Customer Reviews

The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England

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This book asks and attempts to answer why the previously pagan English kings found it politically expedient to convert to Christianity. What did they gain? What did they loose? How did the political consideration of these dynasts differ from the ecclesiastically written histories in their reasoning for conversion?

The book is divided into four sections. The first deals with the sociological and anthropological theories regarding conversion. The second reviews Ęthelbert of Kent's reaction to Augustine's mission to England. The third section shows how Edwin of Deira used the new Christian cult. Finally, the choice between competing cults (Roman Christian, Celtic Christian, and non-Christian paganism) and their use by the Bernician kings Oswald and Oswiu to further their dynasties' imperial ambitions is reviewed in detail.

The author is acutely aware of the ecclesiastical source material in which our understanding of this period of history is rooted. He is honest enough to label his own theorizing as "beyond proof" based on the available sources.

This book is fascinating to read. You will get a great deal more out of this political history if you read Henry Mayr-Harting's "The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England" first. Mayr-Harting's is the seminal work on the subject and will assist in your understanding of the traditional interpretation of the conversion period's history. After reading Higham's "Convert Kings", you will never look at the Synod of Whitby the same way again.

Very interesting analysis of the period (the christanisation time of the Anglo-Saxon Kings), especially the sections on Oswy, king of Northumbria 642-670 AD. Well thought out, and to be expected from this author/scholar as the first two volumes in this historical series were highly interesting as well. If you're interested in this period and the period just before, I would recommend all three volumes of this series.