Great English dates: AD664

The year English Christianity made a decision that would have consequences lasting almost a millennium

In 596 the missionary Pope Gregory sent a reluctant bishop, Augustine, to the court of Ethelbert of Kent to bring the ancient Roman colony of Britannia back to Rome. Augustine was startlingly successful, swiftly converting Ethelbert and founding a cathedral at Canterbury. Pagan Saxons retained their gods only for days of the week, Tiw, Woden, Thunor and Freya. But English Christianity was...