The Battle for England
Bede’s Bias ▶ The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731) ▶ Third-generation Christian ▶ Oblate who barely left his monastery ▶ Romanist ▶ Anglo-Saxon ▶ Writes history as a victor ▶ Knowledge of popular religion questionable ▶ Downplays British role in Anglo-Saxon Christianization
Irish Missionary Efforts in the British Isles Figure: Iona Abbey c. 1899 (public domain: source) ▶ 563: Columba founds the monastery of Iona ▶ 634 Aidan of Iona founds the monastery of Lindisfarne
Figure: Iona and Lindisfarne (public domain: source)
Figure: Lindisfarne Castle (CC-BY: source)
Figure: Lindisfarne Priory (CC-BY: source)
Figure: Canterbury Cathedral (CC-BY: source)
Motivational Background of the Gregorian Mission ▶ Britannia the only remaining pagan province of old Rome ▶ Æthelberht of Kent had married the Frankish Christian Bertha ▶ Frankish rivalry (Childeberht II vs. Bertha’s house)
dynasty with the new Roman bishopric in Mercia and improve his Irish Versus Roman Christianity in England outlook ▶ The sources speak of top-down conversion ▶ Rulers may have been drawn to the Church’s infrastructure ▶ Universal religions favour political consolidation and expansion ▶ Irish Christianity strongly monastic, apolitical, anarchic, personal ▶ Synod of Whitby ▶ Oswiu of Bernicia had lost control over Mercia ▶ His son Alhfrith may have called the synod to ally the Bernician
Figure: Northumbria (public domain: source)
Conversion: A Matter of Perspective The missionary perspective The convert’s perspective? view ▶ Christianity is monolithic ▶ Christianity is polythetic ▶ Baptism defines the convert ▶ Baptism is just a rite ▶ Radical change of world view ▶ Little to no effect on world
The Cult of Kingship “ The first commanders are said to have been the two brothers Hengist and Horsa. […] They were the sons of Victgilsus, whose father was Vitta, son of Vecta, son of Woden; from whose stock “ Ða wæs agangen fram cristes acennednesse cccc ⁊ xciiii wintra ða cerdic ⁊ cynric his sunu coman upp æt cerdices oran mid v scipum. And se cerdic wæs elesing, Elesa esling, Esla giwising, giwis wiging, Wig freawining, Freawine freoþogaring, Freoþogar branding, Brand bældæging, Bældæg wodening. ( Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , Preface) ” the royal race of many provinces trace their descent. ( HE 1.15) ”
Figure: East Anglian Royal Genealogy (public domain: source)
Bibliography I Brooks, Nicholas. “From British to English Christianity: Deconstructing in Anglo-Saxon England . Ed. Catherine E. Karkov and Nicholas Howe. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 318. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2006. 1–30. Print. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 318. Cavill, Paul. Anglo-Saxon Christianity: Exploring the Earliest Roots of Christian Spirituality in England . London: Fount, 1999. Print. Chaney, William A. The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England: The Transition from Paganism to Christianity . Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1970. Print. Dumville, David N. “The Anglian Collection of Royal Genealogies and Dunn, Marilyn. The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons c. 597–c. 700: Discourses of Life, Death and Afterlife . London: Continuum, 2009. Print. Bede’s Interpretation of the Conversion”. Conversion and Colonization Regnal Lists”. Anglo-Saxon England 5 (1976): 23–50. Print.
Bibliography II Higham, N. J. The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England . Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1997. Print. Markus, R. A. “The Chronology of the Gregorian Mission to England: Ecclesiastical History 14 (1963): 16–30. Print. Niles, John D. “Pagan Survivals and Popular Belief”. The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature . Ed. Malcolm Godden and Michael Lapidge. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 120–136. Print. Bede’s Narrative and Gregory’s Correspondence”. Journal of
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