Anglo Saxons and their Christianization

Invasioni anglosassoni

During the fifth and sixth centuries the Britain was invaded by peoples coming from the sea region of the Northern Europe, and they were the Jutes, Angles and Saxons. We call them Anglo-Saxons and they settled south of Hadrian’s Wall because they were more inclined to the lowlands than to the uplands and because they were looking for farming land.
The most important thing of their society was the loyalty to the family, or the clan and the hall, which was the centre of communal life where they see each other and swore loyalty to the chiefs, who would then have to protect them. In the seventh century it was finally formed the boundaries of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, known as Heptarchy or Seven Kingdoms. In 829 the kingdom of Wessex became the most important of all.

Conversione al cristianesimo

Unlike Romans who brought Christianity to Britain, the Anglo-Saxons brought the paganism. In 597 Pope Gregory I the Great sent the monk Augustine to bring Christianity back in England, and in fact he succeeded.
In 602 was founded the cathedral of Cantèrbury and Augustine had the most important role in the Church, in fact he became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Later, England joined the ecclesiastical culture of Europe. The monasteries became important cultural centres, and the Church instructed the people and offered them public administration. In 635 was founded the monastery of Lindisfarne, and here the monks produced illuminated Gospels. In 685 was founded another monastery on the River Tyne at Jarrow where the scholar Venerable Bede wrote The Ecclesiastical History of “the English People”. He is considered ‘the father of English history’.