Middle AgesIdeas & Belief Synod of Whitby 664 CENotable King Oswiu of Northumbria chooses the Roman over the Irish method of dating Easter. The decision tied the English church to Roman practice. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Complex language → Natufian villages → Oldest known bread → Agriculture begins → Irrigation → Uruk and the first cities → Cylinder seals → Writing (cuneiform) → Babylonian mathematics → Babylonian astronomical diaries → Thales and natural philosophy → Trial and death of Socrates → Plato's Academy → Aristotle's Lyceum → Alexander's conquests → Death of Alexander and the Hellenistic kingdoms → Seleucid Empire founded → Parthian Empire founded → Sasanian Empire → Crisis of the Third Century → Diocletian's Tetrarchy → Diocletian's Great Persecution → Edict of Milan → Christianity becomes Rome's state religion → Patrick in Ireland → Columba founds Iona → Synod of Whitby Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentbritannica.comSynod of Whitby (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickBookHenry Mayr-HartingThe Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeSynod of Whitby 664 explained ↗Editor's pick