L’Histoire ecclésiastique ou le rêve d’un retour au temps de l’innocence

The great success of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History from the eighth century right up to today in so many countries implies that it has not only a local, political and historical message, but also a universal one, Bede’s dream of returning to an age of innocence. The paradisiacal time at the beginning of Bede’s History was destroyed by the heresy and the corruption, both spiritual and physical, of the Briton people. It was restored by the Roman and Irish missionaries, who converted the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. A few clerics, monks and nuns were so pure that even their bodies were untouched by physical corruption after their death. But this age of innocence did not last : corruption reappeared among the Anglo-Saxon clerics. Bede does not blame them openly, because he is not entitled to do so, but he tries to lead them back into the fold by exalting as examples several uncorrupted Irish bishops. Each of these three peoples, Britons, Irish and Anglo-Saxons, has also a different symbolic meaning for the reader, who is encouraged to avoid corruption and strive towards a Christian ideal.