The Picts: A History by Clarkson Tim

Author:Clarkson, Tim [Clarkson, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781907909030
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 2012-09-27T16:00:00+00:00

The Synod of Whitby

The year of the battle of Lutho-feirnn saw an event of huge religious significance whose repercussions were felt across every part of northern Britain. This was an assembly or synod, a gathering of prominent churchmen, convened by Oswiu at the Northumbrian monastery of Whitby. The synod’s purpose was to debate differences between the ‘Celtic’ and ‘Roman’ clergy, which were now becoming acute. The Celtic tradition was by no means independent of Roman orthodoxy and its leading figures acknowledged the authority of the Pope. However, the clergy of the Celtic lands – namely Ireland and the northern and western parts of Britain – were marginalised by geography and therefore less receptive to ecclesiastical developments on the Continent. This made them seem conservative and insular, and unwilling to adopt new practices. Celtic monks, for instance, were tonsured not according to the ‘Roman’ method (a crown of hair encircling the shaved top of the scalp) but by shaving the front of the scalp from ear to ear. By far the most important difference, however, was the method used for calculating the date of Easter. Adherence by the Celtic clergy to an archaic form of calculation meant that Easter Sunday on Iona did not always coincide with Easter Sunday in Rome.

Matters came to a head in the seventh century, partly because both traditions were practised among the northern English. Bernicia, for example, had been evangelised by priests of the Celtic tradition invited from Iona by King Oswald. Lindisfarne and other important Bernician monasteries, such as Whitby, were essentially satellites of Iona and bastions of Celtic Christianity. They formed part of the familia of the Columban Church, whose influence stretched across much of northern Britain. By contrast, the southern English kingdoms had received Christian baptism via missionaries sent directly from Rome in 597 under the leadership of Saint Augustine. After gaining a foothold in Kent, the mission had consolidated its presence when Augustine became the first archbishop of Canterbury. It was Canterbury’s ‘Roman’ tradition that Edwin of Deira enthusiastically embraced after his marriage to a Kentish princess and into which his children were baptised. In this he differed from Oswiu of Bernicia, whose childhood baptism on Iona had made him a devotee of the Celtic Church. However, when Oswiu married Edwin’s daughter in 643, the situation at the Northumbrian royal court became rather awkward around Eastertime. The king and queen often found themselves celebrating Christ’s Resurrection on different Sundays, a situation so absurd that Oswiu eventually took steps to prevent it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.