Ninian was probably the son of a Roman soldier stationed at Hadrian's Wall. After studying in Rome and Gaul, he travelled to Galloway to spread the Christian gospel. By 430 AD his followers had built the first Christian church in Scotland, at Whithorn.

The chronicle that records Pope Celestine I's order to Palladius is the first evidence of Christian communities in Ireland. There are some indications in our sources that Palladius reached Ireland and carried out missionary work there, but the later fame of St Patrick eclipsed that of Palladius.

Irish raiders enslaved Patrick, a Romano-Briton, the son and grandson of Christian priests. He escaped after some years, but eventually returned to become the first known Christian missionary active in Ireland. Later chroniclers dated his return to 432 AD, probably because they thought it could not be before Palladius, the first man appointed as bishop of the Christians living in Ireland. He is now the patron saint of Ireland.

The traditional date of 449 AD for the arrival of the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain is taken from the 'Ecclesiastical History of the English', completed by the Venerable Bede, a Benedictine monk, in 731 AD. It is almost certainly wrong, and other sources suggest that the arrival of Angles and Saxons was part of a process of conquest and settlement that began earlier, and continued until later.

Gildas, a British monk, (circa 504-570 AD) wrote that the Angles and Saxons received a great setback at Mount Badon, possibly somewhere in south west Britain, where they were defeated by the Britons. Gildas does not name the Britons' leader, but centuries later the battle has become associated with the name of the mythical King Arthur. While the battle itself was almost certainly a real event, the date of 516 AD is extremely uncertain.

Gildas, a British monk, wrote 'The Ruin of Britain', the only near-contemporary source for the collapse of Roman Britain and the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons. Gildas saw these events as God's punishment for the sins of the Britons. Although Gildas' life is generally dated 504-570 AD, some historians think his book may date from as early as the 490s AD.

After founding the monasteries of Derry and Durrow in Ireland, Columba - a Christian missionary - exiled himself from Ireland, possibly as a penance for some misdemeanour. He founded a monastery at Iona, an island off the Isle of Mull, Scotland. Missionaries trained in Iona and its daughter houses converted much of Scotland and England to Christianity. For the next two centuries, Iona was to be the most famous centre of Christian learning in the Celtic world. Columba was made a saint.

The Convention of Druim Cett was supposedly held to settle the relationship between the king of Dál Riata, the Irish colony in what is now western Scotland, and the Irish kings of northern Ireland. Dál Riata was the small colony from which the Gaelic conquest and colonisation of much of Scotland began. The status of the Irish colony was reputedly confirmed, and rights to tax and levy agreed between the rulers.

Columbanus, from Leinster, spent many years in the monastery of Bangor (County Down) before deciding, like other Irish monks at the time, to exile himself from Ireland and embark on missionary work abroad. He went to Gaul (modern France) with 12 companions, and from there founded several influential monasteries in the Frankish and Italian kingdoms. He was made a saint.

At the instigation of by Pope Gregory I, Augustine led a mission to England in 596 AD, probably as the result of a request of Æthelberht, king of Kent whose wife was Christian. He arrived In 597 AD and Æthelberht gave him land in Canterbury to build a church. Æthelberht became the first Anglo-Saxon king to turn his back on paganism and become Christian. Augustine was made a saint, sometimes termed 'Augustine the Less' to distinguish him from the first St Augustine.

Æthelberht was one of the most powerful kings in England around 600 AD, although by the time he died he was losing dominance to Redwald, king of the East Angles. One of his lasting legacies was his law code, the first written in English.

Influenced by his Christian wife Æthelburh, Edwin brought a man called Paulinus to Northumbria. Paulinus, the last of the missionaries sent to Britain by Pope Gregory I, built a wooden church in the old Roman legionary headquarters in York, and baptised Edwin there. Edwin was the first Christian king in northern England.

Oswald, king of Northumbria, had brought Irish missionaries to northern England. He met his enemy Penda, king of Mercia, in battle at Oswestry (Shropshire). Like his predecessor Edwin, Oswald died in battle, fighting the pagan Penda and was therefore regarded as a Christian martyr. His relics were said to work miracles as far afield as southern Germany.

Oswiu, king of Northumbria, called a meeting at Whitby to settle which church practices should have precedence in his kingdom - those of the Celtic church (of Wales, Scotland and the north of England - as preached by Irish missionaries) or the Roman church (of the south of England). The matters discussed included how to calculate the date of Easter. It was decided to follow the practice of Rome. As a result, many Irish clergy left Northumbria and returned to Ireland.

The first Englishman to be chosen as archbishop of Canterbury, Wighard, had travelled to Rome - possibly for his consecration - and had died there. As his replacement, Pope Vitalian chose Theodore, a Greek-speaker from Tarsus. Although elderly, Theodore was in office for 21 years, and did much to strengthen the English church. He made Canterbury a major centre of learning.

Wilfrid became bishop of Northumbria shortly after the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD. His diocese was one of the largest in Christendom, extending from the Humber to Edinburgh and beyond. His refusal to agree to a division of his diocese was probably the reason for his expulsion by Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, and the archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore. He spent much of the next 30 years in exile, campaigning for his restoration.

Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, invaded northern Scotland - despite the warnings of his advisers - probably in an attempt to finally subdue the tribes on his kingdom's northernmost border. The army of the Picts under King Bruide (Ecgfrith's cousin) met him at a place identified as Dunnichen Moss (in Forfarshire) and inflicted a devastating defeat on Ecgfrith's army. As a result, Anglo-Saxon dominance in Scotland came to an abrupt end.

Willibrord, from Yorkshire, was inspired to do missionary work by St Egbert, an English priest living in Ireland. In 690 he began working among the pagan Frisians ( in the modern Netherlands). Pope Sergius made him bishop of the new see of Utrecht, and he worked as a missionary for 49 years.

Loingsech and his grandfather Domnall mac Áedo were the only two kings before the 9th century to be called 'kings of Ireland' by Irish annalists (historians). They were from the Uí Néill (O'Neill) group of dynasties in Ulster, and their claim to supremacy was probably more real than many others who claimed to be 'high kings'. Loingsech's forces were routed and he was killed during an invasion of Connacht.

Boniface (born Wynfirth) was educated in Exeter and Nursling (Hampshire) became a missionary in 716 AD. He began work in Frisia, assisting the elderly Bishop Willibrord, an English missionary (from Yorkshire). In 722 AD, Pope Gregory II made him bishop to Hesse and Bavaria (in modern Germany). His felling of the pagan shrine 'Thor's Oak' in northern Hesse is often regarded as the start of German Christianisation.

Ine became king of the West Saxons in 688, when his predecessor, Cædwalla, went to Rome to be baptised and to die. Ine was one of the most powerful of the early kings of Wessex, and is best known for his surviving law-code. He too resigned in order to travel to Rome to die.

Egbert was a Northumbrian who became a monk at Lindisfarne. He went to study in Ireland in the early 660s AD, and stayed there for almost his entire life. He never himself went to preach to the Germanic cousins of the English on the continent, as he had hoped, but he inspired many other missionaries to do so. Egbert died on Iona in Scotland. He was made a saint.

The Venerable Bede, who studied and taught for most of his life as a monk in Jarrow and Monkwearmouth (Tyne and Wear), was the author of books that were copied and studied all over Europe. His greatest book was the 'Ecclesiastical History of the English', a major source for the history of Britain in the immediate post-Roman period.

Boniface, an English missionary, taught and preached in Germany for many years. He was made Archbishop of Mainz in 745 AD and was able to reorganise the whole German church, including founding many bishoprics. The support of the Frankish rulers (in modern day France) was vital to his work. He many even have crowned Pippin the first Carolingian king in 751 AD. He resumed missionary work among the Frisians in 754 AD, but was murdered by them shortly afterwards. He was made a saint.

After ruling Mercia for 41 years, Æthelbald was murdered by his own bodyguard for reasons unknown. The ensuing civil war saw Offa emerge as his successor and become the most powerful of the English kings of the later 8th century. His name survives to this day in 'Offa's Dyke', the 80-mile-long earthwork which marked his border with the Welsh kingdoms.

After ruling the West Saxons for 31 years, Cynewulf was attacked by Cyneheard, the brother of a man Cynewulf had exiled. Both men were killed in the battle and the heroism of their bodyguards caused the event to be recorded in the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle', the oldest surviving piece of narrative prose in English.

Two papal legates, bishops George of Ostia and Theophylact of Todi, came to England to cement the ties between the English church and the papacy that were established by Pope Gregory I in 597 AD. Between them they visited all the kingdoms and held reforming councils. Offa, king of Mercia, was given an archbishopric for his lands in the short-lived metropolitan see of Lichfield.

Constantine I (789-820 AD) was one of the greatest kings in Scotland in the pre-Viking period. Later generations of Scottish monarchs claimed Constantine as a king of the Scots, but he seems to have been king of the Picts, a tribe that inhabited much of northern Scotland. The St Andrew's sarcophagus, one of the finest pieces of sculpture from Europe at this time, may belong to his reign.

The Viking attack on Portland in Dorset is the first of its kind recorded in the British Isles, including Ireland. The reeve of Dorchester (a local high-ranking official) went to greet them after they landed, perhaps accustomed to welcoming Scandinavian merchants. He was killed. Viking attacks increased in intensity over the coming decades, until the Vikings assembled a 'Great Army' equipped for conquest in about 865 AD.

One surviving contemporary record of the attack comes from Alcuin of York, an Anglo-Saxon scholar at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. He heard about the attack on the monastery in his native Northumbria and wrote: 'Never before has such an atrocity been seen.' He said it was God's punishment on the kingdom for its fornication, adultery, incest and greed.

Iona was attacked in 795 AD and again in 802 AD. In the third attack, in 806 AD, 68 monks were killed and most of the rest fled to safety in the monastery of Kells (County Meath, Ireland). They took with them the gospel book now known as the 'Book of Kells', a lavishly illuminated manuscript, which is one of the greatest treasures of Celtic art. 795 AD also saw the first Viking raids on Ireland.

Egbert, king of the West Saxons, had already established himself as the most powerful ruler in southern England. But in 829 AD he not only conquered Mercia, but forced the Northumbrians to submit as well. From then on, Wessex retained its dominance in England. Egbert's grandson, Alfred, initiated the creation of the single kingdom of England.

Most of the history of early Scotland is obscure, but it does seem that the reign of Kenneth MacAlpine, or Cináed mac Ailpín, (841?-858 AD) is of particular importance. Some sources suggest that around 843 AD the kingdom of the Scots and the Picts was amalgamated, and that from this date historians can speak of a 'kingdom of Scotland'.

Egbert, king of Wessex, had made his second son Athelstan king of Kent. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Athelstan fought a sea battle against the Vikings off Sandwich, capturing nine ships and putting the rest to flight. In the same year his brother, Æthelwulf of Mercia, was killed by a Viking raiding party.

Osberht and Ælle, two rivals for the Northumbrian throne, were engaged in battle outside York when a Viking force arrived. The Vikings - who had assembled a 'Great Army' equipped for conquest rather than raiding - took advantage of the opportunity to defeat and kill both kings. They also slaughtered many people both inside and outside the city, before moving south. The city became Yorvik, the Viking capital in England.

The Viking army that had captured Yorvik (York) in 867 AD used the area as a stable base for deeper incursions into England. They moved from Mercia into East Anglia, where the king of the East Angles, Edmund, was killed in the fighting. He was beheaded and his head thrown away to prevent proper burial. Much later, his head was finally reunited with the body, and both were buried in the royal residence, which later became known as Bury St Edmunds.

Dumbarton, 'the fortress of the Britons', also known as Alcuith or Clyde Rock, was at the centre of the kingdom of Strathclyde, in northern Britain. It was captured by Viking forces under Ivarr the Boneless and Olaf the White. They took booty and captives, including the king of Strathclyde, back with them to Dublin, their capital in Ireland.

A series of bloody clashes between the armies of the Vikings and the kingdom of Wessex, under Æthelred and his brother Alfred, took place at Reading, Ashdown, Basing and elsewhere. None of these battles were decisive. Æthelred died during the campaign and Alfred became king of Wessex.

In the winter of 873-874 AD, Vikings occupied the royal monastery of Repton, on the river Trent. Their army then moved south from Repton into Mercia where they were met by King Burhred, who was driven overseas and died in Rome.

Rhodri Mawr, also known as Rhodri the Great, was one of the powerful kings of early Wales, ruling over both Gwynedd and Powys. In 856 AD he had defeated a Viking army, but in 877 AD he was forced to flee to Ireland after the Vikings invaded Anglesey. He returned in 878 AD and was killed, although the precise manner of his death is unclear.

In January, the Vikings succeeded in taking Wessex. Alfred, king of Wessex, took refuge in the marshes of Athelney (Somerset). After Easter, he called up his troops and defeated the Viking king Guthrum, who he persuaded to be baptised. He later brought Guthrum to terms and created a settlement that divided England.

Alfred, king of Wessex, had retaken London and now brought the Vikings under King Guthrum to terms. The treaty between Wessex, Guthrum and the East Angles divided England. Alfred and Wessex retained the west, while the east (between the Thames and Tees rivers) was to be Viking territory - later known as the 'Danelaw' - where English and (Danish) Vikings were equal in law.

Alfred, king of Wessex, was the only English ruler to earn the moniker 'the Great'. At the time of his death, his kingdom was the only English realm that had preserved its independence from the Vikings. Under his son, Edward the Elder, the armies of Wessex began the conquest of the rest of England from the Vikings.

For seven years, the forces of Mercia were led by Æthelflæd, the widow of Æthelred of Mercia and the daughter of Alfred of Wessex. She built fortresses and pushed into the territory of the Danes (Vikings). Leicester submitted to her without a fight. She died just after receiving a formal offer of allegiance from the men of Yorkshire.

At the beginning of the 10th century, Ireland suffered a fresh wave of Viking raids. In this crisis, Irish king Niall Glundubh rallied all of Leth Cuinn, (the northern half of Ireland) and all the branches of the Uí Néill (O'Neill) accepted his authority. Decisive victory eluded him, so in 919 AD he advanced into Leinster with a coalition of the Uí Néill, the Airgialla and the Ulaidh, only to be routed by the Vikings on the outskirts of Dublin. Niall was slain along with 12 other kings.

Olaf Guthfrithson was king of the Dublin Vikings and commanded a large fleet. He joined with the kings of Strathclyde and the Scots to invade England. No one knows where Brunanburh is, but the sources all agree that Athelstan of Wessex, with an army of West Saxons and Mercians, inflicted a crushing defeat on the invaders.

Athelstan, king of Wessex, pushed the boundaries of his kingdom to their furthest extent, until he could rightfully be described as the king of England. In 927 AD, he took York (Yorvik) from the Vikings, and forced the submission of Constantine of the Scots and of the northern kings. The five Welsh kings submitted to a huge annual tribute and he also subdued Cornwall. In 937 AD, he defeated a combined invasion force at the Battle of Brunanburh. He was buried in Malmesbury Abbey.

Edmund succeeded his half-brother Athelstan, as king of England in 940 AD. He had taken part in the Battle of Brunanburh, in which an invasion by Dublin Vikings, Welsh and Scots was crushed, and continued his brother's struggle with Olaf Guthfrithson, leader of the Dublin Vikings. He was at the royal manor of Pucklechurch (Gloucestershire) when he tried to stop a brawl among his men and was killed.

Hywel Dda ('the Good') became king in Dyfed at some time before 918 AD, and he appears in English accounts as a supporter of the English kings. He managed to annex the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest Welsh kings of the period by beginning the written codification of Welsh law that went by his name.

Eric Bloodaxe, an exiled son of Harald Finehair, king of Norway, was invited to take over the kingdom of Yorvik (York) around 946 AD. He was welcomed by Athelstan, king of Wessex, who wanted Eric to protect his kingdom from Scots and Irish invaders. A hard and despotic ruler, Eric reputedly killed many of his brothers in disputes. His rule was repeatedly contested by Viking rivals, until he was eventually driven out of Northumbria and killed as he fled north.

Dunstan (909-988 AD) was an English monk who had already been abbot of Glastonbury, and bishop of Worcester and London, when he was appointed to the most senior position in the English church by Edgar, king of England. He led Edgar's reforms of the church, known as the '10th-Century Reformation'. Few English churchmen have been so influential. Dunstan was made a saint.

Edgar ruled England from 959 to 975 AD, but it was not until 973 AD - two years before his death - that he organised a solemn coronation and anointing. Afterwards he took his fleet to Chester, where six kings promised to serve him. A later tradition pictures these kings rowing him down the River Dee. They included the kings of the Scots, of the Strathclyde Britons, and of Gwynedd.

Edgar of England had two sons, and the elder, Edward, succeeded him in 975 AD. He was not popular and was treacherously murdered at Corfe in Dorset, probably by the followers of his half-brother Æthelred, who became the new king. Edward's body was buried at the convent of Shaftesbury, and miracles were witnessed at the tomb.

The heroic attempt to deny a party of Danes (Vikings) access to the Essex mainland at Maldon was celebrated by a famous Old English poem, 'The Battle of Maldon'. The poem describes how a chief magistrate named Byrhtnoth died, and how his followers gave their lives to avenge him. Eventually Æthelred paid 22,000 pounds of gold to rid his kingdom of these invaders.

For 20 years, Swein Forkbeard, son of the Danish king Harold Bluetooth, had taken part in raids on England. Finally he led a large-scale invasion and received the submission of the men of the Danelaw (an area in the east of England where Vikings and English had equality under the law) and then of the south. When London submitted to Swein, Æthelred fled to Normandy, leaving the whole country under Danish control.

In April 1014, at Clontarf, north of Dublin, Brian Bóru, king of Munster and undisputed high king of Ireland, fought the allied forces of the king of Leinster and the Dublin Vikings. The battle was won by Brian Bóru's army, but he himself was killed and buried in Armagh. Any hopes of Brian Bóru uniting Ireland were dashed, but the political power of the Vikings was finally broken.

The death of Swein of Denmark in 1014 was a temporary upset to the ambitions of his son Cnut (Canute) in England. But in 1016, Æthelred, king of England, died. His son Edmund Ironside made a truce with Cnut in which they agreed to divide the kingdom between them. Edmund died shortly afterwards and Cnut became king of the whole country. Three years later he became king of Denmark as well.

In 1005, three kings ruled in the area of modern Scotland: Alba in the north, Lothian in the south-east and Strathclyde in the south-west. These three parts were brought together by Malcolm II, king of Alba, who convincingly defeated the army of Earl Uhtred of Northumbria at the Battle of Carham. Malcolm then annexed Lothian from England and became the first king of a united Scotland, with boundaries approximately the same as the present day. He ruled until his death in 1034.

The rebel Macbeth's victory over Duncan was followed by a long and relatively successful reign, which seems to have born little relation to the events portrayed in William Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth'. Macbeth and his wife had a reputation for piety, and in 1050 he went on pilgrimage to Rome. In 1054, Macbeth was ousted by Duncan's son Malcolm III (1054-1093), but was not finally killed until the Battle of Lumphanan in 1057.

Edward II was better known as 'the Confessor' because of his extreme piety. He introduced more regular cultural and political contact with the continent than England had previously experienced, and the Norman influence in the English court increased during this period.

Edward the Confessor's reign was dominated by the ambitions of his father-in-law and most powerful nobleman, Earl Godwin of Wessex. The earl and his family played a significant role in defending the kingdom and in pacifying the Welsh borders, but in 1051 their quarrels with Edward's authority provoked him into exiling the entire family. They returned the following year, and in 1053 Godwin's son Harold acceded to the earldom of Wessex.

Harold, earl of Wessex, was crowned king of England on 6 January 1066, the same day as the funeral of his predecessor, Edward the Confessor. He was immediately faced with powerful threats from William, duke of Normandy, and Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, both of whom laid claim to the English throne.