The history of Christianity in Sussex includes all aspects of the Christianity in the region that is now Sussex from its introduction to the present day. Christianity is the most commonly practised religion in Sussex.
Early history
After the Roman conquest of AD 43, the Celtic society of Sussex became heavily Romanised.Snyder.The Britons. p. 53.Cunliffe. Ancient Celts. pp. 260–267
The first written account of Christianity in Britain comes from the early Christian Berber author, Tertullian, writing in the 3rd century, who said that "Christianity could even be found in Britain."Snyder.The Britons. pp. 106–107 Emperor Constantine (AD 306-337), granted official tolerance to Christianity with the Edict of Milan in AD 313.Charles Thomas Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500.p. 47 Then, in the reign of Emperor Theodosius "the Great" (AD 378–395), Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire.R.M. Errington Roman Imperial Policy from Julian to Theodosius. Chapter VIII. Theodosius
When Roman rule eventually ceased, Christianity was probably confined to urban communities.Snyder.The Britons. p. 105. At Wiggonholt, on a tributary of the River Arun, a large lead tank with repeated chi-rho motifs was discovered in 1943, the only Roman period artefact in Sussex found with a definite Christian association. It may represent a baptismal font or a container for holy water, or alternatively may have been used by pagans.
Medieval Saxon
After the departure of the Roman army, the Saxons arrived and founded the Kingdom of Sussex in the 5th century, bringing with them their polytheistic religion.Jones. The end of Roman Britain. pp. 164–168Armstrong. A History of Sussex. pp. 38-40 The Saxon pagan culture probably caused a reversal of the spread of Christianity.Higham The English Conquest. p. 79. The written evidence for the foundation of a bishopric in Sussex comes from The Life of Wilfrid attributed to Stephen of Ripon and Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Their narrative says that [in about 681] Bishop Wilfrid, who had been expelled from Northumbria, began preaching in Sussex, which up until that point had remained widely heathen. In an obvious exaggeration the Life of St Wilfrid claimed that Sussex "was inaccessible, having a rocky coast and thick forests, which allowed it to maintain its independence". At this point, the local king, Æthelwealh of Sussex, was baptised in Mercia seemingly under the influence of its ruler, Wulfhere. Wulfhere became Æthelwealh's godfather. The date of the baptism is not known for sure but as Wulfhere died in 675, it could be no later than that year. Æthelred of Mercia, who was recorded as ruling in 681 succeeded Wulfhere. Eafe, Æthelwealh's wife, was an aristocratic Christian woman, who originated from Hwicce and it is possible that she may have had a strong influence on his decision to be baptised.
According to Bede, Sussex was the last area of the country to be converted.Bede.HE.IV.13 However it is unlikely that Sussex was wholly heathen when Wilfrid arrived. Some modern academics have questioned the narrative provided by Stephen and Bede. For example, Damianus, a South Saxon, was made Bishop of Rochester in the Kingdom of Kent in the 650s; this may indicate earlier missionary work in the first half of the 7th century. At the time of Wilfrid's mission there was a monastery at Bosham containing a few monks led by an Irish monk named Dicul. Contra to Bede and Stephen's narrative, the historian Michael Shapland suggests that it is possible that on Wilfrids arrival, the people of Sussex would already have been Insular Christians. Wilfrid was a keen supporter of the Roman rites and had no time for the Insular Christians practices. Thus Stephen would have suppressed any reference to the pre-existing church in his "Life of Wilfrid" and Bede in his "History". Therefore Stephen and Bede provide a biased historical account of Wilfrid's "successful" Christianization of Sussex".
Shortly after Æðelwealh granted land to Wilfrid for the church, Cædwalla of Wessex killed Æðelwealh and conquered Sussex. Christianity in Sussex was put under control of the diocese of Winchester. It was not until c. 715 that Eadberht, Abbot of Selsey was consecrated the first bishop of the South Saxons.
St Lewinna, or St Leofwynn, was a female saint who lived around Seaford, probably at Bishopstone around the 7th century. According to the hagiography of the Secgan Manuscript, Lyminster is the burial place of St Cuthflæd of Lyminster.Stowe MS 944 , British LibraryThe Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford University Press. In the late 7th or early 8th century, Cuthman, a shepherd who may have been born in Chidham and had been reduced to begging, set out from his home with his disabled mother using a one-wheeled cart. When he reached Steyning he saw a vision and stopped there to build a church. Cuthman was venerated as a saint and his church was in existence by 857 when King Æthelwulf of Wessex was buried there. Steyning was an important religious centre and St Cuthman's grave became a place of pilgrimage in the 10th and 11th centuries. In 681, Bede records that an outbreak of the plague had devastated parts of England, including Sussex, and the monks at Selsey Abbey fasted and prayed for three days for an end to the outbreak. A young boy with the plague prayed to St Oswald and his prayers were answered, and a vision of St Peter and St Paul was said to have appeared to the boy, telling him that he would be the last to die.
The church built at Steyning was one of around 50 minster churches across Sussex and these churches supplied itinerant clergy to surrounding districts. Other examples are churches at Singleton, Lyminster, Findon and Bishopstone. The jurisdiction of each minster church in the pre-Viking era seems to match early land divisions that were replaced by hundreds in the 10th or 11th centuries. It was not until 200–300 years after Wilfrid that a network of local parish churches existed in Sussex.
Various monastic houses were established in the Saxon period in Sussex including at Selsey Abbey, Lyminster Priory, Aldingbourne, Beddingham, Bosham, Chichester, Ferring and South Malling, near Lewes.
Norman and Angevin
Following the Norman Conquest of 1066, there was a purge of the English episcopate in 1070. The Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Selsey was deposed and replaced with William the Conqueror's personal chaplain, Stigand. During Stigand's episcopate the see that had been established at Selsey was transferred to Chichester after the Council of London of 1075 decreed that sees should be centred in cities rather than vills. 1094 saw the completion of Battle Abbey, which had been founded on the site of the Battle of Hastings after Pope Alexander II had ordered the Normans to do penance for killing so many people during their conquest of England. Monks also planned out the nearby town of Battle shortly after the conquest. Many of the monastic houses of this period were founded by Sussex's new Norman lords. Around 1081, the lord of Lewes Rape, William de Warenne and his wife Gundrada formed England's first and largest Cluniac monastery at Lewes Priory. The lord of Arundel Rape, Roger de Montgomerie established Arundel Priory in 1102. Sele Priory in the Rape of Bramber was founded by the Braose family by 1126.
Bishop Ralph Luffa is credited with the foundation of the current Chichester Cathedral.Stephens. Memorials. p. 47 The original structure that had been built by Stigand was largely destroyed by fire in 1114.
The medieval church also set up various hospitals and schools in Sussex, including St Mary's Hospital in Chichester (c. 1290-1300); St Nicholas' Hospital in Lewes, which was run by the monks of Lewes Priory; and the Prebendal School close to Chichester Cathedral.
The archdeaconries of Chichester and Lewes were created in the 12th century under Ralph Luffa.Hennessy. Chichester Diocese Clergy Lists. pp. 2–3
Sussex has strong links with the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller including at Shipley, Poling and Sompting.
In the 13th century, Richard of Chichester was canonised as a saint, and a shrine dedicated to him at Chichester Cathedral became an important place of pilgrimage. St Richard later became Sussex's patron saint.
In 1450 Adam Moleyns became the first and only bishop of Chichester to be assassinated. Troops had been gathered to send to the war in France, but bad weather delayed their departure, and troops raided several towns along the coast. Moleyns was sent to Portsmouth to pay troops their outstanding wages, but was beaten so severely by the mob of soldiers that he died.Michael Miller The Wars of the Roses chapter 37 accessed on 25 August 2007;Steven Muhlberger Beginning of the Wars of the Roses accessed on 25 August 2007;
There is very little evidence of Lollardy in Sussex in the 15th century. Only one person was burnt to death as a Lollard, Thomas Bageley. Goring argues that pockets of Lollardy existed in the High Weald for over a century before Henry VIII's break with Rome. Lollards tended to congregate near diocesan boundaries so that they could flee across the boundary to safety. Reginald Pecock, bishop of Chichester from 1450–1459, was accused of heresy and only saved his life by privately and publicly renouncing his opinions.
Early modern During this period Sussex has been described "as an anomaly: a southern county with a religious dynamic more in keeping with those of the north, connected to the Continent as much as the rest of the country, an entity that resisted easy co-option into Elizabeth I's 'little Israel of England'." Rye was probably the most Protestant of all Sussex towns, gaining a reputation as a 'godly commonwealth' well before the end of Henry VIII's reign. There was also strong opposition to the imposition of mass by Mary I.
The Reformation
As in the rest of the country, the Church of England's split with Rome during the reign of Henry VIII was felt in Sussex.Peter Wilkinson. The Struggle for Protestant Reformation 1553-1564: in Kim Leslie's. An Historical Atlas of Sussex. pp. 52-53 In 1535, the king appointed Sir Thomas Cromwell as vicar-general. Cromwell visited Sussex later in 1535, as part of his national census of churches and monasteries. The census was intended to enable the more efficient taxing of church property. The following year, an Act was passed that decreed the dissolution of monasteries with an income of less than £200 per annum.Stephens. Diocesan Histories. p. 165 This first phase was followed by the "voluntary" surrenders of the larger houses. Lewes Priory with Battle, was the first house in England, during the Dissolution, to surrender on a voluntary basis.Kitch. The Reformation in Sussex in Sussex Church History. p. 89 The monks surrendered the house in November 1537 in return for either being given a small pension or a living as a priest. The site and possessions of Lewes Priory were granted to Henry VIII's vicar-general, Thomas Cromwell, who passed Lewes Priory to his son, Gregory Cromwell. Sussex did not do too badly compared to the rest of the country, as it only had one person in 500 who was a member of a religious order, compared to the national average of one in 256.Kitch. The Reformation in Sussex in Sussex Church History. p. 88
In 1538 there was a royal order for the demolition of the shrine of St Richard of Chichester in Chichester Cathedral.Stephens Memorials of the See of Chichester. pp. 213–214 Thomas Cromwell saying that there was "a certain kind of idolatry about the shrine".