Editing Tonsure (section)

===History and development===
Tonsure was not widely known in antiquity. There were three forms of tonsure known in the 7th and 8th centuries:

* The [[Eastern Roman Empire|Oriental]] consisted of shaving the whole head. This was observed in the [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern churches]], including the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]]. Hence [[Theodore of Tarsus]], who had acquired his learning in [[Byzantine]] [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]] and bore this tonsure, had to allow his hair to grow for four months before he could be tonsured after the Roman fashion, and then ordained [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] by [[Pope Vitalian]] in 668.
* The [[Celtic tonsure]], the exact shape of which is unclear from the sources, but in some way involved shaving the head from ear to ear.<ref name="McCarthy">{{Cite journal|last= McCarthy|first= Daniel|year= 2003|title= On the Shape of the Insular Tonsure|journal= Celtica |volume= 24|pages= 140–167|url= http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/celtica/c24/c24-140-167.pdf|access-date=June 18, 2009 }}</ref> The shape may have been semicircular, arcing forward from a line between the ears, but another popular suggestion, less borne out in the sources, proposes that the entire forehead was shaved back to the ears.<ref>McCarthy, pp. 147–150</ref> More recently a triangular shape, with one point at the front of the head going back to a line between the ears, has been suggested.<ref name="McCarthy"/> The Celtic tonsure was worn in [[Ireland]] and [[Great Britain]] and was connected to the distinct set of practices known as [[Celtic Christianity]].<ref>McCarthy, p. 140.</ref> It was opposed by the Roman tradition, but many adherents to the Celtic tradition continued to maintain the old way well into the 8th and 9th centuries.<ref>McCarthy</ref> Some sources have also suggested links between this tonsure and that worn by [[druids]] in the [[Pre-Roman Iron Age]].<ref>Churchill, Winston S., "A History of the English Speaking Peoples The Birth of Britain", Book 1, "The Island Race", 1956, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, p. 55</ref><ref>Carver, 2009</ref>
* The [[Western Roman Empire|Roman]]: this consisted of shaving only the top of the head, so as to allow the hair to grow in the form of a [[Crown (headgear)|crown]]. This is claimed to have originated with [[Saint Peter]], and is the practice of the [[Latin Church]] of the [[Catholic Church]].