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As the far most province of the Roman Empire, Christianity entered Britain in the first few centuries AD, with the first recorded martyr in Britain being [[Saint Alban]] (during the reign of [[Diocletian]]). The process of Christianization intensified following the legalization of the religion under Constantine in the 4th century, and its promotion by subsequent Christian emperors.

In 407, the Empire withdrew its legions from the province to defend Italy from Visigothic attack. Thus, Roman governmental influence ended on the isle, and, with the following decline of Roman imperial political influence, Britain and the surrounding isles developed distinctively from the rest of the West. The Irish Sea acted as a centre from which a new culture developed among the Celtic peoples, and Christianity acted centrally in this process. What emerged, religiously, was a form of Insular Christianity, with certain distinct traditions and practices. The religion spread to Ireland at this time, though the island had never been part of the Roman empire, establishing a unique organization around monasteries, rather than episcopal dioceses. Important figures in the process were Ninian, Palladius, and Patrick (the "Apostle to the Irish").

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{{returnto}} [[Europe]]