Christianity remains the most followed religion in the world today making up nearly a third of the worlds population. In 20, Christianity was the largest religion in England and Wales with 33.2 million people, equating to 59.3% of the population. Christianity has an enriched heritage and profound history, but one may be interested to know where the origins of Christianity began? Or what the history of conversion in the UK and, in particular, the English was? Conversion is the notion of persuading one to change their religion or beliefs. Some of the earliest data and research considering these questions date as far back to the Anglo Saxons spanning the late 6th and entire 7th and 8th centuries. This period of conversion of the English was caused and affected by a variety of factors ranging from the impact of Roman Christianity versus the Celtic impact. These factors included the mission of Augustine, the Celtic contribution from Gaul which was abl
e to influence areas such as Northumbria, and the Irish which also conducted its influence in Northumbria to spread ideas all over the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. However, the knowledge provided to historians on this topic is very limited and obtained from one central source; Bede. Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 73, is essentially our only narrative for this period of Anglo-Saxon history which of course aligns with the fact that there will a cloud of unreliability associated with the information provided. Bede uses earlier sources to reconstruct events of this period and many agree to the consensus this will be unreliable. There are a few other primary sources which will be analysed in this essay, but one must understand that the information available is not entirely accurate. This essay will assess the importance of the Celtic contribution on the conversion of the English versus the other factors leading to conversion.