By the eighth and ninth centuries, Celtic churches and monasteries extended all the way from Iceland to Italy and eastern Europe. By the 8th century, the Franks were the most important of the Germanic tribes. In 754, Pope Stephen visited the Frankish ruler Pepin the Short and entered into an alliance in order to save Rome from the invading Lombards. This was the beginning of papal alignments with political governments that would begin to strengthen Rome’s power and influence. Pepin’s son, Charlemagne, who succeeded him as emperor made the deal of all deals with Rome. He proclaimed the Roman Church to be the only recognized church throughout the Holy Roman Empire and the Bishop of Rome in return crowned him Emperor of all the Holy Roman Empire on Christmas Day 800 AD in essence reconstituting the western Roman Empire. In return for being crowned emperor, Charlemagne set out to systematically destroy the Gallican Church (Celtic Church in Europe) by handing over control of all their churches and church property to the pope. This also marked the beginning of the the modern papacy. The Bishop of Rome was declared to be the head of all the Western Christian churches by Charlemagne and he began to proclaim himself as the head of all churches holding numerous church councils and issuing papal decrees.

Charlemagne set out to overhaul the Roman Church, the second time an emperor would do so. He gave the Roman Church its first mature liturgy in which he borrowed heavily from the Gallican Rite. Today all of the rites we are familiar with during Holy Week, such as he blessing of candles, impositions of ashes at the beginning of Lent, Maundy Thursday and the palm procession were all taken from the Gallican Church. He also tinkered with church doctrine and was responsible for introducing the controversial filioque clause to the Nicene Creed. All his tinkering combined with his efforts to create “one” church under the control of the Bishop of Rome created the impetus for the Eastern Orthodox Church falling out of communion with Rome in 1054 AD. The Orthodox Church refused to acknowledge the supremacy of the pope, like the Celtic and Coptic Churches.

By the turn of the first millennium, the Bishop of Rome faced another political reality and recognized the growing strength of the Normans. The Normans had destroyed the Lombard army in the last remaining kingdom, the Duchy of Benevento in northern Italy and with the Byzantines retaining control of southern Italy and the Moslems occupying nearby Sicily Rome recognized a need for a strong military ally. As the Normans came into Rome and defeated the small papal army, the Bishop of Rome struck an alliance with them to give them territory in Italy if they would expel the foreign invaders, which they proceeded to do. This alliance would affect Britain and Christianity there in the century to come.

When the Saxon King Edward the Confessor died in 1066 Harold Godwinson, his brother in law, who would be the last Saxon king, seized the throne. He immediately defeated the Norwegian King who had invaded England and laid claim on the throne as an heir to Edward. But the Norman Duke of Normandy also claimed the English throne because he was a cousin of Edward and actually the closest blood relative. Hearing rumors of a planned invasion that was being financed by the pope only made the Saxons and the Saxon Church more leery of Rome. The rumor subsequently became a fact in 1066 when William did invade Britain in an invasion encouraged and financed by the pope.

At first the Norman invasion was a positive thing for the Celts. William the Conqueror had brought with him many Celts from Brittany and much of the land that had been taken from them by the Saxons was restored to them. William was good for the Celtic Church. But 200 years later things changed. By the 1200’s the Roman church was very corrupt, but tied politically to France. The pope used this to his advantage for gain playing the two monarchies against one another. The Norman King Henry II and his son John were strong Roman Catholics but found themselves out of favor with the pope (multiple wives, accused of holding back some of the church taxes, wanted to make war with Philip of France a favorite of the pope, and border wars with the Welsh). John was despicable enough that he would marry off one of his illegitimate daughters to a Welsh prince under the pretense of making peace all the while he was planning an all out invasion against Wales, which was a Celtic Gaelic speaking nation and where the Celtic Church prospered and Rome had no influence there. The pope wanted England for its tax revenue and he wanted their churches. In order to avoid excommunication Henry ordered all the churches in England under the authority of the pope (Synod of Cashel in 1172). This was the second time a monarch had attempted to hand over churches in the country he ruled to Rome. They set out forcing people to convert to Roman Catholicism under the sword. History records a mass baptism in the sea by 10,000 Celts and Saxons who were forced under the sword to convert to Roman Catholicism. The Norman Conquest ultimately succeeded only in gaining control of the government of England in 1066, with Rome still unable to enforce her will in Wales, Scotland or Ireland where the Celtic Church continued.

By the early Middle Ages, the Church had retreated into the six Celtic nations, but didn’t go away as has been commonly written. There is written proof of the existence of the church in the early Middle Ages and beyond. Vatican records show lease agreements with Celtic churches in Ireland throughout the middle ages. The Celtic Church’s independence was documented in the Declaration of Arbroath, signed by Scottish nobles at Arbroath, Scotland, in 1320 and sent to Pope John XXII, who was in exile in Avignon, France. It outlines a separate line of apostolic succession completely independent of Rome, which Rome acknowledged and to this day has yet to dispute. The conclusion was very similar to that of the Council of Augustine Oaks 600 years earlier.

By the time of the Reformation the Celtic Churches had given up their church properties to lessen persistent persecution from Rome. Celtic worship continued in the homes of the Scottish Highlands, Outer Hebrides and in Wales where ancient traditions were maintained, Gaelic spoken and Easter celebrated at Passover.

By 1700’s most monasteries in Scotland, Ireland and Wales had shut down, but the 1700’s were also peaceful times for the church. Since the church had given up control of its church properties some 500 years earlier they were no longer seen as a threat to Rome and the Roman Church left it alone. It remained small and seemed to be settled into a niche serving the outer Celtic lands and the Highlands of Scotland. The sufferings which the Scots underwent at the hand of other usurping religions and corrupt monarchs only served to deepen their faith. Worship moved to oratories and home settings, a format that continues today. The historian A. C. Flick wrote about the church at this time and said, "No religion ever has been destroyed by persecution if the people confessing it were not destroyed." Although the church became less visible, it continues to this day, following the traditions that were given to us by the apostles and doing the work Christ commanded us to do.