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Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England

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Background
There is evidence for Christianity in Roman Britain as early as the 3rd century. In 313, the Edict of Milan legalised Christianity, and it quickly became the major religion in the Roman Empire. The Christian church based its organisation on Roman provinces. The church in each city was led by a bishop, and the chief city of the province was led by a metropolitan bishop. In 314, three British bishops attended the Council of Arles: Eborius from Eboracum (York), Restitutus from Londinium (London), and Adelfius from Lindum Colonia (Lincoln). These cities were provincial capitals, and the bishops were likely metropolitans with authority over the other bishops in their provinces. This suggests the British church was well established by the early 4th century.

Roman rule ended at the start of the 5th century. Around the same time, Germanic peoples called Anglo-Saxons invaded and conquered eastern Britain. Writing in the 8th century, Bede divided the Anglo-Saxons into three major groups: Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. The Angles founded the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria. The Saxons founded the kingdoms of Sussex (South Saxons), Essex (East Saxons), and Wessex (West Saxons). The Jutes established the Kingdom of Kent and also settled on the Isle of Wight. The new inhabitants practiced Anglo-Saxon paganism. This was a polytheistic religion in which multiple gods were worshipped, among them Woden, Thor, and Tiw. Woden was the king of the gods, and early English kings traced their ancestry back to him.

British missionaries, most famously Saint Patrick, converted Ireland to Christianity. The early British and Irish churches shared common characteristics often described as Celtic Christianity. After the Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain, Celtic Christianity survived in the British kingdoms of the west and north. In these regions, the church was organised around dioceses corresponding to tribal divisions. Influence from Gaul encouraged the spread of monasticism within the British church during the 6th century.

Stuff from History of CofE
In the 580s, Æthelberht, king of Kent, married the Frankish princess Bertha. Bertha was allowed to remain a Christian and was accompanied by clergy, including a Frankish bishop named Liudhard. Her husband gave her St Martin's Church, a Romano-British church outside of Canterbury, to worship in. Probably influenced by his wife, Æthelberht asked Pope Gregory I to send missionaries, and in 596 the Pope dispatched Augustine, together with a party of priests and monks. This Gregorian Mission arrived in 597. At Christmas, a mass baptism saw around 10,000 people convert to Christianity. Æthelberht was baptised in 601.

Over the next few years, the organisation of the English Church was laid out by Pope Gregory and Augustine. While ultimately under papal authority, the church was to be divided into two ecclesiastical provinces, each led by a metropolitan or archbishop. The northern province was to be based at York and the southern province was to be based at London. Augustine, as archbishop of the southern province, was to have final authority over the entire English Church. Augustine and his successors never moved to London, remaining at Canterbury instead. This division between the Province of Canterbury led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Province of York led by the Archbishop of York remains into the 21st century. Controversially, Pope Gregory gave Augustine authority over the indigenous Celtic British bishops. In response, the British bishops refused to cooperate with the Roman missionaries. The Celtic and Roman churches disagreed on several issues. The most important was the date of Easter. There were other differences over baptismal customs and the style of tonsure worn by monks.

In 625, the Italian monk Paulinus left Kent with the Princess Æthelburh of Kent, who married King Edwin of Northumbria. Edwin was baptised in 627, and Paulinus became the first Bishop of York. Paulinus fled after Edwin was defeated and killed in battle in 633. The new king, Oswald of Northumbria, promoted the Celtic Christian tradition as practiced at Iona, a center of Celtic monasticism. Saint Aidan established a monastery at Lindisfarne. Under King Oswiu of Northumbria, tensions between followers of the Roman and Celtic traditions continued. To settle matters, Osiwu summoned the Synod of Whitby in 664. Both sides made arguments, but the king decided that Northumbria would follow the Roman tradition. His decision was decided on the basis of authority: the successors of Saint Peter outweighed the successors of Saint Columba.

In 668, Theodore of Tarsus became Archbishop of Canterbury. He contributed to the organisation of Christianity in England, reforming many aspects of the church's administration. At the Synod of Hertford in 672, canons were adopted to promote greater uniformity, among these that the English bishops should hold an annual council at Clovesho. A major reorganisation of the English church occurred the late 700s. King Offa of Mercia wanted his own kingdom to have an archbishop since the Archbishop of Canterbury was also a great Kentish magnate. In 787, a council of the English church attended by two papal legates elevated the Diocese of Lichfield into an archbishopric. There were now three provinces in England: York, Lichfield and Canterbury. However, this arrangement was abandoned in 803, and Lichfield was reabsorbed into the Province of Canterbury.

Initially, the diocese was the only administrative unit in the Anglo-Saxon church. The bishop served the diocese from a cathedral town with the help of a group of priests known as the bishop's familia. These priests would baptise, teach and visit the remoter parts of the diocese. Familiae were placed in other important settlements, and these were called minsters. England suffered from Viking raids beginning in the late 8th century. Monasteries and minster-churches were favorite targets since much of England's portable wealth was held there in the form of golden crosses, altar plate, and jewels decorating relics and illuminated Bibles. Eventually, the raids turned into wars of conquest and the kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia, and parts of Mercia were conquered (see Danelaw).