Anglo-Saxon mission
Encyclopedia
Anglo-Saxon
missionaries were instrumental in the spread of Christianity
in the Frankish Empire
during the 8th century, continuing the work of Hiberno-Scottish mission
aries which had been spreading Celtic Christianity
across the Frankish Empire as well as in Scotland
and Anglo-Saxon England itself during the 6th century (see Anglo-Saxon Christianity).
The Anglo-Saxon mission began in the last decade of the 7th century in Frisia
, whence, Benedict
reminded the monks he urged to come to the continental missions, their forebears had come: "Take pity on them, for they themselves are now saying, 'We are of one blood and one bone with you.'" The missions, which drew down the energy and initiative of the English church, spread south and east from there. Almost immediately the Anglo-Saxon missionaries came in contact with the Pippinids, the new dominant family in Frankish territories. The earliest monastery founded by Anglo-Saxons on the continent is Willibrord
's Abbey of Echternach
(698), founded at a villa
granted him by a daughter of Dagobert II
. Pepin II, who wished to extend his influence in the Low Countries
, granted free passage to Rome
to Willibrord
, to be consecrated Bishop of Frisia
; Norman F. Cantor singles this out as the first joint project between Carolingians and the Papacy: "It set the pattern for their increasing association in the first half of the 8th century as a result of their joint support of the efforts of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries"
Anglo-Saxon missionaries to the continent include Saints Wilfrid
, Willibrord
, Willehad, Lebuin, Liudger, Ewald and Suidbert.
Notable among these missionaries is Saint Boniface
who was active in the area of Fulda
(modern Hesse
), establishing or re-establishing the bishoprics of Erfurt
, Würzburg
, Büraburg
, as well as Eichstätt
, Regensburg
, Augsburg, Freising, Passau and Salzburg (739) further to the south-east.
Saint Walpurga
and her brothers Saint Willibald and Saint Winibald assisted Boniface, Willibald founding the Heidenheim
monastery.
Anglo-Saxon missionary activities continued into the 770s and the reign of Charlemagne
, the Anglo-Saxon Alcuin
playing a major part in the Carolingian Renaissance
. By 800, the Carolingian Empire was essentially Christianized, and further missionary activity, such as the Christianization of Scandinavia
and the Baltic
was coordinated directly from the Holy Roman Empire
rather than from England
.
In the judgement of J. R. R. Tolkien
the Anglo-Saxon mission is "one of the chief glories of England", and "among our chief contributions to Europe
, considering all our history".
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
missionaries were instrumental in the spread of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in the Frankish Empire
Frankish Empire
Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom , Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland, was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century...
during the 8th century, continuing the work of Hiberno-Scottish mission
Hiberno-Scottish mission
The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a mission led by Irish and Scottish monks which spread Christianity and established monasteries in Great Britain and continental Europe during the Middle Ages...
aries which had been spreading Celtic Christianity
Celtic Christianity
Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages...
across the Frankish Empire as well as in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Anglo-Saxon England itself during the 6th century (see Anglo-Saxon Christianity).
The Anglo-Saxon mission began in the last decade of the 7th century in Frisia
Frisia
Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language group closely related to the English language...
, whence, Benedict
Benedict
Benedict is a masculine given name. It comes from the Latin benedictus, meaning "blessed".Benedict most commonly refers to Saint Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the Order of Saint Benedict and thereby of Western Monasticism...
reminded the monks he urged to come to the continental missions, their forebears had come: "Take pity on them, for they themselves are now saying, 'We are of one blood and one bone with you.'" The missions, which drew down the energy and initiative of the English church, spread south and east from there. Almost immediately the Anglo-Saxon missionaries came in contact with the Pippinids, the new dominant family in Frankish territories. The earliest monastery founded by Anglo-Saxons on the continent is Willibrord
Willibrord
__notoc__Willibrord was a Northumbrian missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands...
's Abbey of Echternach
Abbey of Echternach
The Abbey of Echternach is a Benedictine monastery in the town of Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. The Abbey was founded by St Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxembourg, in the seventh century...
(698), founded at a villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
granted him by a daughter of Dagobert II
Dagobert II
Dagobert II was the king of Austrasia , the son of Sigebert III and Chimnechild of Burgundy. The Feast Date of St Dagobert II is 23 December -Biography:...
. Pepin II, who wished to extend his influence in the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, granted free passage to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
to Willibrord
Willibrord
__notoc__Willibrord was a Northumbrian missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands...
, to be consecrated Bishop of Frisia
Frisia
Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language group closely related to the English language...
; Norman F. Cantor singles this out as the first joint project between Carolingians and the Papacy: "It set the pattern for their increasing association in the first half of the 8th century as a result of their joint support of the efforts of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries"
Anglo-Saxon missionaries to the continent include Saints Wilfrid
Wilfrid
Wilfrid was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Gaul, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and became the abbot of a newly founded monastery at Ripon...
, Willibrord
Willibrord
__notoc__Willibrord was a Northumbrian missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands...
, Willehad, Lebuin, Liudger, Ewald and Suidbert.
Notable among these missionaries is Saint Boniface
Saint Boniface
Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid, Wynfrith, or Wynfryth in the kingdom of Wessex, probably at Crediton , was a missionary who propagated Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He is the patron saint of Germany and the first archbishop of Mainz...
who was active in the area of Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
(modern Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
), establishing or re-establishing the bishoprics of Erfurt
Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
, Würzburg
Bishopric of Würzburg
The Bishopric of Würzburg was a prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire, located in Lower Franconia, around the city of Würzburg, Germany. Würzburg was a diocese from 743. In the 18th century, its bishop was often also Bishop of Bamberg...
, Büraburg
Büraburg
Büraburg is a prominent hill with historic significance, overlooking the Eder river near the town of Fritzlar in northern Hesse .In 723 AD the Anglo-Saxon missionary Winfrid – later called St...
, as well as Eichstätt
Bishopric of Eichstätt
The Bishopric of Eichstätt was a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Centered on the town of Eichstätt, it was located in the present-day state of Bavaria, somewhat to the west of Regensburg, to the north of Neuburg an der Donau and Ingolstadt, to the south of Nuremberg, and...
, Regensburg
Bishopric of Regensburg
The Bishopric of Regensburg was a small prince-bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire, located in what is now southern Germany. It was elevated to the Archbishopric of Regensburg in 1803 after the dissolution of the Archbishopric of Mainz, but became a bishopric again in 1817.-History:The diocese...
, Augsburg, Freising, Passau and Salzburg (739) further to the south-east.
Saint Walpurga
Saint Walpurga
Saint Walpurga or Walburga , also spelled Valderburg or Guibor, was an English missionary to the Frankish Empire. She was canonized on 1 May ca. 870 by Pope Adrian II...
and her brothers Saint Willibald and Saint Winibald assisted Boniface, Willibald founding the Heidenheim
Heidenheim, Bavaria
Heidenheim is a municipality in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany.Heidenheim is an old German market town, which resides in the administrative region of Middle Franconia in the middle of Bavaria...
monastery.
Anglo-Saxon missionary activities continued into the 770s and the reign of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, the Anglo-Saxon Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...
playing a major part in the Carolingian Renaissance
Carolingian Renaissance
In the history of ideas the Carolingian Renaissance stands out as a period of intellectual and cultural revival in Europe occurring from the late eighth century, in the generation of Alcuin, to the 9th century, and the generation of Heiric of Auxerre, with the peak of the activities coordinated...
. By 800, the Carolingian Empire was essentially Christianized, and further missionary activity, such as the Christianization of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and the Baltic
Baltic region
The terms Baltic region, Baltic Rim countries, and Baltic Rim refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea.- Etymology :...
was coordinated directly from the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
rather than from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
In the judgement of J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
the Anglo-Saxon mission is "one of the chief glories of England", and "among our chief contributions to Europe
Culture of Europe
The culture of Europe might better be described as a series of overlapping cultures. Whether it is a question of North as opposed to South; West as opposed to East; Orthodoxism as opposed to Protestantism as opposed to Catholicism as opposed to Secularism; many have claimed to identify cultural...
, considering all our history".