<P> In 595 , when Pope Gregory I decided to send a mission to convert the Anglo - Saxons to Christianity , the Kingdom of Kent was ruled by Æthelberht . He had married a Christian princess named Bertha before 588 , and perhaps earlier than 560 . Bertha was the daughter of Charibert I , one of the Merovingian kings of the Franks . As one of the conditions of her marriage she had brought a bishop named Liudhard with her to Kent as her chaplain . They restored a church in Canterbury that dated to Roman times , possibly the present - day St Martin 's Church . Æthelberht was at that time a pagan , but he allowed his wife freedom of worship . Liudhard does not appear to have made many converts among the Anglo - Saxons , and if not for the discovery of a gold coin bearing the inscription Leudardus Eps ( Eps is an abbreviation of Episcopus , the Latin word for bishop ) his existence may have been doubted . One of Bertha 's biographers states that , influenced by his wife , Æthelberht requested Pope Gregory to send missionaries . The historian Ian Wood feels that the initiative came from the Kentish court as well as the queen . </P>
<P> In 595 , when Pope Gregory I decided to send a mission to convert the Anglo - Saxons to Christianity , the Kingdom of Kent was ruled by Æthelberht . He had married a Christian princess named Bertha before 588 , and perhaps earlier than 560 . Bertha was the daughter of Charibert I , one of the Merovingian kings of the Franks . As one of the conditions of her marriage she had brought a bishop named Liudhard with her to Kent as her chaplain . They restored a church in Canterbury that dated to Roman times , possibly the present - day St Martin 's Church . Æthelberht was at that time a pagan , but he allowed his wife freedom of worship . Liudhard does not appear to have made many converts among the Anglo - Saxons , and if not for the discovery of a gold coin bearing the inscription Leudardus Eps ( Eps is an abbreviation of Episcopus , the Latin word for bishop ) his existence may have been doubted . One of Bertha 's biographers states that , influenced by his wife , Æthelberht requested Pope Gregory to send missionaries . The historian Ian Wood feels that the initiative came from the Kentish court as well as the queen . </P>
who was sent to england to convert the pagan anglo-saxons
who was sent to england to convert the pagan anglo-saxons
missionaries
missionaries