Augustine of Canterbury (c. first third of the 6th century – 26 May 604) was a Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 598. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church.[3]
Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to convert the pagan King Æthelberht of the Kingdom of Kent to Christianity. Kent was probably chosen because it was near the Christian kingdoms in Gaul and because Æthelberht had married a Christian princess, Bertha, daughter of Charibert I the King of Paris who was expected to exert some influence over her husband. Before reaching Kent the missionaries had considered turning back but Gregory urged them on and, in 597, Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet and proceeded to Æthelberht's main town of Canterbury.
King Æthelberht converted to Christianity and also allowed the missionaries to preach freely, giving them land to found a monastery outside the city walls. Augustine was consecrated bishop of the English and converted many of the king's subjects, including thousands during a mass baptism on Christmas Day in 597. Pope Gregory sent more missionaries in 601, along with encouraging letters and gifts for the churches, although attempts to persuade the native Celtic bishops to submit to Augustine's authority failed. Roman Catholic bishops were established at London and Rochester in 604, and a school was founded to train Anglo-Saxon priests and missionaries. Augustine also arranged the consecration of his successor, Laurence of Canterbury. Augustine died in 604 and was soon revered as a saint.
Background to the mission
After the withdrawal of the Roman legions from the province of Britannia in 410, the natives of the island of Great Britain were left to defend themselves against the attacks of the Saxons. Before the withdrawal Britannia had been converted to Christianity and had even produced its own heretic in Pelagius.[4][5] Britain sent three bishops to the Council of Arles in 314, and a Gaulish bishop went to the island in 396 to help settle disciplinary matters.[6] Material remains testify to a growing presence of Christians, at least until around 360.[7] After the legions left, pagan tribes settled the southern parts of the island, but western Britain, beyond the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, remained Christian. This native British Church developed in isolation from Rome under the influence of missionaries from Ireland[4][5] and was centred on monasteries instead of bishoprics. Other distinguishing characteristics were its calculation of the date of Easter and the style of the tonsure haircut that clerics wore.[5][8] Evidence for the survival of Christianity in the eastern part of Britain during this time includes the survival of the cult of St Alban and the occurrence in place names of eccles, derived from the Latin ecclesia, meaning "church".[9] There is no evidence that these native Christians tried to convert the Anglo-Saxons.[10][11] The invasions destroyed most remnants of Roman civilization in the areas held by the Saxons and related tribes, including the economic and religious structures.[12]
It was against this background that Pope Gregory I decided to send a mission, often called the Gregorian mission, to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity in 595.[13][14] The Kingdom of Kent was ruled by Æthelberht, who had married a Christian princess named Bertha before 588,[15] and perhaps earlier than 560.[16] Bertha was the daughter of Charibert I, one of the Merovingian kings of the Franks. As one of the conditions of her marriage she had brought a bishop named Liudhard with her to Kent.[17] Together in Canterbury, they restored a church that dated to Roman times[18]—possibly the current St Martin's Church, Canterbury. Æthelberht was a pagan at this point but allowed his wife freedom of worship. One biographer of Bertha states that under his wife's influence, Æthelberht asked Pope Gregory to send missionaries.[17] The historian Ian Wood feels that the initiative came from the Kentish court as well as the queen.[19] Other historians, however, believe that Gregory initiated the mission, although the exact reasons remain unclear. Bede, an eighth-century monk who wrote a history of the English church, recorded a famous story in which Gregory saw fair-haired Saxon slaves from Britain in the Roman slave market and was inspired to try to convert their people.[notes 2][21] More practical matters, such as the acquisition of new provinces acknowledging the primacy of the papacy, and a desire to influence the emerging power of the Kentish kingdom under Æthelberht, were probably involved.[18] The mission may have been an outgrowth of the missionary efforts against the Lombards.[22]
Aside from Æthelberht's granting of freedom of worship to his wife, the choice of Kent was probably dictated by a number of other factors. Kent was proving to be the dominant power in south-eastern Britain. Since the eclipse of King Ceawlin of Wessex in 592, Æthelberht was the leading Anglo-Saxon ruler; Bede refers to Æthelberht as having imperium (overlordship) south of the River Humber. Trade between the Franks and Æthelberht's kingdom was well established, and the language barrier between the two regions was apparently only a minor obstacle, as the interpreters for the mission came from the Franks. Lastly, Kent's proximity to the Franks allowed support from a Christian area.[23] There is some evidence, including Gregory's letters to Frankish kings in support of the mission, that some of the Franks felt that they had a claim to overlordship over some of the southern British kingdoms at this time. The presence of a Frankish bishop could also have lent credence to claims of overlordship, if Liudhard was felt to be acting as a representative of the Frankish church and not merely as a spiritual advisor to the queen. Frankish influence was not merely political; archaeological remains attest to a cultural influence as well.[24]
In 595, Gregory chose Augustine, who was the prior of the abbey of St Anthony in Rome, to head the mission to Kent.[13] The pope selected monks to accompany Augustine and sought support from the Frankish royalty and clergy in a series of letters, of which some copies survive in Rome. He wrote to King Theuderic II of Burgundy and to King Theudebert II of Austrasia, as well as their grandmother Brunhild, seeking aid for the mission. Gregory thanked King Chlothar II of Neustria for aiding Augustine. Besides hospitality, the Frankish bishops and kings provided interpreters and Frankish priests to accompany the mission.[25] By soliciting help from the Frankish kings and bishops, Gregory helped to assure a friendly reception for Augustine in Kent, as Æthelbert was unlikely to mistreat a mission who visibly had the support of his wife's relatives and people.[23] Moreover, the Franks appreciated the chance to participate in mission that would extend their influence in Kent. Chlothar, in particular, needed a friendly realm across the Channel to help guard his kingdom's flanks against his fellow Frankish kings.[26]
Sources make no mention of why Pope Gregory chose a monk to head the mission. Pope Gregory once wrote to Æthelberht complimenting Augustine's knowledge of the Bible, so Augustine was evidently well-educated. Other qualifications included administrative ability, for Gregory was the abbot of St Anthony as well as being pope, which left the day-to-day running of the abbey to Augustine, the prior.[27]
Arrival and first efforts
Map of the general outlines of some of the British kingdoms about 600
Augustine was accompanied by Laurence of Canterbury, his eventual successor to the archbishopric, and a group of about 40 companions, some of whom were monks.[15] Soon after leaving Rome, the missionaries halted, daunted by the nature of the task before them. They sent Augustine back to Rome to request papal permission to return. Gregory refused and sent Augustine back with letters encouraging the missionaries to persevere.[28] In 597, Augustine and his companions landed in Kent.[15] They achieved some initial success soon after their arrival:[22][27] Æthelberht permitted the missionaries to settle and preach in his capital of Canterbury where they used the church of St Martin's for services.[29] Neither Bede nor Gregory mentions the date of Æthelberht's conversion,[30] but it probably took place in 597.[29][notes 3] In the early medieval period, large scale conversions required the ruler's conversion first, and Augustine is recorded as making large numbers of converts within a year of his arrival in Kent.[29] Also, by 601, Gregory was writing to both Æthelberht and Bertha, calling the king his son and referring to his baptism.[notes 4] A late medieval tradition, recorded by the 15th-century chronicler Thomas Elmham, gives the date of the king's conversion as Whit Sunday, or 2 June 597; there is no reason to doubt this date, although there is no other evidence for it.[29] Against a date in 597 is a letter of Gregory's to Patriarch Eulogius of Alexandria in June 598, which mentions the number of converts made by Augustine, but does not mention any baptism of the king. However, it is clear that by 601 the king had been converted.[31] His baptism likely took place at Canterbury.[32]
Augustine established his episcopal see at Canterbury.[22] It is not clear when and where Augustine was consecrated as a bishop. Bede, writing about a century later, states that Augustine was consecrated by the Frankish Archbishop Ætherius of Arles after the conversion of Æthelberht. Contemporary letters from Pope Gregory, however, refer to Augustine as a bishop before he arrived in England. A letter of Gregory's from September 597 calls Augustine a bishop, and one ten months later says that Augustine had been consecrated on Gregory's command by bishops of the German lands.[33] The historian R. A. Markus discusses the various theories of when and where Augustine was consecrated, and suggests that he was consecrated before arriving in England, but argues that the evidence does not permit deciding exactly where this took place.[34]
Soon after his arrival, Augustine founded the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul, which later became St Augustine's Abbey,[22] on land donated by the king.[35] This foundation has often been claimed as the first Benedictine abbey outside Italy, and that by founding it Augustine introduced the Rule of St. Benedict into England, but there is no evidence that the abbey followed the Benedictine Rule at the time of its foundation.[36] In a letter Gregory wrote to the patriarch of Alexandria in 598, he claimed that more than 10,000 Christians had been baptised; the number may be exaggerated but there is no reason to doubt that a mass conversion took place.[15][27] However, there were probably some Christians already in Kent before Augustine arrived, remnants of the Christians who lived in Britain in the later Roman Empire.[11] Little literary traces remain of them, however.[37] One other effect of the king's conversion by Augustine's mission was that the Frankish influence on the southern kingdoms of Britain was decreased.[38]
After these conversions, Augustine sent Laurence back to Rome with a report of his success along with questions about the mission.[39] Bede records the letter and Gregory's replies in chapter 27 of his Ecclesiastical History: Augustine asked for Gregory's advice on a number of issues, including how to organise the church, the punishment for church robbers, guidance on who was allowed to marry whom, and the consecration of bishops. Other topics were relations between the churches of Britain and Gaul, childbirth and baptism, and when it was lawful for people to receive communion and for a priest to celebrate mass.[40]
Further missionaries were sent from Rome in 601. They brought a pallium for Augustine and a present of sacred vessels, vestments, relics, and books.[notes 5] The pallium was the symbol of metropolitan status, and signified that Augustine was now an archbishop. Along with the pallium, a letter from Gregory directed the new archbishop to ordain 12 suffragan bishops as soon as possible and to send a bishop to York. Gregory's plan was that there would be two metropolitans, one at York and one at London, with 12 suffragan bishops under each archbishop. As part of this plan, Augustine was expected to transfer his archiepiscopal see to London from Canterbury. The move from Canterbury to London never happened; no contemporary sources give the reason,[43] but it was probably because London was not part of Æthelberht's domains. Instead, London was part of the kingdom of Essex, ruled by Æthelberht's nephew Saebert of Essex, who converted to Christianity in 604.[18][44] The historian S. Brechter has suggested that the metropolitan see was indeed moved to London, and that it was only with the abandonment of London as a see after the death of Æthelberht that Canterbury became the archiepiscopal see. This theory contradicts Bede's version of events, however.[45]
Additional work
In 604, Augustine founded two more bishoprics in Britain. Two men who had come to Britain with him in 601 were consecrated, Mellitus as Bishop of London and Justus as Bishop of Rochester.[18][46][47] Bede relates that Augustine, with the help of the king, "recovered" a church which had been built by Roman Christians in Canterbury.[48][notes 6] It is not clear if Bede meant that Augustine rebuilt the church or that Augustine merely reconsecrated a building that had been used for pagan worship. Archaeological evidence seems to support the latter interpretation; in 1973 the remains of an aisled building dating from the Romano-British period were uncovered just south of the present Canterbury Cathedral.[48]
Augustine failed to extend his authority to the Christians in Wales and Dumnonia to the west. Gregory had decreed that these Christians should submit to Augustine and that their bishops should obey him,[51] apparently believing that more of the Roman governmental and ecclesiastical organization survived in the Britain than was actually the case.[52] According to the narrative of Bede, the Britons in these regions viewed Augustine with uncertainty, and their suspicion was compounded by a diplomatic misjudgement on Augustine's part.[53] In 603, Augustine and Æthelberht summoned the British bishops to a meeting. These guests retired early to confer with their people,[54] who, according to Bede, advised them to judge Augustine based upon the respect he displayed at their next meeting. When Augustine failed to rise from his seat on the entrance of the British bishops,[55] they refused to recognise him as archbishop.[54][56] There were, however, deep differences between Augustine and the British church that perhaps played a more significant role in preventing an agreement. At issue were the tonsure, the observance of Easter, and practical and deep-rooted differences in approach to asceticism, missionary endeavours, and how the church itself was organised.[53] Some historians believe that Augustine had no real understanding of the history and traditions of the British church, damaging his relations with their bishops.[56] Also, there were political dimensions involved, as Augustine's efforts were sponsored by the Kentish king, and at this period the Wessex and Mercian kingdoms were expanding to the west, into areas held by the Britons.[57]
Further success
Easier to implement were Rome's mandates concerning pagan temples and celebrations. Temples were to be consecrated for Christian use,[58] and feasts, if possible, moved to days celebrating Christian martyrs. One religious site was revealed to be a shrine of a local St Sixtus, whose worshippers were unaware of details of the martyr's life or death. They may have been native Christians, but Augustine did not treat them as such. When Gregory was informed, he told Augustine to stop the cult and use the shrine for the Roman St Sixtus.[59]
Gregory legislated on the behaviour of the laity and the clergy. He placed the new mission directly under papal authority and made it clear that English bishops would have no authority over Frankish counterparts nor vice versa. Other directives dealt with the training of native clergy and the missionaries' conduct.[60]
The King's School, Canterbury claims Augustine as its founder, which would make it the world's oldest existing school, but the first documentary records of the school date from the 16th century.[61] Augustine did establish a school, and soon after his death Canterbury was able to send teachers out to support the East Anglian mission.[62] Augustine received liturgical books from the pope, but their exact contents are unknown. They may have been some of the new mass books that were being written at this time. The exact liturgy that Augustine introduced to England remains unknown, but it would have been a form of the Latin language liturgy which was in use at Rome.[63]
Death and legacy
Before his death, Augustine consecrated Laurence of Canterbury as his successor to the archbishopric, probably to ensure an orderly transfer of office.[64] Although at the time of Augustine's death, 26 May 604,[22] the mission barely extended beyond Kent, his undertaking introduced a more active missionary style into the British Isles. Despite the earlier presence of Christians in Ireland and Wales, no efforts had been made to try to convert the Saxon invaders. Augustine was sent to convert the descendants of those invaders, and eventually became the decisive influence in Christianity in the British Isles.[53][65] Much of his success came about because of Augustine's close relationship with Æthelberht, which gave the archbishop time to establish himself.[66] Augustine's example also influenced the great missionary efforts of the Anglo-Saxon Church.[67][68]
Augustine's body was originally buried in the portico of what is now St Augustine's, Canterbury,[35] but it was later exhumed and placed in a tomb within the abbey church, which became a place of pilgrimage and veneration. After the Norman Conquest the cult of St Augustine was actively promoted.[22] A life of Augustine was written by Goscelin around 1090, but this life portrays Augustine in a different light than Bede's account. Goscelin's account has little new historical content, mainly being filled with miracles and imagined speeches.[69] Building on this account, later medieval writers continued to add new miracles and stories to Augustine's life, often quite fanciful.[70] These authors included William of Malmesbury, who claimed that Augustine founded Cerne Abbey,[71] the author (generally believed to be John Brompton) of a late medieval chronicle containing invented letters from Augustine,[72] and a number of medieval writers who included Augustine in their romances.[73] During the English Reformation, Augustine's shrine was destroyed and his relics were lost.[74]
Augustine's gravesite at Canterbury
Today, a Celtic cross marks the spot in Ebbsfleet, Thanet, East Kent, where Augustine is said to have landed,[75][76] although historian Alan Kay told the BBC in 2005 that Augustine actually landed somewhere between Stonar and Sandwich. According to Kay, Ebbsfleet was not on the coast in the 6th century. The story that Augustine landed there was started in 1884, he said, by a Victorian aristocrat who needed a publicity stunt to draw people to his newly opened tea rooms.[77]
See also
Notes
- ^ The name is in the halo, in a later hand. The figure is identified as a saint by his clerical tonsure.[1] The view that it represents Gregory is set out by Douglas Dales in a recent article.[2]
- ^ Supposedly Gregory inquired about who the slaves were. He was told they were Angles from the island of Great Britain. Gregory replied that they were not Angles, but Angels.[20]
- ^ However, Bede's chronology may be a bit off, as he gives the king's death as occurring in February 616, and says the king died 21 years after his conversion, which would date the conversion to 595. This would be before Augustine's mission, and directly contradicts Bede's statement that the king's conversion was due to Augustine's mission.[16] However, as Gregory in his letter of 601 to the king and queen strongly implies that the queen was unable to effect the conversion of her husband, the problem of the dating is likely a chronological error on Bede's part.[31]
- ^ The letter, as translated in Brooks' Early History of the Church of Canterbury, p. 8, says "preserve the grace he had received". Grace in this context meant the grace of baptism.
- ^ What happened to these items in later years is unknown. Thomas Elmham, a 15th century chronicler at Canterbury, gave a number of theories of how most of these objects were lost, including being hidden and never recovered during the Danish attacks in the 9th and 10th centuries, hidden and lost after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 or used for the ransom of King Richard I of England in th 1190s.[41] The surviving St Augustine Gospels, which is a 6th-century Italian illuminated Gospel Book, may perhaps be one of the works sent to Augustine. Traditionally, it has been associated with the Gregorian mission.[42]
- ^ The actual Latin is from Chapter 33, Book 1 of Bede, and an online version is here. The sentence in question is "AT Augustinus, ubi in regia ciuitate sedem episcopalem, ut praediximus, accepit, recuperauit in ea, regio fultus adminiculo, ecclesiam, quam inibi antiquo Romanorum fidelium opere factam fuisse didicerat, et eam in nomine sancti Saluatoris Dei et Domini nostri Iesu Christi sacrauit, atque ibidem sibi habitationem statuit et cunctis successoribus suis."[49] The Latin word recuperauit could be translated either "repaired" or "recovered". Sherley-Price translates the sentence as "Having been granted his episcopal see in the royal capital, as already recorded, Augustine proceeded with the king's help to repair a church which he was informed had been built long ago by Roman Christians."[50]
- ^ Schapiro "Decoration of the Leningrad Manuscript of Bede" Selected Papers: Volume 3 pp. 199; 212–214
- ^ Dales "Apostle of the English" L'eredità spirituale di Gregorio Magno tra Occidente e Oriente p. 299
- ^ Delaney Dictionary of Saints pp. 67–68
- ^ a b Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons pp. 3–9
- ^ a b c Mayr-Harting The Coming of Christianity pp. 78–93
- ^ Frend "Roman Britain" Cross Goes North pp. 80–81
- ^ Frend "Roman Britain" Cross Goes North pp. 82–86
- ^ Yorke Conversion of Britain pp. 115–118 discusses the issue of the "Celtic Church" and what exactly it was.
- ^ Yorke Conversion of Britain p. 121
- ^ Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 102
- ^ a b Mayr-Harting The Coming of Christianity pp. 32–33
- ^ Kirby Earliest English Kings p. 23
- ^ a b Stenton Anglo-Saxon England pp. 104–105
- ^ Jones "Gregorian Mission" Speculum
- ^ a b c d Stenton Anglo-Saxon England pp. 105–106
- ^ a b Kirby Earliest English Kings pp. 24–25
- ^ a b Nelson "Bertha (b. c.565, d. in or after 601)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ a b c d Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons pp. 33–36
- ^ Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" Speculum pp. 9–10
- ^ Bede History of the English Church and People pp. 99–100
- ^ Mayr-Harting The Coming of Christianity pp. 57–59
- ^ a b c d e f Mayr-Harting "Augustine [St Augustine] (d. 604)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ a b Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 6–7
- ^ Kirby Earliest English Kings p. 27
- ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 4–5
- ^ Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" Speculum p. 9
- ^ a b c Fletcher The Barbarian Conversion pp. 116–117
- ^ Blair An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England pp. 116–117
- ^ a b c d Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 8–9
- ^ Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" Speculum p. 11
- ^ a b Kirby Earliest English Kings p. 28
- ^ Higham Convert Kings p. 56
- ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 5
- ^ Markus "Chronology of the Gregorian Mission" Journal of Ecclesiastical History pp. 24–29
- ^ a b Blair Church in Anglo-Saxon Society pp. 61–62
- ^ Lawrence Medieval Monasticism p. 55
- ^ Frend "Roman Britain" Cross Goes North p. 79
- ^ Kirby Earliest English Kings p. 29
- ^ Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 106
- ^ Bede A History of the English Church pp. 71–83
- ^ Dodwell Anglo-Saxon Art p. 10
- ^ Dodwell Anglo-Saxon Art p. 96
- ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 9–11
- ^ Fletcher The Barbarian Conversion p. 453
- ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 11–14
- ^ Hayward "St Justus" Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England pp. 267–268
- ^ Lapidge "St Mellitus" Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England pp. 305–306
- ^ a b Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 50
- ^ "Historiam Ecclesiasticam Gentis Anglorum: Liber Primus". The Latin Library. Ad Fontes Academy. http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/bede/bede1.shtml#33. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
- ^ Bede History of the English Church and People p. 91
- ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 70–72
- ^ Yorke Conversion of Britain p. 118
- ^ a b c Stenton Anglo-Saxon England pp. 110–111
- ^ a b Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons pp. 8–9
- ^ Bede History of the English Church and People pp. 100–103
- ^ a b Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 72–73
- ^ Yorke Conversion of Britain p. 119
- ^ Thomson Western Church p. 8
- ^ Blair Church in Anglo-Saxon Society p. 24
- ^ Stenton Anglo-Saxon England pp. 107–108
- ^ "597 and all that: A Brief History of the King’s School, Canterbury". The King's School, Canterbury. http://www.kings-school.co.uk/document_1.aspx?id=1:31887&id=1:31658&id=1:31637. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
- ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 94–95
- ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 173–174
- ^ Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons p. 43
- ^ Collins Early Medieval Europe p. 185
- ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity p. 249
- ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 265–266
- ^ Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" Speculum p. 8
- ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons pp. 17–20
- ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons p. 19
- ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons p. 20
- ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons p. 24
- ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons pp. 22–31
- ^ Smith "St Augustine in History and Tradition" Folklore pp. 23–28
- ^ "Ramsgate England Tourist Information". Travel UK. http://www.itraveluk.co.uk/content/164.html. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
- ^ Green, Michael A. St. Augustine of Canterbury. Janus Publishing Company, 1997, p. 38.
- ^ "The mystery of history", BBC, February 7, 2005.
References
- Bede Venerablis; translated by Leo Sherley-Price (1988). A History of the English Church and People. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044042-9.
- Blair, John P. (2005). The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-921117-5.
- Blair, Peter Hunter; Blair, Peter D. (2003). An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England (Third ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-53777-0.
- Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5.
- Collins, Roger (1999). Early Medieval Europe: 300–1000 (Second ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-21886-9.
- Dales, Douglas (2005). ""Apostles of the English": Anglo-Saxon Perceptions". L'eredità spirituale di Gregorio Magno tra Occidente e Oriente. Il Segno Gabrielli Editori. ISBN 8888163549.
- Delaney, John P. (1980). Dictionary of Saints (Second ed.). Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-13594-7.
- Dodwell, C. R. (1985). Anglo-Saxon Art: A New Perspective (Cornell University Press 1985 ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-9300-5.
- Fletcher, R. A. (1998). The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity. New York: H. Holt and Co. ISBN 0-8050-2763-7.
- Frend, William H. C. (2003). "Roman Britain, a Failed Promise". in Martin Carver. The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe AD 300–1300. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. pp. 79–92. ISBN 1-84383-125-2.
- Gameson, Richard and Fiona (2006). "From Augustine to Parker: The Changing Face of the First Archbishop of Canterbury". in Smyth, Alfred P.; Keynes, Simon. Anglo-Saxons: Studies Presented to Cyril Roy Hart. Dublin: Four Courts Press. pp. 13–38. ISBN 1-85182-932-6.
- Hayward, Paul Anthony (2001). "St Justus". in Lapidge, Michael et al.. Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 267–268. ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1.
- Higham, N. J. (1997). The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4827-3.
- Hindley, Geoffrey (2006). A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 978-0-78671-738-5.
- Kirby, D. P. (2000). The Earliest English Kings. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-24211-8.
- Jones, Putnam Fennell (July 1928). "The Gregorian Mission and English Education" (fee required). Speculum 3 (3): 335–348. doi:10.2307/2847433.
- Lapidge, Michael (2001). "St Mellitus". in Lapidge, Michael et al.. Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 305–306. ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1.
- Lawrence, C. H. (2001). Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-40427-4.
- Markus, R. A. (April 1963). "The Chronology of the Gregorian Mission to England: Bede's Narrative and Gregory's Correspondence". Journal of Ecclesiastical History 14 (1): 16–30.
- Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-00769-9.
- Mayr-Harting, Henry (2004). "Augustine (St Augustine) (d. 604)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/899. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
- Nelson, Janet L. (2006). "Bertha (b. c.565, d. in or after 601)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2269. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
- Schapiro, Meyer (1980). "The Decoration of the Leningrad Manuscript of Bede". Selected Papers: Volume 3: Late Antique, Early Christian and Mediaeval Art. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. 199 and 212–214. ISBN 0701125144.
- Smith, Adam (1978). "St Augustine of Canterbury in History and Tradition". Folklore 89 (1): 23–28. doi:10.2307/2864782.
- Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (Third ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5.
- Thomson, John A. F. (1998). The Western Church in the Middle Ages. London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-60118-3.
- Wood, Ian (January 1994). "The Mission of Augustine of Canterbury to the English". Speculum 69 (1): 1–17. doi:10.2307/2864782.
- Yorke, Barbara (2006). The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c. 600–800. London: Pearson/Longman. ISBN 0-582-77292-3.
External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Augustine of Canterbury |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Saint Augustine of Canterbury |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Christian saint; first Archbishop of Canterbury |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
first third of the sixth century |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Rome, Italy |
| DATE OF DEATH |
26 May 604 |
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
