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Century Britain Robert Lee Sharp DEVIANT CHRISTIANITIES IN FOURTH TO SEVENTH- CENTURY BRITAIN MA Thesis in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies. Central European University Budapest May 2016 CEU eTD Collection DEVIANT CHRISTIANITIES IN FOURTH TO SEVENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN by Robert Lee Sharp (The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ Examiner ____________________________________________ Examiner Budapest CEU eTD Collection May 2016 DEVIANT CHRISTIANITIES IN FOURTH TO SEVENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN by Robert Lee Sharp (The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Reader Budapest May 2016 CEU eTD Collection DEVIANT CHRISTIANITIES IN FOURTH TO SEVENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN by Robert Lee Sharp (The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Supervisor Budapest May 2016 CEU eTD Collection I, the undersigned, Your Name, candidate for the MA degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person’s or institution’s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 18 May 2016 __________________________ Signature CEU eTD Collection Abstract This thesis attempts to define the position of deviant Christianities in the narrative of early medieval Britain. By seeking to understand the transformation of the likes of Arianism and Pelagianism from movements that started as religious disputes within the Roman Empire, into indicators of separate identity in the post-Roman world, this study offers an insight into the political benefits of a deviation from the Nicene form of Christianity. The thesis uses a close analysis of the surviving textual evidence related to deviant Christianities, primarily the works of Gildas and Bede, to establish an argument for the presence of Arianism and Pelagianism in Britain. It also attempts to situate this analysis in relation to the recent scholarly debate concerning the extent to which Christianity endured in post-Roman Britain with a discussion and assessment of the archaeological evidence for Christianity in Britain before AD 597. The thesis targets an area that has been largely neglected by historical scholarship. Despite the limited number of sources and the problematic nature of those relevant sources that do survive, this thesis makes the argument that the impact of deviant Christianities on Britain between the fourth and seventh-centuries, is worthy of further consideration and most definitely, further investigation. CEU eTD Collection i Acknowledgements Unaccustomed as I am, on this auspicious occasion of thanking those who made this thesis possible, I must say I am indebted to a great number of wonderful people. First and foremostly I would like to thank the Central European University for providing me with the opportunity and the funding to continue my studies at postgraduate level as a Masters degree had proved to be financially unviable for me elsewhere. I would like to thank my two supervisors at the CEU, Professor Volker Menze and Professor József Laszlovszky for their invaluable feedback and guidance throughout the thesis writing period. If the reader deems this thesis to be at the very least a decent attempt then I would add that a great deal of credit should go to these two men. In addition I would like to thank all of the staff at CEU, both the lecturers and those in the office for their support and I reserve a special mention to Zsuzsa Reed for her kind assistance particularly in relation to queries regarding style and referencing. I owe a huge amount of gratitude to my former supervisor at the University of Kent, Dr Helen Gittos. Helen humoured me when I complained of a lack of attention paid to an Anglo- Saxon burial discovered in my home town of Southend-on-sea during a module at Kent and subsequently encouraged me to pursue some outlandish theories in the two dissertations that she supervised me for. This thesis would not have happened without her prior assistance. I would also like to thank my secondary school History teacher, Mr Barrett. Mr Barrett helped foster my passion for history and by teaching me to PEE (Point Evidence Explanation) all over my work, he helped develop my historical writing style which has ultimately changed very little since that time! During my time at CEU I have met many fantastic friends and colleagues from across the world who have made this two year experience a delight. I do not feel the need to mention individuals as you will know who you are by the experiences we have shared in our time here and I am very pleased and honoured to have met you all. Though it does have to be said, a great number of the nicest people I met at CEU hail from the Balkans region! The proprietor of the Bambus bar Gabor deserves a brief mention as he was also a great help to me during my time in Budapest! At this point I would like to thank some of my oldest associates from Essex who visited me in Budapest, in no particular order, Mr Craig Tomlin, Mr Sean Tomlin, Mr Jack Lidster Woolf, Mr Jack Barnes, Mr Thomas French, Mr Scott Riley, Mr Nathan Paveley and Mr Robert Westcombe. Their academic insights over the course of several visits proved to be highly conducive to this thesis and I am beholden to them for their continued support and friendship. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Rebecca Trigg for her unwavering support and care and for putting up with me! Finally I reserve special thanks for my family who I am deeply grateful to for allowing CEU eTD Collection me to come this far in my studies. I am grateful to all of my extended family but need to say ‘Iechyd da’ to my Welsh nanna who enabled me to return to Budapest for a second year. I am ever thankful to my mum: Jeanette, dad: Gary and sister: Laura for their immeasurable love and support over the years. I dedicate this thesis in particular to my mum who overcomes greater struggles than the writing of an MA thesis on a daily basis in living with Parkinsons. She does so with a smile on her face and a positive attitude and continues to be an inspiration to me. Thank you for reading ii Table of contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Historiography ............................................................................................................................ 9 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 12 Chapter 2 – Post-Roman-Britain ................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 3: Textual Evidence for deviant Christianities ................................................................ 22 Gildas The Ruin of Britain ........................................................................................................ 22 Bede The Ecclesiastical History of the English People ............................................................ 32 Other sources ............................................................................................................................ 39 Chapter 4 – Archaeology in relation to deviant Christianity ........................................................ 43 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 48 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 52 Primary Sources ........................................................................................................................ 52 Secondary Sources .................................................................................................................... 52 CEU eTD Collection iii Introduction According to the Venerable Bede, at some time
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