{
  "bookName": "HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS",
  "authorName": "BERNARD DE VAULX",
  "publisherName": "HAWTHORN BOOKS PUBLISHERS",
  "publicationYear": 2026,
  "chapterNumber": 4,
  "chapterName": "The Evangelization of Germany and Scandinavia",
  "pageFrom": 38,
  "pageTo": 47,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 38,
      "ocrText": "CHAPTER IV\nTHE EVANGELIZATION OF\nGERMANY AND\nSCANDINAVIA\nChristianity had already made a few foundations in Germany\nwhen the first organized mission arrived there in the middle\nof the seventh century. Certain bishoprics had, in fact, been\nfounded during the days of the Late Empire and had outlived\nit, e.g. Coire in the Grisons, Saben on the Italian side of the\nAlps, Augsburg, Trier the seat of one of the oldest bishoprics\nof the Roman period.\nHere and there in various regions, individual and obscure\nmembers of the Frankish clergy had crossed the Rhine. Some\nhad gone as far as the Danube basin. The first and perhaps the\nmost active of these, St Severinus, was at Astura (now\nStockerau) in 454. For thirty years he evangelized Bavaria and\nAustria, built churches and founded monasteries, for he had\ncompassion on sinners and on the poor and lived in the greatest\nausterity.\nEmmeramus evangelized Ratisbon (Regensburg). Eustace\nwho died in 640 continued the work of St Severinus among the\nBoiarii of Bavaria. Rupert became bishop of Salzburg,\nAmandus travelled throughout Flanders, Brabant, the Tournai\ncountry, the Beauvais region and then went to preach as far\naway as Carinthia.\nWhere did they all come from? We do not know the place"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 39,
      "ocrText": "GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA\n39\nof St Severinus' birth. Rupert was a Frank from the Worms\ndistrict; Eustace a Burgundian and also a disciple of St Colum-\nbanus. When the latter had been expelled from Luxeuil by\nThierry II, Eustace had succeeded him at the head of the illus-\ntrious abbey in the Franche-Comté which, with some six hun-\ndred monks within its walls, maintained celebrated schools and\nsent out colonies over a wide area. The appearance of Irish\nmonasticism on the scene during the period preceding the\narrival of the first missions in Germany should be noted. Not\nthat it directly shared to any great extent at least in the\npreaching of the Gospel; Irish monasticism preferred the\neremitical life and, in the course of his numerous journeys,\nSt Columbanus had principally in mind the founding of monas-\nteries. But the learning, virtues and asceticism of these\nmonasteries were of benefit to generations of monks in various\nplaces and notably in Northumbria whence numbers of mis-\nsionaries were to set out for Germany. On their arrival there,\nthey found the ground had been prepared for them to the\nsouth of the Main. The region over which paganism held\nabsolute sway began only to the north of this river.\nWe may wonder why the apostolic ardour of the Northum-\nbrians chose Germany. The answer is that the conversion of\ntheir island was now almost completed and the continental\nGermans were of the same race as the Angles and Saxons who\nhad invaded Britain and whose descendants some of these\nNorthumbrians were.\nThe first point of contact was in Friesland. In a sense this\nwas the result of an odd stroke of fortune. Wilfrid of North-\numbria during the early stages of a journey to Rome in 678\nwas forced to spend the winter in Friesland. While there he\nconverted several chieftains. He did not revisit the area but\nit was he who had provided the necessary stimulus. The mis-\nsionaries sent by his fellow countryman Egbert found no signs\nof Christianity surviving nor were they able to revive it. Two\nof them, Hewald the White and Hewald the Black, were put"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 40,
      "ocrText": "40\nGERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA\nto death by Radbod, king of Friesland, a fierce enemy of\nChrist.\nWillibrord (or Willibrod), another of Wilfrid's disciples, was\nmore fortunate. He converted the Utrecht region, founded two\nchurches and a school for the formation of a Frisian clergy.\nRadbod prevented Christianity from penetrating elsewhere.\nWillibrod, disappointed by his partial failure in Friesland, went\non to Thuringia where a Christian prince was in power, and he\nworked out for this principality a programme of apostolic\nactivity which he was able to carry out only in part. He did\nhowever have time to establish some of his disciples in various\ncentres. Then, weakened by old age, he scarcely ever left the\nabbey of Eisenach which he had founded in Luxemburg. It was\nhere that he died in 739. At about the same time, St Pirminus,\nwho may have come from Aquitania, preached in Alemannia\nand founded the monasteries of Reichenau (on an island in\nLake Constance) and Murbach. From these, numbers of monks\nwent forth to evangelize the neighbouring territories. When\nWinfrid, the future Boniface, appeared on the scene, several\ngenerations of his predecessors had therefore done a work of\npreparation which should not be passed over in silence.\nWinfrid was born in 675 in Wessex, the south-west of\nEngland. He was educated first at Exeter, then at Nursling near\nSouthampton, two small abbeys which, under the protection of\nTheodore of Tarsus, the pope's envoy, were devoted to the\nRoman spirit at least as much as to pure Irish monasticism.\nHis apostolic vocation was certainly indebted to this Irish\nmonasticism, but it developed in a Roman atmosphere. This\ndoubtless explains why he decided so early to place his missions\nunder the authority of the papaсу.\nAt least it is true that after his first contact with Friesland in\n716, he came away convinced that the apostolate of isolated\nindividuals could never establish anything great or lasting in\nthis country. He therefore suggested to Gregory II that the\nmethod adopted by St Gregory in the case of England should\nbe repeated. The pope agreed and on May 11th, 719, ordered"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 41,
      "ocrText": "GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA\n41\nhim to make a visitation of the German peoples. \"You shall\nno longer be called Winfrid,\" he added, \"but Boniface, the\ndoer of good.\"\nOn his return, Boniface undertook the reform of the Thurin-\ngian clergy created by Willibrod. In so doing, he found himself\nin conflict with his predecessor. We hasten to add that the death\nof Radbod, the pagan tyrant, had made it possible for the\nmissionaries to come back to Friesland, and Boniface joined\nWillibrod and under his orders worked for three years for the\nconversion of the Frisians.\nHe then went on to Hesse and founded there the monastery\nof Amöneburg whose influence rapidly brought about a number\nof conversions. When the pope was informed of these excellent\nresults, he summoned Boniface to Rome, consecrated him\nbishop and, when he set out again, handed him letters of recom-\nmendation to Charles Martel. From then onwards, the work\nof Boniface was to develop on a new and wider scale. Hitherto\nit had been purely missionary, it was now to organize and\ncreate Churches with the support of the Frankish monarchy.\nOn his return, he made a confirmation tour through Hesse,\ndestroyed the idols there and founded the celebrated abbey of\nFritzlar. Passing on into Thuringia, he began by establishing\na monastery at Ohrdurf near Gotha. But very soon Willibrod's\nmissionaries, supported by the political authorities in Thurin-\ngia, clashed with those of Boniface. Willibrod decided to with-\ndraw his men. Boniface, now sole master in the land, took\nadvantage of the fact to found a new Church. His success was\nso complete that Gregory II recognized it by sending him the\npallium.\nWith the help of monks summoned from England the new\narchbishop devoted all his care to the three abbeys of Fritzlar,\nOhrdurf and Amöneburg, which soon had novitiates for the\nreception of natives of the country. Their influence was so\nwidespread that Duke Hubert of Bavaria (c. 735) invited Boni-\nface to visit his country. As we have already seen, there were\nChristian communities there, bishops even, but of unequal"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 42,
      "ocrText": "42\nGERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA\nmerit. One of them was even suspected of idolatry. There, as\nin Thuringia, reform was necessary.\nBoniface went to the pope and asked for the powers he\nneeded. Once he had obtained them from Gregory III, he used\nthem promptly and vigorously. Of the four bishops then in\noffice, he kept only one, the bishop of Passau. Those of Ratis-\nbon, Salzburg and Freising he deposed and replaced by men\nof his own choice. Gregory's successor, Zachary, ratified every-\nthing he had done.\nHe installed another bishop at Fichstätt on the border\nbetween Bavaria and Franconia, appointed bishops-all of\nthem priests from Britain-to the sees of Würzburg, Buraburg\nand Erfurt. By the year 741, the hierarchy had been established\neverywhere from the Rhine to Bohemia.\nBoniface then wished to return to the evangelization of the\nFrisians, his original aim, constantly postponed but never for-\ngotten. The reform of the Church of Gaul, for which the papacy\nhad made him responsible, took him away for another ten\nyears. When this work was done, he went down the Rhine in\n753 (he was 79) accompanied by three priests, three deacons\nand four monks, on the way to Friesland. He visited the\nZuyderzee, spent the winter at Utrecht and, when spring came,\nset out northwards preaching the true faith and making a large\nnumber of converts. But the old Frisian fanaticism revived as\nvigorous as ever. On June 5th, a group of pagans attacked the\nmission at Dokkum, put Boniface to death and massacred\nmost of his companions. Some Franks came and took away\nthe bodies of the martyrs. That of the apostle of Germany was\nburied at Fulda, the monastery founded by his disciple, Sturmi.\nWhen Charlemagne came to the throne (771), the situation\nwas still much as it had been when Boniface died. The only\nnew victory for Christianity had been won by Gregory, abbot\nof Utrecht, in the part of Friesland to the west of the Lauwers.\nIndependent Friesland east of the Lauwers, then known as\nSaxony, the territory between the sea to the north, Hesse and"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 43,
      "ocrText": "GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA\n43\nThuringia to the south, the Rhine to the west and Swabia to\nthe east, remained under the domination of the violent and\nfiercely anti-Roman paganism of the Saxons. One of its idols,\nIrmino, they had glorified on the summit of the Eresburg,\nunder the form of a statue of Arminius, the destroyer of the\nlegions of Varus. As long as this barbarian worship remained\nintact there was little hope of Roman Christianity penetrating\nthis region and it could only be destroyed by force. Hence the\npart played by Charlemagne in this final phase of the con-\nversion of Germany.\nIn the second year of his reign he destroyed the Irminsûl.\nAt the time it was more important to master the Saxon forces\nthan to conquer Saxony. In any case, after the first campaigns,\nthe conquered troops were baptized en masse, the Westphalians\nat Paderborn (776). The division of southern and western\nSaxony into sectors which were to receive Christian mission-\naries was already in course of preparation when, in 778, Widu-\nkind, the champion of the resistance, placed himself at the\nhead of a rising which he persuaded the Danes to join, and\nadvanced as far as Coblenz, ravaging Hesse and sweeping the\nFrankish forces before him.\nCharlemagne replied with a show of force that brought his\narmies as far as the Elbe. His object was still the evangeliza-\ntion of the region. Ten years previously, a Northumbrian\nmissionary, Willehad, had converted the Frisians of the\nDrenthe. Charlemagne chose this exemplary apostle for the\nevangelization of the territory between the lower reaches of the\nElbe and the Weser-Wihmodia, where the population was\nlargely Frisian. Two years later, the Frankish troops suffered\na reverse and another rising resulted. Willehad survived it\nwithout injury but several of his helpers were martyred.\nCharlemagne countered with a policy of terrorization. In a\nsingle day he massacred 4,500 rebels at Verden. Draconian\npenal laws were promulgated. Sacrilege was punishable by\ndeath, and not only sacrilege but anyone plotting against the\nChristians or any unbaptized Saxon attempting to hide among"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 44,
      "ocrText": "44\nGERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA\nhis fellows or refusing to be baptized. The choice lay between\nsubmission, that is baptism, and death. Widukind eventually\nchose baptism and received it in 785 at Attigny-sur-l'Aisne.\nTen years of calm followed and the missionaries made full\nuse of them. Willehad returned to Wihmodia and established\nthe first Saxon bishopric at Bremen. Soon afterwards, Minden\nalso had its bishop. The Verden region was evangelized by\nmonks from Amorbach and the Münster area by an abbot,\nwhile in southern Saxony missionaries from the Church of\nEresburg preached the Gospel. But the old German spirit was\nstill only dormant and the defeat of a Frankish force in 793\nreawakened it with all that this meant in the way of hatred of\nCatholicism. The rebels pillaged the churches, massacred the\npriests. The same fate awaited the Saxon converts who refused\nto deny their faith. A number of them preferred martyrdom to\napostasy. The true faith therefore was already firmly based.\nFour campaigns were needed to bring peace to Saxony. It then\nbecame possible to organize the Church. It was divided into\nfour dioceses: Münster, Paderborn, Osnabrück and Bremen.\nLiudger, a Frisian, grandson of one of Willibrod's converts\nand who had been forced by the 784 revolt to take refuge in\nItaly, became bishop of Münster. Under Louis the Pious, the\neastern part of Saxony was given three dioceses: Hildesheim,\nHalberstadt and Hamburg.\nUntil the final pacification of the territory, the missionaries\nall came from monasteries situated to the west of the Rhine,\non the Frankish side. The foundations on the right bank only\nappeared in the last years of Charlemagne's reign, at Wisbek,\nMeppen on the Ems, at Corvey and Stavoren. A number of\nSaxons joined the Corvey community which became an active\nspiritual centre and was soon to share in the christianization\nof the Scandinavian peoples.\nThe Danes had taken part in the great rising of Wadukind.\nThey had then barred the Slesvig isthmus by means of an enor-\nmous earth wall to be safe from the repressive measures the"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 45,
      "ocrText": "GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA\n45\nSaxons had been obliged to endure. Louis the Pious took care\nnot to attack it. Behind this wall and as a reaction against\nChristianity, the worship of Thor had taken on a new lease of\nlife. The worshippers of the god carried his hammer round\ntheir necks in the form of an amulet and also underwent a\nkind of baptism which was a parody of the Christian sacra-\nment. Nevertheless, Christianity had penetrated their ranks to\na very small extent, it is true, and by methods which remind\nus of those we have seen at work throughout the Roman\nEmpire. Dorestad, a port on the Rhine delta, in an area\nchristianized under Frankish influence, was the starting-point\nof the road which went via the Slesvig isthmus and the Baltic\nand ended at Birka, the commercial centre of Sweden on an\nisland to the west of Stockholm. Christian merchants and in\nparticular Christian slaves came to this city in sufficient num-\nbers to form an embryo Christian community.\nYet it was not at Birka that the first contact was made\nbetween the Frankish missions and the Scandinavians, but in\nDenmark which Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims, though of\nGerman birth, entered as legate of Paschal III in 823 together\nwith the monks Halitgar and Willerich. The latter was bishop\nof Bremen. Their aim was to obtain the goodwill or better\nstill the conversion of the princes in the hope that their subjects\nwould follow them. But there were no persons of importance\namong the converts they baptized.\nIn 826 a new mission under the direction of the monk\nAnscar, entered Jutland. It had no greater success than had\nEbbo's. Three years later, a delegation from Sweden came to\nWorms to inform the Emperor that certain Swedes wished to\nreceive baptism. Anscar agreed to leave for Birka with a monk\ncalled Witmar. The king authorized them to preach and to\nbuild the first church in Scandinavia. But apart from the\nking's representative among the merchants and a few other\nprivate persons, Anscar's flock belonged entirely to the com-\nmunity of Christian slaves whose origin we have already\ndescribed."
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 46,
      "ocrText": "46\nGERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA\nOn his return to Frankish territory eighteen months later\nAnscar was consecrated bishop of Hamburg, and Gregory IV\nsubsequently divided Scandinavia between him and Ebbo.\nDenmark was Anscar's province and Sweden Ebbo's. A bishop,\nGauzbert, succeeded in remaining at Birka for some twelve\nyears. He was alone at first but shortly afterwards was joined\nby another missionary, yet no new converts were made. Rela-\ntions with the Swedes even became less cordial in the end.\nDuring a riot, Gauzbert's helper was killed, and he himself\nwas unable to remain at Birka.\nIn Denmark, Anscar was more fortunate, thanks to the sup-\nport of King Haarek who authorized him to build a church\nat Slesvig and another at Ribe. In 852, Anscar was once more\nat Birka together with the monk Erimbert. The small com-\nmunity of slaves had been without a pastor for some years but\nuntil Anscar's death, Birka had several priests-in-charge. Sub-\nsequently only the communities at Slesvig and Ribe survived.\nWe may wonder why such courageous and fervent pioneers\nwere unable to attract a larger audience. The reason is that\ntheir first foundations were composed almost entirely of\nforeigners-merchants and slaves. In Scandinavia, as in the\nWest as a whole, we may say that the native populations\nbecame Christian when the example had been set by sovereigns\nand public figures. It is the story of Clovis constantly repeated.\nBut among the Scandinavians, the first chiefs to be converted\nwere those who obtained kingdoms by conquest in christianized\nterritories. Marriages and alliances were sealed by baptism.\nGuthred, the second king of York, was baptized at the end of\nthe ninth century. Sigtrygg and Olaf, kings of Dublin, died\nChristians in the tenth century. Rollo, first Duke of Normandy,\nreceived baptism and his duchy at one and the same time in\n911. In all these cases, paganism began by evincing strong\nresistance to such examples although they were set by men of\nhigh rank. Eventually, however, it capitulated fairly quickly.\nThe Scandinavian territories properly so-called became\nChristian at a later date. In Denmark, the baptism of king"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 47,
      "ocrText": "GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA\n47\nHarald is shrouded in mystery. It is at least an established fact\nthat bishops (of German origin, it is true) represented the\ncountry at the Synod of Ingelheim (948), those of Slesvig, Ribe\nand Aarhus. The progress of Christianity continued to meet\nserious obstacles for almost a century. Then King Canute the\nGreat, who died in 1035, established regular relations with the\nHoly See and these were ratified by his nephew Sven Estridsen.\nViking princes, who had been baptized outside the\ncountry, established Christianity in Norway. Haakon the Good\ndid not show any great zeal. On the other hand, Olaf, son of\nTryggvi (995-1000) and, above all, Olaf the Fat (St Olaf,\n1014-30) were real apostles. At the end of the eleventh century,\nthere were three bishoprics: Trondhjem, Bergen, Oslo.\nIceland received missionaries brought from the Continent by\nthe Vikings. Paganism disappeared but after a long period of\nresistance. In the year 1000, the plenary assembly of the Ice-\nlanders decided that Christianity should be the only authorized\nform of worship.\nSweden's conversion followed a different, slower and more\nmysterious course and missionaries from outside the country\nplayed the leading part in it. The German Bruno of Querfurt,\nthe Englishman Osmund, are the best known among these.\nHere again, paganism proved tenacious especially in Uppland\nand Götaland, a southern province, where it did not surrender\nuntil the twelfth century."
    }
  ]
}