page_title: Christianity in Medieval Scotland
section_title: Early Christianisation
hierarchical_section_title: Christianity in Medieval Scotland / Early Middle Ages / Early Christianisation
context_page_description: Christianity in Medieval Scotland includes all aspects of Christianity in the modern borders of Scotland in the Middle Ages. Christianity was probably introduced to what is now Lowland Scotland by Roman soldiers stationed in the north of the province of Britannia. After the collapse of Roman authority in the fifth century, Christianity is presumed to have survived among the British enclaves in the south of what is now Scotland, but retreated as the pagan Anglo-Saxons advanced. Scotland was largely converted by Irish missions associated with figures such as St Columba, from the fifth to the seventh centuries. These missions founded monastic institutions and collegiate churches that served large areas. Scholars have identified a distinctive form of Celtic Christianity, in which abbots were more significant than bishops, attitudes to clerical celibacy were more relaxed and there were significant differences in practice with Roman Christianity, particularly the form of tonsure and the method of calculating Easter, although most of these issues had been resolved by the mid-seventh century.
context_section_description: Before the Middle Ages, most of the population of what is now Scotland probably practised a form of Celtic polytheism. Evidence of Christian symbols and the destruction of the shrines of other religions, suggest that Roman occupation brought Christianity to the north of Britannia (the name they gave to the province under their control in the southern part of the island). From there it may have spread to parts of what they called Caledonia (roughly corresponding to what is now Scotland). After the collapse of Roman authority in the early fifth century, four major circles of influence emerged in Northern Britain. In the east were the Picts, whose kingdoms eventually stretched from the river Forth to Shetland. In the west were the Gaelic (Goidelic)-speaking people of Dál Riata, who had close links with Ireland, from where they brought with them the name Scots. In the south were the British (Brythonic-speaking) descendants of the peoples of the Roman-influenced kingdoms of "The Old North", the most powerful and longest surviving of which was the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Finally, there were the English or "Angles", Germanic invaders who had overrun much of southern Britain and held the Kingdom of Bernicia (later the northern part of Northumbria), which reached into what are now the Borders of Scotland in the south-east. While the Picts and Scots would have remained pagan, most scholars presume that Christianity would have survived after the departure of the Romans among the Brythonic enclaves, but retreated as the pagan Anglo-Saxons advanced.
  The Christianisation of Scotland was carried out by Irish-Scots missionaries and to a lesser extent those from Rome and England. Richard Fletcher argued that motivations may have included the example of St. Patrick, the idea of Peregrinatio and a growing interest in evangelism. In the sixth century missionaries from Ireland were operating on the British mainland. This movement is traditionally associated with the figures of St Ninian, St Kentigern and St Columba. Ninian is now regarded as a later construct and may have been the result of scribal confusion with the Irish saint Finnian. There was a church dedicated to him at Whithorn in the sixth century and from there St Kentigern seems to have created a new centre of worship at Govan or Inchinnan, from where Christian influence extended across the Strathclyde region. St Columba was probably a disciple of Finnian. He left Ireland  after being exiled, and founded the monastery at Iona off the west coast of Scotland in 563. From there missions were carried out to western Argyll and the islands around Mull. Later the influence of Iona would extend to the Hebrides. In the seventh century, St. Aidan went from Iona to found a church at Lindisfarne off the east coast of Northumbria. The influence of Lindisfarne would spread through the kingdom of Northumbria into what is now south-east Scotland. The result was a series of overlapping and informally organised churches. Iona emerged as the most important religious centre, partly as a result of the work of Adomnan, who was abbot there from 679 to 704. Although it is unclear whether the historic Columba did conduct missions outside of a small part of Dál Riata, Adomnan's Life of St. Columba elevated him to become the apostle of North Britain in general.
  The means and speed by which the Picts converted to Christianity is uncertain. The process may have begun early. Evidence for this includes the fact that St. Patrick, active in the fifth century, referred in a letter to "apostate Picts", indicating that they had previously been Christian, but had abandoned the faith. In addition the poem Y Gododdin, set in the early sixth century and probably written in what is now Scotland, does not remark on the Picts as pagans. Conversion of the Pictish élite seems likely to have run over a considerable period, beginning in the fifth century and not complete until the seventh and conversion of the general population may have stretched into the eighth century.
  Among the key indicators of Christianisation are cemeter
caption: An illuminated page from the Book of Kells, which may have been produced at Iona around 800
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