Religion in Medieval England

History of medieval Christianity in England

By the 6th century, Christianity had spread rapidly in Ireland. This spread originated with Saint Patrick. During the sixth century Columba is credited with spreading Christianity to Scotland and the north of England. With the Decline of the Roman Empire travel became nigh impossible. Celtic Christianity evolved in isolation for two centuries (circa 400 to circa 600). It developed its own liturgy, and church government. These were reconciled in a series of synods from the Synod of Whitby in 664 to the Synod of Cashel in 1172.

Anglo-Saxon Religion: 597–1066

See also: Anglo-Saxon polytheism

In 597 Gregory the Great sent a group of monks led by Augustine of Canterbury to evangelise Britain. Augustine landed in Thanet, Kent and was well received by Ethelbert of Kent who had already married a Christian wife. Before the end of the 6th century most of the Jutes of Kent had been converted. Acting on instructions previously received, he went to Arles, France to be consecrated as a bishop. Frequent communications were exchanged with Rome, and in 601 Gregory sent Augustine the pallium, the emblem of his authority as archbishop, directing him to consecrate other bishops and to set up his see in London. This was not then possible, and Canterbury became the prime church of England. London, however, very shortly afterwards had its church.

In 1066 a more or less unified Christian system of belief under the authority of the Pope in Rome had been established.

Medieval religious beliefs

Popular beliefs

In medieval England a Germanic paganism similar to Norse paganism, particularly after the official withdrawal of the Roman forces circa 400 A.D. When St. Augustine came as a missionary at the request of the Pope Gregory the Great to Canterbury, Roman Catholicism soon was taken up as the dominant religion. Unlike the religions of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who invaded England before, the religion of Augustine came to England with 40 other monks and came as a peaceable religious interest.

Scholasticism

Scholasticism was a philosophical school that developed during the medieval university. Medieval theologians in the High Middle Ages were usually scholastics who criticised other philosophical scholars.

References

• Some Ambiguities Of Late Medieval Religion In England by Dr Dave Postles (University of Leicester, UK)
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