The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England

Origins of England #3

by Nicholas J. Higham

The story of the conversion of the English to Christianity traditionally begins with Augustine's arrival in 597. This text offers a critical re-evaluation of the process of conversion which assesses what the act really meant to new converts, who was responsible for it, and why particular figures both accepted conversion for themselves and threw their influence behind the spread of Christianity. The conversion has often been seen as something which missionaries did to the English. The book restores responsibility to the English and, in particular, King Aethelbert, Edwin, Oswald and Oswin, and it is their religious policies that form the focus of this text.

Genres: Medieval

304 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian note: There are other authors with the same name.

Dr. Nicholas John Higham, aka N.J. Higham, is Professor in Early Medieval and Landscape History in the History Subject Area in the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures at the University of Manchester. His research interests focus on two interrelated areas: the History and Archaeology of the Early Middle Ages in Britain, and the Landscape and Settlement History of North West and North England in the Middle Ages. He has supervised many successful research students in both areas and is always interested in enquiries concerning future research.

Reviews

[Peter Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This very well researched book looks at the political aspect of the religious affiliation of the convert kings. Higham posits that none of the early kings shared the values of the missionaries and so their responses were a tool of kingship, whether it be protection, refusal or conversion. He has a point and he makes it well.

There are four chapters and an epilogue:

Out of Africa: The nature of Conversion

This chapter is eminently disposable. Skip it with joy. To sum up, there's room for different understandings of what conversion meant between converted and converter. Not a lot changed overnight at any level, illegitimacy not a bar to inheritance including kingship, penitentials of Theodore show that making of offerings to pagan gods and eating of sacrificial foods remained an issue, etc. Converted kings didn't share the agendas of their bishops.

King Æthelberht: Conversion in Context

There is some very interesting context regarding the situation in Frankia in the late 6th Century. Higham then suggests that Æthelberht maybe tried to expand in response to a mix of exhortations from Gregory and in order to win status with the Franks – possibly moving his capital to London, as part of this. Whilst the evidence can be read that way, it's supposition upon supposition and it is here that Higham comes closest to his previous work – An English Empire – where he built a house of cards. The rest of this book is more firmly grounded and there is plenty of good stiff in the rest of this chapter.

Differentiation, reinforcement and imperium: religion and dynasty 613 – 633

This one looks at Edwin and suggests reasons why he converted when he did and what benefits it brought him. This is an excellent chapter, although the notion that Edwin fought campaigns partly on behalf of Roman Christianity against the Welsh (expelling Ceretic, attacking Man and Anglesey, etc) as well as in search of imperium itself, isn't that persuasive.

Dynasty and Cult: The Bernician kings and the protection of God

This is a cracking chapter. Here Higham suggests that Oswald may have stayed with Ionan Christianity because it was the only one not tainted by defeat or association with a rival. Higham demonstrates that faith in this age wasn't so much personal, but was part of the business of kingship. Religion and politics intermeshed to a huge degree. The greatest exponent of this was Oswiu, who shrewdly sponsored the cult of Oswald which appealed to both Christians and through the veneration of a powerful and heroic tribal king, the pagans of Bernicia, too. Further to this, Oswiu was able to use bishops as an aspect of his foreign policy, dispatching missions to other kingdoms and forging links. Beyond this, Oswiu made the strategic decision to abandon Iona in favour of Roman Christianity at the precise moment to make the biggest gain. He pulled the rug from under Alhfrith's aspirations, gained prestige with Rome and left Wulfhere the isolated exponent of a discredited branch of Christianity.

Whilst this is a great book, I didn't agree with everything in it. For example, Higham sees the removal of Chad from the see of York due to his canonically unsound ordination, then re-ordination by Wilfrid and Theodore and subsequent posting as bishop to the Mercians as a deal cut with Oswiu to reimpose his ecclesiastical order and domination, south of the Humber. However, I think it is better read as an example of tact and diplomacy from Theodore. Wulfhere granting Chad 50 hides at Barrow doesn't look like the grudging acceptance of an enemy representative.

Three things you'll take away from this book:
1, The decision to convert was deeply political.
2, Oswiu was a smart politician.
3, The number of hegemonies that were built on slender foundations, usually just one big battle.