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Huts on Holy Island
© Courtesy of Ian Britton, freefoto.com
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The Irish mission to Northumbria |
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664: The end of an era?
Boat off Holy Island |
Aidan died in 651. The next two bishops of Northumbria were also Irish monks appointed and sent by the abbot of Iona. For 30 years, therefore, the monastery of Lindisfarne was a daughter house of that famous Columban foundation. However, by 664, under King Oswald's successor, King Oswiu, a division had developed. The latter calculated the date of Easter in accordance with rules which the Roman party had come to regard as heretical. The situation in Northumbria was complicated by the fact that King Oswiu's wife (brought up in Kent) and one of his sons, the subking of Deira, followed Roman practice.
To resolve the issue, King Oswiu summoned a synod at Whitby in 664. At this, he decided in favour of the Roman Easter. The Irish missionaries who owed obedience to Iona could not accede to the king's demands and therefore left, taking some of their English disciples with them.
This, however, did not sever all links between Northumbria and the Irish. Many Anglo-Saxon monks who had been trained by the Irish chose to conform to the Roman Easter and remain in Northumbria. 
13th Century Parish Church on Holy Island, the Cradle of Christianity and only an island at high tide.
© Courtesy of Ian Britton, freefoto.com |
These stayed on good terms with their brothers who had decided differently. The latter travelled to Iona and then Ireland with their bishop, and eventually two monasteries were established there: Inishbofin for the Irish monks, and Mayo for the English. Mayo remained an English outpost in Ireland for over a century.
Many other Anglo-Saxons also chose to go to Ireland for study or to practise the monastic life there. The southern half of Ireland had already conformed to the Roman Easter, and many of the English went to a monastery there called Rathmelsigi. Equally, monks from the southern half of Ireland who were orthodox on Easter were able to remain in England. Thus although the direct link with Iona was severed, many contacts remained.
Words: Dr Clare Stancliffe
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