Motherfucker. Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in. 'We were English before we were Christian?'.
There's like three different ways this is wrong.
There's like three different ways this is wrong.
The archaeological record just doesn't bear this out. Documentary evidence heavily suggests that Christianity was practiced across Roman Britannia - a minor number pre-Constantine, significantly more afterwards.
(Hinton St Mary Mosaic/Dorset, Water Newton Hoard Coin/Cambs)
(Hinton St Mary Mosaic/Dorset, Water Newton Hoard Coin/Cambs)
Augustine of Canterbury arrived in 596CE to bring Christianity back to what is now England after waves of Germanic migration and subjugation. I've slept in the church he was associated with at Fordwich, Kent, founded in 620CE.
Nobody considered themselves English at this time.
Nobody considered themselves English at this time.
England isn't considered to have existed until 927CE, when King Æthelstan finally gained control over the last piece of what is now England from a Norse king, Sitric - Northumbria to be exact.
Christianity was verifiably dominant across what is now England by then.
Christianity was verifiably dominant across what is now England by then.
You might say that these Roman Britons weren't 'English'. By the fourth century, the original inhabitants of what is now England, for thousands of years, were well and truly enmeshed in Roman culture. Their descendants are still here. newscientist.com/article/mg2253…
'Sirvive the Jive' is Tom Roswell. He claims not to be a white supremacist, but has an alarming habit of speaking at the conferences of white supremacist groups - like the Generation Identity conference, and Scandza Forum events.
Take it from this 'Internet Historian'. There's a lot of BS out there peddled by guys with an agenda, who think that a catchy slogan & some cherry-picked evidence make for a compelling narrative, an income stream, and an effective gateway to extremism.
History is a battlefield.
History is a battlefield.
