DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6914#0037
CHRISTIANITY IN BRITAIN: — A.D. 303. 5
^ever certain that Christianity had made considerable progress in this country,
and h"^' W'ien ^ received a check from the hostility of the Emperor Diocletian
1 colleagues in the imperial dignity. Perhaps little credit is due to the
^cgends which record the sufferings of the British martyrs on that occasion,
th°^USe ^lese stories are full of extravagant improbabilities; yet it is likely
rel' S°me ^e'SOns suffered death in Britain, on account of professing the Christian
th' ^l°n' 01 ^16'r °PPos'^on to the heathens, during the two years in which
and ^SeCU^'on raged throughout the western provinces of the empire. St. Alban
' ■^mphibalus, with two persons named Julius and Aaron, are particu-
Ce ff am0n* sufferers, in the writings, miscalled histories, of Bede, and
'y of Monmouth. But these sanguinary proceedings ceased, in the pro-
ves subject to Constantius, immediately on his elevation to the dignity of
gustus ; and it was reserved for his son, Constantine, to establish the Christian
^"th as the religion of the Roman empire. At the synod of Aries, A.D. 314,
J? ich was held a few years after the cessation of the persecution, three British
^'siops attended, viz. Ivor, or Eborius, of York ; Restitutus, of London; and
elfius, cjvitatc coiQ„ia Londinensium, supposed to be Caerleon.' British
•shops also attended at the councils of Nice, Sardica, and Arminium.9 The
Ar'an and Pelagian heresies, during the fourth and part of the fifth centuries,
successively filled the Christian world with contention; and Britain had her share
111 tne disasters consequent on that dispute.
In the year 450, the ravages of the Scots and Picts, no longer restrained by
tl'e Va'°ur of the Roman forces, who had abandoned the British province, obliged
16 ^"tons to resort to the Saxons for assistance. Those warlike confederates
an-U estaDUshed themselves in the northern part of the island; and subsequent
osities induced them to turn their arms against the Britons themselves. A
series of
a jlunt| ars ensued, which continued to devastate the country for upwards of
• , G vears> and at length terminated in the establishment of the seven or
ng o-Saxon kinodoms, and the retreat of the Britons into Wales and into
Cornwall.
Th S
e Faxons were a race of idolators, ferocious, perfidious, and ignorant; and
Stillmofleet's Origines Britannica;, p. 74. Hales " On the Origin and Puritv of the Primitive
Church of the British Isles," p. 109.
' Collier'8 Eccl. Hist. vol. i. pp. 28-37.
^ever certain that Christianity had made considerable progress in this country,
and h"^' W'ien ^ received a check from the hostility of the Emperor Diocletian
1 colleagues in the imperial dignity. Perhaps little credit is due to the
^cgends which record the sufferings of the British martyrs on that occasion,
th°^USe ^lese stories are full of extravagant improbabilities; yet it is likely
rel' S°me ^e'SOns suffered death in Britain, on account of professing the Christian
th' ^l°n' 01 ^16'r °PPos'^on to the heathens, during the two years in which
and ^SeCU^'on raged throughout the western provinces of the empire. St. Alban
' ■^mphibalus, with two persons named Julius and Aaron, are particu-
Ce ff am0n* sufferers, in the writings, miscalled histories, of Bede, and
'y of Monmouth. But these sanguinary proceedings ceased, in the pro-
ves subject to Constantius, immediately on his elevation to the dignity of
gustus ; and it was reserved for his son, Constantine, to establish the Christian
^"th as the religion of the Roman empire. At the synod of Aries, A.D. 314,
J? ich was held a few years after the cessation of the persecution, three British
^'siops attended, viz. Ivor, or Eborius, of York ; Restitutus, of London; and
elfius, cjvitatc coiQ„ia Londinensium, supposed to be Caerleon.' British
•shops also attended at the councils of Nice, Sardica, and Arminium.9 The
Ar'an and Pelagian heresies, during the fourth and part of the fifth centuries,
successively filled the Christian world with contention; and Britain had her share
111 tne disasters consequent on that dispute.
In the year 450, the ravages of the Scots and Picts, no longer restrained by
tl'e Va'°ur of the Roman forces, who had abandoned the British province, obliged
16 ^"tons to resort to the Saxons for assistance. Those warlike confederates
an-U estaDUshed themselves in the northern part of the island; and subsequent
osities induced them to turn their arms against the Britons themselves. A
series of
a jlunt| ars ensued, which continued to devastate the country for upwards of
• , G vears> and at length terminated in the establishment of the seven or
ng o-Saxon kinodoms, and the retreat of the Britons into Wales and into
Cornwall.
Th S
e Faxons were a race of idolators, ferocious, perfidious, and ignorant; and
Stillmofleet's Origines Britannica;, p. 74. Hales " On the Origin and Puritv of the Primitive
Church of the British Isles," p. 109.
' Collier'8 Eccl. Hist. vol. i. pp. 28-37.