E X T E N S I O N THE FIRST MISSIONARIES The Angles are the subject of a story about Pope Gregory (b. 540 d. 604). One day he saw a group of fair-haired1 Anglo-Saxon children sold as slaves in the Roman market. Gregory asked information about them. When he heard that they were Angles, he replied with a Latin pun2 that in English is: Not Angles, but Angels . It was probably after meeting these children that he decided to convert3 the pagan Saxons to Christianity. In 597 Pope Gregory sent a group of monks to Britain. Augustine was their leader. They landed on the Isle of Thanet, in Kent. The king of Kent, Ethelbert, was pagan, but his wife Bertha, who came from France, was Christian. Ethelbert gave the monks permission to preach4 to his people and tell them about Jesus. They used an old Roman church in Canterbury, called St. Martin s. From that period on, Ethelbert and many other people became Christian, including men from the nearby6 kingdoms. Other monks, such as7 Patrick and Columba, travelled into Britain and Scotland to tell the story of Jesus and to make the people Christians. An English monk, the Venerable Bede (673-735) is still considered the most famous historian of his times and his writings are one of the most important sources of Anglo-Saxon history (see St. Gregory and St. Augustine (M. Pacher, 1483) Extension 7). 4. to preach: to try to persuade other people to believe in a particular religion. 5. nearby: near, close. 6. such as: for example. 1. fair-haired: blond. 2. pun: joke with a word which has several meanings. 3. convert: to make people change their religion. 55