Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', pp.&nbsp;286–287.</ref>

For the period prior to Augustine's arrival in 597, Bede drew on earlier writers, including [[Gaius Julius Solinus]].<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="Farmer_25">{{harvnb|Farmer|1978|p=25}}</ref> He had access to two works of Eusebius: the ''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Historia Ecclesiastica]]'', and also the ''[[Chronicon (Eusebius)|Chronicon]]'', though he had neither in the original Greek; instead he had a Latin translation of the ''Historia'', by Rufinus, and [[Jerome]]'s translation of the [[Chronicon (Jerome)|''Chronicon'']].<ref name="LH_162">Campbell, "Bede", in Dorey, ''Latin Historians'', p.&nbsp;162.</ref> He also knew Orosius's ''Adversus Paganus'', and [[Gregory of Tours]]' ''Historia Francorum'', both Christian histories,<ref name="LH_162" /> as well as the work of [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]], a pagan historian.<ref name="LH_163">Campbell, "Bede", in Dorey, ''Latin Historians'', p.&nbsp;163.</ref> He used [[Constantius of Lyon]]'s ''Life of Germanus'' as a source for [[Germanus of Auxerre]]'s visits to Britain.<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="Farmer_25" />

Bede's account of the [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain]] is drawn largely from [[Gildas]]'s ''[[De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae]]''.<ref name="BEASE_Gildas">Lapidge, "Gildas", p.&nbsp;204.</ref> Bede would also have been familiar with more recent accounts such as [[Stephen of Ripon]]'s ''[[Life of Wilfrid]]'', and the anonymously written ''Life'' ''of Gregory the Great'' and ''Life of Cuthbert''.<ref name="Farmer_25" /> He also drew on [[Josephus]]'s ''Antiquities'', and the works of [[Cassiodorus]],<ref name="Mey831">{{harvnb|Meyvaert|1996|p=831}}</ref> and there was a copy of the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'' in Bede's monastery.<ref name="Mey843">{{harvnb|Meyvaert|1996|p=843}}</ref> Bede quotes from several classical authors, including [[Cicero]], [[Plautus]], and [[Terence]], but he may have had access to their work via a Latin grammar rather than directly.<ref name="CM_xxv">{{harvnb|Colgrave|Mynors|1969|pp=xxv–xxvi}}</ref> However, it is clear he was familiar with the works of [[Virgil]] and with [[Pliny the Elder]]'s ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', and his monastery also owned copies of the works of [[Dionysius Exiguus]].<ref name="CM_xxv" />

He probably drew his account of Alban from a life of that saint which has not survived. He acknowledges two other lives of saints directly; one is a life of [[Saint Fursey|Fursa]], and the other of [[Æthelburh of Barking|Æthelburh]]; the latter no longer survives.<ref name="Plummer_I_xxiv">Plummer, ''Bedae Opera Historic'', vol. I, p. xxiv.</ref> He also had access to a life of Ceolfrith.<ref name="LH_164">Campbell, "Bede", in Dorey, ''Latin Historians'', p.&nbsp;164.</ref> Some of Bede's material came from oral traditions, including a description of the physical appearance of [[Paulinus of York]], who had died nearly 90 years before Bede's ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' was written.<ref name="LH_164" />

Bede had correspondents who supplied him with material. Albinus, the abbot of the monastery in Canterbury, provided much information about the church in Kent, and with the assistance of [[Nothhelm]], at that time a priest in London, obtained copies of [[Gregory the Great]]'s correspondence from Rome relating to [[Gregorian mission|Augustine's mission]].<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="Farmer_25" /><ref name="BEASE_Nothhelm">Keynes, "Nothhelm", pp.&nbsp;335&nbsp;336.</ref> Almost all of Bede's information regarding Augustine is taken from these letters.<ref name="ODNB" /> Bede acknowledged his correspondents in the preface to the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'';<ref name="HE_pref">Bede, ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', Preface, p.&nbsp;42.</ref> he was in contact with Bishop [[Daniel of Winchester]], for information about the history of the church in Wessex and also wrote to the monastery at [[Lastingham]] for information about [[Cedd]] and [[Chad of Mercia]].<ref name="HE_pref" /> Bede also mentions an Abbot Esi as a source for the affairs of the East Anglian church, and Bishop [[Kinebertus|Cynibert]] for information about Lindsey.<ref name="HE_pref" />

The historian [[Walter Goffart]] argues that Bede based the structure of the ''Historia'' on three works, using them as the framework around which the three main sections of the work were structured. For the early part of the work, up until the [[Gregorian mission]], Goffart feels that Bede used ''De excidio''. The second section, detailing the Gregorian mission of [[Augustine of Canterbury]] was framed on ''Life of Gregory the Great'' written at Whitby. The last section, detailing events after the Gregorian mission, Goffart feels was modelled on ''Life of Wilfrid''.<ref name="Goffart296">{{harvnb|Goffart|1988| pp=296–307}}</ref> Most of Bede's informants for information after Augustine's mission came from the eastern part of Britain, leaving significant gaps in the knowledge of the western areas, which were those areas likely to have a native Briton presence.<ref name="Deconstruct7">{{harvnb|Brooks |2006|pp=7–10}}</ref><ref name="Deconstruct12">{{harvnb|Brooks |2006|pp=12–14}}</ref>