11-21-2008, 02:47 PM
I think much of the answer to this question (like that about Romans stop being Roman) depends on our modern concepts.
Bede was, as we know from his writings, very much aware of 'those other guys, the British. he knew full well that 'the English' had taken paart of the island from the British, and sometimes you read between the lines that he is trying to justify that.
A bit like the situation regarding Native Americans or Aboriginals.
Bede, however, concentrates on the religious side of things. You get this very sharply when he describes the conversion of the English (which I believe was incomplete ih his day?) and the role of the British. His view is that the Christian British should have converted the Germanic invaders, but declined to do so. When Augustine lands, the British hear him but reject his mission. I'm not going to discuss why or if that was good or bad, but Bede certainly had a strong opinion about that! In his view, the Brrits deserved all that was coming.
This culminates in his description of the Battle of Chester, where praying unarmed British monks are cut down in their hundreds by (pagan!) Mercian soldiers. Bede approves, for the reasons above.
Bede was, as we know from his writings, very much aware of 'those other guys, the British. he knew full well that 'the English' had taken paart of the island from the British, and sometimes you read between the lines that he is trying to justify that.
A bit like the situation regarding Native Americans or Aboriginals.
Bede, however, concentrates on the religious side of things. You get this very sharply when he describes the conversion of the English (which I believe was incomplete ih his day?) and the role of the British. His view is that the Christian British should have converted the Germanic invaders, but declined to do so. When Augustine lands, the British hear him but reject his mission. I'm not going to discuss why or if that was good or bad, but Bede certainly had a strong opinion about that! In his view, the Brrits deserved all that was coming.
This culminates in his description of the Battle of Chester, where praying unarmed British monks are cut down in their hundreds by (pagan!) Mercian soldiers. Bede approves, for the reasons above.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
