The immediate audience for Bede's historiae was predominantly an elite monastic group. The historical context of the production of the texts themselves needs therefore to be placed within the fluctuating fortunes of seven of the institutions in which this elite group lived: Iona, Lindisfarne, Whitby, Ripon, Hexham, York, and Wearmouth-Jarrow. Whilst other monastic houses such as Melrose, Gilling, Lastingham, Coldingham and Bardney clearly played a role, it appears, in textual terms at least, that the seven former monasteries held the predominant positions of authority. Such pre-eminence was not solely a matter of the abilities of their scribes and calligraphers, however. It was primarily dependent on the relationship they had with the secular authorities in Northumbria, most notably the king. The primacy of a particular monastery over the others in what could be considered a fluctuating hierarchy was determined by two critical and inter-related factors: their relationship to royalty; and the success of any cult development programme. As will be shown, the power of the kings was, in its turn, increasingly dependent on the acceptance of the monasteries established by royal predecessors. In short, the connection between the monasteries and the king provided a mutually beneficial situation that both parties could utilize to their advantage. In this sense, whilst it has been argued that there might not have been a widespread audience for the Latin texts of Bede's historiae, it is nonetheless clear that the context in which such sources were produced was, in part, the symbiotic relationship between the most powerful monasteries of the kingdom and the members of the ruling house.