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Bede
,→Historia Ecclesiastica
==Historia Ecclesiastica==
[[Image:Bede_Tomb.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Tomb of the Venerable Bede<br>Durham Cathedral, England]]
The most important and best known of his works is the ''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]],'' giving in five books (about 400 pages) the history of England, ecclesiastical and political, from the time of Caesar to the date of its completion (731). The first twenty-one chapters, treating of the period before the mission of St. [[Augustine of Canterbury]], are compiled from earlier writers such as Orosius, Gildas, Prosper of Aquitaine, the letters of Pope St. Gregory the Great (known as [[St. Gregory the Dialogist]]in the Byzantine East), and others, with the insertion of legends and traditions.
After 596, documentary sources, which Bede took pains to obtain, are used, and oral testimony, which he employed not without critical consideration of its value. He cited his references and was very concerned about sources of all his sources, which created an important historical chain. He is credited with inventing footnoting. (Due to his innovations like footnoting he was accused of heresy at the table of Bishop Wilfred. The actual accusation was for miscalculating the age of the world. His chronology was contrary to the calculation of the time. It is linked to footnoting because Bede cited another source in a note, rather than opining himself, showing a misunderstanding by others of what citing another source is.)