Bede Meeting Case Analysis

Another point of interest within Bede’s account is when the chief man says if Christianity “contains something more certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed”. On the face of it, this seems to be open acceptance of a faith they perceive as more logical. However there is a one hundred year gap between the events in Bede’s account and Bede actually writing about them, therefore it is unlikely that Bede knew what was actually said at this meeting. So, what was said by the King’s chief man is likely to be made up by Bede in order to assert the idea of a smooth transition to the greater faith of Christianity. The same point of interest can also shed light on political issues at time of the events in Bede’s account, the fact that the Kings

Coifi is described as “rejoicing in the knowledge of the worship of the true God” and destroying pagan temples with the help of his followers. This is a clear answer from Bede as to how successful Northumbrian conversion was. The answer is that it was very successful as Christianity seems to have been taken up by people on all levels of society. D. P. Kirby would agree with Bede, stating that Edwin’s baptism was “a great triumph for the Roman mission” However the success of conversion is debatable as after an initially successful start the conversion “retreated after Edwin’s death” . This does not suggest the conversion was as successful as Bede wanted it to be viewed, but that it actually took longer than Bede suggests for Christianity to take hold in

Although what Bede wrote is unlikely to be the actual events that took place at the meeting, Bede’s writing can tell us a lot about Northumbria during the conversion period such as how Northumbrian Kings thought that religion was an important part of politics. But more importantly the source shows us how Bede and to some extent the Catholic Church wanted the Northumbrian conversion to be viewed as a major Christian