The Gregorian mission or Augustinian mission was a Christian mission sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 596 to convert Britain’s Anglo-Saxons. The mission was headed by Augustine of Canterbury. By the time of the death of the last missionary in 653, the mission had established Christianity in southern Britain.
About Gregorian mission in brief
The Gregorian mission or Augustinian mission was a Christian mission sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 596 to convert Britain’s Anglo-Saxons. The mission was headed by Augustine of Canterbury. By the time of the death of the last missionary in 653, the mission had established Christianity in southern Britain. Along with the Irish and Frankish missions it converted other parts of Britain as well and influenced the Hiberno-Scottish missions to Continental Europe. The net effect was that when Augustine arrived in 597 the Anglo- Saxon kingdoms had little continuity with the Roman civilisation. In the words of the historian John Blair, \”Augustine Canterbury began his mission with an almost clean slate. Most of the information on the Gregorian Mission comes from the medieval writer Bede, especially his Historia Ecclesiastica, or Ecclesiastical History of the English People. For this information, see: http://www.ecclesiasticalhistory.org.uk/history-of-the-English-people/ ecclesiastic-history/ ecclesia-ecclesia.html#eclesia ecelesia is the name given to the cult of Saint Alban, the founder of the Church of England. The church is now the seat of the Anglican Church in England and Wales, and was founded in the 12th century by King Edward II. The Church of the East and the West of England was founded around the same time, and is still in existence today. It was founded by King Henry II of England and his son Henry III of England, the first king of the West, and the first monarch of the Northumbrians.
The first Northumbrian king, Edwin, married Edwin’s daughter, Æthelburg, and they had a son, Paulinus, who converted Edwin and a number of other Northumbria kings. By 627, the bishop who accompanied her north, had converted Edwin, and by 633, his widow and Paulinus were forced to flee back to Kent. After the Roman legions withdrew from Britannia in 410 the natives of Great Britain were left to defend themselves, and non-Christian Angles, Saxons, and Jutes settled the southern parts of the island. There is no evidence that these native Christians tried to convert the Angles and Saxons. There was a growing Christian presence at least until about 360. The Roman province of Britannia was converted to Christianity and had even produced its own heretic in Pelagius. Though most of Britain remained Christian, isolation from Rome bred a few distinct practices, including emphasis on monasteries instead of bishoprics, differences in calculation of the date of Easter, and a modified clerical tonsure. After that date, a pagan backlash set in and the see, or bishopric, of London was abandoned. There are no traces of Roman civilisation in the areas held by the Saxons and Angles after the invasions of the 5th and 6th century.
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