THE CROSS AND THE SCEPTRE
Chapter I: Beginnings
Chapter I: Beginnings
Early in 597, a ship dropped anchor off the Isle of Thanet in north-east Kent. From there it launched a band of 40 men. These men were Christian Monks and they had been led on their long journey to Britain by the Bishop of Bourges in the Southern Frankish Kingdom. His name was Heorgios, and his mission was to convert the heathen peoples of Britain to Christianity. Heorgios' mission had been long in preparation. About 20 years before he and his companions set out, Gregory, who was then the Pope's representative at the Imperial Byzantine Court in Constantinople, had noticed some beautiful fair-haired young boys up for sale in the slave market. Intrigued, he asked the merchant the name of their race.
"They are called Angles," replied the slave-dealer "And they inhabit the Isles of Britannia."
"That is appropriate," Gregory said, "For they have angelic faces, and so it is right that they should become fellow heirs with the angels in Heaven!"
From that time onwards, Gregory was determined, some might say with a slightly strange obsession, to bring Christianity to the Angles. In 590 he was elected Pope, and at last he had the power to authorise such an adventure as which he had been desiring for so long. And to lead this hazardous venture, he chose Heorgios. In many ways this choice was surprising, for Heorgios' was born a slaveboy himself, of Anglo-Celtic descent, but raised in the clergy by the former Archbishop of Ravenna, Giovanni the Roman. He had become Bishop of Bourges after fifteen years of being an abbot in Pomposa, near Ravenna. He was known for his calm, diplomatic temper and zeal in spreading the Word of the Lord, and was also immensely clever talking Greek, Latin and Vulgar Celtic fluently, and being an able writer, cartographer and artist. He wouldn't have been a strange choice if it weren't for his unusually young age of 40 and the fact that many other candidates for the mission were very influential in the Court of Rome.
In any way, the party of twenty Roman and twenty Frankish Monks left Bourges in early March of 597, tracing the Loire River and stopping in Orléans a fortnight later to discuss with Saint Arthemius, Bishop of Sens about the Anglo-Saxon Pagans. He provided two wise monks, Clement and Amatus of Sens to assist with the conversion. From there, they travelled north through Neustria to the small fishing village of Cales, where Britannia could be seen from. And so it was that, in early April of that year, the Gregorian Mission to re-convert the Pagans of Britannia had begun.
One of the first to hear about their landing was Ethelbert, King of Kent. Heorgios (Whom we shall call in this account by his later, Anglicised name, George [Although the proper substitute would be Yorrick or Yorke] ) and his companions were quickly summoned to his presence. This was the crucial moment; if George, Clement and Amatus could persuade the King to listen, his mission stood a fair chance of success. They did have one minor advantage on their side, aside from George's gift as a preacher. Bertha, the Queen of Kent and beloved wife of Ethelbert, was originally a Christian Princess from Austrasia. She had brought with her a recently deceased Bishop named Liudhard who had consecrated the marriage but made no efforts of conversion.
The following is an account of the King's meeting with George, Clement and Amatus, as documented in the Venerable Bede's An Account of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
"Hiorgios marched boldly up to the King, carrying a silver cross and chanting prayers, whilst Clement held out an illuminated bible from Sens and Amatus held a scroll and a pen. Ethelbert greeted them politely, but he had took care to meet them out in the open, lest these mysterious strangers cast a spell on him, and he was very wary and sceptical. George then explained the purpose of their mission and preached to the assembled court of the Good News of Christ. The King then rose, and replied, 'Your words and promises are fair indeed. But they are new and strange to us and I cannot accept them and abandon the age-old beliefs of the entire English peoples. But since you have travelled far through many labours, we will not harm you. We will recieve you hospitably and nor do we forbid you to preach and to convert.'"
The Christians were given a hall in the ancient Roman town of Canterbury and there they used the Church of Saint Martin, a Church built by the Christians of the area 200 years earlier. They preached around the kingdom fervently, establishing three more churches in Kent; of St Peter and Saint Paul, of the Virgin Mary and of Saint Andrew. Finally, in the early August of that year, the King supposedly had a dream in which Christ came to him and told him to convert, which he did. This was a turning point in the mission and, following their leige's example, more than 10 000 people were converted by the Christians from that day until the August of that year. From Canterbury, George sent out men to create new bishoprics - a man named Bartholomaeus became the First Bishop of Dover, a monk named Mellitus established the see of London, and a Florencian monk known as Justus became the Bishop of Medway. George himself became Archbishop of Canterbury, but Clement and Amatus decided that they would venture further into England before becoming bishops or abbots.
Ethelbert's decision also influenced many other kingdoms surrounding Kent. The Kingdom of Essex, ruled over by Ethelbert's nephew Saebert, became a predominantly Christian realm, and the local Lords converted aswell. The Kingdom of Sussex was converted by Amatus and Clement, and they instituted two bishoprics there, of Selsey and Chichester.
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George, Apostle to the English, meeting with Æthelberht, King of Kent.
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George, Apostle to the English, meeting with Æthelberht, King of Kent.
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If you think you may have seen something like this before, then you're probably right. I posted something extremely similar to this quite a long time ago on this forum, but it never came to fruition, and some personal events meant I couldn't update it as much as I wanted. Criticism and Comments are greatly appreciated.
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