Stephen of Ripon - Significance

Significance

Stephen’s Life of Saint Wilfrid was one of the first Anglo-Saxon histories, and the earliest to survive. Bede evidently used it as a source for sections of his Historia Ecclesiastica, although he did not acknowledge it.

The Life of Saint Wilfrid is also significant in that it provides a contemporary perspective on events which transpired during Wilfrid’s lifetime. For instance, the Life gives an account of the Synod of Whitby which differs from Bede’s. While Stephen's writing has come under more criticism than Bede’s, the account found in the Life of Wilfrid reveals political factors that may have affected the Synod alongside the religious controversies described by Bede.