The Spread of Christianity Through England

During the time of Charlemagne, the son of Charles Martel, the Carolingian Renaissance began and caused great shifts throughout England. Among other things, the Carolingian Renaissance sparked a growth in Christianity, as it would soon attempt to spread to the Angles and the Saxons who, for years had plundered and killed all over England. It is clear that without dedicated, determined, and courageous leaders, Christianity would not have spread to these people.

            Although the Carolingian Renaisance was great its most difficult feat was spreading Christianity to the Angles and the Saxons. The Carolingian Renaissance began when Charlemagne decided that England needed cultural improvement, so he set about hiring people to develop the religious circles and the overall culture of England. In order to achieve this Charlemagne established schools all over England and brought in wise scholars to teach. As a result of all of this, Christianity began to grow in Charlemagne’s empire. However, before long there was an urge to share Christianity to barbarian tribes surrounding England, and it was organized so that the papacy would gather people to go into the barbarian areas and share the Gospel. Although, they quickly discovered that the general population of England did not approve of the idea, as they were very bitter towards the Angles and the Saxons because of their raids which had cost the people greatly in both lives and resources, and therefore had no interest in helping them; in fact, they wanted to see them burn. The current Pope during this time was Pope Gregory; he would later become known as Pope Gregory the Great, and was one of the main supporters of the idea of spreading Christianity to the barbarians. Being that the papacy was not going to get any volunteers from inside that part of England, the Pope collaborated with a man named St. Augustine of Canterbury, and they arranged it so that he and a group of monks would travel to England and convert the Angles and Saxons. While on the way, Augustine and his group were told frightening stories about the Angles, such as, they were cannibals. This distressed the group, and they turned back; however, Pope Gregory rebuked them and told them to act on their word and continue or else he would go himself. So Augustine and the forty monks approached King Ethelberht of Kent, and were granted passage to preach to the Angles. Now that they were finally into the Barbarian territory they had to watch themselves for dangers, but despite the threats, they were able to preach freely to the residents of the land. They received advice from church leaders back home, as to how they should approach converting the Angles, and due to this they were able to slowly bring more and more people to God. Before long the Angles began to depart from their old beliefs and embrace Christianity. 

            This story is an incredible example of the persistence of the early church leaders, as it shows how men like Pope Gregory and St. Augustine received the grace to push on with a mission that, for many seemed impossible, and even though it was unpopular among the people of England they perservered, and as a result, thousands of people came to know God. However, the part of this story that stands out to me the most, is the love that Pope Gregory showed for a people he did not even know, a people who had mercilessly killed and plundered from his land, and still he loved them and showed them the true spirit of Christ. This, and the determination of the men on the ground such as St. Augustine and the monks, who risked and even gave their lives for this cause brought about this miraculous shift.