The implications of Bede's approach and methods in terms of the study of Anglo-Saxon history seem stark. As onlookers of a period previous to our own we need to come to terms with the possibility that Bede's primary aim was not so much recording historical actuality as historical Christian convention, at least in the case of the personal and public actions of the individuals he identifies. Where the Ecclesiastical History, in particular, is concerned, at some level one is dealing with an embellished list of events expanded to meet the needs of a Church attempting to promote deeds worthy of aspiration. At times the embellishments may reflect an actuality, but without corroborative contemporary evidence we are not in a position to prove this.

Having acknowledged this, it is of note that the chronology of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, despite some minor inconsistencies, appears to be accurate – itself a factor in the rhetoric of persuasion. After all, if Bede was obsessive about chronology, surely he must have been equally obsessive about factual accuracy? Yet an interest in time does not necessarily exclude the provision of models within that framework constructed from a textual rather than an actual basis. In many regards Bede's historiae in general do not reflect ‘reality’ but only other texts – they are in this sense a post-modernist's delight.