Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, download; listen. [The importance of history within the western intellectual tradition. Medieval historians, like the classical predecessors who influenced them, were rhetors, skilled in the technique of 'invention'. Their rhetorical background explains: (i) their use of attributed direct speech; (ii) their predilection for hagiographical stereotyping; (iii) their concern for literary style. Christian aspects of medieval history writing: (1) conception of history as a comprehensible whole; (2) a concern with time and accurate dating; (3) explanatory themes derived from the biblical (especially Old Testament) conception of history.]


Gregory the Great, download, listen [Pope Gregory 1 (the Great) was the highly influential moral teacher of Europe between 600 and 1100. Manuscript survivals, library catalogues and citations by many other writers show his popularity. His Letters were mined for information; his works of biblical exegesis, especially his Moralia on the book of Job, were regarded as models of allegorical exposition by later writers and enshrined practical moral advice with a Stoic bent; his Pastoral Care provided a model of leadership for the secular clergy; his Dialogues introduced a new model of sanctity based on everyday Christian virtues. In general, his writings portrayed a world where the boundaries between the natural and supernatural were porous and advocated the individual's obligations to other members of the body of Christ.]