who was sent to england to convert the pagan anglo-saxons
Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England In 595, when Pope Gregory I decided to send a mission to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity,[1] the Kingdom of Kent was ruled by Æthelberht. He had married a Christian princess named Bertha before 588,[2] and perhaps earlier than 560.[3] Bertha was the daughter of Charibert I, one of the Merovingian kings of the Franks. As one of the conditions of her marriage she had brought a bishop named Liudhard with her to Kent as her chaplain.[4] They restored a church in Canterbury that dated to Roman times,[5] possibly the present-day St Martin's Church. Æthelberht was at that time a pagan, but he allowed his wife freedom of worship.[4] Liudhard does not appear to have made many converts among the Anglo-Saxons,[6] and if not for the discovery of a gold coin bearing the inscription Leudardus Eps (Eps is an abbreviation of Episcopus, the Latin word for bishop) his existence may have been doubted.[7] One of Bertha's biographers states that, influenced by his wife, Æthelberht requested Pope Gregory to send missionaries.[4] The historian Ian Wood feels that the initiative came from the Kentish court as well as the queen.[8]
Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism As Emperor, Julian sought to turn the tide in the attempted suppression of non-Christian religions. As his first task he sought to reestablish the old Roman Pagan practice of incorporation of other religions. But now instead of allowing different cults using different names for the same or similar deities, Julian's training in Christianity and Imperial government influenced him to develop a single pagan religion. Thus, his ideas concerning the revival and organization of the old religion, shaping it into a coherent body of doctrine, ritual and liturgy[2] with a hierarchy under the supervision of the emperor was the hallmark of his reign.[36] Julian organized elaborate rituals and attempted to set forth a clarified philosophy of Neo-Platonism that might unite all Pagans.[37]