The Early Anglo-Saxons and the Conversion of Britain

I. The Anglo-Saxons [MAP]
    A. Angles
    B. Saxons
    C. Jutes

II. The Conquest [3rd-7th c.]
    A. Stage 1 - Anglo-Saxon Raids
        1. WHY? - overpopulation
        2. Saxon shore forts [Map]
    B. Stage 2 - Anglo-Saxon Mercenaries/Conquest
        1. Britons invited Anglo-Saxon mercenaries to Britain
                in order to help fight the Picts and Scots
        2. used to be doubted by historians, but recent archaeological
                evidence seems to support the account by Gildas [DOC 3]
        3. the Anglo-Saxons then turned on the Britons
    C. Stage 3 - Anglo-Saxon Colonization
        1. Anglo-Saxon success against the Britons brought more and more
                Anglo-Saxons to Britain (warriors AND their families)
        2. bit by bit, they conquered and colonized most of England
        3. those Britons who were not killed, enslaved or forced into submission,
                fled to Cornwall, Wales and Scotland

III. King Arthur
    A. the legend
        1. writers such as Chretien de Troyes (12th c.)
        2. Excalibur, Guinevere, Lancelot, the round table, Camelot and Merlin
    B. the truth
        - Arthur was a Romanized (Christian) British king fighting the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th c.

IV. The Heptarchy [MAP]
    A. Seven kingdoms
        1. Essex
        2. Sussex
        3. Wessex
        4. East Anglia
        5. Mercia
        6. Northumberland
        7. Kent
    B. the bretwalda = ruler of all of Britain
            - the king who dominated the other kings of the Heptarchy

V. The Rise of Christianity
    A. Early history
        1. teachings of Jesus; Israel; early 1st c.
        2. spread throughout the Roman Empire for a variety of reasons
            - e.g., peace, roads, cities, religious toleration, Diaspora, etc.
        3. Constantine legalizes Christianity in 313 (Edict of Milan)
        4. Theodosius makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380
        5. spread of Christianity slowed by the Germanic invasions

    B. The rise of Christianity in Britain
        1. probably spread initially by the Roman army
        2. St. Patrick: conversion of Ireland
        3. Irish Christianity developed apart from the western Church
        4. Different pattern of organization
            a. priests, bishops, pope
            b. bishop of Rome and the Petrine Doctrine
                1. belief that St. Peter was Rome's first bishop
                2. Matthew 16:18-19 -  "And I say to you, you are Peter,
                        and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of 
                        Hell shall not prevail against it.  And I will give you the 
                        keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever you shall bind
                        on earth, it shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you
                        shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed in heaven."
                3. pope (bishop of Rome) came to be the head of the Christian
                        Church in the west (Roman Catholic Church)
        5. monasteries rather than bishoprics were the basic unit of Irish
                Church organization
        6. Benedictine Monasticism
            a. E.g., Maulbronn Monastery in Germany -- plan, picture
                (Cistercian monastery founded in 1147 - type of Benedictine monastery)
            b. St. Benedict (c. 480-550)
                - founded a monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy [MAP]
        7. Irish Monasticism
            a. asceticism: Irish monks practiced a more severe asceticism
                    - silence, fasts, standing in icy water, confession
            b. learning: Irish monks had to acquire Greek and Latin
                    grammar texts to learn these languages and then
                    translate Greek and Latin Christian texts
                    - classical Latin survived best in Ireland
            c. art: illuminated manuscripts
                    - Image from the Book of Kells, c. 800
                        [first page of the Book of Matthew ]
            d. travel: Irish monks were not cloistered; they traveled
                    throughout Britain and continental Europe preaching
                    and trying to convert people
                1. St. Columba: founded a monastery on the island of
                        Iona off the west coast of Scotland [MAP]
                        - traveled throughout Scotland converting people
                2. St. Columbanus: founded monasteries and converted
                        people in central and southern Europe
        8. The Conversion of England
            a. Augustine (late 6th - early 7th centuries)
                1. converted the kingdom of Kent [MAP]
                2. founded a monastery at Canterbury
                3. the pope appointed him archbishop of Canterbury
                        - this position became the head of the English church
            b. problems arose when Roman Christianity ran into
                    Irish Christianity in the kingdom of Northumbria
                    in northern England [MAP]
            c. Synod of Whitby called by king of Northumbria (Oswy) in 664
                    - the synod decided that Roman Christianity should be followed