Key Stage 2 history · British history

KS2 Anglo-Saxon Christians: Canterbury, Iona and Lindisfarne

Many Key Stage 2 pupils study how Christianity spread through Anglo-Saxon Britain, led by missionaries from Rome and from Ireland. Canterbury, Iona and Lindisfarne are the usual examples. Children see how kings, monks and monasteries changed life, and how handmade books show us how people lived and believed.

Anglo-Saxon Christian conversion, explained

The Anglo-Saxons who settled in Britain were mostly not Christians. They worshipped several gods, such as Woden and Thunor, and the days of the week still carry their names. Some Christian communities among the Britons had survived the end of Roman rule, mostly in the west. The curriculum asks schools to teach Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots. Christian conversion, with the sites of Canterbury, Iona and Lindisfarne, is one of the examples it suggests, and many schools choose to include it.

Two different missions are involved. In AD 597 Pope Gregory I sent a monk called Augustine from Rome to Kent. King Æthelberht of Kent, whose wife Bertha was already a Christian, allowed him to preach. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, and Canterbury is still the senior seat of the Church of England. Earlier, in AD 563, an Irish monk named Columba had founded a monastery on the island of Iona, off the west coast of what is now Scotland, in the area where Scots from Ireland had settled. In AD 635 a monk from Iona called Aidan was invited by King Oswald of Northumbria to found a monastery on Lindisfarne, a tidal island off the north-east coast.

Conversion was slow and varied from kingdom to kingdom. Kings often led the way and their people sometimes followed, and a ruler might return to the old gods if things went badly. Bede, a Northumbrian monk who finished his history of the English Church and people in about AD 731, says that Pope Gregory advised missionaries to turn pagan temples into churches rather than destroy them. The Roman and Irish churches also disagreed over matters such as the date of Easter, until a meeting at Whitby in AD 664 settled the question in favour of Roman practice.

Monasteries became centres of learning, prayer and care for the poor, where monks copied books by hand on vellum (specially prepared animal skin) with pens made from quills. The Lindisfarne Gospels, made around the year 700, are famous for their decorated pages with colour and gold. Such manuscripts, together with Bede’s writing and objects such as crosses and burial finds, are key sources. In AD 793 Lindisfarne was raided by Vikings, which leads on to the next part of the story.

Words your child will hear

Missionary: A person sent to teach their religion to others.
Pagan: A word used at the time for someone who followed older, non-Christian beliefs, such as worshipping many gods.
Monastery: A community where monks live, work and pray together.
Archbishop: The most senior bishop in a region of the Church.
Manuscript: A book written by hand. Anglo-Saxon manuscripts were copied on vellum.
Illuminated: Decorated with bright colours and sometimes gold, as in a manuscript.
Conversion: Changing from one religion to another.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught about Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
Pupils should construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information.
Pupils should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A worked enquiry

How did Christianity spread through Anglo-Saxon Britain?

Start with the two routes. One came from Rome, through Augustine and Canterbury in AD 597. The other came from Ireland, through Columba on Iona in AD 563 and Aidan on Lindisfarne in AD 635. Marking them on a map shows that Christianity arrived from the south-east and from the north-west.
Add the role of kings. Æthelberht of Kent allowed Augustine to preach, and Oswald of Northumbria invited Aidan. When a king was convinced, his court and often his people followed.
Add the role of monasteries. Monks taught, copied books, cared for travellers and built churches, which made Christianity part of everyday life rather than something that only a king believed.
Add the signs of slow change. Pagan and Christian ideas existed side by side for some time, and different churches disagreed until Whitby in AD 664. The change was not instant.
Name the evidence and its limits. Bede and the manuscripts are very useful, but they were written by Christian monks, so they show conversion from the Church’s point of view.

Christianity spread through missionaries from Rome and Ireland, who often began by winning over kings, and was then kept alive through monasteries, churches and books. It happened gradually, kingdom by kingdom, over most of the 600s, and our best evidence comes from monks, who naturally told the story as a success for the Church.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking Augustine converted the whole country when he arrived in AD 597

Short summaries often stop at his landing in Kent.

What helps: Show that it took many decades, many missionaries and different routes. Mark Kent, Northumbria and Iona on a map to see how widely it spread.

Believing that Christianity came only from Rome

Canterbury is the best known site, so Irish missionaries are often forgotten.

What helps: Make a table with two columns, Rome and Ireland, and put Augustine and Canterbury in one and Columba, Iona, Aidan and Lindisfarne in the other.

Thinking monks only prayed and did nothing else

The word “monk” suggests a quiet, closed life.

What helps: Explain that monasteries were also schools, libraries, hospitals and workshops. Ask what jobs would be needed to make a book, from preparing vellum to mixing colours.

Assuming everybody in a kingdom changed religion when the king did

Stories of baptisms focus on rulers and make it look like one decision.

What helps: Talk about how hard it can be for ordinary families to change beliefs. Remind your child that there are signs of pagan and Christian ideas together in some burials.

How to help at home

Trace the missions on a map. Find Kent, Iona and Lindisfarne on a map of Britain. Draw arrows to show where each mission came from and talk about why the sea routes were so important.
Write like a monk. Use a pencil to write a short sentence in your best handwriting and decorate the first letter. Talk about how long a whole book would have taken to copy.
Compare two accounts. Ask your child to retell the conversion story first as a monk and then as a farmer who still worships the old gods. It helps them see that sources have a point of view.
Visit a local church or abbey. Many churches have very old features. Ask your child how they could find out how old a building is, and what sort of evidence they would trust.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Medieval Britain 1066 to 1509
Key Stage 3: Tudors and Stuarts: Britain 1509 to 1745
Key Stage 3: Britain 1745 to 1901: industry and empire
Key Stage 3: Britain and the world, 1901 to today
Key Stage 3: The Holocaust