The Roman Army and the Conversion of Northern Britain

The Christian church in late Roman Britain is usually seen as a largely urban phenomenon, but there is increasing archaeological evidence of a late Roman Christian ‘hot spot’ along Hadrian’s Wall, which seems to date from the time of the Theodosian reorganization of the northern defences of the British provinces, following the near collapse of Roman rule in 367. We also have evidence for the Christianization of the lands immediately north of the Wall from the late fourth century onwards. This article argues that this Christianization seems to be part of a deliberate policy by the imperial government to draw the British tribes north of Hadrian’s Wall more securely into the oikumene (the whole civilized Roman world, now further united by Christianity) as a means of securing the frontier. This article also examines how, as a by-product of this policy, the logistics chain running south from the Wall into what is now north-west England may then have served as a conduit for Christianity from the border region into Britannia proper, as well as exploring its later impact on the development of Christian Northumbria.