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The origins of Christian commemoration in late antique Britain[Note 1. The term ‘Late Antique Britain’ is not the usual ...]
Author(s) -
Handley Mark A.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
early medieval europe
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1468-0254
pISSN - 0963-9462
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0254.00084
Subject(s) - antique , late antiquity , period (music) , history , ancient history , western europe , early christianity , classics , archaeology , art , european union , business , economic policy , aesthetics
The corpus of approximately 250 Christian inscriptions, dating from before c.700, from western Britain has been interpreted as the result of contact between Britain and Gaul. This article will show that Christian commemoration was neither a new, post‐Roman introduction into Britain nor the product of contact with Gaul. Rather, it will show that the inscriptions should be seen as part of a larger pattern of epigraphic practice also evidenced in Spain, Italy and North Africa during late antiquity. Where earlier scholars have argued that Christian inscriptions in Britain begin in the period AD 420–40, it will demonstrate that they are more likely to date from the late fourth century, a conclusion with important implications for the study of western Britain.