Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People was completed in 731 and still ranks among the most popular of history books. By the end of the eighth century, copies of it were to be found in many parts of England and on the Continent, some of which are still extant. If it were not for Bede's History we should know little about the Anglo-Saxon invasion and the beginnings of Christianity in England, and such familiar names as Edwin and Oswald, Cuthbert and Chad, Hilda and Caedmon would be almost forgotten.

First published in 1969, Colgrave and Mynors's edition made use for the first time of the mid-eighth-century manuscript now in Leningrad, provided a survey of the extant manuscripts, and a new translation; it also brought up to date Plummer's invaluable edition. This revised edition takes into account J.M. Wallace-Hadrill's Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary (Oxford Medieval Texts, 1988), enabling the reader to use the two in conjunction.