43 | Roman invasion of Britain | 700 | Lindesfarne Gospel, superb example of Celtic illuminated manuscript |
125 | Emperor Hardian builds wall to secure the northern frontier against Picts | 731 | Bede completes his Ecclesiastical History |
394 | St. Ninian brings Christianity to Scots and Picts (d 432) | 757- | Period of Mercian dominance under King Offa (-796) |
350- | Raids by northern barbarians and decline of Roman Empire bring an end to Roman occupation (-450) | 787 | First Danish invasion |
432 | St. Patrick begins mission to Ireland | 806 | Iona sacked by Northmen |
550 | Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria founded | 865 | Danes occupy Northumbria, then move into Anglia, killing King Edmund |
563 | St. Colomba founds Celtic monastery of Iona on northwest coast. | 871 | Alfred (“the Great”), King of Wessex, begins to turn the tide against the invaders; he translates St. Gregory’s “Cura pastoralis” into English (885) |
597 | Pope Gregory sends missionaries to England; St. Augustine baptizes King Ethelbert of Kent and becomes first archbishop of Canterbury | 913 | Edward the Elder, king of England (-924) recaptures Essex from the Danes |
625 | Paulinus converts King Edwin of Northumbria at York | 925 | His successor Athelstan completes the reconquest |
633 | Edwin killed while fighting the pagan Mercians | 950 | Revival of Benedictine monasticism |
635 | At the request of Edwin’s successor, Oswald, St. Aidan travels east form Iona to found monastery at Lindesfarne; Christianization of Wessex | 957 | St. Dunstan becomes archbishop |
642 | Oswald slain in battle against Penda, heathen king of Mercia | 958 | Edgar the Peaceful becomes king (-975) |
650- | Golden age of Northumbrian art and learning (-735) | 979 | King Edward, his son, is martyredEthelred “the Unready” crowned; signs treaty with Normans (992) |
654 | Penda killed in a battle led by Oswald’s brother, King Oswy of Northumbria, who had instigated the murder of his cousin, the pious King Oswin of Deira (651) | 980- | Renewal of Danish raids; they sack monasteries and churches |
657 | Founding of Whitby and Ripon (661) monasteries | 1003 | Ethelred flees to Normandy |
664 | Synod of Whitby decides in favor of Roman over Celtic rite, strengthening future ties with Rome | 1016 | Canute, a Dane, becomes king and embraces Christianity (d. 1035) |
664 | St. Cuthbert becomes abbot of Lindesfarne (d 687) | 1042 | Edward the Confessor, son of Ethelred, summoned from Normandy to become king (d. 1066) |
673 | Ely Abbey founded by St. Etheldreda (Audrey); monasteries founded at Hexham (674) and Jarrow (680) | 1066 | Norman conquest; Edward’s cousin Harold seizes the crown Norman soldiers land at Pevensey; Harold killed at the Battle of Hastings; William the conqueror is crowned, signaling the end of the Anglo-Saxon State |
686 | Sussex converted to Christianity | | |