Brexit and the Conversion of the English

Prof Susan Oosthuizen's Emergence of the English redirected my attention to Prof Tom Williamson's interesting view of the North Sea and its waterways published in East Anglia and Its North Sea World.
In relation to the Conversion of the English, not only do I have to accept the likelihood of the continuation of  Christianity in East Anglia in the post-Roman era, for example, at Norfolk's two places named Eccles; but also the ongoing links with Europe once the Church had rooted itself in Anglo-Saxon society,
St.Felix came to East Anglia from in 630 or thereabouts, with King Sigeberht who had been in exile in Merovingian lands. The next generations of church leaders gave us Botolph, who had his monastic formation at Faramoutier (not far from Paris), where Saethryth (sister of Withburga of Dereham and Elthelburga of Ely) was abbess. Hilda of Whitby's sister, Hereswith, who had married into the East Anglian royal family, became abbess of Chelles; a house which was founded by the East Anglian slave, Bathilde, who had married King Clovis bore him three sons. Boniface and a series of other Anglo-Saxon missionaries helped establish Christianity in  Frisia and Germany; and Alcuin was active in the service of Charlemagne,
If we understand the sea, or whale-road as the Anglo-Saxon poets called it, as a connector, rather than a barrier to keep invaders out of England; we come to understand the connected-ness of  our island to the mainland. Nor should be allow our modern categories of people and nation states to blind us to the connected-ness. Beowulf, the earliest (8th C) written document in Anglo-Saxon, has a Geat hero, who has a Swedish relative and they come to the aid of a Danish king. We have a tendency to believe such people are Vikings and shouldn't be coming in to Our Island's Story until the first Viking raids at the beginning of the 9th C.
When the conversion of Scandinavian lands reached its final phase with the Conversion of Iceland it was due to Olaf Tryggvason's less the peaceful urging. Olaf had come to faith with his encounter with a Christian holyman he bumped into while repairing his longboat in the Isles of Scilly! 
Longboats, you see, even before the Vikings there were longboats, the ship burial at Sutton Hoo is a longboat of sorts. Even the trading vessels that brought the stone to build Norwich Cathedral Normandy (Normans are only Frenchified Norse-men!) were a type of longboat.
I have come to realise I cannot think about the Conversion of England on its own. one has to see it as the Conversion of Europe!
And even right through the Protestant Reformation to the Glorious Revolution and the appointment of William of Orange and Mary in 1689 Christianity in England was deeply enmeshed with Christianity in Europe as a whole.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

North Elmham

Image
I’d come to North Elmham pursuing a mystery. Did the Bishops of Elmham from Bedwinus in the 7th century to Herfast in the 11th have their cathedral in Norfolk or  Suffolk?  North or South Elmham? I’d followed a circular walk I’d found in the  Norfolk Health Heritage and Conservations Walks  leaflet (You can get hold of one from Norfolk County Council or on-line at www.countrysideaccess.norfolk.gov.uk .)  It took me through parkland,  along quiet lanes and ended up at the parish church  (Well worth a visit in its own right!) My final destination was indicated by a brown tourist sign. Uncompromisingly it asserts “Saxon Cathedral”! But when you get to the ruins and read English Heritage’s helpful interpretation boards there’s no certainty at all.  What you see are earthworks and  ruins of a castle built by Henry Despencer,  the fighting Bishop of Norwich. He was famous for putting down the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. A man not without enemies, Henry had obviously felt the need of
Read more

First Day of the Rest of My Life

Image
 I have not posted much of late. I have been struggling. Between completing the pioneering work on a possible Withburga Way between Holkham and Dereham in the summer of 2022 and today my health has gone downhill in alarming way. I'll never walk the route in a couple of days, nor yet in 3 days.  I'll never walk it.  The rapid onset Pulmonary Fibrosis has left me struggling for breath putting my boots on let alone walking.  Yesterday, I went to St. Benet's Abbey , ate my picnic lunch in the car park and set myself the challenge of walking from the car park to the Abbey ruins. It is 0.35 miles and uphill all the way from from the Gate House to the old rugged cross that marks the site of the high altar at the summit. The hill looked quite daunting -  "Who can ascend the hill of the Lord?" I sang under by breath. Stopping often to catch my breath, slowly one foot in front of the other, I got closer to the summit. There before the cross, wind in my hair, it felt as if
Read more

A Candlemas Pilgrimage

Image
 Turning left off the Hautbois Road  A path leads past Golden Gates Pond.  Ahead, the tower of  Great Hautbois Church is a silhouette glimpsed through winter trees. Beneath the tower  - Snowdrops,  Candlemas Bells.  We've come to St. Mary's Church to ponder  the Feast of the Presentation.  Did Mary travel to Jerusalem's temple to offer her own her flesh and blood, her baby Jesus to  his Heavenly Father?  Or was it to bring God to his Temple? Whatever was going on she is at the heart of the mystery. Simeon had it right.  The boy child is the light that enlightens the Gentiles but the 2 turtle doves were just a down-payment. More would be given.   Candlemas - one last look back to Christmas before turning our faces towards Passiontide and Good Friday.  And a sword certainly pieced Mary's soul when she stood by the cross.  In real time, fast military jets manoeuvre overhead and a war torn world comes into sharp focus.   "Where is God!"  We cry!   On his cross! A
Read more