Professor Peter Heather

I mean, you know far more about the conversion of the Saxon thing than most other conversions because Bede provides such a narrative of it. It's a partial view. I mean, what Bede tells us is a story of conversion of kings and elites, a top-down process. But that is, of course, fascinating because these are warrior aristocrats. And you've got to ask, you know, how does Christianity work for them?

I mean, you know far more about the conversion of the Saxon thing than most other conversions because Bede provides such a narrative of it. It's a partial view. I mean, what Bede tells us is a story of conversion of kings and elites, a top-down process. But that is, of course, fascinating because these are warrior aristocrats. And you've got to ask, you know, how does Christianity work for them?

You know, there's no turn the other cheek possible in the Anglo-Saxon world. Don't love your enemies. They're engaged in martial competition against each other and against what remains of British kingdoms further west. We're having to recreate Christianity, redefine it. in order to make it work for any medieval warriors.

You know, there's no turn the other cheek possible in the Anglo-Saxon world. Don't love your enemies. They're engaged in martial competition against each other and against what remains of British kingdoms further west. We're having to recreate Christianity, redefine it. in order to make it work for any medieval warriors.

You know, there's no turn the other cheek possible in the Anglo-Saxon world. Don't love your enemies. They're engaged in martial competition against each other and against what remains of British kingdoms further west. We're having to recreate Christianity, redefine it. in order to make it work for any medieval warriors.

And that kind of story starts to emerge from some of the sources that survived for us.

And that kind of story starts to emerge from some of the sources that survived for us.

And that kind of story starts to emerge from some of the sources that survived for us.

Absolutely, that might well be going on. The interesting thing is we're told that the missionaries sell the idea of Christian conversion on the backs of the great glory of Christian civilization. Well, of course, that doesn't work in a British context because the Anglo-Saxons have spent 200 years beating the crap out of Christian Brits. What's impressive is the Frankish Christian world.

Absolutely, that might well be going on. The interesting thing is we're told that the missionaries sell the idea of Christian conversion on the backs of the great glory of Christian civilization. Well, of course, that doesn't work in a British context because the Anglo-Saxons have spent 200 years beating the crap out of Christian Brits. What's impressive is the Frankish Christian world.

Absolutely, that might well be going on. The interesting thing is we're told that the missionaries sell the idea of Christian conversion on the backs of the great glory of Christian civilization. Well, of course, that doesn't work in a British context because the Anglo-Saxons have spent 200 years beating the crap out of Christian Brits. What's impressive is the Frankish Christian world.

south of the channel. You know, this is where we have Merovingian kings in their absolute glory and their prime. And Kent's relationships with the Frankish world are very close. You know, this is why Ethelbert of Kent has a Frankish wife and Frankish princess as a wife. So, you know, that's the conduit or that's trajectory from which Christianity looks impressive.

south of the channel. You know, this is where we have Merovingian kings in their absolute glory and their prime. And Kent's relationships with the Frankish world are very close. You know, this is why Ethelbert of Kent has a Frankish wife and Frankish princess as a wife. So, you know, that's the conduit or that's trajectory from which Christianity looks impressive.

south of the channel. You know, this is where we have Merovingian kings in their absolute glory and their prime. And Kent's relationships with the Frankish world are very close. You know, this is why Ethelbert of Kent has a Frankish wife and Frankish princess as a wife. So, you know, that's the conduit or that's trajectory from which Christianity looks impressive.

Yeah, the continental Saxons become predominant in what's now southern Scandinavia, i.e. Jutland and the islands, and the areas immediate around it. One of the things that's emerged from all the new DNA work is that whereas DNA from Denmark in the early Roman period looks like DNA that you find in Norway and Sweden...

Yeah, the continental Saxons become predominant in what's now southern Scandinavia, i.e. Jutland and the islands, and the areas immediate around it. One of the things that's emerged from all the new DNA work is that whereas DNA from Denmark in the early Roman period looks like DNA that you find in Norway and Sweden...

Yeah, the continental Saxons become predominant in what's now southern Scandinavia, i.e. Jutland and the islands, and the areas immediate around it. One of the things that's emerged from all the new DNA work is that whereas DNA from Denmark in the early Roman period looks like DNA that you find in Norway and Sweden...

There's actually a large intrusion of continental North European DNA into Jutland in the late Roman period. So that looks like Saxon expansion into the Scandinavian world there. And certainly by the time that we get detailed Frankish sources, the Saxons are important dangerous, occasionally subordinated neighbors to the northeast of the Franks.

There's actually a large intrusion of continental North European DNA into Jutland in the late Roman period. So that looks like Saxon expansion into the Scandinavian world there. And certainly by the time that we get detailed Frankish sources, the Saxons are important dangerous, occasionally subordinated neighbors to the northeast of the Franks.

There's actually a large intrusion of continental North European DNA into Jutland in the late Roman period. So that looks like Saxon expansion into the Scandinavian world there. And certainly by the time that we get detailed Frankish sources, the Saxons are important dangerous, occasionally subordinated neighbors to the northeast of the Franks.