World Timelines- The early Church in northern England

British Isles > England > Northern England AD 410-1066 Early medieval

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Carved whale bone box Carved whale bone box Carved whale bone box Carved whale bone box Carved whale bone box

Carved whale bone box

Casket right-hand end (replica) carved with unknown scene	Casket back carved with the Fall of Jerusalem
Casket front carved with Weyland the Smith (l) and The Adoration of the Magi (r)	Casket lid carved with scenes from Germanic legend
Casket left-hand end carved with the legend of Romulus and Remus
Larger image


	AD 700-750 Northumbria, England The carvings on this box tell stories from Germanic legends (Weland the Smith), Christianity (the Adoration of the Magi) and the classical world (Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf). It is also inscribed in Anglo-Saxon runic letters. The style of the carvings and the dialect of the inscriptions show it was made in northern England and demonstrates the international culture that flourished there at this time. It is known as the Franks Casket after Sir Augustus Franks who gave it to the British Museum. AD 700-750 Northumbria, England The carvings on this box tell stories from Germanic legends (Weland the Smith), Christianity (the Adoration of the Magi) and the classical world (Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf). It is also inscribed in Anglo-Saxon runic letters. The style of the carvings and the dialect of the inscriptions show it was made in northern England and demonstrates the international culture that flourished there at this time. It is known as the Franks Casket after Sir Augustus Franks who gave it to the British Museum. AD 700-750 Northumbria, England The carvings on this box tell stories from Germanic legends (Weland the Smith), Christianity (the Adoration of the Magi) and the classical world (Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf). It is also inscribed in Anglo-Saxon runic letters. The style of the carvings and the dialect of the inscriptions show it was made in northern England and demonstrates the international culture that flourished there at this time. It is known as the Franks Casket after Sir Augustus Franks who gave it to the British Museum. AD 700-750 Northumbria, England The carvings on this box tell stories from Germanic legends (Weland the Smith), Christianity (the Adoration of the Magi) and the classical world (Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf). It is also inscribed in Anglo-Saxon runic letters. The style of the carvings and the dialect of the inscriptions show it was made in northern England and demonstrates the international culture that flourished there at this time. It is known as the Franks Casket after Sir Augustus Franks who gave it to the British Museum. AD 700-750 Northumbria, England The carvings on this box tell stories from Germanic legends (Weland the Smith), Christianity (the Adoration of the Magi) and the classical world (Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf). It is also inscribed in Anglo-Saxon runic letters. The style of the carvings and the dialect of the inscriptions show it was made in northern England and demonstrates the international culture that flourished there at this time. It is known as the Franks Casket after Sir Augustus Franks who gave it to the British Museum.

	Length: 229 mm; Width: 190 mm; Height: 109 mm
	The British Museum PE MLA 1867,0120.1

Early writing

The early Church in northern England

The kingdom of Northumbria

Vikings in the north

Hanging bowls

International Viking trade

Viking craftsmen

	The early Church in northern England In around AD 626 Edwin of Northumbria was converted to Christianity by missionaries sent from Rome. However, after his death in 633 his successors renounced the religion. In 634 Oswald (about 604-42) invited Aidan, an Irish monk from Iona, to establish a monastery on Lindisfarne, off the Northumbrian coast. Irish monasticism had developed in warrior societies similar to that of the Anglo-Saxons and its rich and sophisticated culture appealed to the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy. At the Synod of Whitby in 664, differences between the Celtic and Roman branches of the Church were settled. The northern Church benefited from the rich mixture of Celtic and Roman traditions and in the late 7th and 8th centuries it experienced a flowering of religious art and culture. Great monasteries like Monkwearmouth and Jarrow became wealthy and respected centres of learning. Unfortunately it was their wealth, as well as their vulnerable sites on coasts and rivers, which attracted the ships of pagan Viking raiders in the late 8th and 9th centuries. The invaders eventually settled and accepted Christianity, but after almost a hundred years of pillaging much of the cultural legacy of the northern Church had vanished for ever. View this article in the Timeline Viewer (requires Flash Player 7)

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