A BRIEF HISTORY OF

CHRISTIANITY IN ENGLAND
By Tim Lambert
Christianity in Roman Britain
The first evidence of Christianity in England is from the late 2nd century AD. (There may have
been Christians in Britain before then, we cannot be sure). Roman Britain was a cosmopolitan
place. Merchants from all over the empire settled there and soldiers from many countries
served there so we will never know who first introduced Christianity to England.
At that time England and Wales were ruled by the Romans. The native people were Celts.
They were polytheists (they worshipped many gods). Their priests were called druids. When
the Romans conquered England and Wales in the 1st century they destroyed the druids.
However the people continued to worship their traditional Celtic gods. The Romans too were
polytheists and they were willing to allow the Celts to worship their old gods. Furthermore there
is some evidence that the Romans identified Celtic gods with their own gods. Many of them
were similar and in some places the names of a Roman god and a Celtic god were carved on
the same altar.
However the Romans were not tolerant of Christianity. At times waves of persecution crossed
the empire. St Alban the first British Christian martyr was executed in a town called
Verulamium in 304 AD. Much later an abbey was built there dedicated to St Alban and it gave
its name to the town of St Albans.
In 313 the Emperor Constantine granted freedom of worship to Christians. So persecution
ended and during the 4th century Christianity became widespread in England.
In 314 three British bishops attended a church council in Arles in France, Eborius bishop of
York, Restitutus bishop of London and Adelius bishop of Caerleon (Gwent). So by that time
there was a flourishing and organised church in England.
In Hinton St Mary, Dorset a 4th century mosaic was found with the face of Jesus and the Greek
letters chi rho, which stand for christos (Greek for Christ) showing Christianity was a popular
religion.
Christianity in Saxon England
In 407 the last Roman soldiers left Britain. Over the following decades Roman civilisation broke
down. In the 5th and 6th centuries Saxons, Angles and Jutes from Germany and Denmark
invaded southern and eastern England and gradually conquered England. Christianity
vanished from England, except Cornwall.
However Christianity continued to thrive in Wales and by the early 5th century it spread to
Ireland. In the 5th and 6th centuries Scotland was converted. Cut off from the Church in Rome
Celtic Christians formed a distinctive Celtic Church.
Converting the Saxons to Christianity was partly the work of the Celtic Church and partly the
work of the Roman Church. The Celtic Christians began converting the North of England
missionaries were sent from Rome to convert the South. At that time there was no single
kingdom of England. Instead there were a number of small kingdoms, which were converted
individually.
According to tradition Pope Gregory saw boys on sale in the slave market in Rome. He is
supposed to have asked about them and when told that they were Angles he replied ‘not
Angles but angels' When he became Pope he was keen to convert the Anglo-Saxons. In 596
he sent a party of about 40 men led by Augustine to Kent. They arrived in 597.
At the end of the 6th century the king of Kent, Aethelberht, married a Christian princess named
Berta. It may have been partly due to her influence that Kent was converted to Christianity.
Aethelberht permitted the monks to preach and in time he was converted. Furthermore his
nephew, Saeberht, the king of Essex was also converted.
In 627 King Edwin of Northumbria (the North of England) and all his nobles were baptised. (He
may have been influenced by his wife, Ethelburgh, who was a Christian). Many of his subjects
followed. A man named Paulinius became the first Saxon bishop of York. Paulinius also began
converting the kingdom of Lindsey (Lincolnshire).
However things did not go smoothly in Northumbria. King Edwin was killed at the battle of
Hatfield in 632 and afterwards most of Northumbria reverted to paganism. They had to be
converted all over again by Celtic monks from Scotland. In 634 monks led by a man called
Aidan went to Northumbria to preach.
However there was disagreement among Christians in Northumbria. The Celtic Church differed
with Rome over the date of Easter. Celtic monks also had a different tonsure (hairstyle) from
Roman monks. After Northumbria was converted for the second time there was disagreement
over whether to follow the Celtic custom or the Roman. A synod or church meeting was held at
Whitby in 664. The Northumbrian king decided his people should follow the Roman way rather
than the Celtic.
Further south in 630 a Christian called Sigeberht became King of East Anglia. He asked the
Archbishop of Canterbury to send men to help convert his people.
Meanwhile Pope Honorious sent a man named Birinus to convert the West Saxons (who lived
in Hampshire).
Then in 653 Paeda, son of Penda king of Mercia (The Midlands) was converted and baptised.
His father allowed Christian missionaries to preach in Mercia and gradually the realm was
converted.
The last part of England to be converted to Christianity was Sussex. It was converted after 680
by St. Wilfrid.
Finally by the end of the 7th century all of England was at least nominally Christian. However
some people continued to secretly worship the old pagan gods as late as the 8th century.
The Celtic Church founded monasteries in the 5th and 6th centuries. When missionaries from
Rome arrived they also founded monasteries in England.
However in the 9th century pagan Vikings began raiding England. They raided monasteries
and they did great physical damage. In the late 9th century the Danes changed from raiding to
conquest. By 878 they had conquered most of England. However Alfred the Great king of
Wessex (Southern England) continued to resist. In 878 the Danes were routed at the battle of
Edington. Afterwards Guthrum, the Danish leader, and his men were baptised and made a
treaty with Alfred. They split southern and central England between them. Guthrum took
London, East Anglia and all the territory east of the old Roman road, Watling Street.
Once they were converted to Christianity the Danes of Eastern England had much in common
with the Saxons. Gradually Alfred's descendants conquered the Danish-held areas of England
and in time they created a single kingdom of England.
However in the late 10th century there was a religious revival. A man named Dunstan (c.1020-
1088) was Archbishop of Canterbury. He reformed the monasteries. Many new churches and
monasteries were built.
The Church in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages religion was a vital part of everyday life. All children were baptised (unless
they were Jewish) and everyone attended mass on Sunday. Mass was in Latin, a language
that ordinary people did not understand.
Bishops ruled over groups of parishes called dioceses. They usually came from rich families.
Bishops lived in palaces and often took part in government. Things were very different for
parish priests. They were poor and often had little education. Parish priests had their own land
called the glebe where they grew their own food. They lived and worked alongside their
parishioners.
In the Middle Ages monks and nuns gave food to the poor. They also ran the only hospitals
where they tried to help the sick as best they could. They also provided hospitality for pilgrims
and other travellers (although as time went by there were an increasing number of inns where
you could pay to stay the night). In a medieval monastery there was an almonry where food or
money was given to the poor, the refectory where the monks ate, the dormitory, infirmary and
the cloisters where the monks could take exercise. An almoner looked after the poor, an
infirmarian looked after the sick and a hospitaller looked after visitors.
As well as the monks from the 13th century there were also friars. They took vows like but
instead of withdrawing from the world they went out to preach. Franciscan friars were called
grey friars because of their grey costumes. Dominican friars were called black friars.
To read more about monasteries click here.
In the Middle Ages merchants and groups of craftsmen were organised into guilds, which
protected their interests. Guilds also put on plays called mystery play. (The word mystery is a
corruption of the French word metier, meaning job or trade). The plays were based on Bible
stories and were meant to instruct the people. However there was nothing solemn about these
plays. They contained lots of jokes.
In the 14th and 15th centuries the Virgin Mary and the saints were given much more
prominence in religion. Far more devotion was shown to them. Furthermore rich people paid for
chantries, which were chapels where a priest said prayers for the dead in the belief that they
would shorted the period the dead person would spend suffering in purgatory before they could
enter Heaven.
One famous Christian of the 14th century was John Wycliffe. He translated the Bible from Latin
into English. He also denied the doctrine of transubstantiation (the belief that bread and wine
are transformed into the body and blood of Christ during mass). Wycliffe died of natural causes
but his followers were persecuted. They were known as Lollards (a word that meant mutterers).
In 1401 a law was passed which allowed heretics to be burned to death. Nevertheless the
Lollards continued to meet during the 15th century.
Another famous Christian of the 14th century and early 15th century was Julian of Norwich.
The Reformation in England
In 1501 Arthur the oldest son of King Henry VII married Catherine of Aragon. However Arthur
died in April 1502. Henry VII's son Henry now became heir to the throne. Henry married
Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow in 1509. Normally such a marriage would not have
been allowed but the Pope gave a special dispensation.
At the beginning of 1511 Henry had a son. Unfortunately the boy died after only 7 weeks.
Catherine had four miscarriages and she only had one child who lived - a girl named Mary born
in 1516. Henry was desperate to have a son and heir and Catherine could not give him one.
Henry came to believe - or said he believed - that God was punishing him for marrying his
brother's widow. Normally that would not have been allowed but the Pope granted him a
special dispensation. Henry now argued that the marriage to Catherine was not valid and
should be annulled (declared null and void).
Not surprisingly Catherine was totally opposed to any move to dissolve the marriage.
Henry asked the Pope to annul the marriage. However the Pope would not co-operate. (He
could not because Catherine's uncle Charles V of Spain had captured Rome and the pope was
his prisoner).
The Henrician Reformation
Meanwhile in 1527 Henry began a relationship with Anne Boleyn. Henry was keen to get rid of
Catherine and marry Anne. In 1529 Henry called the 'Reformation Parliament'. Ties between
England and Rome were cut one by one. Finally Henry lost patience with the Pope and
rejected his authority in 1534 the Act of Supremacy made Henry the head of the Church of
England.
Although Henry broke with Rome he kept the Catholic religion essentially intact. He had no
intention of changing the English religion to Lutheranism. (In 1521 Henry wrote a book called
Assertio Septem Sacramentorum or The Defence of the Seven Sacraments in which he
attacked the ideas of Martin Luther. As a reward the Pope granted him the title Fidei Defensor
or Defender of the Faith).
However in 1538 Chancellor Thomas Cromwell did make some minor reforms. In 1538 he
ordered that every church should have an English translation of the Bible. He also ordered that
any 'idolatrous' images should be removed from churches.
Nevertheless in 1539 Henry passed the Act of Six Articles, which laid down the beliefs of the
Church of England. The Six Articles preserved the old religion mainly intact. However from
1545 Latin was replaced by English as the language of church services.
Meanwhile Henry dissolved the monasteries. Parliament agreed to dissolve the small ones in
1536. The large ones followed in 1539-1540.
Edward VI
Henry was succeeded by his 9-year-old son Edward. Since he was too young to rule his uncle,
Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, was made protector and ruled in his stead.
Somerset was a devout Protestant as was Archbishop Cranmer. They began to turn England
into a truly Protestant country. The Act of Six Articles was repealed and in 1549 the first Book
of Common Prayer, the first Anglican prayer book was issued. Meanwhile priests were allowed
to marry and pictures or statues of Mary or the saints were removed from churches.
In 1552 a second prayer book was issued. This one was much more extreme than the first.
Also in Edward's reign the chantries were closed as Protestants denied the existence of
purgatory.
Mary
In 1553 Edward died and he was followed by his sister Mary. She was a devout Catholic and
she detested the religious changes of Henry VIII and Edward VI. When Edward became king
she continued to attend Catholic mass in her own private chapel. When Edward ordered her to
desist she appealed to her cousin, Emperor Charles V. He threatened war with England if she
was not left alone.
Mary was determined to undo the religious changes of the two previous reigns. Catholic mass
was restored in December 1553. In 1554 married clergy were ordered to leave their wives or
lose their posts. Then, in November 1554 the Act of supremacy was repealed.
In 1555 Mary began burning Protestants, which earned her the nickname 'Bloody Mary'. The
first martyr was John Rogers who was burned on 4 February 1555. Over the next 3 years
almost 300 Protestants were martyred. (Most of them were from Southeast England where
Protestantism had spread most widely). Many more Protestants fled abroad.
However Mary's cruelty simply gained sympathy for the Protestants and alienated ordinary
people. She simply drove people away from Roman Catholicism. Mary died in 1558.
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I was crowned in January 1559. She restored Protestantism to England. The Act of
Supremacy was restored in April 1559 and further Acts replaced Catholic practices. However it
was a moderate Protestantism. Elizabeth disliked extremists. She disapproved of the Puritans.
(They were people who wanted to 'purify' the Church of England of its remaining Catholic
elements).
All but one of the English bishops refused to take the Oath of Supremacy (recognising
Elizabeth as head of the Church of England) and were removed from their posts. About one
third of the parish clergy were also removed.
However most of the population (not all) accepted the religious settlement. People could be
fined for not attending church. Nevertheless some Catholics continued to practice their religion
in secret.
However in 1581 the fines for non-attendance at Church of England services (aimed at
Catholics) were greatly increased (although in some areas they were not imposed). In 1585 all
Catholic priests were ordered to leave England within 40 days or face a charge of treason.
Despite these measures the great majority of English Catholics remained loyal to the Queen
when the Spanish Armada sailed in 1588.
Meanwhile clergymen became much better educated during the 16th century. By the end of the
century many of them did a degree.
Christianity in 17th Century England
In the early 17th century king and parliament clashed over the issue of religion. In the 17th
century religion was far more important than it is today. It was a vital part of everyday life.
Furthermore there was no toleration in matters of religion. By law everybody was supposed to
belong to the Church of England (though in practice there were many Roman Catholics
especially in the Northwest).
In 1633 William Laud was made Archbishop of Canterbury. He was strongly opposed to the
Puritans and King Charles I supported him wholeheartedly. Laud was determined to suppress
the Puritans and he sent commissioners into almost every parish to make sure the local
churches came into line.
Furthermore the Puritans had their own preachers called lecturers. These men were
independent of the Church of England. Laud tried to put a stop to these preachers - with some
success.
Most of all Laud emphasised the ceremony and decoration in churches. These measures were
strongly opposed by the Puritans. They feared it was the 'thin edge of the wedge' and
Catholicism would eventually be restored in England.
In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. The war ended in 1646 and Charles I was
executed in 1649.
In the 16th century everybody was supposed to belong to the Church of England. However in
the 17th century independent churches were formed. The first Baptist Church in England
began meeting in 1612.
Later in the 17th century George Fox (1624-1691) founded the Quakers. Fox believed that
everybody had an inner light and during the 1660s and the 1670s he travelled across England.
However the Quakers were persecuted and Fox himself was often imprisoned.
From the end of the 16th century there were also Congregationalists or Independents. They
believed that every congregation had a right to run its own affairs without any outside
interference.
Charles II (1660-1685) was not particularly religious but as far as he had any religion he
secretly leaned to Roman Catholicism. (He had to keep this very quiet as he feared the people
would rebel if they found out).
Meanwhile parliament was determined to crack down on the many independent churches that
had sprung up during the interregnum (the period between 1649 and 1660 when England was
without a king) and make Anglicanism the state religion again.
They passed a series of acts called the Clarendon code, a series of laws to persecute non-
conformists (Protestants who did not belong to the Church of England). The Corporation Act of
1661 said that all officials in towns must be members of the Church of England.
The Act of Uniformity 1662 said that all clergy must use the Book of Common Prayer. About
2,000 clergy who disagreed resigned. Furthermore the Conventicle Act of 1664 forbade
unauthorised religious meetings of more than 5 people unless they were all of the same
household.
Finally the Five Mile Act of 1665 forbade non-Anglican ministers to come within 5 miles of
incorporated towns. (Towns with a mayor and corporation).
However these measures did not stop the non-conformists meeting or preaching.
When Charles II died in 1685 he was followed by James II, who was openly Catholic. James II
promptly alienated the people by appointing Catholics to powerful and important positions. In
1687 he went further and issued a Declaration of Indulgence suspending all laws against
Catholics and Protestant non-Anglicans.
Worse in June 1688 James had a son. The people of England were willing to tolerate James
as long as he did not have a Catholic heir. However his son would certainly be brought up a
Catholic and would, of course, succeed his father.
James II was deposed in 1688. Afterwards the Bill of Rights (1689) said that no Catholic could
become king or queen. No king could marry a Catholic.
Parliament also passed the Toleration Act in 1689. Non-conformists were allowed their own
places of worship and their own teachers and preachers. However they could not hold
government positions or attend university.
Christianity in 18th Century England
The early 18th century was noted for its lack of religious enthusiasm. It was an age of reason
rather then dogmatism and the churches lacked vigour. However in the mid-18th century things
began to change. In 1739 the great evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770) began
preaching. Also in 1739 John Wesley (1703-1791) began preaching. He eventually created a
new religious movement called the Methodists.
John Wesley travelled all over the country, often preaching in open spaces. People jeered at
his meetings and threw stones but Wesley persevered. He never intended to form a movement
separate from the Church of England. However the Methodists did eventually break away.
Though there were still Roman Catholics in England, especially in the Northwest anti-Catholic
feeling remained very strong. In 1780 London was rocked by the anti-Catholic Gordon riots.
Riots Lord George Gordon (1751-1793) was an MP who led a huge crowd to parliament to
present a petition demanding the repeal of a 1778 act, which removed certain restrictions on
Roman Catholics. The demonstration became a riot. With cries of 'No Popery!' the rioters held
London for several days until the army restored order. About 300 people died in the rioting.
At the end of the 18th century a group of Evangelical Christians called the Clapham Sect were
formed. They campaigned for an end to slavery and cruel sports. They were later called the
Clapham Sect because so many of them lived in Clapham.
In the late 18th century religious enthusiasm began to revive in England.
Christianity in 19th Century England
During the 19th century Britain was transformed by the industrial revolution. In 1801, at the
time of the first census, only about 20% of the population lived in towns. By 1851 the figure had
risen to over 50%. By 1881 about two thirds of the population lived in towns.
During the early 19th century religious revival continued. The Church of England regained its
energy and many new churches were built.
Meanwhile in 1829 the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed. Since the Reformation
Catholics had been unable to become MPs or to hold public office. The Act restored those
rights to them.
Organised religion was much more important in Victorian times than it is today. Nevertheless in
1851 a survey showed that only about 40% of the population were at church or chapel on a
given Sunday. Even allowing for those who were ill or could not make it for some other reason
it meant that half the population did not go to church. Certainly many of the poor had little or no
contact with the church. In 1881 a similar survey showed only about 1/3 of the population at
church on a given Sunday. In the late 19th century organised religion was in decline.
During the 19th century many poor workers had little or no contact with the church. In 1865
William and Catherine Booth founded a new movement to reach the poor and fight a 'war'
against poverty. In 1878 it was named the Salvation Army.
Christianity in 20th Century England
During the 20th century church going declined rapidly and by the end of the 20th century only a
small minority of the population attended church regularly. Nevertheless most people continued
to believe in God and in the late 20th century there was a hunger for the spiritual. There was
an explosion of interest in the occult and the New Age Movement.
Meanwhile in the early 20th century Pentecostal churches were formed. They practised the
gifts of the Holy Spirit such as praying in tongues. In the 1906s use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
spread to mainstream churches. In the 1970s and 1980s charismatic or 'house churches'
became common.
At the end of the 20th century the Alpha Course became an effective method of introducing
people to Christianity.
A Timeline of England
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