The Venerable Bede
The Venerable Bede died in 735. His work – ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ – is a key source of the history of Britain, covering the late sixth to early eighth century. In it Bede blames the Britons for not converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.
Bede believed that the Briton’s faith was pure and orthodox, as it came straight from Rome. In his work, Bede describes how Gregory the Great (pope from 590 to 604) sent Augustine, a missionary, to England to found major churches in York and London. When Augustine arrived in 597, he found that Æthelberht, king of Kent, was the most powerful king in the south east.
Æthelberht gave Augustine land in Canterbury to build a church. As a result, Canterbury instead of London, became the main centre for English Christianity, almost by mistake, rather than design.
Æthelberht and his court converted to Christianity, and several neighbouring kings did as well. Paulinus was the last surviving member of Gregory’s mission. He baptised Edwin, king of Northumbria, in York in 627.
The new Anglo-Saxon kingdoms come into the light of history at the beginning of the seventh century, thanks to the works of Bede.
- In the south there were the kingdoms of Kent, Sussex (South Saxons) and Wessex (Wes Saxons).
- To the east the kingdoms of the East Angles (East Anglia) and the East Saxons (Essex).
- In the Midlands the Kingdom of Mercia (whose name means ‘the frontier kingdom’) was dominant Mercia was the an amalgamation of several smaller kingdoms.
- In the north, there was Deira (Yorkshire) and Bernicia (north of the Tees). In the early seventh century, these kingdoms were joined together as Northumbria.
Northumbria absorbed a lot of other kingdoms in the early seventh century, such as Elmet (West Yorkshire) and Rheged (Lancashire and Cumbria). Wessex and Mercia also expanded westwards.
Some British kingdoms remained independent, including Devon and Cornwall in the south west, Powys and Gwynedd in Wales, and Strathclyde, near Glasgow.
In northern Ireland there were many smaller kingdoms, although the most powerful dynasty was that of the Uí Néill, the supposed descendents of the great king, Niall of the Nine Hostages.