A short history of England . the old gods were Soon the king and the hading menof the Northumbrians were baptized, and a church was built, firstof wood and later of stone, which afterwards became York Min-ster. Christianity was thus established in the north. 32. The Scottish Missions.—Even when a defeat of theNorthumbrians by the heathen king of Mercia brought a waveof paganism back over the country and drove Paulinus, with thewidow and children of Edwin, back to Kent, the process of 1 See the story in Bedes Ecclesiastical History, Book II, chap. xiii. EARLY SAXON ENGLAND 47 convers
A short history of England . the old gods were Soon the king and the hading menof the Northumbrians were baptized, and a church was built, firstof wood and later of stone, which afterwards became York Min-ster. Christianity was thus established in the north. 32. The Scottish Missions.—Even when a defeat of theNorthumbrians by the heathen king of Mercia brought a waveof paganism back over the country and drove Paulinus, with thewidow and children of Edwin, back to Kent, the process of 1 See the story in Bedes Ecclesiastical History, Book II, chap. xiii. EARLY SAXON ENGLAND 47 conversion was only stopped for a moment, for Scottish monks fromthe northward came across the old wall and preached Christianityamong the people. Their leader was Aidan, a monk and bishop,educated and ordained at the monastery of Iona, who presentedhimself to King Oswald, a successor of Edwin, and formed afriendship with him that remained unbroken through both oftheir lives. Aidan and his -f (jHca&ttmilxiS7lUCip rceu awjlnim. monks were granted Lin-disfarne, or Holy Island,lying off the Northum-brian coast, as a dwell-ing place, and made ita new center for thespread of religion andthe establishment ofchurches. Enthusiasticmissionaries sent outthence passed through allthe northern and centralparts of England, winningconverts among the com-mon people, the nobles,and the rulers. In themeantime other mission-aries had come from thecontinent to the EastAngles and West Saxons ;the East Saxons had beenreconverted from thenorth, and by 650, scarcely fifty years after the arrival of Augustine,all England except Sussex had become Christian. The SouthSaxons, cut off from the rest of the English by forest and swamps,were converted later in the century. Of course much of this con-version must have been merely nominal. Remote districts must Initial Letter and Opening Words of a Manu-script Copy of St. Lukes Gospel in theLindisfarne Gospel Book, written about700 48 A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND
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