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The Church of England

From the end of the 4th century to 664 there were 2 distinct churches in Britain, the Celtic and the Roman. In Scotland a Christian church was established at Whithorn by St. Ninian, and in the 6th century St. Columba came from Ireland to the Scottish island Iona and his teaching spread from there. Meanwhile southern England had been overrun by the Heathen Saxons. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory from Rome to convert the Saxons and he landed in Kent at 597. He succeeded in his task and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In 635 Aidan, a monk of the Celtic Church of Iona Scotland, settled on Lindisfarne, or holy Island, off the cost of Northumberland and converted northern England to Christianity. For some time there was a certain amount of rivalry between the Celtic and Roman Churches, but at the Synod of Whitby in 664 all English Christians became members of the Church of Rome. Often parts of England became heathen for a while, and invasions of the Vikings from Scandinavia weakened the power of the church, although King Alfred the great in the 9th century did much to revive Christian learning and ideals.