Northern Christianity

With the Romans came Christianity.  The first British Christian martyr is said to be Saint Alban in the third century (executed in a crack down on this troublesome religion. Christianity was legalised in the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313 (see also York above). Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire in 391, and by the time the Romans withdrew from Britain in 410 many had adopted the new religion, including communities in areas never under Roman control in Scotland and Ireland. 

In 410 the Roman legions withdrew from Britain to defend Rome itself now under increasing attack from the pagan Visigoths and Ostrogoths; so that for a period Rome itself was no longer Christian.  But in Britain, and elsewhere in northern Europe pockets of Christianity remained.   So we are told of Saint Patrick, a British Christian bishop, bringing Christianity to Ireland in 432; only to discover an already well established Christian monastic presence in the Irish Kingdom of Ossory.  Historians describe the remnants of insular Christianity remaining as 'Celtic Christianity', distinguished by its monastic style.  In 563 a monastery was founded on the island of Iona by the Irish monk Columba (Colm Cille). From this base the Christians set about converting the Picts in Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.  

In 634 the Irish monk Saint Aidan left Iona to establish Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island in Northumberland on the coast between Sunderland and Berwick-on-Tweed.

Just 40 years later the newly converted Queen Etheldreda of Northumbria granted lands for the construction of Hexham Abbey; the oldest continuous Christian Church in England.

Hexham Abbey Interior

Ongoing Viking raids on Lindisfarne Priory forced its relocation in 995 to the wonderfully strategic location almost surrounded by cliffs above the River Wear in Durham; with a narrow access neck easily defended; latterly by Durham Castle.  Today this site is home to both the beautiful cathedral and to the University of Durham.

In due course in Europe the Goths converted to Christianity and Constantinople fell to Islam.  After a brief period in which France was its centre Rome was re-established as the spiritual centre of the Christian church.   Meantime there was an accommodation between Celtic Christianity and the Roman Church, reinforced later by the Norman invasion of England, and a schism between Eastern and Western Christianity. 

From the Tower of Durham Cathedral

The present cathedral was founded in 1093, after the Norman invasion, and is UNESCO World Heritage Site; regarded as one of the finest examples of Norman architecture still existing.

Durham Cathedral

The first seeds of rebellion against the Vatican were financial.  A number of countries, including England, objected to the taxes and revenues from church lands being repatriated to extravagances in Rome. The Church was also widely considered to be corrupt. 

For example as a result of the Papal Schism of the 15th century the Scottish monarch gained the authority to appoint bishops.  In 1504 James IV's illegitimate son Alexander was nominated as Archbishop of St. Andrews at the age of eleven; illustrating to Christian intellectuals the depths depravity to which the Church had sunk.  

The Renaissance had brought a wide range of technological improvements.  Amongst other things these significantly changed military capability with developments in explosives; ship design; navigation and fortifications. The balance of power was changing; together with increasing literacy in regional languages; in addition to Latin.  Religious scholarship placed greater reliance on original sources; and scepticism mounted. 

Into this new world came Martin Luther, a German Catholic monk and professor of theology, who was engaged in translating the Bible into German; to be published using the new process of printing using removable type.  Luther found ninety five points of serious inconsistency between the then teachings of the Church and the Bible.  In particular he objected to the sale of indulgences which purported that 'freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money'.