Canterbury
About this date: Bede completed his history in the eighth century, more than a century after the mission. Christianity existed in Britain before Augustine arrived.
Canterbury became Augustine's episcopal seat following the Gregorian mission to Kent in 597. Bede's later history preserves the mission narrative and related letters. It is a shared medieval inheritance whose later Anglican history must not be projected back into the sixth century.
Historical context
The Gregorian mission was not the first introduction of all Christianity into Britain. Distinguish the history of one see from the history of an entire island.
Key points
- Bede, Ecclesiastical History 1.25-26, distinguishes the arrival in Kent from the establishment of the episcopal seat.
- Canterbury's pre-Reformation communion with Rome and its later Anglican role belong to different periods.