Irish missionaries
A particular chapter in the history of Christianity from ad 610 onwards was written by Irish missionary monks (peregrini) who sought salvation by eschewing their homeland and security and flocking in large numbers to central Europe. They promulgated a Christian belief that was not based on the Roman organisation of the Church but, as Ingeborg Meyer-Schickendiek pointed out in her book Gottes gelehrte Vaganten (God’s Learned Vagrants), primarily aimed at commitment to the uncomfortable ideals of Christianity without being related to any specific purpose.
At first, the Irish were welcome guests for the secular rulers of central Europe because they brought with them a huge treasure trove of learning – ancient knowledge, the Greek language and book art and other forms of craftsmanship. However, the Irish form of Christianity finally went into decline after the Emperor and the Pope came together and unified the Church and the monasteries.
In the 19th and 20th century, militantly disposed Reformed Church historians held the view that this Irish “Rome-free” form of Christianity had been the forerunner of the Protestant Church.