My doctoral research investigates histories of England and Britain published between 1799-1850 which discuss the pre-Conquest period and seeks to understand how the Anglican or Anglo-Catholic interests of their writers influenced the usage of  Anglo-Saxon texts to support their depiction of the history of the Church in England. Among the historians and antiquarians involved in my project are Sharon Turner, John Lingard, Henry Soames, and John Mitchell Kemble. The study of Anglo-Saxon religious texts in the early nineteenth century grew alongside Catholic emancipation in England and the rise of medievalism. Works such as Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica and Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies feature prominently in arguments regarding the legacy of the post-Reformation church as an extension of the Anglo-Saxon church being distinct from Rome. Through close analysis of the original early medieval texts and their usage in this debate by historians and antiquarians, this research aims to determine to what extent contemporary religious upheaval impacted the reception and representation of these Anglo-Saxon texts.