Pope Gregory and the British: mission as a canonical problem

The Gregorian mission to Kent continues to be regarded as the crowning event in the history of the conversion of Anglo-Saxon England and as a spur for the subsequent formation of Anglo-Saxon Christian kingdoms. It also marks an important turning point in the history of Christainity in Europe because i t was the first large-scale recorded mission aimed at non-Christians to have been dispatched from Rome. From a historiographical perspective t he Gregorian mission offers a unique focus owing to the extent to which it wa s documented in both contemporary and near-contemporary sources, from pope Gregory’s letters to Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. Nevertheless, the existing accounts leave much to be desired, especially in regard to the state of the British church on the eve of the arrival of the missionaries.