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400 years after the birth of Jesus,
when the Roman empire collapsed,

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a new chapter began
in the history of these islands.

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What happened then
was more significant

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than the Battle of Hastings,
the Magna Carta,

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and the Reformation combined.

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This film will tell the story

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of the creation of the Britain
we live in today.

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It's a story about the immigration
of new people -

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pagans who created a new politics
in these islands.

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This is our land
and this is our kingdom.

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Our dead are still a physical
presence in that kingdom.

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But it's also a story
about saints and mystics,

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and the difficult struggle
to create a Christian community.

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The mission came extremely
close to total failure.

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And most important, it's the story
of how Christianity

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created a new vision of nationhood
for England and for Britain.

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It's the story of what made us
who we are today.

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It's a dangerous place out there.

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Your faith can be radical
and transforming.

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Whether you're a Christian or not,

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whether you feel completely British
or not, I believe that even today

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this ancient history has some
important lessons to teach us

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about who we are,
because 1,500 years ago

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Britain underwent
a religious revolution

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that transformed warring
pagan tribes into one nation,

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under one religion -

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Christianity.

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My name is Robert Beckford.

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For most of my life, I have studied
religion and politics,

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wondering whether religion
can help unite us

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or just further fragment
our society.

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As a child of Jamaican immigrants,
I've had to constantly reclaim

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and rethink British history
in order to challenge prejudice,

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ignorance and discrimination.

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Here is a classic symbol
of political discrimination -

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Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland.

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It's about exclusion and inclusion.

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Who's in? Who's out?

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Who has the right
to call themselves a citizen?

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Who belongs?

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It was 1,500 years ago,

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just as the Roman Empire
was collapsing,

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that these questions first
began to be asked,

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of who the British were
and what did it mean to be British,

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and at the very heart of it
was religion.

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But what would it mean for one
religion to unite a whole country?

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Would it create boundaries
as sharply-defined as this one,

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or something more welcoming, more
inclusive, more all-encompassing.

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History tells us that Christianity
first arrived in Britain

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from the Mediterranean
during the Roman occupation.

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It was an import,
like the roads, the army,

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the drainage and everything else.

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And its focus was in the cities.

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This was once the third-largest
city in Britain.

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By 300 AD, it very likely
even had a bishop.

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But Christianity certainly
wasn't a majority faith here.

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Right to the end, the pagan temples
were in use.

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So when the empire collapsed,
Christianity was vulnerable.

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Within a few decades,
towns like Verulamium

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had been abandoned
and in most of the country

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most of the basic things vanished,
like coinage and even writing.

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And along with the Roman Empire,

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Christianity
had largely disappeared.

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It only managed to survive
in a few isolated pockets,

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and this is one of them -
not here, in the Roman town,

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but over there.

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This great abbey is dedicated
to one of the only Christian martyrs

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we know from Roman times -

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St Alban.

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He was beheaded
in the third century.

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He's the first British martyr.

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First one to die
for the Christian faith

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that we know of anyway,
in this country.

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So that makes him hugely important.

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People have worshipped on this spot
for probably 1,750 years.

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That's an extraordinary length of
time and there is something

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about the focus of prayer
and devotion on this one spot

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over the ages that really does
seem to make it holy.

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The memory of St Alban survived.
But in most of England,

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Christianity almost
completely disappeared.

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Only in the West and in Ireland
did it remain a real force.

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Ireland had never been part
of the Roman empire,

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but just as the empire
was collapsing,

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Christian missionaries arrived
under the leadership of St Patrick.

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And here, Christianity took
a radically different form.

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It was devoted to austerity
and mysticism.

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At Glendalough, a hermit
called St Kevin

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built his cell high on a hill

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overlooking the lake,
close to nature and the elements.

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He was emulating the desert fathers
of early Christian Egypt and Syria.

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According to the Bible, the desert's
a holy place that people

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should go to experience
God directly,

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like Moses and the prophets.

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It's in the desert too,
that Jesus faces his temptations.

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Irish mysticism
was just as hard core.

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But here it was the weather and the
wilderness that drew the hermits.

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To concentrate his mind,
Kevin would immerse himself

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up to his waist in the lake.

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This was not a centrally heated lake.
It was a very cold mountain lake,

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and, Kevin in order to mortify
himself, to do penance

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and therefore to grow in self-denial,
he goes into the lake to pray.

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Hermits like Kevin became famous.

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Whole communities
grew up around them.

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I mean, these hermits eventually,
although they lived

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in their own little hermitages,
became a kind of community.

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Kevin moves down the valley
to the other end,

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where the land is flatter

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and fairly quickly, a monastic
settlement grew up which

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had hundreds of people in it as monks
and lots of other people who became

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part of its, if you like, its economy
and its survival structure.

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It became the seat of a Bishop
who became the spiritual leader

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of the wider Christian community.

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Celtic Christianity took off
in a spectacular way,

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all over the Western British isles,
creating a network of monasteries,

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which stretched from Iona in
the North to the bay of Biscay.

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These Celtic monks had links
with the Mediterranean

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and the deserts of Coptic Egypt.

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Against a background
of traditional Celtic culture,

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learning and literature flourished.

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What's more, these Celtic
monasteries sent out missionaries

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back onto the mainland of Britain.

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Westminster politicians are often
accused of seeing Ireland, Scotland

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and Wales as backwaters today, on
the fringes of modern British life,

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but 1,500 years ago,

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they were the dynamos of the
Christian conversion of Britain.

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But conversion was never
going to be an easy process,

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Christianity would have to struggle
to re-assert itself

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over what had become largely
a pagan island.

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After the collapse of Rome,
Britain had been overwhelmed

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by immigrants from Europe.

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Pagans, who followed
a gospel of violence.

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In the years after 400 AD
the Roman Empire collapsed.

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Into the vacuum came a large
number of immigrants from overseas.

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Most of them were Germans
from outside the Roman Empire -

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pagan Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

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They created an ethnic divide in the
island, between Celts in the West,

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and Anglo-Saxons in the East,
which has continued to this day.

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They carved out new kingdoms
for themselves in Britain,

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some of whose names
we still remember.

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Eventually these people would
create the nation we live in.

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This was the real beginning
of our multi-ethnic world.

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And these Anglo-Saxons brought
with them their own pagan gods.

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Gods who, in a sense,
are still with us.

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So what did they believe in?

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Well, they were a
pre-literate culture.

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No-one was writing anything,
so we don't have a direct knowledge

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of what they believed.

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What we have surviving
is the archaeology

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and the days of the week, named after
the pagan gods of the Anglo-Saxons.

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Tuesday named after Tiw,
Woden's day, Wednesday,

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and Tunor's day,
Thor's day, Thursday.

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So, we have names
but we don't know how,

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what people thought about these gods
and how they worshipped in detail.

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Sutton Hoo is the most spectacular
Anglo-Saxon cemetery in the country.

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It was probably the burial ground
for the kings of East Anglia.

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The biggest barrow
included a whole ship

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and produced grave goods
of barbaric splendour.

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They provide a dramatic insight
into their pagan beliefs.

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We're looking at a military
orientation to the religious beliefs,

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a focus on the power of kings.

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But the overall statement

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was perhaps of the dead person going
off to an afterlife in their ship,

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but also of the dead person residing
intheir ship within the mound.

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As holy defenders of their peoples,

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these kings had total confidence
in their pagan faith.

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The statement was, "This is our land
and this is our kingdom.

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"Our dead are still a physical
presence in that kingdom."

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So these mounds are bigger
and better than everyone else,

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reflecting the status of
the individuals buried here

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but also perhaps a sense that their
gods are better than everyone else,

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and their ancestors are superior.

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This was going to be a tough nut
for Christianity to crack.

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The Celtic Christianity
which had survived

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in the Western part
of the British Isles,

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was beginning to send out
missionaries.

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But here it came up against
a hugely rejuvenated paganism,

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backed by powerful immigrant
Anglo-Saxon kings.

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And into this finely balanced
situation came a third force,

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a Christian mission from Rome.

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This was a dramatic new development.

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In 597, the Pope himself sent
a party of Italian monks,

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led by a man called Augustine,

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to try and convert
the pagan Anglo-Saxons.

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In particular the King of Kent,
called Aethelberht.

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Aethelberht already
had a Christian wife,

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a Merovingian princess from France.

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He had given her this church
in Canterbury to worship in.

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But tolerating his wife's
faith was one thing.

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Actually taking it up was another.

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Amazingly, Aethelberht agreed.

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Augustine's conversion of
Aethelberht was a major coup.

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Now it's a big deal when
anybody changes their religion.

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But for a king, in this situation,
it was even more important.

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It would have major
political consequences

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which if he got wrong
would destroy his rule.

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Aethelberht's gods
had served him well.

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He was the most powerful
monarch in Britain.

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And yet he decided to abandon them.

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Well, I think Aethelberht's big
problem

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was that the French Merovingian
kings were very powerful.

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Now, if you want the support
of the Merovingian Kings,

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you might do well to share
their religion

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and they are Catholics.

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So I think Aethelberht was
interested in securing that support

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and in making his mark
as a king in England.

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So the King converts,

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and we've got records of
at least 10,000 people following.

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Yes, that's right,

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and in some senses Augustine
was very, very successful.

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But of course it's not a
process where you can be sure

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that people know what
Christianity is,

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in any form that we would recognise.

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the, the pre-existing Anglo-Saxon
religion is not exclusive,

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so it's only Christianity that
thinks conversion's a big deal,

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the pagan community
would simply think,

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"Oh, well, this is another rite,
this is another god,

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"we'll have a go
at this one as well."

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And for Aethelberht,
there were tangible benefits.

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As well as a church
where the cathedral now stands,

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Augustine founded a new
monastery outside the city

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where Aethelberht and his
successors would be buried in style.

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And Augustine's monks began working
for Aethelberht as clerks,

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even drawing up a law code for him,

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which is the oldest document
in the English language,

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the beginning of our common law.

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But the Celtic Christians
in the West

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rejected Augustine's
Roman authority.

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He really tried to almost bully them,

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persuasion is not really quite
a strong enough word, I think,

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in this particular case.

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And they eventually said, "No,
you are not a sufficiently humble man

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"for us to accept as our leader."

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They rejected it.

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The mission came extremely
close to total failure,

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only 20 years after
it had been established.

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The problem with Augustine's
Roman Christianity

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was that it was an alien force
imposed on the people of Britain.

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It was rejected by the
people he had come to convert,

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00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:05,279
and even by the Celtic Christians
in Wales and the West.

240
00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:06,999
But the Pope didn't give in.

241
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,639
Instead he made
an historic and vital decision

242
00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:14,079
which revolutionised
English Christianity.

243
00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:18,079
He decided to compromise.

244
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,239
Courageously, the Pope
told his missionaries

245
00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:31,239
not to smash the pagan temples.

246
00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:34,919
Now the order was to turn
them into Christian churches.

247
00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:37,519
CHURCH BELL CHIMES

248
00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:42,519
Pagan rites would not be demonised,
butadapted into Christian ritual.

249
00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:46,919
And that's what happened here.

250
00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:50,919
In Old English the word Harrow
meant pagan temple.

251
00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:55,559
A place of blood and sacrifice.

252
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,199
But on the top of the hill now,
there's a church.

253
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:03,199
What the Church is trying
to do with these beliefs
we're not exactly sure.

254
00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:06,959
They're probably
suffering some, adapting others,

255
00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:08,079
mixing and matching.

256
00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:11,919
It's when Christianity beds in
to the agricultural cycle,

257
00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,439
into the daily life of
the traditional rural folk,

258
00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,719
that we can get a sense
of that adaptation.

259
00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,479
So, for example,
the only source we have

260
00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:24,519
to tell us the name
of one of the pagan gods, Eostre,

261
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:27,319
is because it's preserved
in our name for Easter.

262
00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:31,319
The Christians adapt that name
into the Christian festival

263
00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,639
so it becomes adapted into
the Christian Church.

264
00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,879
But this revolutionary
compromise could only work

265
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,799
where the Christians
were in control.

266
00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:43,919
And in many places they weren't.

267
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:46,239
The missionaries
back then, remember,

268
00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:50,119
they faced an incredibly
hostile environment,

269
00:17:50,120 --> 00:17:55,519
chronic, endemic warfare, as these
tiny little kingdoms within Britain,

270
00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:00,239
pagan and Christians,
fought for power.

271
00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:07,279
For half a century after
Aethelberht died in 616,

272
00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,239
the religious future
of Britain was in the balance.

273
00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:12,879
Armies marched
the length of Britain

274
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:17,879
and each of them called on its own
god of battles in search of victory.

275
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,319
Even though Christianity
was a gospel of peace,

276
00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,319
success in battle proved that
your god was a more powerful one.

277
00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:29,999
And by the mid 630s,

278
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,999
the most powerful king in Britain

279
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:35,279
was the Christian
King of Northumbria.

280
00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:36,919
And here in the North,

281
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:40,919
he made a major contribution to
creation of a Christian nation.

282
00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:46,519
His capital was the stronghold
of Bamburgh in Northumberland.

283
00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,959
He was baptised not by
Augustine's Roman church,

284
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,759
but by Celtic monks from Iona.

285
00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:56,439
He invited them to
set up a monastery

286
00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,599
to consolidate the faith
in his Kingdom,

287
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,399
just across the water
from his castle,

288
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,399
at Lindisfarne, the Holy Island.

289
00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,759
Whether you're a Christian or not,

290
00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,759
Lindisfarne is one of the most
important places in our history.

291
00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,759
Then as now, it's cut off
from the mainland at high tide.

292
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,499
Like the Celtic monasteries it
provided the right mystical setting

293
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,159
for Christianity to flourish,

294
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:40,459
where monks could study and pray and
the faithful come to honour them.

295
00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:47,239
At high tide it was
the perfect safe haven,

296
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:52,599
at low tide evangelists could
set off to spread the gospel.

297
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:08,479
I think there is a sense
of the numinous here,

298
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,679
of awe of the saints,
which people do pick up,

299
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,119
and they sort of say...
they go in the church,

300
00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:17,719
and they say,
"There's something here I can feel.

301
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:19,439
"I feel it's easier to pray."

302
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:22,919
You've got the tradition, you've
got prayer clinging to the walls,

303
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:24,839
you've got all the health, you know,

304
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,839
which a secular world,
generally, is very bare of.

305
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:35,079
Lindisfarne became a powerhouse
of Celtic Christianity,

306
00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:39,439
driven by the engines of
austerity and mysticism.

307
00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:46,079
Its early leaders used to come here
to this small island to pray.

308
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,679
The most famous was St Cuthbert.

309
00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:57,079
Who, although he became a bishop,
followed the traditions of St Kevin.

310
00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:02,359
He would have a regime whereby he
could stand up to his neck in water

311
00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:07,079
for part of the night,
to actually cleanse himself,

312
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,639
but also he's a gifted
preacher and teacher,

313
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,479
he's a canny politico, and not afraid

314
00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:15,679
of telling how it is
to the kings of the day.

315
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:18,079
This is really quite
a complex picture then,

316
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,959
because Cuthbert isn't just somebody
who's separated from the world,

317
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,679
he sees himself as really very
much engaged in the world as well.

318
00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:26,039
he sees himself as really very
much engaged in the world as well.
Very much so.

319
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,679
You can imagine that when the king
out there in his castle in Bamburgh

320
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,679
looked out and saw
the cell of St Cuthbert,

321
00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:36,679
this emaciated, vulnerable,
Ghandi-like figure,

322
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,439
fasting at his gates,
reminding him, as the ruler,

323
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:42,919
that there are other things
than wealth and power.

324
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,279
But he seems to really
have upped the stakes,

325
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,439
he seems to be really doing
all kinds of spiritual activity

326
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,279
to fight big time evil
that he sees out there.

327
00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,679
Yeah, absolutely. Although he
wouldn't have espoused warfare,

328
00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,599
somebody like Cuthbert
becomes a spiritual warrior

329
00:21:57,600 --> 00:21:59,519
and that sort of spills over,

330
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:03,819
so you're taking the best
of the honour code of the
old barbarian pagan system,

331
00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:06,879
and actually turning that
at the service

332
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,879
of a new set of
Christian values and virtues.

333
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,879
Lift up your hearts.

334
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,239
Lift up your hearts.
(CONGREGATION)
We lift them to the Lord.

335
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:23,239
In the process, the pagan, warrior
culture of the Angles and Saxons

336
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:27,279
blended with the Christianity
of the Celts and Rome,

337
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:31,279
to create a brilliant fusion
in literature and the arts.

338
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,939
Anglo-Saxon poetry even
portrayed the crucifixion

339
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:40,319
as a Dark Age battle
in which a warrior Jesus

340
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,879
triumphs over his enemies.

341
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:55,599
And by 660, after a
last titanic battle,

342
00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:00,039
almost all of Britain
was under Christian rule.

343
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:04,039
Christianity had triumphed.

344
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,519
There's no arguing with the fact
that for a Dark Age king,

345
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:15,519
Christianity was a fantastic
force in creating a kingdom.

346
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,039
Christianity brought writing,

347
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,999
so you could have legal codes
and documents,

348
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,279
and begin to create a bureaucracy.

349
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:26,759
More important than that,
to be a Christian king

350
00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:29,439
was to be part of a
universal community

351
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,119
that spread across Europe
to Rome and beyond.

352
00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:37,119
So there were the added benefits of
trade and also cultural exchange.

353
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:42,839
To be a member of the Christian club
brought enormous benefits.

354
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:50,679
But even so there was still no such
thing as a united church in Britain.

355
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:55,439
Up here in the North,
the Celtic tradition was stronger.

356
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:59,439
But further south, Augustine's
Roman church was powerful.

357
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:02,039
There had to be a showdown.

358
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:07,439
What kind of church, what kind of
Christianity, what kind of nation,

359
00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:12,119
would emerge from the clash?

360
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,279
By 660 AD,

361
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,279
Christianity had established
itself across the whole of Britain.

362
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:29,839
But it was divided.

363
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:34,839
To the south, the Roman church
claimed its authority from St Peter.

364
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,919
In the north and west
the Celtic church remained loyal

365
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:43,799
to the traditions of
its indigenous holy men.

366
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,719
One was urban in outlook, one rural.

367
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,159
The two had different cultures,
different rituals.

368
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:54,159
And when you think that what divided
them most was the question of when

369
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,719
to celebrate Easter, the holiest day
in the Christian calendar,

370
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:03,839
you expect it all to end badly, with
bloodshed, torture, and burnings.

371
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:08,199
But this Dark Age
wasn't as dark as you might think.

372
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,239
That's not what happened.

373
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:14,739
Instead, in 664, the issue was
settled here in Whitby,

374
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,779
in debate before the King of
Northumbria, his sister St Hilda,

375
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:23,919
the Abbess of Whitby, and his
assembled nobles.

376
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:28,719
What was at stake was a vital
issue - would the church in England

377
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:33,479
continue to exist by itself on the
edge of things out in northern

378
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,719
Christendom, or would it join the
mainstream of the Western tradition.

379
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,719
The outcome
wasn't just a church issue.

380
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,719
But about the future of
England itself.

381
00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:50,039
These are real
issues for people at the time.

382
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:52,439
If you can't actually agree about the

383
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:56,739
date of the main focal festival of
your religious year, it shows

384
00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,959
you've got things that are
separating you.

385
00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:02,959
And how are they resolved,
what's the outcome?

386
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:07,959
Essentially the King makes the final
call and says, well much as I respect

387
00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:12,119
the Irish saints, when I get to the
pearly gates, it's gonna be St Peter,

388
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,879
a successor of Christ,
who's holding the keys.

389
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,879
He's decided to go European, to go
mainstream with all the benefits

390
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:21,039
that that brings.

391
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,079
So that swings it.That swings it.

392
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:24,639
So why does it matter today?

393
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,359
I think because it
marks the turning-point

394
00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:29,919
in how we cite ourselves -
being English

395
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:33,519
in the future is going to be part of
Europe, the mainstream.

396
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,959
It is a turning-point at which
you recognise you can't

397
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,759
do your own thing in your
neck of the woods,

398
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,759
you've got to be part of
something bigger and more universal.

399
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:53,839
From now on, English Christians

400
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,839
would look to Rome,
rather than the Celtic west.

401
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,799
And this kicked off a huge
expansion of church-building.

402
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,799
That must have transformed
the landscape. And society too.

403
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:12,839
Because all these minsters,
as they were called,

404
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,839
were learned communities of monks
and nuns.

405
00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,999
In 678, a Northumbrian aristocrat

406
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,359
founded the minster
at Jarrow on the Tyne.

407
00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:30,959
It became an important centre not
only of Christianity, but of trade,

408
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:33,799
literature and scholarship.

409
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,159
And it was to be the birthplace

410
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:40,159
of a whole new vision
of national identity too.

411
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:44,639
One crucial point about monasteries
like this is that they were

412
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,719
permanent institutions,
which meant they were

413
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:51,519
able to maintain a continuity
of purpose over generations.

414
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,439
And that meant that they could
act as cultural powerhouses,

415
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,439
places where cultural identities
were forged and preserved.

416
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,759
And nowhere more so than here at
Jarrow, the home of one of the most

417
00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:08,699
important people in English history,
without whom there might never have

418
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:10,719
been an entity known as England.

419
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:14,719
And his name was the Venerable Bede.

420
00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:25,359
We're so proud,
because let's remember, Bede,

421
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:30,479
he went into Wearmouth when he was
what, seven, he came here between the

422
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:35,039
ages of nine and twelve, he was here
when they laid that foundation stone.

423
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,159
He rose no higher than a common monk

424
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,639
and yet by the time he was 42,
he was considered

425
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:45,039
the most intelligent man in Europe.

426
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:48,439
And basically
when you think about it, he's so

427
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:53,439
important in our British way of life,
because he's the base of all history.

428
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,599
Writing in the monastery at Jarrow,

429
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,919
Bede was the first
historian of our nation.

430
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,599
His history of the church in England

431
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:07,039
is the oldest historical
text we possess.

432
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:11,039
But his approach to the subject
makes it even more significant.

433
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:15,599
Like all historians,
Bede had an agenda.

434
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:19,599
But in this case, that agenda
has been vitally important.

435
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,599
Bede's book is the Ecclesiastical
History of the English People.

436
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:28,199
And what's revolutionary about it
is that for the first time he

437
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:32,359
describes the English as a people,
the 'Gens Anglorum' in the Latin.

438
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:37,479
And crucially, they were
also a Christian people.

439
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,199
In page after page of his history,

440
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,999
Bede proclaims the Christian
unity of the English people.

441
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,279
There was still
no political unity at all.

442
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:53,279
England was a patchwork of warring
kingdoms.

443
00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:57,279
But Bede persists
in calling them all English.

444
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:09,199
That Bede invented the idea of a
Christian English people

445
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:10,719
is one thing.

446
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,679
But what does Bede's
Englishness consist of?

447
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:18,519
What does it mean to
us in Britain today?

448
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,519
It's a question I've been
asking all of my life.

449
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:28,799
The answer was given over a thousand
years ago right here on Holy Island.

450
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:32,319
Bede collaborated with the

451
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:37,319
monks here to produce a manifesto
of what they meant by Englishness.

452
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,759
But it's not a political manifesto.

453
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:45,759
It's a Christian work of art.

454
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:51,079
The Lindisfarne gospel
is a Latin gospel book

455
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:56,079
illuminated on Holy Island, probably
for use in the cult of St Cuthbert.

456
00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,519
The painting and calligraphy

457
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:04,519
were the work of one lone genius,
Bishop Eadfrith of Lindisfarne.

458
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:09,879
And these pages deliberately include
elements from all the traditions,

459
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,799
from Rome, the Celtic world and
beyond, which went to make up

460
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,399
this new Christian English identity.

461
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:20,399
The Lindisfarne Gospels was probably
the single-most symbolic

462
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,599
visual statement of
what they were trying to say.

463
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:27,999
This would have been the
most-seen book of its day.

464
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,279
You're probably not going to be
able to read, you're gonna come

465
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:36,279
to the high altar to see the tomb of
St Cuthbert, to see the book,

466
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,119
and there'll be strange
Latin letters,

467
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:44,119
there's even Greek,
but there are also

468
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:49,039
Germanic runic-style letters
and Irish ogham.

469
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:54,039
And then when you look at the way
in which these words just explode

470
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,919
across the page and become
an icon, an image in their own right,

471
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:02,959
and as your eye
penetrates into the ornament,

472
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:05,439
you'd see something that welcomed you

473
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,959
and spoke of your family,
your ancestry, your culture.

474
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,959
This is a period when people declare
who they are, what they believe,

475
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,359
by what they wear and so it's
personal display.

476
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:20,859
The animal ornament that you see
on the letters might be like the belt

477
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,599
buckle your great grand-daddy
had when in the Roman Army,

478
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:27,719
with his Germanic,
wild, barbarian ornament on it.

479
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:32,719
The swirls of the sea and the air
might speak to another woman

480
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:37,279
of the brooch that her Irish
grandmother gave to her.

481
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,199
And so there would be
something for everybody there

482
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,999
and even beyond your own experience.

483
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,679
If you look at these incredible
carpet pages

484
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:49,519
which preface the four Gospels.

485
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:53,519
My research has shown we were
actually using carpets as prayer mats

486
00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:56,199
here at the time that this was made.

487
00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,679
You've got something that's
part of the shared ritual

488
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:01,639
of the churches of the Middle East,

489
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:04,279
of Islam, that we're
participating in.

490
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,919
A book like this becomes a
symbolic statement of a harmony

491
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,719
that extends throughout
the whole world, from

492
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,919
the watery wildernesses of the west
to the deserts of Syria and Egypt.

493
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:20,199
So just visually they get a sense
that the faith that they have

494
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:23,479
isn't just national
but it's international,

495
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,279
it connects them
with other parts of the globe.

496
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,779
It's universal, it's multi-cultural,
and it's eternal...

497
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:33,839
you're part of the bigger picture.

498
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:37,359
I'm getting carried away,
all of this talk of inclusion,

499
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:41,359
but there was so much violence and
bloodshed associated with people

500
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:44,199
taking on the Gospels.
What's going on?

501
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,199
That's why the message is so
real, it's a dangerous place out

502
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:54,639
there, and your faith can be radical
and transforming, and this is an age

503
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:59,559
where kings would give up their
wealth and their power

504
00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:03,919
and become simple,
humble servants in the world.

505
00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:23,319
If anyone needs evidence to
disprove the idea of a Dark Age,

506
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:27,479
it's here in Lindisfarne
and it's gleaming with civilization.

507
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:31,639
But there's more to it than that.

508
00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:35,639
The Lindisfarne Gospels
make an extraordinary statement

509
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:38,199
about multi-culture.

510
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:43,199
In an age when much is being made of
an inevitable clash between East and

511
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:47,359
West, that Christianity and Islam
are supposed to be at war,

512
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,079
it's amazing,
it's actually a blessing,

513
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,199
to see how much we actually share.

514
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:57,799
I've discovered another way of
seeing England, as a more inclusive,

515
00:34:58,240 --> 00:35:01,479
more welcoming
all-encompassing culture

516
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:06,479
that's willing to borrow and adapt
ideas from the rest of the world.

517
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:09,519
This early English church

518
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:13,519
wasn't small-minded,
but the epitome of diversity.

519
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,439
(HORN SOUNDS)

520
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,879
In the 8th century,
this English golden age became

521
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,879
a beacon which shone not just in
these islands but across Europe too.

522
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:41,599
English missionaries masterminded
the Christian expansion

523
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,999
into what was then
pagan Austria and Germany.

524
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:06,759
When this imperial chapel
was begun in the 780s,

525
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,999
it was to be the
centrepiece of a new capital

526
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:14,999
for a new empire which extended
from Spain to Denmark and Hungary.

527
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:21,999
The ruler who ordered it was called
Charlemagne, Charles the Great.

528
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:27,959
Charlemagne wanted to revive the
glory days of the Roman empire.

529
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,399
The Holy Roman empire
was the result -

530
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,719
a new Christian empire

531
00:36:34,720 --> 00:36:38,719
that would rule on the continent
of Europe for a thousand years.

532
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,999
This church is almost a
direct copy of the one at

533
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:47,799
the former Roman imperial
capital at Ravenna in Italy.

534
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:51,559
It was the centrepiece
of Charlemagne's empire.

535
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,439
And at its heart?

536
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:56,359
An Englishman from York
called Alcuin.

537
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,759
'Alcuin was fundamentally
important to all this.'

538
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,039
The important thing was
that he was a spiritual guide.

539
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,399
It was a kind of combination,
if you like,

540
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:09,799
of life in the world
and the monastic life.

541
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:11,959
So when Charlemagne said things like

542
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:15,519
the real question for us is
are we really Christian?

543
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:18,919
He actually asked that
question, he wanted his court,

544
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:22,519
his people to address that question.
Alcuin was behind it.

545
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:25,719
What about Bede's idea of a

546
00:37:25,720 --> 00:37:27,799
Christian pluralism,

547
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:31,399
does Alcuin bring those ideas
here to Charlemagne?

548
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:32,799
Yes, I think he does.

549
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:36,799
Alcuin gave a great boost to
this notion that it wasn't just

550
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:40,559
a unified empire,
it wasn't an imperialist empire,

551
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:44,559
it's an association of Christian
peoples and what unites them

552
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:48,159
is their Christianity,
I think that's the message,

553
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:51,799
and it's a message which has
a resonance for Europe today,

554
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:55,119
the idea of a confederation
rather than an empire.

555
00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:58,199
So it's a kind of Christian EU,
before the EU.

556
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,759
I think one could put it that way.

557
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:05,759
It's amazing to think, less than
200 years after their conversion,

558
00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:10,979
English Christians had achieved so
much and wielded such a power

559
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:14,279
and influence over European affairs.

560
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:18,279
But then, at the very height of
their success, disaster struck.

561
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:28,799
Thousands of pagan Viking raiders
from Scandinavia began attacking

562
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,239
the Christian English kingdoms.

563
00:38:32,240 --> 00:38:35,799
Even Lindisfarne was sacked.

564
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:39,999
By the 870s, only the
Kingdom of Wessex survived.

565
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:44,679
It was ruled by a man who
would become a national hero.

566
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:49,239
His name was Alfred.

567
00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:53,239
There seems no doubt that
for Alfred, this wasn't just your

568
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:55,279
usual Dark Age squabble.

569
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:59,279
It was an apocalyptic battle
between the forces of good and

570
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:04,279
the forces of evil, a battle for the
very survival of Christian England.

571
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:16,959
By 878, pagan Viking armies
had almost destroyed

572
00:39:17,240 --> 00:39:19,799
the Christian English kingdoms.

573
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:23,719
In Wessex King Alfred the Great
was on the run,

574
00:39:23,720 --> 00:39:27,919
hiding out in the marshes
of Somerset.

575
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:30,879
Fortified by his Christian faith

576
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,759
he summoned his people and finally
brought the pagan Danish army

577
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:38,759
to battle at a place called Ethandun
here in Wiltshire.

578
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:44,839
The result was a victory for
Christianity over the pagan Vikings.

579
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:51,479
After the battle at Ethandun,
Alfred became a national hero.

580
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,479
The forces of evil were defeated.

581
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,719
In the aftermath of the battle,
the Viking leader,

582
00:39:58,720 --> 00:40:01,079
a vicious character called Guthrum,

583
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:04,079
became a Christian,
and Alfred his godfather.

584
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:07,399
But the battle achieved
something else too.

585
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:11,999
It started the process of the
political unification of England.

586
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:16,479
The Christian unity of the English
people that Bede had celebrated

587
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,999
at Jarrow was now
a political reality.

588
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,999
What was a religious and cultural
community now became one nation,

589
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:29,399
with one religion at its heart.

590
00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:34,479
Astonishingly

591
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:38,479
Alfred's thoughts on creating
this new nation still survive

592
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:42,479
because he wrote them down himself.

593
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:47,279
St Gregory's Pastoral Care
is 1400 years old.

594
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:52,039
It's a manual for Christian
government, and Alfred himself

595
00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:55,039
translated it into early English.

596
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:58,479
He then sent copies to the great men
in his kingdom,

597
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,479
with a preface in English
explaining why.

598
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:06,479
In the process, he was turning
Bede's idea of Englishness

599
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:08,799
into an English nation -

600
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:10,919
England.

601
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,639
That notion of Engelond,
which is a territory -

602
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:16,519
they may be Danish,
they may be Welsh,

603
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:19,599
they may be Bretons,
they may be Franks -

604
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:23,999
if they come and accept his lordship
and accept Christianity

605
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:29,759
they can be part of that kingdom,
for which he's proscribing

606
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,879
this wisdom coming from
Gregory's Pastoral Care.

607
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:39,599
For Alfred, anyone can
join the Angles and Saxons

608
00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:43,939
in a new community, united not just
by religion but language too.

609
00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:48,479
This is a new nation.

610
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:52,399
Some historians, in recent decades,
I think, have made quite a lot

611
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:56,399
of the nation idea, that this is
a kind of early form of nationalism,

612
00:41:56,760 --> 00:42:00,439
and I think there's an element
of that obviously,

613
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:02,999
because Alfred prioritizes
the language,

614
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,199
the translating into his language,

615
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:09,199
and talks about the English-kind
in several of his works,

616
00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:12,439
He uses that word,
it's a new coinage.

617
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:14,919
And if you like, you can see that

618
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:18,639
as prefiguring some kind of
national unity.

619
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:21,399
But is this religion
being used ideologically?

620
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,919
Is it a way in which they're beating
other people into submission?

621
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:26,679
Is that one way we could read this?

622
00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:28,799
It's possible to see it that way.

623
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,559
It's not the way
that most historians see it.

624
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:36,239
It's not the way that
the sources make it sound.

625
00:42:36,240 --> 00:42:39,599
You can be a Dane and you can have
your own Danish law

626
00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:43,599
for secular things, but if you live
in England in the 10th century

627
00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:46,959
you're a Christian
and you're endowing churches.

628
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:50,399
I think it's very hard to present
it too much in terms

629
00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:53,639
of knocking your...
knocking people over the head.

630
00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:55,799
I think people are buying in...

631
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:57,839
This is quite revolutionary for me,

632
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:01,439
and quite profound, because as
somebody who's African-Caribbean,

633
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:04,999
my understanding of Englishness
has been rather fixed and narrow.

634
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,239
To see that very birth
of the nation,

635
00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:10,759
you get this sense of fluidity
in terms of identity

636
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:11,999
and drawing people in

637
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,519
but the sense that you can be
both-and, rather than either-or.

638
00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:19,519
So it's not a fixed, exclusive
ideology, it's inclusive

639
00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:23,959
and it's flexible, and it's therefore
very attractive and I think it works.

640
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,719
The proof of the pudding, if you
like, is in these books

641
00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:30,399
that we see in front of us.

642
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:33,679
These are the ideas
that created not just England,

643
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,759
but the nation we know today.

644
00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:40,559
Our links to Alfred's
kingdom are deep -

645
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:44,959
we owe to it not just the monarchy
and the church but the jury system,

646
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:49,039
the common law, even the counties
we live in today.

647
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:53,839
As a political entity,
Hampshire is older than France.

648
00:43:56,720 --> 00:44:00,159
The saints of Lindisfarne
were finally buried

649
00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:04,159
in the cathedral at Durham.

650
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:07,879
But 1,200 years later
how much of their inclusiveness

651
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:11,279
remains in Britain?

652
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:15,279
Churches today, Anglicans,
Catholics, Pentecostals

653
00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:19,919
and the rest, often seem divided
along ethnic and cultural lines.

654
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:24,039
I've called it
Sunday morning apartheid.

655
00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:29,039
I'm not sure that the Lindisfarne
message of Bede, Alfred and Cuthbert

656
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:32,799
has survived as well
as these relics.

657
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:36,559
There is radical evil out there and
it's got to be faced and dealt with

658
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:38,439
in the power of the cross of Jesus.

659
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:41,359
People have found it difficult
to do those two things.

660
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:44,359
Cuthbert held them together, the
celebration of the goodness of God

661
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:46,359
and the overthrow
of the power of evil

662
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:49,239
and we need to follow that
for all it's worth.

663
00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:51,999
The legacy of Cuthbert inspires me
because I see him

664
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:55,999
attempting to build a church
community that is inclusive.

665
00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:58,239
When I look at
the established Church

666
00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:00,279
it seems quite homogeneous to me,

667
00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:03,439
Is that really a good example
of Cuthbert's legacy?

668
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:06,439
Clearly, Cuthbert was there
for everybody and with everybody

669
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:08,599
and the Church does its best
to be that today.

670
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:10,639
I'm not saying we're perfect
cos we're not.

671
00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:13,359
We'll put up our hands
and say, "We're getting this wrong,

672
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,359
"Let's do it better", but we are
there for everybody.

673
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:17,559
That's quite clear.

674
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:21,559
It's about trying to speak a word of
justice and mercy into a society

675
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:24,479
that is in danger of forgetting both

676
00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:28,979
I think Cuthbert would be a real help
in getting us to do that.

677
00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:35,479
In the centuries since
the time of Cuthbert,

678
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:39,279
the English went on to subjugate the
other peoples of the British isles

679
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:43,279
and to colonise the world.

680
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:46,199
But that Lindisfarne message
didn't die.

681
00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:49,479
It lay behind
the antislavery movement,

682
00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:51,839
the Victorian missions to the poor

683
00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:55,119
and the Christian
socialist movement.

684
00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:57,879
But it has to be struggled for.

685
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:01,879
Today, in a world where
asylum-seekers are vilified,

686
00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:06,479
where racism, Homophobia and
social exclusion are still common,

687
00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:10,839
where Islamic extremists
and Christians who are angry,

688
00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:12,479
vie for the headlines,

689
00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:16,979
I believe the message of Lindisfarne
is needed now more than ever.

690
00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:21,979
It has revolutionary potential,
because it teaches us that identity

691
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:25,879
is never fixed or given
but always changing

692
00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:27,959
and that the most creative times

693
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:32,959
are when these identities
are open to others.

694
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:39,919
But even more important,
those Dark Ages gave us

695
00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:42,719
a sense of national identity -

696
00:46:42,720 --> 00:46:46,919
one state, one language,
and, until recently, one religion.

697
00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:51,719
You don't find that in many
countries but you do in Britain.

698
00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:55,279
Because of what happened
all those years ago,

699
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,599
when out of the chaos and violence
which followed the collapse

700
00:46:58,600 --> 00:46:59,759
of the Roman Empire,

701
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:03,359
the peoples of Britain created
a new idea of themselves -

702
00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:07,359
a Christian identity
which has made us what we are today.

703
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:10,799
That's why I believe
that the Dark Ages

704
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:13,239
are the most important
in our history.

705
00:47:13,240 --> 00:47:19,239
Not only because they show us who
we were but also who we might be.

706
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:23,759
It's amazing to think that that
world of Bede and Cuthbert,

707
00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:28,959
the world of over 1,000 years ago,
can still speak to us in this way,

708
00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:33,199
but it's true.

709
00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:54,719
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