james the deacon was sent to england to convert the pagan anglo-saxons.
james the deacon was sent to england to convert the pagan anglo-saxons.
who was sent to england to convert the pagan anglo-saxons?
james the deacon
although southern britain had been a roman province, in 407 the imperial legions left the isle, and the roman elite followed. some time later that century, various barbarian tribes went from raiding and pillaging the island to settling and invading. these tribes are referred to as the "anglo-saxons", predecessors of the english. they were entirely pagan, having never been part of the empire, and although they experienced christian influence from the surrounding peoples, they were converted by the mission of st. augustine sent by pope gregory the great. the majority of the remaining british population converted from christianity back to their pagan roots. contrary to popular belief, the conversion of anglo-saxons to christianity was incredibly slow. the anglo-saxons had little interest in changing their religion and even initially looked down upon christianity due to conquering the christian british people decades earlier. it took almost a century to convert only the aristocracy of the anglo-saxons to christianity with many still converting back to paganism. after this, the common folk took a few hundred more years to convert to christianity and their reasoning for converting was in large part due to the nobility. originally, anglo-saxon leaders claimed divine descent while taking part in many rituals and practices for paganism but after their conversion they in turn became spiritual leaders for christianity in britain. soon anglo-saxons started to incorporate their old pagan stories and figures into christianity, such as the pagan god woden becoming sixteenth in descent from 'sceaf, noah's son in the bible. later, under archbishop theodore, the anglo-saxons enjoyed a golden age of culture and scholarship. soon, important english missionaries such as ss. wilfrid, willibrord, lullus and boniface would begin evangelising their saxon relatives in germany.
christianity in the middle ages
the pagan anglo-saxons also appeared to wear amulets, and there are many cases where corpses were buried with them. as david wilson noted, "to the early [anglo-]saxons, they were part and parcel of the supernatural that made up their world of 'belief', although occupying the shadowy dividing area between superstition and religion, if indeed such a division actually existed." one of the most notable amulets found in anglo-saxon graves is the cowrie shell, which has been often interpreted by modern academics as having been a fertility symbol due to its physical resemblance to the vagina and the fact that it was most commonly found in female graves. not being native to british seas, the cowrie shells had to have been brought to england by traders who had come all the way from the red sea in the middle east. animal teeth were also used as amulets by the pagan anglo-saxons, and many examples have been found that had formerly belonged to boar, beaver, and in some cases even humans. other amulets included items such as amethyst and amber beads, pieces of quartz or iron pyrite, worked and unworked flint, pre-anglo-saxon coinage and fossils, and from their distribution in graves, it has been stated that in anglo-saxon pagan society, "amulets [were] very much more the preserve of women than men".
anglo-saxon paganism