21.3 Europe: a.d. 601 to 700  (Page 3/4)

British isles

England

In the early century, the Britons of Strathclyde, Wales and Cornwall were all separated by the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. (Ref. 136 ) This was a period of adjustment under the Angles and the Saxons, the latter being the most cruel of the Germanic tribes.

They had probably incorporated the Jutes and Angles before the general exodus from Schleswig-Holstein. The Celtic Britons continued resistance on the periphery.

In 655 the Northumbrians regained leadership over Mercia, which had been the chief power from 642 on, and then the Northumbrians reduced the Britons (then all were called "Welsh") in Strathclyde to bondage as well as the Picts and Scots. The bond was short lived though as the latter quickly broke loose and by 679 Northumbria was again subservient to Mercia. (Ref. 137 ) Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in A.D. 601 and his early achievements were great. After the novelty of the new religion had worn off, however, many English leaders returned to their old ways so that by 616 even the church in Kent was in danger of extinction. (Ref. 43 ) Papal Christianity spread into north England through the increasing power of Edwin, King of East Anglia. In 664, after a conference of English (papal) and Briton (Celtic) bishops at the Synod of Whitby, most of the island became Romanized Christian but Ireland remained aloof. Two conferences of the Roman St. Augustine and his Saxon convert Christians with the bishops of the "Far Western Christianity" of Ireland, failed, and the two camps remained enemies. After that Synod a severe epidemic occurred, the nature of which is unknown. (Ref. 140 ) Bede recorded four epidemic pestilences in England within the 20 years from 664 to 683.

Of incidental interest is the fact that there was no wheel-turned pottery (Anglo-Saxon) in England before A.D. 675. (Ref. 18 )

Scotland

The Scots, originally from Ireland, as we have previously noted, pushed their way up the Great Glen and approached Iverness before they were finally defeated by the Picts. In the south the Angles were pushing north from England with both cavalry and infantry but the Picts, under Bridei, were temporarily united and able to drive them back in the battle of Nechtansmere in 685. (Ref. 170 , 222 )

Ireland

At this time the Irish were materially and politically more backward than the English but in a special cultural way they were the most advanced of all peoples north of the Pyrenees and the Alps. Both Gallic and British scholars came to Ireland to escape the Germanic invasions. Ireland was never invaded by these tribes and was never Romanized. Its Christianity was a separate brand which was mentioned above as the Far Western Christianity (2) and which maintained an independent existence and development for many hundreds of years, reaching its apogee in the 6th and 7th centuries.

As in England the yellow plague hit Ireland in 664. Although we mentioned Irish exploration of the Faroe Islands in a previous chapter, some authorities believe that they did not discover these islands until about 690.