 James ' date of death is unknown , but Bede implies that he was still alive during Bede 's lifetime , which presumably means that he died after Bede 's birth , sometime around 671 or 672 . This would mean that he was at least 70 years old at his death . It has been suggested that James was Bede 's informant for the life of Edwin , the works of Paulinus , and perhaps for the Synod of Whitby . The historian Frank Stenton calls James " the one heroic figure in the Roman mission " . This reflects the fact that many of the Gregorian missionaries had a habit of fleeing when things went wrong . 
