Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People A Historical Commentary [Paperback]

In 1969 the Clarendon Press published the new edition of Bede's classic history in Oxford Medieval Texts, edited by Bertram Colgrave and Sir Roger Mynors. Mynors's masterly text and textual introduction replaced much of Charles Plummer's great edition of 1896; but the historical notes did not attempt to match in scale and detail Plummer's second volume of commentary. To fill this gap the late Professor J. M. Wallace-Hadrill devoted the last years of his life to a new commentary, one of the finest and most mature fruits of his scholarship--more succinct than Plummer, tauter, more relevant, above all drawing together and adding to the findings of a galaxy of modern scholars. Prepared for the press by Thomas Charles-Edwards, helped by Patrick Wormald and others, this book completes the new Bede, and is prefaced by a paper characteristic of Professor Wallace-Hadrill on Bede and Plummer.

Enriching our understanding and appreciation of Bede's great work. --English Historical Review

J.M. Wallace-Hadrill's work is an example of the refining process that has gone on consistently at the textual level, helping us to appreciate the solidity of judgment of the older scholars and yet also to indicate new lines of thought. --Times Literary Supplement

An outstanding work of synthesis and originality....With admirable conciseness and clarity, Wallace-Hadrill summarizes modern scholarship in a wide variety of fields, from archaeology to medicine...[A] fitting legacy from one of England's foremost historians. --Review of English Studies

Professor Wallace-Hadrill's commentary to the HEhas a secure future....He has left us a posthumous legacy that is not only monumental in itself...but certain of a permanent place among the books indispensable to students of Bede and his age. --Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Provides a useful overview of post-Plummer Bede scholarship...[T]he bibliography will slS6