Spain, soon after Isidore of Seville, the Christian area had been
narrowed by the Moslem invasion; in Italy, though the tradition of
learning was never extinguished, yet no writer of eminence appeared for
a long time after Gregory the Great. At such a time it was that the seed
of learning found a new and fruitful soil among the Anglo-Saxon people;
and they who had been the latest receivers of the civilising element,
quickly took the lead in religion and learning.

In the year 668 three remarkable men came into Britain, These were
Theodore, a Greek of Tarsus, who came as Archbishop of Canterbury;
Hadrian, an African monk who had deprecated his own appointment to that
office; and Biscop Baducing (called Benedict Biscop), an Angle of
Northumbria, who had left his retreat in the monastery of Lerins, to
guide and accompany the travellers into his native country.

This had risen out of an unforeseen event, and had almost the appearance
of accident. But the consequences were great and far-reaching. Theodore
organised the English Church upon lines that proved permanent. A new era
was also inaugurated for literature and art. Literature was represented
by Hadrian, who set up education at St. Augustine's upon an improved
plan; and art, especially in relation to religious and educational
institutions--books, buildings, ritual--was the province of Benedict
Biscop.

Up to this time education and literature had two rival sources, the old
schools of Kent, and the schools of the Irish teachers. But from
Hadrian's coming a new literary era commences. For more than a hundred
years our island was the seat of learning beyond any other country in
the world of the West. Even Greek learning, extinct elsewhere, was
revived for a time; and Bede, whose childhood had corresponded to the