Royal Marriage and Conversion in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
Máirín MacCarron
The prevailing view in modern scholarship is that Bede reduced the role of women his narrative Anglo-Saxon conversion, contrast to Gregory Tours with whom unfavourably compared. In Gregory’s account conversion Clovis, king Franks, he allowed an overt for king’s wife, Clotild, whereas Bede’s presentation mixed marriages between Christian queens and pagan kings did not actively convert their husbands. This essay presents a counter thesis arguing importance can be detected Bede’s Historia when attention paid scriptural imagery exegetical allusions text. Bede’s Historia is only early source refers at courts indicates these fulfilled precepts such as 1 Cor. 7:14, ‘the unbelieving husband sanctified by believing wife’. theological dimension reveals unique played husbands significance royal acceptance Christianity England.
The Journal of Theological Studies|White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds)