Editing Laurence of Canterbury (section)

==Early life==
Laurence was part of the Gregorian mission originally dispatched from Rome in 595 to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Christianity; he landed at [[Thanet District|Thanet]], [[Kent]], with Augustine in 597,<ref name=DNB>Brooks "Laurence" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref><ref name=ASE106>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 106</ref> or, as some sources state, first arrived in 601 and was not a part of the first group of missionaries.<ref name=Hindley36>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 36</ref><ref name=Brooks9>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' pp. 9–13</ref> He had been a monk in Rome before his travels to England,<ref name=DNB/> but nothing else is known of his history or background.<ref name=World59>Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 59</ref> The medieval chronicler [[Bede]] says that Augustine sent Laurence back to [[Pope Gregory I]] to report on the success of converting King Æthelberht of Kent and to carry a letter with questions for the pope. Accompanied by [[Peter of Canterbury]], another missionary, he set off sometime after July 598, and returned by June 601.<ref name=Blair63>Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 63</ref> He brought back with him Gregory's replies to Augustine's questions, a document commonly known as the ''[[Libellus responsionum]]'', that Bede incorporated in his ''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]''.<ref name=ASE>Lapidge "Laurentius" ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref> Laurence is probably the Laurence referred to in the letter from Gregory to [[Bertha of Kent|Bertha]], queen of Kent. In that letter, Gregory praises Bertha for her part in the conversion of her husband, details of which Gregory says he received from Laurence the priest.<ref name=Blair60>Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 60</ref> It is known that Laurence returned to England with [[Mellitus]] and others of the second group of missionaries in the summer of 601, but there is no record of Peter being with them.<ref name=Blair66>Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 66</ref>