Religion in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
The Germanic migrants who settled in Britain in the fifth century were pagans. From the
end of the sixth century, missionaries from Rome and Ireland converted the rulers of the
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to a religion – Christianity – which had originated in the Middle
East.
The conversion to Christianity had an enormous social and cultural impact on Anglo-Saxon
England. With this religion arrived literacy and the writing of books and documents. The
vast majority of the manuscripts which survive from this period were made by churchmen
and women, and they were kept in the libraries of monasteries and cathedrals.
Bede’s descriptions of temples, priests and the various pagan gods seem to be based on
Greco-Roman mythology, rather than first-hand experience of Anglo-Saxon paganism.
The conversion to Christianity
Christianity was introduced to Britain during the Roman period. The first Briton to
be considered a saint was Alban, a Roman soldier who was martyred around 303.
After the eclipse of Roman rule, English-speaking pagans came to dominate
southern and eastern Britain, but communities of Romano-British Christians
survived, especially in the West. They included St Patrick, who was born in South-
West Britain in the late fourth or early fifth century, and.Gildas, who probably wrote
The Ruin of Britain in the sixth century. According to Gildas, the Britons had been
defeated by the Anglo-Saxons because their leaders were not sufficiently devout.
The rulers of the Anglo-Saxons began to be converted to Christianity from the end of the
sixth century.
Pope Gregory I (590–604) sent a group of missionaries to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, led
by.Augustine, who became the first archbishop of Canterbury. They arrived in Kent in 597
and converted King Æthelberht (died 616) and his court.
Irish missionaries also helped convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. In 635, King
Oswald of Northumbria (died 642) invited the Irish monk, Aidan (died 651) to become a
bishop in his kingdom. Aidan had been based at the monastery on Iona, off the coast of
Scotland, which had been founded by St Columba. In Northumbria, Aidan established a
monastery on the tidal island of Lindisfarne, close to the royal centre at Bamburgh.
Christianity brought with it access to writing technologies such as the Latin alphabet we
still use today and the Latin language itself. Kings used these writing systems to create
written.law codes, and.charters . to transfer rights and property.
The conversion was also influenced by political connections. Æthelberht was
married to.Bertha, a Christian princess from the area around Paris, and there were
many cultural, social and political exchanges between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
and Christians in Ireland..
