0:00:09 > 0:00:15Around 1,500 years ago, a group of 12 monks set sail from the north of Ireland.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21They were leaving behind a place of safety and civilisation...
0:00:24 > 0:00:30..and sailing towards a foreign land that was unstable, dangerous and hostile...
0:00:32 > 0:00:33..Britain.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41It was a journey that would radically alter the course of British history
0:00:41 > 0:00:44because those 12 Irish monks triggered a revolution
0:00:44 > 0:00:50that would change Britain from an illiterate and backward place to a land of culture and learning.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14It is the middle of the 6th century AD.
0:01:16 > 0:01:22The Roman Empire, once powerful, rich, civilised and Christian,
0:01:22 > 0:01:24had collapsed a century before.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32Years of chaos and war in Europe had ensued.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38In the old Roman province of Britannia,
0:01:38 > 0:01:45Germanic tribes had invaded, driving out Christianity and what remained of Roman civilisation.
0:01:51 > 0:01:58They now controlled much of Britain and their pagan gods ruled in the darkness.
0:02:02 > 0:02:10But in Ireland, never conquered by Rome, missionaries had transformed a once barbarian land
0:02:10 > 0:02:11through Christianity,
0:02:11 > 0:02:16the one legacy of the Classical world that had survived Rome's collapse.
0:02:18 > 0:02:24Monasteries had sprung up across the land, fostering literacy, technology and a new civilisation.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41As they landed on the west coast of Scotland in 563AD,
0:02:41 > 0:02:43no doubt on a day as grey as this one,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46the 12 Irish priests would have been in no doubt
0:02:46 > 0:02:49as to the dangers of foreign travel.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54These were unstable times, strangers in a distant land risked imprisonment or death.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01But as the priests marched up the beach, they weren't as concerned as you might think.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05And the reason for that was that they weren't really in hostile foreign territory.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08They were in effect still in Ireland.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19For generations, Irish territory had been expanding,
0:03:19 > 0:03:24and now the Irish Kingdom of Dalriada straddled both sides of the Irish Sea.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Its people were known as Gaels or Scotti.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31They would later give their name to a new nation - Scotland.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Dalriada is long gone, its heartlands are now Argyll,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47but the modern name betrays its ancient origins.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50"Ar-gyll" means "Coast of the Gaels".
0:03:55 > 0:03:58For me, Argyll is familiar territory.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00It was the home of my ancestors
0:04:00 > 0:04:05and the scene of many of my childhood summer holidays, spent mainly in the rain!
0:04:17 > 0:04:24The 12 Irish monks made their way up to the hillfort of Dunadd, seat of the King of Dalriada.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32They would have passed through heavily defended stockades and walls as they went.
0:04:37 > 0:04:43At their head was a man who was already a rising star of the Irish church.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47He was Colum Cille...
0:04:49 > 0:04:53..known also by the Latin version of his name, Columba.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01Columba and the King of Dalriada could look at each other as equals, both were powerful men.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Columba in fact was descended from the High Kings of Ireland,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08so he could have chosen a career as a chieftain wielding political power,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11but instead he opted to join the Church.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14He was a hugely charismatic man in his early forties,
0:05:14 > 0:05:19and his confidence, his aristocratic background would certainly come in useful,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23because in this mission diplomatic skills would be just as important as faith.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34This was more than just a courtesy call.
0:05:34 > 0:05:40Columba needed the King's permission to operate in his lands, and he needed his protection too.
0:05:42 > 0:05:48Dalriada controlled just a narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Beyond the mountains was enemy territory.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05As well as permission and protection,
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Columba wanted one more thing - a plot of land to build a church on.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11That request was granted.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15He was given a small island forty miles that way, right on the edge
0:06:15 > 0:06:20of Dalriadan territory and that island will forever be associated with Columba and his monks.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22Its name was Iona.
0:06:48 > 0:06:54Nowadays, coming to Iona feels a little bit like you're reaching the edge of the Earth.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59It's taken me four hours and three different ferry crossings to travel here from Dunadd.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Back then, it was right at the centre of things.
0:07:02 > 0:07:08Just a few years after Columba and his followers had established this settlement, it was thriving.
0:07:08 > 0:07:14So busy in fact that a regular ferry service needed to be established across the sound here to Mull.
0:07:14 > 0:07:20It was nothing less than one of the most dynamic engines of Christianity in the world.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35As they crossed the sound to Iona,
0:07:35 > 0:07:41the Irish Monks brought with them not just the Christian faith but the seeds of a new civilisation.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10So, Cormac, they land, then what's their sort of first priority on landing?
0:08:10 > 0:08:13They had to establish where they were going to settle
0:08:13 > 0:08:15to find the best spot on the island
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and it appears they picked this location.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20They perhaps were using tents at first,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23then building a church which was their main priority,
0:08:23 > 0:08:28because the work of prayer had to begin just as soon as the work of subsistence began.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33Then this community that was to grow so large, I mean, it was based in this area here, was it?
0:08:33 > 0:08:36Yeah, we think that this has always been the core of the monastery
0:08:36 > 0:08:40and that the church stood on the same site as the Abbey Church stands today,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44but a substantially smaller structure and of course made of wood.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47All these early buildings would have been timber buildings.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52As you're describing this, I keep getting images of a much later kind of colonisation,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56the Elizabethans discovering the New World and building settlements there.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Yeah, to some extent they were, they were frontiers people,
0:09:00 > 0:09:05they were pushing out the boundaries really of their own... They were sort of testing themselves to the limit.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10They were making a settlement of a kind which had never existed here before,
0:09:10 > 0:09:14so it was entirely new and a new settlement footprint on Iona,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16such as the place had never seen before.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Iona becomes a focal point for people who can come here
0:09:20 > 0:09:23and mix in the common environment that the Church provided,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26because the Church was the great umbrella at this period
0:09:26 > 0:09:29in the context of ethnic and political differences.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32They church was the great unifier.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38What is it about Columba himself that draws all these extra people,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40why does it become such a big community?
0:09:40 > 0:09:43It has to come down ultimately to his personal charisma at some level.
0:09:43 > 0:09:50People came here seeking his advice, they came here seeking his judgement, they came here seeking to spend time,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53but not necessarily to profess themselves as monks.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56And other people came to join the community.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00People automatically took to him, he was a magnet to people who sought
0:10:00 > 0:10:04him out on Iona in what looks to us like a remote location, but it became
0:10:04 > 0:10:09a central location within the Christian and intellectual life of the early Middle Ages.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25With the monastic community now thriving, Columba looks beyond Iona's shores.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33In the late 560s, he set out on a journey to take
0:10:33 > 0:10:38the power of Christianity into new, dangerous territory.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54His voyage took him inland, but boats were still the best option.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05The thick forest that covered much of the landscape made the overland route almost impassable.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09And he had far to go...
0:11:17 > 0:11:24..through Loch Ness and the Great Glen to his destination on the other side of Scotland - Inverness.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44It's around 100 miles from Iona to Inverness.
0:11:44 > 0:11:4770 of those miles are up the great lochs of the Great Glen
0:11:47 > 0:11:50that runs like a highway up through the middle of Scotland,
0:11:50 > 0:11:54perfect for travelling up in small boats like this one here that I'm paddling.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Columba would also have made this journey by water,
0:11:57 > 0:12:01partly because there were no roads in this barren landscape and it was really the only way,
0:12:01 > 0:12:06but also for security. He was way beyond the safety of Dalriada now.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09He was in a foreign country with a foreign language, but he had
0:12:09 > 0:12:12translators for that, so speaking was the least of his problems.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17Security was the issue here, because this was enemy territory, this was Pictland.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31The Picts dominated the north and east of Scotland.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40To Columba they would have seemed like a primitive, barbarous people.
0:12:44 > 0:12:50Where the Irish had literature, the Picts had strange, pictorial stones that dotted their lands.
0:12:52 > 0:12:59Where Ireland had monasteries as centres of civilisation, Pictland was still in the Iron Age.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22Columba's biography by a monk called Adomnan is full of miraculous tales
0:13:22 > 0:13:26illustrating the superiority of Christianity over Pictish paganism.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35One of the many miracles Adomnan relates
0:13:35 > 0:13:40is nothing less than the world's first-ever reference to the Loch Ness monster.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51The locals complained of a monster that had been attacking people.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55So Columba sent one of his men into the loch and the monster appeared.
0:13:55 > 0:14:01Columba ordered it to stop and leave the man alone, whereupon the monster returned to the depths of Loch Ness.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06The locals apparently were very impressed with the power of this new Christian God.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Adomnan tells us about this miracle and many others.
0:14:09 > 0:14:10It's not strictly history.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14It's a mix of history and legend called "hagiography",
0:14:14 > 0:14:19trying to create a myth around the new heroes of the age, the Christian saints.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25But nobody needed to exaggerate the dangers of Columba's journey here through Pictland,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28nor the hazards of trying to bring Christianity with him.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Columba's perilous mission reached its climax at Inverness,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47where he faced his most dangerous challenge yet...
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Bridei, the pagan king of Pictland.
0:14:56 > 0:15:02This is Craig Phadrig hillfort, one of the strongholds of the Pictish king Bridei.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Now he'd recently waged war on the Irish of Dalriada,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08so coming here was a bit like walking into the lion's den.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14As Columba approached, the king had the gates barred against him.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19But Columba, it's said, made the sign of the cross...
0:15:19 > 0:15:21and the gates swung open.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29This display of powerful magic, we're told, won him the king's respect.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41These miraculous tales can't be taken literally of course. What matters here is the symbolism.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55He's certainly trying to establish power over the Picts.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58The power over the King of Kings is greater than the power
0:15:58 > 0:16:01of the king of the Picts and he's trying to establish this.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04a sort of scene that he creates, of breaking into the fortress
0:16:04 > 0:16:07is very much a kind of military one, almost a...winning a siege.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11That's the most important thing that's really being conveyed there,
0:16:11 > 0:16:15that Columba and the Christian God have established their power over the Picts
0:16:15 > 0:16:20and the Picts have recognised that power and have accepted that power.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23So, to use your military parallel, perhaps it's more of a kind
0:16:23 > 0:16:25of a first incursion rather than a conquest.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Yes, it's sort of a combination really.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31It's that moment where the greater of the two kings as it were,
0:16:31 > 0:16:35the King of Kings, is being brought to bear against the king of the Picts.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38And there's only gonna be one winner in that kind of a confrontation.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44The Pictish king is presented with this much more
0:16:44 > 0:16:51powerful force outside his gates and has no real opportunity to do anything except to submit to it.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55Do you think the Picts start to convert, and eventually convert en masse,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59because they're just exposed to this greater magic, if you like, of Christianity?
0:16:59 > 0:17:05I think there's something to that. I think that there's an obvious power here, which the Picts must recognise,
0:17:05 > 0:17:10they must recognise that this divinity has got some real power and some real force.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12People like the Picts don't live in a bubble.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16They have connections with the wider world, including Christians from the wider world.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19They know about the Roman Empire probably to some extent.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22It was a Christian phenomenon by the time it ended.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26So, there was a really strong sense this is a powerful religion, this is a powerful God,
0:17:26 > 0:17:31the people who worship this God are powerful people, they're rich, prosperous people.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34That kind of message is a hard one to resist, I think.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46The big new idea did have its enemies.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49There are a group of men in Pictish society
0:17:49 > 0:17:53who had too much invested in the old pagan ways to give way lightly.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Adomnan describes them as wizards. We'd probably call them druids.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00He also describes one particular confrontation between Columba
0:18:00 > 0:18:03and one of these wizards called Broichan.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07He refused to release an Irish slave girl at Columba's request,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10so Columba used magic on him and forced him to do so.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15This proved two things - one is that Columba is resolutely opposed to slavery.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19And, two, Christian magic is much more powerful than that of the druids.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28To an Iron Age people like the Picts,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32the magic power of Christianity lay in what it brought with it...
0:18:33 > 0:18:37..modernity, greater prosperity, civilisation.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48140 miles south of Inverness, Pictish art offers tantalising
0:18:48 > 0:18:53clues as to how the new faith began to replace age-old Pagan beliefs.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17The change in Pictish society is illustrated
0:19:17 > 0:19:23in this set of fantastic standing stones at Aberlemno in Angus on the east coast of Scotland.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Those two down there are pre-Christian.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29All the symbols on them are pre-Christian as is this side of this one.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Look, the so called Z rod there, geometric shapes,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36a hunting scene and various other motifs from the natural world.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39But then look at the other side.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Here you have a giant symbol of a dominant new religion.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43Look at that,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46a cross stretching right from the top to the bottom,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48flanked on either side by angels here.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53This illustrates that it was a time of enormous transition for Pictish society,
0:19:53 > 0:19:58not just in their religious beliefs, but in their politics and even in their identity too.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Christianity transformed the Picts into a new people.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33Their language faded away and they became Gaelic speakers,
0:20:33 > 0:20:38just like the Irish monks who'd brought them the new religion from Iona.
0:20:43 > 0:20:51In time, they would even lose their name and become, along with the Gaels of Dalriada, Scots.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08Thanks to Columba's conversion of Pictland,
0:21:08 > 0:21:13the whole area that we now know of as Scotland looked here to Iona as its Mother Church.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Christianity provided cohesion for those lands,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21and it was that cohesion that underpinned the eventual formation of the kingdom of Scotland.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26As a result, Scotland owes its foundation to Columba and the Irish.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52Iona became the Westminster Abbey of early medieval Scotland, a place
0:21:52 > 0:21:56where religious and political power were joined together.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11And that close relationship between Church and State has its roots in Columba's time.
0:22:11 > 0:22:17Not far from this very spot, Columba performed a ritual on a distinguished guest.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20And that ritual was very important to the lands around here,
0:22:20 > 0:22:22but also had significance right across Europe.
0:22:22 > 0:22:28The guest was none less than the new king of Dalriada, Aedan mac Gabrain.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36The holy man sailed to Iona,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39where Aedan had already arrived,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42and he ordained him King.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44As he was performing the ordination,
0:22:44 > 0:22:49St Columba also prophesied the future of Aedan's line,
0:22:49 > 0:22:55then he laid his hand on Aedan's head in ordination, and blessed him.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07It was a revolution in the idea of kingship.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Previously Dalriadan rulers had sought pagan blessings.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13Now they looked to Christians for approval.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Over the centuries, every European monarchy would follow suit,
0:23:16 > 0:23:21as Christianity and power became ever more inextricably linked.
0:23:21 > 0:23:28For Columba himself, this was a triumph. It vastly increased his prestige and his influence.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33It wasn't only in the realm of politics that the increasing power
0:23:33 > 0:23:37and importance of Columba and his church manifested itself.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44Iona is forever linked to one of the great achievements of Western art...
0:23:46 > 0:23:48..the Book Of Kells.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57The original Book Of Kells is here in the Trinity College Library in Dublin.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Unfortunately it's too delicate for me to touch.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02In fact we're not even allowed to film it.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05So it's lucky that someone has produced a facsimile,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09and this gives you a great sense of the weight and size of the book itself.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14It was designed to impress. In fact it was one of the largest books in the world at the time.
0:24:14 > 0:24:20Now, opening it up, it's plain to see this could only have been produced by the monasteries.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22Only they had the money, the determination
0:24:22 > 0:24:29and the technical support to allow teams of expert scribes to work on this for years on end.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33It's also easy to see why one medieval historian described it
0:24:33 > 0:24:36as the work not of men, but of angels.
0:24:49 > 0:24:56The book is an illustrated copy of the four Gospels, written and painted on calfskin or vellum.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05It was made long after Columba's death, probably at Iona.
0:25:16 > 0:25:23With its intricate interlacing and geometric detail, each page would have taken many weeks to produce.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33The whole book, over 300 pages, probably took years.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37In fact it remains unfinished.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50The portrait of St John, with his stylised feather quill,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52ink pot and manuscript in hand,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56is a homage to the men who did the work, the scribes.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04And who better than a modern scribe to tell me how it was done?
0:26:11 > 0:26:17It's a phenomenal piece of work, it's so all-encompassing and huge and exciting.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24The scale of the organisation required to produce something like this is unimaginable, isn't it?
0:26:24 > 0:26:26It's an immense task,
0:26:26 > 0:26:28just the complexity of getting the vellum.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33You know you need 150 sheets...skins of vellum,
0:26:33 > 0:26:39because you can only really get two leaves of vellum...per skin.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41So they used...what?
0:26:41 > 0:26:46140, 150 calfskins, which is...
0:26:46 > 0:26:49That's like you know...
0:26:49 > 0:26:52That's like a herd! It's like two herds of calves.
0:26:52 > 0:26:58Then the slaughtering needs to take place and the skinning, and the soaking and the cleaning
0:26:58 > 0:27:03and the scraping of the flesh on the flesh side and the scraping of the hair on the hair side.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07And this is 150 skins. This is a lot of work.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10What about these colours, how do you achieve those?
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Well, the yellow is probably the most interesting colour.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16And that comes from a really toxic substance.
0:27:16 > 0:27:22In fact it's probably the most toxic pigment that they've used in this manuscript...
0:27:25 > 0:27:27..which is here.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30And this is orpiment,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33these are sulphides of arsenic,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36so not pleasant to work with.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38It might be that in the monastery,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42only the illustrators were dying, because they were using these pigments.
0:27:42 > 0:27:48And of course as they started to test them, they probably realised that they were quite toxic.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53There are a few different shades of blue used in the Book Of Kells,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57most notably the ultramarine blue, which comes from lapis lazuli.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04Now, at this point in time, there was only one mine in Afghanistan that it would be coming from.
0:28:04 > 0:28:10So somebody needed to get in touch with somebody who could procure this material.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15It would require quite an astonishing network of connections.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17From the scale of what you're talking about,
0:28:17 > 0:28:22it does seem like this would have been one of the most complex and impressive processes
0:28:22 > 0:28:24going on anywhere in the world at the time.
0:28:24 > 0:28:29As a piece of art, as a book and as an organisational skill,
0:28:29 > 0:28:33as an organisational thing, this is just magnificent.
0:28:46 > 0:28:52When Columba died in 597, his remains were interred at Iona.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Pagan Pictland was already on the way to becoming
0:28:55 > 0:29:00part of Christian Scotland, with all the benefits that came with it.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08But what about the rest of Britain?
0:29:15 > 0:29:19Running for over 70 miles across the north of England,
0:29:19 > 0:29:24Hadrian's Wall had once symbolised all the might of Roman Britain.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32It had been built to keep the barbarian Picts out of civilised, Christian, Britannia.
0:29:35 > 0:29:41Now, it marked a very different kind of boundary, and a dramatic reversal of roles.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54The Romans would have been astonished at the turnaround.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Up there beyond the wall in Pictland,
0:29:57 > 0:29:59it HAD been barbaric and wild,
0:29:59 > 0:30:04but now Christianity was taking hold and law and literacy were following.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Down here though, had been Roman and Christian.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09Now it was neither of those things.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11Pockets of Christianity held out,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13but the majority of the province of Roman Britannia
0:30:13 > 0:30:17was now in the hands of the pagan Saxons.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25The Saxons had arrived in force on the shores of Britain
0:30:25 > 0:30:27around 150 years earlier.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35The chronicles paint a grim picture of violent warriors,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38conquering the native British with ease,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41and occupying much of the old province of Britannia.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54The country had been carved up into numerous Germanic kingdoms,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56who, despite their common ancestry,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00were engaged in a constant struggle for territory.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10There's not any sense of a unified English identity at this point.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14What we think of as England is a patchwork of smaller kingdoms,
0:31:14 > 0:31:16peoples who shared a language, aspects of culture,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19but in other aspects, were fiercely independent.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23And these small competing kingdoms, what's relations between them like?
0:31:23 > 0:31:25Probably fairly hostile most of the time.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30One way we think larger kingdoms developed was conquering and absorbing smaller kingdoms.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34It's a process, a small kingdom absorbs one next to it, gets slightly bigger, absorbs another.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36So, not constant warfare,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40but probably fairly frequent warfare between different peoples and kingdoms.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44What's their relationship with Christianity or religion in general?
0:31:44 > 0:31:47They're still pagan, but paganism itself seems to have changed,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50perhaps in response to contacts with Christianity.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52Firstly, we see pagan temples being built
0:31:52 > 0:31:54towards the end of the 6th century.
0:31:54 > 0:32:00It's changing slightly, there's some evidence that maybe they were moving towards a kind of pagan monotheism,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03with increasing importance placed on Woden.
0:32:03 > 0:32:04And he's the god of war, isn't he?
0:32:04 > 0:32:07To some extent, yes, some people think he's the god of war.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11It may be connected with the emergence of a warrior aristocracy, warrior kingship,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14that takes Woden as their own personal god.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Yet, without converting to Christianity,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20Anglo-Saxon England would have a permanent brake on its development.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25It would reach limits, yeah, there are only certain things that you can do without literacy.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30Literacy is an incredibly useful tool for a ruler, particularly ruling over a wide area,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34so they would have reached a limit to how much further the kingdoms could expand,
0:32:34 > 0:32:38how much more sophisticated and complex they could become.
0:32:44 > 0:32:49You might think that the powerhouse of Iona would have its sights set on pagan Saxon England.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54But other, more distant eyes
0:32:54 > 0:32:58were looking towards the old Roman province of Britannia.
0:33:12 > 0:33:17The empire had gone. But its adopted religion of Christianity survived,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21with the Pope as its head, in Rome.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26Where Irish monasteries were self-governing,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29the Papacy was all for centralised control.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37It had inherited not only Rome's bureaucracy,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40but also its imperial ambitions.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49It was steadily expanding its authority in Europe,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52but its influence stopped short of Britain and Ireland.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00A new Pope, the ambitious Gregory the Great,
0:34:00 > 0:34:02was determined to change all that.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12And to make it happen, he dispatched a papal mission to Britain.
0:34:19 > 0:34:20The papal envoy, Augustine,
0:34:20 > 0:34:25landed in Kent in 597, which was the same year that Columba died.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28He held a meeting with the king of Kent, Ethelbert.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32That meeting had to be outdoors, because the Saxons were terrified
0:34:32 > 0:34:36the Christians would work dark magic on them if it was inside a building.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39But Ethelbert wasn't entirely ignorant of Christianity.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42In fact, his wife was from Gaul, and already a Christian.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46So, soon he converted and brought his people with him.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50The Roman mission seemed to have got off to a flying start.
0:34:53 > 0:34:54Augustine, the Pope's envoy,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58could be forgiven for thinking it was all going to be rather easy.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03He would soon have to think again.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06The mission moved north,
0:35:08 > 0:35:11beyond the Kingdom of Kent, across the Thames,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15into the Kingdom of Essex, with its capital in London.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20A church was built, St Paul's,
0:35:22 > 0:35:24on the same site as the modern cathedral.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27The building of the first St Paul's
0:35:27 > 0:35:31suggests that the mission was going from strength to strength,
0:35:31 > 0:35:33but as the Romans moved through Kent
0:35:33 > 0:35:36and tried to penetrate the rest of the country,
0:35:36 > 0:35:38they found the Saxons harder and harder to convince
0:35:38 > 0:35:40to embrace the new faith.
0:35:40 > 0:35:45Bede, the medieval historian, tells us that the Saxons were obstinate.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50They were more interested in the practical, rather than the spiritual benefits of Christianity.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54He even gives the example of one new Christian Saxon priest
0:35:54 > 0:35:56who desecrated his own shrine
0:35:56 > 0:35:59because it had failed to bring his side success in war.
0:36:07 > 0:36:08It's thanks to Bede
0:36:08 > 0:36:11that we have a detailed knowledge of these times at all.
0:36:11 > 0:36:16Indeed, his account is really the first history of England ever written.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22In it, he describes how the Roman mission began to unravel.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35A key convert, the King of the East Saxons, died.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38His three sons had remained committed pagans,
0:36:38 > 0:36:40and one day they burst into St Paul's
0:36:40 > 0:36:44and demanded some of the communion bread they'd seen their father eat.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47The Bishop said no, because they weren't Christians.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50The three pagan princes were not impressed.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56They threw him and his followers out of London.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01Londoners cheerfully reverted to paganism.
0:37:01 > 0:37:07After 20 years, the mission had only succeeded in converting Kent.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21But in the north of England,
0:37:21 > 0:37:24another attempt to bring Christianity to the pagan Saxons
0:37:24 > 0:37:27was about to be launched.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37The Kingdom of Northumbria was, at this time,
0:37:37 > 0:37:41the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon territories.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48Northumbria had been through stormy times.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52Kings had fought their neighbours and murdered their rivals.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56The flame of Christianity had flickered briefly here
0:37:56 > 0:38:01but, just like London, it reverted to the darkness of paganism.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17In 634, a new king, Oswald, arrived here at Bamburgh,
0:38:17 > 0:38:21the impregnable fortress at the heart of his Northumbrian kingdom.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23It was a day he never thought he'd see.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26At age 12, his father had been killed in battle
0:38:26 > 0:38:29and the young man had fled, fearing for his life.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32He'd spent the next 18 years in exile.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35But they were years that would change him and Britain forever.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39Because he'd spent that time in Ireland and Iona.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43And he'd become a Christian, and now he returned here to Northumbria
0:38:43 > 0:38:47determined to change this pagan kingdom into a Christian one.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56He sent to Iona for a bishop to help him do it.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02One duly came, but he soon returned to Iona
0:39:02 > 0:39:05reporting that the task was an impossible one,
0:39:05 > 0:39:10because the English were so "uncivilised, barbarous and obstinate."
0:39:13 > 0:39:15When the bishop returned here, to Iona,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19an urgent council meeting was called in order to decide what to do.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23It was then that one young monk ventured his opinion.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32'Brother, I'm of the opinion that you were more severe to your unlearned hearers than you ought to have been
0:39:32 > 0:39:36'and did not give them the milk of more easy doctrine first,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40'till being by degrees nourished with the word of God,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43'they should become capable of greater perfection.'
0:39:48 > 0:39:51Perhaps there was a moment when everyone in the room looked at the young upstart
0:39:51 > 0:39:54and wondered whether someone should put him in his place.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56But his words must have impressed,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59because he was made a bishop and given the job.
0:39:59 > 0:40:00His name was Aidan,
0:40:00 > 0:40:04and he'd be the last of the great Irish missionaries.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24With Oswald's protection,
0:40:24 > 0:40:29Aidan established his first church on the island of Lindisfarne,
0:40:29 > 0:40:32known also as Holy Island, in 635 AD.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Lindisfarne is like a more accessible version of Iona.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44Both are surrounded by water.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50But at low tide, you can reach Lindisfarne from the mainland,
0:40:50 > 0:40:55along the same causeway the monks used nearly 1,400 years ago.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09Perched in its exposed position on the wild edge of the east coast,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12it's buffeted by the kind of appalling weather
0:41:12 > 0:41:17that the ascetically-minded monks no doubt delighted in far more than I do.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33Just as on Iona, the first buildings here were fairly modest,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36only what was required to keep the community afloat.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38These magnificent ruins are from later periods.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42But from humble beginnings, Lindisfarne quickly grew in importance.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46It became a trading post and the nucleus from where Irish priests would go out
0:41:46 > 0:41:50and spread the Christian message right across the north of England.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54It benefited from its proximity to Oswald's stronghold at Bamburgh,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57just a few miles that way down the coast.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00This reflected the close relationship
0:42:00 > 0:42:01between Oswald and Aidan.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05In fact, Oswald used to translate Aidan's sermons
0:42:05 > 0:42:07to the English nobility.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10And it was this intense co-operation between church and state
0:42:10 > 0:42:14that was to be such an important reason for Aidan's success.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23As a close associate of the King, Aidan was often given gifts.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26As an ascetic, he disliked the practice.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28But he made use of it.
0:42:31 > 0:42:36Just like Columba before him, he was opposed to slavery,
0:42:36 > 0:42:39and he used the gifts to ransom and free slaves,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41who often became new converts.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46At the other end of the social scale,
0:42:46 > 0:42:50Oswald is said to have led his pagan nobles into a key battle,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54telling them he'd had a vision of Columba, who'd promised victory.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00When the battle was won,
0:43:00 > 0:43:03his warrior nobles are said to have converted en masse.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06In missionary parlance, this was 'top-down' conversion,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10with the King leading the way, and those below following.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25I can see how both slaves and the elite were brought round.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31But what about the mass of the population?
0:43:35 > 0:43:37Escomb in County Durham
0:43:37 > 0:43:40was part of the first wave of church-building
0:43:40 > 0:43:42in the once-pagan nation.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49How do you think Christianity changed the lives of men and women
0:43:49 > 0:43:51that came to worship here in the 7th century?
0:43:51 > 0:43:53Christianity had an enormous impact
0:43:53 > 0:43:56on all people in Anglo-Saxon society at all levels.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01But one of the appeals about Christianity was,
0:44:01 > 0:44:06it does offer an answer to that eternal question -
0:44:06 > 0:44:07Why are we here? Is this all there is?
0:44:07 > 0:44:09Will there be anything afterwards?
0:44:09 > 0:44:13It offers a promise of eternal life and salvation beyond the life in this world.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17And perhaps an eternal life that's slightly more egalitarian
0:44:17 > 0:44:20than the life that they're living now in the world.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22And also, of course, a heavenly existence
0:44:22 > 0:44:25that gets rid of social class distinctions
0:44:25 > 0:44:29in a way that pagan views of the afterworld, which tend to perpetuate the idea
0:44:29 > 0:44:34that the warrior elite will have a particularly enjoyable time in the afterlife.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37Christianity alters that view, so I think that made it appealing.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42So you think there was a genuine, genuine support for Christianity
0:44:42 > 0:44:44amongst the mass of the population?
0:44:44 > 0:44:46It wasn't simply imposed from above?
0:44:46 > 0:44:51I think the church offers the mass of the population things that were positively useful to them.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55Rites of passage that mark the coming of their children into the world
0:44:55 > 0:44:59who will then be baptised and marked reborn as part of this community.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05And also rituals to celebrate the passing into the other life
0:45:05 > 0:45:08and so for funerals and death and burials,
0:45:08 > 0:45:12and there was indeed a burial ground here at Escomb Church.
0:45:14 > 0:45:19Can you give me a sense of just how revolutionary this change was from a pagan society to Christian?
0:45:19 > 0:45:21It's an absolutely fundamental change.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24You could argue that there is really no aspect of life
0:45:24 > 0:45:27at any social level in Anglo-Saxon England
0:45:27 > 0:45:30that isn't affected by the change to Christianity.
0:45:30 > 0:45:32People's worship patterns change.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34If they follow the teaching of the church,
0:45:34 > 0:45:37then they'll start living their lives in different ways.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40The church prescribes whom you may marry,
0:45:40 > 0:45:42what you should do with your children,
0:45:42 > 0:45:44how you should bury your dead.
0:45:44 > 0:45:49It infiltrates every single aspect of daily life.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52The church brings technologies unknown in England,
0:45:52 > 0:45:54technologies like building in stone,
0:45:54 > 0:45:58like the capacity to write on parchment.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01Everything about life in England is fundamentally changed.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04You could argue it was one of the most important things
0:46:04 > 0:46:08that happened in the British Isles in the first millennium, the conversion to Christianity.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27But English Christianity was now beginning to take its own direction,
0:46:27 > 0:46:33one that would soon bring it into conflict with its Irish roots.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40The Abbey of Hexham, in Northumberland
0:46:40 > 0:46:44was built less than 40 years after the Irish first arrived in England.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51Much of what now remains above the ground came later.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00But beneath it is an extraordinary surviving treasure
0:47:00 > 0:47:04from a building that was originally built entirely
0:47:04 > 0:47:05from recycled Roman stone.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12This was partly a practical measure.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16Saxon England lacked the technology to work in stone.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20But it was also symbolic.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29This is the crypt.
0:47:29 > 0:47:34It's hugely impressive and gives us a real sense of the building that once stood above.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39At the time, it was said to be one of the most magnificent in Western Europe.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43Also, down here, you get a clear idea of this recycled Roman stone
0:47:43 > 0:47:47brought from a fort about three miles away up the road.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50You can see much of it's engraved and it's all finely carved.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53In fact, this bit here is fantastic,
0:47:53 > 0:47:57this clearly once adorned some fine Roman building.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00And it's just such a neat idea. This is recycled Roman stone,
0:48:00 > 0:48:02going into the construction of a building
0:48:02 > 0:48:08that's then used to re-introduce Roman ideas of religion and law into England.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17In fact, the church at Hexham was constructed
0:48:17 > 0:48:19by the man who was instrumental
0:48:19 > 0:48:22in introducing written law into England.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25Wilfrid of York.
0:48:31 > 0:48:36Well, he's one of the people who's transforming the legal culture of Anglo-Saxon England.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40The use of written documents, like charters, to prove possession of land.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44We see at the same time law codes coming to existence.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48The first law code is the start of the 7th century with conversion to Christianity.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53We find Charters surviving from Anglo-Saxon England from the 670s and 680s and onwards.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57So he's transforming the legal culture. It's becoming a culture based on the written word.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01Law is written now, so you need legal documents.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Wilfrid had trained at Lindisfarne
0:49:07 > 0:49:10and was one of the first Saxon churchmen ever to visit Rome,
0:49:10 > 0:49:11where he'd even met the Pope.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19The Roman Church, with its centralised administration
0:49:19 > 0:49:22seems to have appealed to Wilfrid's legalistic mind.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27Increasingly he looked to Rome for guidance
0:49:27 > 0:49:30in all questions of ritual and rules.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39So much so, that when he took over a former Irish monastery in Yorkshire,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43the abbot was expelled because he wouldn't follow Roman customs.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54As more and more English priests and nobles chose Roman over Irish ways,
0:49:54 > 0:49:56tensions grew.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12Things finally came to a head at Bamburgh in 663 AD
0:50:12 > 0:50:14over the question of the dating
0:50:14 > 0:50:18of Christianity's most important festival - Easter.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29The King of Northumbria had spent time in Ireland as an exile,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32where he'd learnt his Christianity from the Irish priests.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35His wife the queen had been brought up in Kent,
0:50:35 > 0:50:38where they adhered to Roman teachings.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42Now, the two traditions disagreed on the timing of Easter.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Not the end of the world, you might think,
0:50:44 > 0:50:46until you remember that in that period,
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Christians were not allowed to have sex during Lent.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52So when the King came here to his chapel on Easter Sunday,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55he was looking forward to a fine feast
0:50:55 > 0:50:59and then perhaps some private time with his wife in the royal bedchamber.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02But his wife was a week behind. For her it was still Palm Sunday,
0:51:02 > 0:51:04she was dressed in sackcloth,
0:51:04 > 0:51:08and there was no question of marital relations for another week.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Not for the last time in British history,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13a crisis was reached, thanks to the King's libido.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26But beyond the royal bedchamber lay a much deeper conflict.
0:51:30 > 0:51:31A power struggle was brewing
0:51:31 > 0:51:34between two conflicting Christian factions...
0:51:37 > 0:51:41..the Irish Church and the Church of Rome.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55In 664, the Abbey of Whitby on the Yorkshire coast
0:51:55 > 0:52:00was the scene of a watershed moment for European Christianity.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12In order to settle the Easter question once and for all,
0:52:12 > 0:52:14the Northumbrian King called a synod.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24To us the word "synod" conjures up the image of a rather arcane theological debate.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26But Whitby was nothing like that.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29This was a major summit, a Kyoto or a G8,
0:52:29 > 0:52:32with large delegations on either side
0:52:32 > 0:52:35and plenty resting on the outcome.
0:52:35 > 0:52:36In Rome's corner was Wilfrid.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Although a local boy, he'd come to believe
0:52:39 > 0:52:44in the importance of uniformity right across the Christian Church.
0:52:44 > 0:52:49In Iona's corner was Aidan's successor as the Abbott of Lindisfarne, Colman.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51Now, right from Wilfrid's opening statement,
0:52:51 > 0:52:56it was clear this was going to be a hostile debate.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04"The only people who are stupid enough to disagree with the whole world
0:53:04 > 0:53:09"are these Irish and their obstinate adherents, the Picts.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14"Your fathers were holy men.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18"But do you imagine that they, a few men in a corner of a remote island,
0:53:18 > 0:53:23"are to be preferred before the Universal Church of Christ throughout the world?"
0:53:28 > 0:53:32Things sound rather heated. Are synods always this violent?
0:53:32 > 0:53:34This is one of the most violent synods
0:53:34 > 0:53:36reported in the Anglo-Saxon Church,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39and it certainly sounds as if tempers did get quite hot.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42Wilfrid's speech sounds almost intemperate in places.
0:53:42 > 0:53:48- Does that reflect the fact there's a lot at stake here?- There's a phenomenal amount at stake here.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53Making a decision about when you should celebrate the central festival of the Christian religion.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55There's nothing bigger.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58It's the heart of Christianity, determining the date of Easter.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01It determines the date of other festivals later in the year.
0:54:01 > 0:54:06And it's making a decision about whether you want to side with Iona and the church in Ireland,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09or whether to join the European cultural mainstream.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15After a few days of deliberation,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18the King of Northumbria reached his decision.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23He found for Rome.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28He's clearly trying to ingratiate himself with the Pope in Rome.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30There's a correspondence with the Pope,
0:54:30 > 0:54:33and his decision means that he's siding permanently
0:54:33 > 0:54:37on behalf of the Roman Church, and not with St Columba.
0:54:39 > 0:54:46So Rome is a more attractive ally, I suppose, than the Irish?
0:54:46 > 0:54:48Joining with the worship style of the Church in Rome
0:54:48 > 0:54:52puts the Church in England centrally into the mainstream
0:54:52 > 0:54:54of Western European Christendom.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58They're not a little island at the corner of the world,
0:54:58 > 0:55:00as England is sometime described as being.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02It makes them part of the European mainland.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07It makes the date of Easter the same all the way across Western Europe.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10It's like making a decision to join a central European currency.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12It's a currency of faith.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21And what does this reversal mean for the Irish followers of Columba?
0:55:21 > 0:55:25This is clearly, from the point of view of Colman and the monks of Lindisfarne, a major blow,
0:55:25 > 0:55:29saying that their mechanisms for determining the date of Easter -
0:55:29 > 0:55:34and indeed other things about their religious life, the way they cut their hair, the tonsure -
0:55:34 > 0:55:35were, in inverted commas, wrong.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38It's something they're just not prepared to tolerate.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41They've lost and Colman and his monks pack their bags,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44they pick up the relics of St Aidan from Lindisfarne,
0:55:44 > 0:55:48and they take them away to Iona in a monumental huff.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13As I make my own way back to Iona,
0:56:13 > 0:56:17it's easy to imagine how gloomy Colman's journey must have been.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25By the time he got there, he'd reached a momentous decision.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33He resigned, as a politician today might,
0:56:33 > 0:56:36in the face of a major policy setback.
0:56:43 > 0:56:44As a result of Whitby,
0:56:44 > 0:56:49the prestige of the Iona church would never be the same again.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03I'm struck by the tragedy of it.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05But also by the irony.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12The Irish had brought the power of Christianity to England,
0:57:12 > 0:57:15and the English had used that power against them.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23But the worst was yet to come.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32The sea, which had been such a rich conduit
0:57:32 > 0:57:35of missionaries and ideas and trade,
0:57:35 > 0:57:37now brought invaders from the north.
0:57:37 > 0:57:42In the late 700s, the Vikings descended on the monasteries.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46This one here at Iona was attacked again and again.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49On one particular raid 68 monks, nearly the entire community,
0:57:49 > 0:57:52were brought to this beach and slaughtered.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55Ever since then it's been known as Martyrs Bay.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00And this scene was replicated right across Britain and Ireland.
0:58:00 > 0:58:05The great age of Irish Christianity was brought to a bloody end.
0:58:48 > 0:58:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:51 > 0:58:54E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk