Bede's people

Bede's people are the Northumbrians: those who live north of the River Humber in the north-east of England. This area of the web site has a series of Northumbrian portraits, summaries of the lives and works of some of the Northumbrian people whom we encounter in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People and in other works of the period. Their lives span a period between the late 6th century and the early 8th century AD. Each is a free-standing text: you can read any one without the others; or you can make the cross-references if you wish.

Northumbria

The kingdom of Northumbria was formed from the merging of two smaller kingdoms, Deira to the south and Bernicia to the north. Think of modern Yorkshire and North Humberside as Deira and the counties of Northumberland and Durham as Bernicia. The actual extent of Northumbria fluctuated with the fortunes of particular kings. Sometimes the kingdom of Lindsey, south of the Humber, was within the orbit and for most of the time greater or lesser parts of what is now southern Scotland were within Northumbria. The present border between England and Scotland did not exist in the 8th century.

Author

These portraits have been specially written for the Bede's World web site by Colm O'Brien.