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Is it possible to say why Anglo-Saxon kings and queens (and their courts) were willing to accept Christianity? In 596, England's network of small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms was universally pagan. A century later it was officially Christian. The conversion to Christianity, fronted by St. Augustine's late sixth-century mission, was completely bloodless and apparently voluntary, in stark contrast with the forced conversion of the continental Saxons by Charlemagne. However, exactly how this conversion came about is, to a certain extent, shrouded in mystery. Our main source, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, was written over a hundred years after the events he is describing and is undermined as reliable historical evidence by its didactic and propagandist nature. Unfortunately, the missionaries that came to England did not write testimonies. However, we are able to look at the advice given to later continental missionaries such as Boniface. Through a combination of Bede's writings, the continental experience, archaeological evidence...

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