Dr Tomasz Skirecki, IFA, UAM

History of Britain and the USA – 1 BA, 2011-12

LECTURE FIVE

Christianity

1

Three kinds of Christian churches in the British Isles:

1.

Romano-British church (Roman times)

2.

Irish (Celtic) church (from 432 AD)

3.

Roman Catholic church (from 597 AD)

1.

Romano-British Christianity

•

Christianity appears in Roman Britain in the 2

nd

cent. (first church probably built in

Glastonbury in 166)

•

PROTOMARTYR of Britain: St. Albans (c. 304 also 209 or 254) – the city of
Verulamium becomes later St. Albans

•

Constantine the Great converts to Christianity in 313 - the Edict of Milan

•

The earliest British missionary: St. Ninian (360-432) – mission to the southern Picts
in 397 and establishment of the Candida Casa church in Whithorn – the oldest
Christian site in Scotland

After the Anglo-Saxon invasions Romano-British Christians survive mostly in Wales but
made no attempts to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons

St. David (c. 500 – 589 March 1) -

patron saint of Wales (March 1 - St. David’s Day) -

establishment of monastic rule in Wales

2. Irish (Celtic) church

•

Ireland becomes the first non-Roman country which converts to Christianity

•

Christianization of Ireland – peaceful – no mentions of martyrdom

•

the power of the Druids is slowly eroded with the introduction of writing

•

adaptation to local conditions - incorporation of pagan elements, e.g. Celtic cross, the
cult of St. Brigid

St. Patrick (c. 387 – 461, March 17)

•

born in a Romano-British family in Wales captured by Irish pirates, and works as a
shepherd in Antrim - most likely escapes to Gaul, returns as a bishop to Ireland

•

legends: shamrock, snakes, miracles

•

Armagh Cathedral founded in 445– the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland

•

initially episcopalian, after Patrick the church in Ireland develops into a monastic
(NOT diocesan) church – due to lack of towns and isolation of Ireland from Rome

Dr Tomasz Skirecki, IFA, UAM

History of Britain and the USA – 1 BA, 2011-12

LECTURE FIVE

Christianity

2

•

hundreds of monasteries all over the island

Ireland becomes a learning and religious center of Europe – Land of Saints and Scholars
(5

th

- 8

th

centuries) (Insula sanctorum, insula doctorum) - monasteries are important

religious and educational centers - Ireland becomes a repository of European Christian
culture.

Christianization of Dal Riata and Pictland (“Scotland”) 563

St. Columba (521 – 597) - arrives from Ireland and founds (563) a monastery at the island of
Iona - the center of Celtic church in Britain and converts the Scots and northern Picts

Christianization of Northumbria

St. Aidan founds Lindisfarne, Holy Island (d. 651) and restores Celtic Christianity to
Northumbria

III. Roman Catholic church

St. Augustine of Canterbury 597

597 St. Augustine arrives in Kent on a mission from the Pope Gregory the Great and founds
Archbishopric in Canterbury (601), establishing Roman church in the Heptarchy and
beginning re-christianization

604 – Saint Mellitus becomes the first Bishop of London (Essex) and founds St. Paul’s
Cathedral

Christianization of the Heptarchy completed in 709 – Sussex accepts Christianity

In result - formation of two rival Christian trends in the Heptarchy:

1.

Roman Church - stress on authority and organization

2.

Celtic Church - stress on conversion of ordinary people

Other differences:

a.

liturgy

b.

Easter date

c.

monastic (Celtic) – diocesan (Roman)

d.

tonsures

Dr Tomasz Skirecki, IFA, UAM

History of Britain and the USA – 1 BA, 2011-12

LECTURE FIVE

Christianity

3

The rivalry is ended by the

Synod of Whitby in 664

in favor of the politically more attractive

and advantageous Roman system, which is later adopted by all kingdoms of the Heptarchy.

672 the Synod of Hertford gives Canterbury authority over all the English Church

-

establishment of “Roman” monasteries (Eng. minsters - e.g. Westminster), e.g.,
Wearmouth and Jarrow (674) - also serving as learning centers (Venerable Bede)

Anglo-Saxon missionaries:

St. Wilfrid
St. Willibrord – Apostle of the Frisians
St Boniface (672-754) – the Apostle of the Germans
Alcuin of York (735-804) – the Carolingian court