I have been watching one of the ubiquitous cooking programmes that permeate our TV screens. On this occasion it was a celebration of the food of Sussex.

I went to Sussex some years ago; to be exact I went to Hastings. I went because it was the first place that offered me a job that would utilise my brand new qualifications.

From Hastings I went on to Leicester but, tempting as the quip might be, that was not why my first marriage failed. In fact it was more likely sacrificed on the altar of the NHS. OK, let's get it over with. "married in Hastings, repented at Leicester." Ho Ho what fun, bury the sadness and let's get on with life.

For the moment we will stay in Hastings. We lodged with a lady called Mrs.Machin who we referred to between ourselves as "The MacHin'. Clearly we had little to amuse us.

Hastings, whatever it is now, was Geriatricville in those days. And I was not then of that number. My companion however was a History graduate who was more than willing to educate me in the founding tales of the English nation.

I was drawn to the stories of Normans and Saxons and able to examine in situ their archaeological artefacts. I could enjoy them without the need to align myself with either of these semi-heathen parties. I was living in the land of the South Saxons but I came from an altogether more sophisticated society and from much further north that had emanated from the Holy Island of Iona.

Our only written sources for this period are Christian so we have no clear perception of the religion of these pagan invaders; though we may infer from Germanic legends, Icelandic sagas and archaeological grave evidence, that they did believe in an afterlife and that they followed some form of ritual and idol worship which they hoped would assure their success in war.

Superficially, there was no clear distinction between Christian and pagan belief and practice.and, given that they were mainly successful militarily against the native Britons, we might ask what incentive there was for Anglo Saxon kings to accept the Christian faith?

An Anglo Saxon king was a successful war leader or he was nothing. He had to have the strength and military prowess to lead his band to victory, reward his followers with booty and thereby suppress any rebellion within his own ranks. If he achieved these aims then who cared what his religious beliefs might be.

Ask yourself if the leaders of our present day political parties behave any differently. They don’t ‘do’ God either.

Actually, those who invaded and settled in Britain after the departure of the Roman army were in an unusual situation in early medieval Europe in that they were pagans occupying territory that was, nominally at least, Christian. The reverse was more common.

Throughout the 7th.Century in England there were many cases of kings who chose Christianity or paganism on the basis that one or other faith had rewarded or let down their predecessors in battle. Many were ambivalent like Raedwald of East Anglia and of the Sutton Hoo burial, who converted under the influence of Aethelbert of Kent but relapsed into paganism after the latter’s death. This in turn prevented Edwin of Northumbria from announcing his Christian conversion until Raedwald’s death. He owed his survival to Raedwald and it would have been bad manners to do otherwise.

In the end however, Christianity triumphed and by the year 700 AD. All English kingdoms were Christian.

The early Anglo Saxon invaders brought their religion with them but they brought no everlasting shrines. There might be sacred groves but there was no link with a world centre like Rome and no architectural building programme. Paganism versus Christianity was rather like the corner-shop grocer versus Tesco.

The Anglo Saxon king who accepted Christianity was buying in to a system which not only offered him a meaningful life and hope in the hereafter but, much more importantly, a developed bureaucratic system that would collaborate with him in sustaining his government and which would also admit him to the fellowship of European Christendom.

“The Champions’League.” Hooray!