Anglo-Saxon Britain Development - Essay Example

Anglo-Saxon Britain Introduction Anglo Saxons refer to people who inhabited Great Britain in the 5Th century. It is a name obtained from the two tribes of Angles and Saxons. Anglo Saxon period in British history is the duration between initial settlements of these people until the Normans conquest. These early inhabitants include the Germanic tribes and their descendants as well as the natives who adopted the Anglo Saxon culture, language and eventually converted from Roman to British. Celtic Christianity spread by Irish missionaries and Roman Christianity spread by Augustin of Canterbury significantly influenced Christianity in Anglo Saxon kingdom. Both had an array of followers who both believed they were following the true Christian faith. During 597 AD and 601, Augustine began his mission by first baptizing the first Christian king of ASE. After this, Ethelbert then allowed missionary activities to proceed in the kingdom. By the end of that year, approximately 10,000 king subjects had already accepted the new creed before Augustine ordained to be bishop. When Christianity was heading to its peak Pope Gregory advocated for complete elimination of paganism in Anglo Saxon. This is by commissioning those mandated with spreading the gospel Christianize all heathen temples as well as dissuading people from carrying on with paganism. This study seeks to relay more information concerning development of ASC and how the works of early saints facilitated to its success. St. Boniface This saint descended from a noble family in Wessel, England as Wilfred whereby he attended a monastery under abbot Wulfhard and at nursling against his farther wishes. While in the monastery, he studied theology and became a Benedictine monk at the age of 30 years then ordained as a priest. King Radbod denied him opportunities to evangelize in Frisia despite his attempts. Back in England, he learnt of the demise of his abbort in Nursling and he declined the offer to take his position because he still wanted to pursue his missionary career. This shows he was a man of purpose and full of dedication. In 718, he accompanied some Anglo Saxon pilgrims to Rome whereby the pope sent him on a mission to baptize pagans in Germania He baptized using the Roman formula and not the Celtic. During this encounter, the pope renamed him Boniface. Following Radbod’s demise, the saint went back to Frisia in a missionary expedition where he worked with Willibrord, the apostle of the Frisians. It is this reason why the pope could not assign him anywhere else except in Frisia. Hence, he his mission encompassed replacing the Radbod with the intention of carrying with evangelization work. In addition, evangelization especially in Frisia was the core agenda of the then pope aiming at eliminating completely paganism. Probably, the choice of the then pope opting to have Boniface handle this mission was due to his courage, unwavering faith and determination to deal with the then cultures held onto paganism. Consequently, this prompted the Pope to ordain him as Germania’s bishop. The pope gave him letters of recommendation for Charles Martel whose protection was essential for the success of Boniface in Frasia. In addition, the pope giving him the ecclesiastical regulations, an assurance of safety by Martel prompted him to wipe out the oak meant for the then Germanic god Thor at Geisha. Boniface started chopping the oak when suddenly a great wind blew the oak over without the god striking him down contrary to numerous people’s expectations. Historical studies refer Boniface as singular character who acted alone to root out paganism. For instance, Christian Frankish leaders were able to defeat the non-Christian Saxons because Boniface had established a good Christian base among the Anglo Saxons. As much as he was not able to protect the church from property seizure by the locals, the fact that he adopted stricter guidelines for the Frankish clergy was an achievement already. After Bonifaces third visit to Rome, Charles Martel erected four-dioceses in Bavaria and left them under Boniface’s leadership. The saint established more dioceses besides appointing more bishops. Through this churches and monasteries, a larger portion of the populace embraced Christianity. A strong Catholic Church base rose from the spread of Christianity; this was because of his unrelenting efforts of ensuring Saxons and Germanics during then converted to Christianity. It is evident Christianity in ASE if it were not for the then unrelenting efforts of eradicating cultural practices based on paganism could not have thrived to the extent of having strong Catholic’s base. However, contrary forces did not end with eradication of these cultural but persisted among certain elements that led to the demise of saint. For he held strongly onto the scriptural principles that each person ought to trounce evil with is advocated to be acceptable to God but not what his terminators were doing1. He was however martyred and buried at Fulda. Historical studies all through portray remarkably this saint’s good qualities including being an organizer, reformer and educator2. In addition, he improved people’s lives in Frankish Kingdom due to erection of his monasteries whereby more bishops and teachers were established3. Saint Cuthbert In the mid-630s, Cuthbert was born in the kingdom of Nothumbria. The politics of the then kingdom were extremely violent mostly entrenched by paganism. He was a gifted child and even in his early life, he could perform miracles. At the age of eight, he went to live with his foster parents and joining Bishop Aydan’s school for gifted youths on Lindisfarne. While visiting River Tyne one day, he managed to cause winds to change whereby monks who were present and scattering to sea on rafts returned to safety. At 15, he joined King Oswalds army for defense besides also working as a shepherd whereby one night while shepherding saw an intriguing vision. In this vision, he could see angels ascending with an extremely shinning soul, which he interpreted to be of his mentor Aidan whom he learned to have passed on following day. Immediately, he quit military and joined the monastery at Melrose with an intention of being a monk in 651 where Abbot Boisel gladly received him. In 661, an illness epidemic struck the convent killing Boisel where Cuthbert succeeded him. Much of his time encompasses mingling with people while preaching besides assuming other spiritual responsibilities like miracles and undertaking varied missionary work that entailed travelling. Due to these responsibilities especially those entailed to travel, many tagged him as “travelling priest” who even visited remote villages. His character compared to others was unique capable of impressing both the royalty as well as nobility besides being bighearted towards the underprivileged and gift of healing made him the “wonder worker of Britain”. Eventually, he retired in 676 where proceeded to embrace solitary life in Farnes Island whereby people who wished to consult him could do so but on timely basis. This is because his confinement during then was more of a cell life and could only manage to bless them via the window. Unwillingly, in 684 accepted the proposal of being a Hexhami’s Bishop before later ordained Lindisfarne’s Bishop in 685. However, he did not cease from performing miracles as well as healing people. In 686, he retired whereby a year later passed on as a result of a grievous and buried in Lindifarne. Ten years later, monks while moving his body found contrary to the normal it was both afresh and uncorrupt, a striking sign that proved he was a saint indeed. Development of Anglo- Saxon Christianity From the saint’s lives, it is evident that they contributed immensely to the development of Christianity in the Anglo-Saxon period. This is because they dedicated their lives to ensuring conversion of numerous pagans as possible were Christians. They spread Christianity despite fierce opposition they received from numerous pagans especially those in high political and influential positions. By 7th century, virtually the whole of ASE had embraced Christianity, either Celtic or Roman. For the Romans, it was matter of convincing people that to be faithful besides being true to their traditions. Hagiographies written about saints were told as stories to let future or younger generations of the Anglo-Saxons to know how to lead their lives in a religious way. With the exception of Boniface, Romans tried to make changes in their tradition to make it accommodative to the Celtic. The Romans believed that some aspects of Celtic tradition were true. In addition, saints had gifts of patience, persistence, and determination, which were essential as well as enabled them to win numerous souls. Consequently, this prompted them to even risk their lives with one common intention that they many into Christianity. This is evident in St. Boniface life though eventually was killed. Spread of Christianity laid a foundation for the strong unification among the Anglo-Saxons. Anglo-Saxon conversion was a gradual process that demanded many compromises. The most referred Pope’s letter to Gregory served to encouraged saints to use pagan temples and other rituals for Christian use. They were to compromise their Christian stands and get involved in their festivals. During such festivals, they interacted with non-Christians and they managed to convince them to convert. This method was contrary to traditional methods where it concerned the destruction of ungodly temples coupled with using Holy water to sanctify these places or alternatively left vacant. Lesson learnt From these two saints, I have learnt essential aspects of determination and selflessness that a dedicated person ought to possess. In addition, the importance of compromising some stands to achieve a major goal is evident in this in text4. For instance, these saints sacrificed their lives to spread Christianity besides utilizing their spiritual gifts to heal people as well as performing wonders where it was necessary. Despite oppositions, they did not give up on ensuring that they realized their goals even some to the extent of loosing their lives. From these actions, it is evident Christians during then believed in martyrdom. This was blood baptism whose occurrence proved how one valued his or her own faith to the extent of not being ready to give up despite harsh circumstances confronting him or her. Consequently, community ended up respecting them except for a few political and influential pagans. Other than Christianity, the natives acquired education and civilization. Introduction of systems of administrations, democracy, and independence were due to the inception of embracing Christianity on the part of natives who were pagans. In early centuries, education was limited to theology then in later catechism meant only for grown ups though somehow children somehow allowed to learn. This was a depiction of conservative community though as time progressed started to embrace modernism, for instance, initially Anglo-Saxons were superstitious. They believed in lucky charms and thought potions, stones or jewels would protect them from evil spirits as well as diverse health complications. Christianity managed to kick off these primitive beliefs. Approximately 720, Bede authored Cuthbert’s hagiography with the intention of honoring him. Based on his authorship, he specifically refers to numerous and extremely intriguing miracles as well as visions that occurred during saints’ era5. Bede shows admiration and respect for Cuthbert despite the fact that he learnt in the Celtic way of Christianity then converted later. The Anglo Saxons respected Cuthbert because he loved preaching and teaching people in villages and considered it as, a labor of love. Bede refers to pagans and Celtics as sinners. He does this to show how these two groups were irreconcilable to the then emergent creed. He believed that anything that was incongruous to Christianity was inferior. Conclusion It is evident that each emphasis put on the Roman culture and Christianity by the saints, writers of the hagiography as well as church leaders aimed at pushing for the transition. To gain a complete approval that Christianity was the truest faith, the transition from paganism and Celtic Christianity was mandatory. References Árnason, Jóhann Páll & Kurt A. Raaflaub. 2011. The Roman Empire in context historical and comparative perspectives. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. Bede, Bertram Colgrave, Judith McClure and Roger Collins. 1999. The ecclesiastical history of the English people. Cuthberts letter on the death of Bede; The greater chronicle; Bedes letter to Egbert. Oxford: Oxford University Press Magennis, Hugh. 2011. The Cambridge introduction to Anglo-Saxon literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Marsden, Richard. 2006. The Cambridge Old English reader. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Martz, Thomas. 2011. The Adoption of Christianity by the Irish and Anglo-Saxons .Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate Research Journal, 2(1): 1-19 Middleton, Haydn. 2001. Romans, Anglo-Saxons & Vikings in Britain. Oxford: Heinemann. Noble, Thomas, F. X. and Thomas H. 2010. Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Pennsylvania: Penn State Press. Read More

 

Read More