Conversion of England

• Pope Gregory: "At the feat of Christmas last more than 10 000 English are reported to have been baptised"
  • Links to continental conversion - Augustinian mission (597) coming directly from Pope Gregory

Results of Augustinian mission c. 597

• Æthelberht of Kenta (bretwalda) converted shortly ater 597
• Sees set up at Canterbury and Rochester
• Saberht of Essex converted
• See set up at London
• Impressions made on king of East Anglia (Raedwald?)

• Significant setback at deaths of Æthelberht and Saberht - sons/successors were pagan
• Bishop of Essex/London driven out
• Kent's new king Eadbald converted, but new king of Essex did not

• Conversion of Edwin (Bretwalda, r. 616-33) by Paulinus (Italian -  converted many)
• Period of apostasy under Eanfrith and Osric (633-4)
• Second conversion by Aiden under King Oswald (r. 634-42) 
  • Lindisfarne established
  • Oswald and Oswiu (r. 642-70)  - both Bede's imperium and ASC 'Bretwalda' - v. influential in converting other kings

Conversion of Other Kingdoms

• Wessex = c. 635
• Essex (then Middle Anglia) = c. 653
• Mercia = 655 (Penda died, succeeded by Christian kings)
• Isle of Wight = c. 686 (converted by Caedwalla, who took it over)

Setbacks

• Debate over Celtic/Roman system resolved (mostly) at Synod of Whitby in 664
• Still an issue at Cuthbert's death (687), last words were "don't associate with the Celtic church)

Ambivalence of Conversion - ref. Raedwald

• Bede: had temple with two alters - one for pagan gods, one for Christian sacrifice
• Sutton Hoo: show ambivalence; Christian objects (e.g. spoons, cross-bowls) but in a well-furnished ship burial
• Bede focuses on upper class/'great man' approach - need archaeology to show us how far down social ladder Christianity really went

Fragility of Conversion

• Bede: on Augustine's death, the Church was in "so raw a condition" that it "might begin to falter if deprived of its shephard even for an hour" (2:4)
•  Apostasy of many 2nd generation Christian kings - e.g. Eadbald, son of Æthelberht of Kent
• Campbell: "Bede implied, though onlu through his silence, that paganism was extinct in his day"

Archaeology

• Finglesham, Kent
  • Burials used + W-E orientation, but alongside pagan burials
  • Openly pagan iconography - 'Woden' belt buckle, with a man wearing a headdress with bird head horns and carrying two spears
• Increased evidence of superstisious behaviour
  • Stoning, decapitation, lots of pagan amulets = people doubting power of new religion to control the dead who had been denied pagan burial rituals
• Christian motifs on high status burial objects
  • Pectoral crosses found in wealthy female graves, from early 7th cent. - e.g. Ixworth, Suffolk; Wilton, Norfolk
• Archaeology = conversion essentially completed by mid 8th cent.
  • New graveyards, associated with local churches, new ministers
  • Later cemeteries showing serried ranks of W-E orientated burials, without dress-items/grave goods - e.g. Elstow, North Elmham, Raunds
• Hawkes: gradual but eventually total spread of Christianity through cemeteries; interesting phase of transition in 7th cent. - both show 'top down' nature of conversion, and raw condition

Tolerance

• Bede: Gregory said "the idol temples of that race should by no means be destroyed, but only the idols in them" (HE. 1:30)

Reasons for Conversion

• Hard to tell - not much evidence!
• Seems to have offered kings greater hope of victory
  • Oswald and COnstantine both supposedly had Christian visions and erected crosses before going into battle