The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain, 600-800 Paperback - 2006 - 1st Edition

From the rear cover

Religion, Politics and Society in Britain
Series Editor: Keith Robbins

Throughout the history of Britain religion has been a potent and influential force, permeating social and political life at many different levels. Yet it has often been written about in restricted institutional terms without accounting for the ways in which religious belief and practice have been bound up with wider social and political developments. Religion, Politics and Society in Britain shifts the focus on this complex and fluctuating relationship and investigates the changing role of religion in British life from 600 AD to the present.

In the past, the early medieval history of England, Wales and Scotland has been considered separately for each province and the religion of each area has been studied in isolation from its society and politics. By contrast, in this new book. Barbara Yorke uses the Christian conversion of the different peoples of Britain as a framework through which to explore the workings of their political systems and the structures of their social systems. Because Christianity adapted to and affected existing religious beliefs and social norms wherever it was introduced, it proves the ideal medium through which to study these interrelated aspects of human society.