Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/conversionofeuroOOrobirich THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR STUDIES IN THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. An argument for the truth of Christianity. Seventeenth thousand. Popular edition, yd. net. Cloth, with gilt edges and gold lettering, 3s. net. (Longmans.) THE INTERPRETATION OF THE CHAR- ACTER OF CHRIST TO NON-CHRISTIAN RACES : an Apology for Christian Missions. Seventh thousand. In cloth, 2S. 6d. net; in paper, is. 3d. net. (Longmans.) STUDIES IN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. An argument. Complete edition, 2s. 6d. net; popular edition, 6d. net. (Longmans.) HUMAN NATURE A REVELATION OF THE DIVINE. An argument for the inspiration of the Old Testament. Sixth thousand. Popular edition, yd. net ; in cloth, IS. 3d. net. (Longmans.) STUDIES IN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Seventh thousand. Popular edition, yd. net ; in cloth, is. 3d. net. (Longmans.) STUDIES IN THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST. Seventh thousand. In cloth, 3s. net; in paper, yd. net. (Longmans.) OUR BOUNDEN DUTY. Addresses delivered in England, Canada, Australia, and India. In cloth, 3s. net. (Longmans.) A DEVOTIONAL PSALTER. Selections from the Psalms, omitting all passages containing imprecations on the wicked. An introductory note is prefixed to each Psalm, and all important readings of the R.V. are shown below. In cloth, is. net ; in limp leather, 2s. net. (Longmans.) THE MISSIONARY PROSPECT, including a survey of ancient and modern Missions. Complete edition, 25. 6d. net ; popular edition, in paper, is. net. (Partridge.) HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. Inter- national Theological Library. 8vo, 9s. (T. & T. Clark.) THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE CHARLES HENRY ROBINSON, D.D. I' HON. CANON OF RIPON AND EDITORIAL SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA 1917 All rights reserved • « • •* • • • *•••• •••••• • •" PREFACE The books dealing with missionary work outside the continent of Europe that have been published during the present generation are sufficient in number to fill a large library ; but during this period not a single volume has appeared in England, America or Germany, which gives a detailed account of the work done by the missionaries who first preached the Christian faith in the various countries of Europe. In view of this fact, no apolog}^ is needed for the pub- hcation of a book which attempts to cover this long- neglected ground. In collecting materials for the present volume I have tried to go back in every case to the earliest existing authorities, and in the foot- notes and the bibliography provided I have indicated whence the information given in the text has been obtained. I have not found it possible to arrange the chapters in a completely satisfactory chronological order. The missionary work in Europe began in the Balkan Penin- sula and in Italy ; but, as the whole of these countries did not become nominally Christian until Ireland and a large part of Great Britain had been evangelized, it seemed best to place the countries in the order in which Christianity became generally established as the religion of its peoples. For the opportunity of consulting some of the books to which reference is made, and of which few copies vi THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE exist, I have been indebted to the collection of books in various continental languages bequeathed by the late Lord Acton to the Cambridge University Library. I desire to express my gratitude to the Rev. Dr. Lawlor, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Dublin, and to the Rev. C. T. Wood, Fellow and Dean of Queen's College, Cambridge, for their kindness in reading the proofs of this book and for many helpful suggestions. The substance of several of the chapters has appeared in the pages of The East and The West, quarterly review. C. H. R. CONTENTS Preface PAOB V Synopsis ix List of Maps • xxiii Introductory 1 Ireland 46-^ Scotland 68 England 85 Wales 152 France 162 Italy 204 Balkan Peninsula 230 Spain 268 Austria 284 Switzerland 312 Belgium 318 Holland 331 Germany 348 Poland 433 Denmark and Icelai •JD . 437 viii THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE Norway- • PAGE 450 Sweden • . 471 Russia • . 485 Mediterranean Islands 530 The Jews • . 536 Conclusion . • . 571 Bibliography . . . 575 Index . . 609 SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY Missions in early times : their modern results, 1. Light thrown upon present- day problems, 2. Paucity of historical materials, 3. Arian Missions. Missionary biographies, 4. The title " Christian Missionary," 5. Mission-' ary saints : their witness to the world, 6. Early references to Christian missionaries : Statement by Eusebius, 7. The Didache : the title Apostle : Statement by Origen, 8. Missionary monks : Origin of monasticism r Spiritual decline of the monasteries in fifth century, 9. A monastic revival, 10. Development of monastic ideals : No other agency avail- able, 11. Limitations of their outlook: Their methods of work, 12. The material support of missionaries, 13. The example of St. Paul, and of later missionaries, 14. Self-supporting monasteries;' The payment of tithes, 15. The support of clergy in Norway. Nuns as missionaries, 16, St. Hilda. Missionary catechisms. Reverence for the Holy Scriptures, 17. Lack of vernacular Christian literature, 18. Vernacular translations of the Bible : Translations in the East and in the West, 19. The ex- clusive use of the Latin language. Early English translations, 20. The "Hehand " in Saxony. Other rehgious poems. French translations, 21. Religious plays. Probation of candidates for baptism, 22. The use of force as a missionary agency, 23. Authority of Augustine, Chrysostom, 24. Gregory. Protests by Hilary. Martin of Tours. Raymond Lull, 25. Las Casas. Use of force by Theodosius (391). Growth of a spirit of intolerance, 26. Deterioration of Christian society after 312, 27. Com- promises with paganism, 28. Their influence on the Christian Church, 29. Elaboration of Christian ceremonial. Attitude of missionaries towards heathen superstitions, 30. Two missionary religions. The worship of Isis, 31. Osiris. Mithraism. The date of Christmas borrowed from Mithraism, 32. Mithra a Persian deity. Mithraic teaching and ritual, 33. Rehgious quarrels of the Christians, 34. Obstacles to the spread of Christianity in the fourth century. Their counterparts in modem India, 35. Conversion of rulers preceded that of their subjects. Its resultant superficiaUty, 36. The earUest Christian converts, 37. Miracles attributed to missionaries. A miracle attributed to Columba, 38. Its suggested explanation. Lessons to be learned from the reported miracles, 39. Christian Apologies, "The blood of Christians is seed." Influence exerted by lives of Christians, 40. And by Christian com- munities. Methods of Raymond Lull, 41. . His efforts to effect con- versions by argument. Women converts in the early Church, 42. The spread of Christianity prior to 325. Harnack's four categories, 44. X THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE CHAPTER II IRELAND Ireland as a training-ground for missionaries. No Christian martyrs in Ireland, 46. Introduction of Christianity. Roman coins in Ireland. Irish bishops on the continent, 47. Visit of Palladius. Ireland's patron saint, 48. Sb. Patrick's own writings. Lives of St. Patrick. Biographi- cal details, 49. His sojourn in Gaul, 51. His return to Britain. His work in Ireland, 52. Doubtful statements by his biographers. Did Patrick visit Rome ? 54. Chronology suggested by Dr. Whitley Stokes, 55. Chronology suggested by Prof. Bury. Miracles attributed to St. Patrick. Statements by Tirechan and Muirchu, 56. Patrick's death (461). His teaching, 57. His character, 58. The Lorica. The keeping of Easter, 59. Introduction of the monastic system, 60. Use of the Latin language. Other contemporary bishops, 61. A national Church of Ireland. St. Bridget, 62. A revival of paganism. Effects of the Danish invasion, 63. Influence of the Druids. Superficial con- versions. Worship of Thor in Armagh, 64. MultipHcity of bishops. Irish monasticism, 65. CHAPTER III SCOTLAND Early traces of Christianity. Inscription at Kirkmadrine. Use of the word " Scotia," 68. Idols. St. Ninian. Candida Casa monastery, 69. Palladius in Scotland? 70. St. Ternan and St. Serf. St. Kentigern, 71. Visit to Wales. Meeting with St. Columba. St. Columba, 72. His life in Ireland, 73. The Irish life of Columba, 74. Arrival at lona. Visit to King Brude, 75. He revisits Ireland. References in Bede, 76. Columba's intercessory prayers, 77. Adamnan's description of his death, 78. Character of St. Columba, 80. Bp. Westcott on Columba's sympathy, 81. Efforts to evangeUze the Picts. Missionary settlements in the far North, 82. Orkney and Shetland Islands Visit of Columba (565). Irish monks in the Shetland Islands, 83. CHAPTER IV ENGLAND Introduction of Christianity. Early intercourse with Syria, 85. Statements by Clement and Martial. King Lucius, 86. Inscription in St. Paul's Cathedral. Lucius or Abgarus ? 87. Joseph of Arimathea. State- ments by TertulUan and Origen, 88. St. Alban, 89. Constantius at York, 90. British bishops at Aries, Sardica, and Rimini, 91. State- ments by Chrysostom and Jerome. British Christians at Jerusalem. Pelagius, 92. Germanus and Lupus, 93. The Saxon invasions. Mas- sacres of British Christians, 94. British hatred of Saxons, 95. Fastidius on the missionary obligation. Capture of London (568), 96. Gildas re British clergy. King Arthur, 97. Export of slaves from Britain. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS xi Gregory and the English boys, 98. Sources of information, 99. St. Augustine. Gregory's letter to Augustine, 100. Journey to Britain resumed. Bishop Liudhard and Q. Bertha, 101. Arrival of mission- aries in Britain. Interview with Ethelbert, 102. Arrival at Canter- bury. Baptism of Ethelbert, 103. Consecration of Augustine. Letters to Eulogius, 104. Ten thousand converts. Augustine's questions. Gregory's replies, 105. An AngHcan liturgy, 106. Idol temples not to be destroyed. Retention of heathen festivals, 107. More bishops to be consecrated. Conference with British bishops, 108.' Consecration of Mellitus and Justus, 110. Death of Augustine : his character and work, 111. Archbishop Laurence : his appeal to bishops in Ireland. Death of Ethelbert (616), 113. Expulsion of MeUitus. Extent of Augustine's influence. Conversion of King Eadbald, 114. Bishop Justus at Rochester. Redwald, king of the East Anghans, 115. Edwin, king of Northumbria. PauUnus. Baptism of Eanfled, 116. Pope Boniface's letters to Edwin. Edwin decides to become a Christian. Speech of Coifi, 117. Man's life like the flight of a sparrow. Destruction of heathen temples, 118. Baptism of Edmn, 119. Heathen reaction. Peace re-established by Edwin. Paulinus in Lincolnshire. Conversion and death of Eorpwald in E. Anglia, 120. King Sigebert. Bishop Felix, 121. St. Fursey. Sigebert enters a monastery, 122. King Anna. Edwin killed at Heath- field (633). Penda, 123. Heathen reaction in Northumbria, 124. James the deacon. King Oswald, Battle of Heavenfield (634). Oswald appHes to Scotland for a bishop. Bishop Corman, 125. St. Aidan. Lindisfarne, 126. Spread of the Christian faith. Bede's description of Aidan, 127. Aidan's missionary journeys, 128. His efforts to promote education : his miracles, 129. Oswald Mlled at Maserfield (642). Oswin. Death of Aidan (651). Disputes in regard to Easter, 130. Celtic monks leave Lindisfarne : their work in Northumbria, 131. Aidan and the ministry of women. Bishop Lightfoot on character of Aidan, 132. Aidan's share in the conversion of England, 133. End of the Celtic Mission, 134. St. HUda, 135. The Conversion of Wessex Extent of Wessex. St. Birinus, 136. The see of Dorchester. King Ken walch. Bishop Agilbert, 137. Bishop Wini purchases the see of London. Bishop Leutherius, 138. Bpp. Daniel and Aldhelm. Conquest of the I. of Wight (630). The L of Wight evangeUzed by Wilfrid, 139. The Conversion of Mercia Penda, king of Mercia. Introduction of Christianity. Baptism of Penda, 140. Penda 's attitude towards Christianity. Death of Penda (655). King Wulfhere, 141. The Conversion of Sussex Isolation of Sussex. Wilfrid in Sussex (681). Dicul, 142. Baptism of King Ethelwalch, Queen Ebba, and many others, 143. Wilfrid teaches his converts to fish. Selsey monastery. Baptism of 250 slaves, 144. Wilfrid leaves Sussex. Eadbert, Bishop of SeLsey (709), 145. The Conversion of the East Saxons Conversion of King Sabert (604). MelHtus at Canterbury. Reconversion of London, 146. Baptism of Sigebert by Bp. Finan. Murder of Sigebert. THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE Baptism of King Suidhelm, 147. Cedd in Yorkshire. Death of Cedd (664), 148. Kings Sighere and Sebbi. A heathen reaction. Bp. Jaruman in London (665), 149. Bp. Wini. Cornish crosses. Welsh saints. Irish saints, 150. Cornwall connected with Brittany and S. Wales. The Scilly Islands, 151. CHAPTER V WALES Early traditions. Bran, 152. Germanus in Wales. Illtut, 153. Christian Picts in S. Wales. Dubricius. St. David, 154. The wearing of the leek. Taffy. The monastery at Menevia, 156. St. Kentigern in Wales, St. Cadoc, 157. Christian refugees in Wales. Celtic Christianity : its independent character, 158. Celtic monks not necessarily celibates, 159. Early Welsh Christianity. Welsh bishops. Welsh saints. Virgin saints, 160. CHAPTER VI FRANCE Dniidism in ancient Gaul, 162. Bishop Dionysius. Persecution at Lyons and Vienne (177), 163. Martyrdom of Pothinus and Blandina, 164. Irenseus, Bp. of Lyons. The Church predominantly Greek, 165. Other Christian Churches. St. Symphorian. Ferreolus and Ferrutio, 166. The Passio Saturnini. Lyons. Story of the seven bishops, 167. St. Gatianus. St. Trophimus, 168. A Church at Aries in 253. St. Paulus. St. Satur- ninus, 169. St. Dionysius. St. Stremonius, 170. Abraham. St. Martial. See of Auxerre. Early martyrs, 171. The Thebaid legion, 172. Other martyrs. Council of Aries (314), 173. Athanasius in Gaul (336), 174. Mansuetus. Hilary writes against teaching of Arians, 175. Martin of Poitiers, 176. Monastery of Marmoutier. Martin's missionary labours, 177. His destruction of idols and temples, A sacred tree. The Celtic language, 179. Martin's fame in England : his Hfe and char- acter, 180, His belief in the powers of evil, 181, His visions, 182. Victricius. Honoratus of Lerins, 183. St. Germanus. Abbey of St. Victor at Marseilles, Invasion of Vandals, Alans and Sueves, 184. Attila (451), The Burgundians, 186. Conversion of the Western Bur- gundians and of the Eastern Burgundians, 187. Burgundians as Arians. Conversion of Clovis (496), 188. Organization of the GaUican Church. Columbanus, 189. His arrival in Gaul (573), 190, Difficulties and hard- ships. Monastery at Luxeuil, 191. Its independence of episcopal control. Foundation of other monasteries, 192. Deplorable condition of Gallic episcopacy. Witness of Montalembert, 193. Witness of Boniface. Causes of moral degeneracy, 194. Letter of Columbanus to Frankish bishops, 195. Columbanus expelled from Luxeuil : his independence of Roman authority, 196. Character of Columbanus : his denunciation of his enemies, 197. Celtic missionaries on the continent, 198. Their secular learning : their study of the Holy Scriptures : their penitential system, 199. Monasteries in Northern Gaul. Remains of paganism, 200. St. Valery of Auvergne. St. Riquier, St, Eustace, 201. The hermit Wulflaich. St. Omer. Irish missionaries in Brittany, 202. Difficulties under which missionaries to Gaul laboured, 203. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER VII ITALY Introduction of Christianity. Prisca and Aquila. Aristobulus, 204. St. Peter in Rome. Clemens and Domitilla. Bishop Soter, 205. Statement by Eusebius. Bishop Callistus. Christians of high rank, 206. Christian orators and grammarians. Statements by Tertullian and Dionysius of Alexandria. Christian soldiers in the Roman army, 207. Pachomius, 208. Christians in Pompeii ? Use of the Greek language, 209. A Latin Bible. The number of Christians in Rome in 251, 210. Spread of Christianity. Statement by Gaudentius. Slow progress in the country districts, 211. Christian burials in the catacombs. Sites of bishoprics (325). Christianity in north Italy, 212. Luxury in the Christian Church (366). Pagan ceremonies prohibited, 213. Decline of paganism in Rome, 214. Removal of pagan images. Destruction of temples. The belief in magic, 215. Capture of Rome by Alaric (410). Heathen gods v. Christian saints, 216. Zeus and Athena v. Krishna and Kali, 217. The sublimation of heathen teachings. Julian, 218. Paganism the state religion till 383, 219. The weakness of rejuvenated paganism. Survival of paganism in the country districts, 220. Benedict preaches to pagans in 529. Columbanus in Italy (613): his death at Bobbio (615), 221. St. Barbatus becomes bishop of Beneventum, 222. Constantine's influence on the Christian Church, 223. The compromise between paganism and Christianity, 224. Bp. Westcott on the character of Constantine. Results of his conversion, 225. Constantine v. Marcus Aurelius. The religion of M. Aurelius, 226. Diary of M. Aurelius. Christianity in the early Middle Ages, 228. CHAPTER VIII THE BALKAN PENINSULA Countries included in the Balkan Peninsula. Christian communities in 1 00 a. d. , 230. St. Peter in Greece. Dionysius of Corinth, 231. Christianity con- fined to the towns. Philippi. Thessalonica. Athens. Corinth, 232. Lacediaemon. Achaia. Byzantium, 233. The Peloponesus. Dalmatia. Salona. Mcesia, 234. Mcesians at Jerusalem. Council of Sardica (343). Invasion by the Goths, 235. Forcible conversions under Justinian, 236. Paganism in Constantinople. Bishop Cyrus. Baptism of pagans in Con- stantinople, 237. Kumanians in Volhynia and Moldavia, 238. The Conversion of the Goths Early history of the Goths, 238. Goths in the Crimea (268), 239. Eutyches, a missionary to the Goths. Christian captives as missionaries, 240. Ulfilas : doubts concerning his nationality, 241. Life by Auxentius. The teaching of Ulfilas, 242. His early life : his consecration as a bishop (341), 243. His work in Dacia : in "^Mcesia, 244. Pastoral life of the Goths, 245. Persecution by Athanaric (369). Audius, 246. St. Saba. St. Nicetas, 247. Frithigern, 248. Invasion by the Huns (375). Battle of Adrianople (378). Crossing of the Danube by Goths (380), 249. Ulfilas at Council of Constantinople (360). Was Ulfilas an Arian ? The Con- fession of Ulfilas, 250. His denunciation of heretics : his translation of the Bible, 251. The Gothic alphabet, 252. Disappearance of the Gothic Bible. Rediscovery of fragments. Character of the version, 253. A xiv THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE commentary on St. John. Ulfilas' missionary labours, 254. His death at Constantinople (381). The work accomplished by Ulfilas, 255. Testi- mony by Jerome, 256. Alaric, king of the Goths (395). Massacre of Goths in Constantinople. Bishop Unila, 257. Goths in Italy, in Gaul, and in Spain, 258. Testimony of Augustine, 259. Bulgaria Bulgarians in the seventh century. Introduction of Christianity (813). Cypharas, 259. Bogoris. Methodius paints a picture of the final Judg- ment. Baptism of Bogoris, 260. Letter from Photius. Forcible con- versions. Unauthorized missionaries. Bogoris applies to Pope Nicholas. The Pope's letter, 261. Baptism administered by Jews. The wearing of the cross. Abstention from work on festival days, 263. Self-defence by Christians, their obHgation to fight. Preparations for battle. The treat- ment of emigrants, 264. Social customs. Prayers for heathen forefathers forbidden. Rival claims of Photius and the Pope, 265. Reception of Greek bishops. Clement of Achrida, 266. Later historv of Bulgaria. A patriarch of Bulgaria (923), 267. CHAPTER IX SPAIN Traditions relating to St. James, 268. St. Paul in Spain. Roman civiHzation in Spain, Earliest Christian communities, 269. Basihdes and Martial. Judgment by Cyprian, 270. Early Spanish martyrs. Writings of Pruden- tius. Fructuosus. Thirty martyrs, 271. St. Vincent of Zaragoza. Council of Elvira, 272. Immorality and paganism amongst Christians, 273. Celibacy of the clergy. References to the Jews, Failure of attempts at reform, 274, Introduction of monasticism. Vigilantius denounces monasticism. Hosius of Cordova, 275. Invasion of Vandals and Alani (409), Arrival of the Goths (414). King Reccared, 276. Destruction of idolatry. The Gothic dominion in Spain, 277. Invasion by the Moors (710). Tarik. Treatment of the Christians, 278. Martyrs of Cordova (851). Civil wars, 279. Conquests by the Christians. Capitulation of Granada (1401). Baptism of 3000 Moslems. Persecution of the Moslems, 280, Nominal conversions to Christianity. Final subjugation of the Moslems (1570), 281. A suggestive legend. Pope Damasus. Theo- dosius I, 282. CHAPTER X AUSTRIA Pannonia Limits of Pannonia. Bishop Domnus (325). Other bishops in Pannonia, 284. NORICTJM Limits of Noricum. St. Florian (304). Bishops at Sardica (343), 285. De- struction of Christian Churches. Barbarian invaders. Severinus : his early life a mystery, 286. He succours the people of Favianae, 288. His asceticism. Arian and orthodox Christians. Severinus refuses to be made a bishop, 289. His dying words : Contents of his message, 290. The miracles attributed to him, 291. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS Moravia Limits of Moravia. Woik of Archbp. Arno (836). King Rostislav asks for teachers, 292. Methodius and Cyril. The use of the Slavonic language, 293. A Slavonic Bible, 294. Methodius and Cyril at Rome. The Pope authorizes the celebration of mass in Slavonic, 295. A Moravian Arch- bishopric, 296. Pagan invaders (907), 297. Bohemia Baptism of Bohemian chiefs (845). Conversion of Borzivoi (871), 297. " Good King Wenceslas," 298. Thietmar, Bp. of Prague (973). Bishop Adalbert (982), 299. Baptism of Vayik (Stephen) in Hungary. Martyr- dom of Adalbert (997). The Slavonic liturgy, 300. Hungary The Huns. Wars with Charlemagne, 301. The baptism of Tudim (796). Alcuin deprecates forcible conversions, 302. And the imposition of tithes, 303. The Magyars overrun Hungary (889). 303. First Magyar Christians. Baptism of Bulosudes and Gylas (949). Letter of Bp. Pilgrim (971), 304. WuKgang, Bp. of Regensburg. Visit of Bp. Adal- bert (994). King Stephen, 306. The Pope confers the title of " Apostolic kings." Foundation of bishoprics and monasteries, 308. Pagan re- actions. Suppression of paganism, 309. King Coloman. Mongol raids (1241), 310. CHAPTER XI SWITZERLAND Switzerland part of the Roman Empire in a.d. 15 : subjected to Frankish kings. First Christian missionaries, 312. Fourth century bishoprics. The Burgundians. The Alemanni. Columbanus, 313. His rejection by the Alemanni, 314. He settles at Bregenz. HostiHty of its people. St. Gall on Lake Constance, 315. Departure of Columbanus, 316. Sigis- bert at Dissentis. Death of St. Gall (646). Fridolin, 317. CHAPTER XII BELGIUM The Belgae. Early traditions, 318. St. Eucharius. St. Maternus. A per- secution in the time of Nero. St. Piatus. St. ChrysoUus, 319. St. Eugenius. St. Martin of Tongres. St. Servatius, 320. Victricius preaches to the Morini. Invasion of the Huns. A pagan reaction, 321. St. Eleutherius of Tournai. Medardus. Lupus. Amandus, 322. Ida founds a nunnery at Nivelles, 323. Baptism of Sigebert. Livinus an Irish arch- bishop (633). St. Eligius, 324. Monastery of Solemniac. A missionary to the Frisians, 325. Exhortations against pagan observances, 326. Remaclus. Theodard. Lambert, 327. Hubert. Rumold. Gommar, 328. Devastation wrought by the Northmen. Deplorable state of Christian Church, 329. A gradual improvement, 330. xvi THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE CHAPTEK XIII HOLLAND (fRISIA) The Frisians and Batavi. Salian Franks. Saxons. Amandus, Bp. of Maes- tricht, 331. Visit of WiKrid (678). Egbert of Northumbria, 332. Wig- bert, Willibrord, 333. Mission of Suidbert to the Boroctuarii, 334. The two Hewalds, 335. Willibrord's visit to Denmark : his visit to Heligo- land, 336. Assistance received from Charles Martel, 337. Adelbert. Werenfrid. Plechelm. Olger and Wiro. Visit of Wulfram, 338. Radbod refuses to be baptized, 339. Boniface in Friesland (715) : his mart3n'dom (754). Gregory of Utrecht. Alubert, 340. Death of Gregory (781). Lebuin, 341. Heathen reaction. Baptism of Wittekind. Liudger, 342. Liudger in Heligoland, 343. Becomes bishop of Munster (805). Willehad, 344. At Groningen and at Drenthe, 345. And at Wigmodia. Visit to Rome (782). Nominal victory of Christianity, 346. Foundation of eight bishoprics. Hathumarius, 347. CHAPTER XIV GERMANY The conversion of Germany occupied twelve centuries, 348. Early Christian communities. Statements by Ammianus, Tertullian, Arnobius, Hilary, 349. Athanasius and Salvian, 350. Rh^tia Limits of Rhsetia. St. Afra. Christian bishoprics, 350. Valentinus. The Alemanni, 351. Trudpert. Kilian. Pirminius : his description of the Alemanni. Emmeran, 352. Northern Bavaria The Marcomanni. Rupert of Worms. Corbinian, 353. Bishoprics in Bavaria. The Bavarian Church in the eighth century, 354. Odilo. Christian Germany in the ninth century, 355. The Work of Boniface Irish missionaries in N. Germany. Lives of St. Boniface, 356. Kingdoms of the Franks, 357. Early hfe of Boniface : he sails for Frisia, 358. Visit to Rome : his work in Thuringia, 359. Converts in Hessia. Conse- crated as a bishop (723), 360. His appeal to Charles Martel. Letter from Daniel, Bp. of Winchester, 361. Grounds of appeal to pagans, 362. Destructifen of a sacred oak. Missionary recruits from England, 363. Wigbert. Women missionaries, 364. Letter from Gregory III Visit of Boniface to Bavaria : he revisits Rome (738), 365. Death of Charles Martel (741), 366. A question of re-baptism, 367. Teaching of Vir- gilius. Boniface rebukes the Pope, 368. Formation of new dioceses. Sturmi, 369. Foundation of monastery at Fulda. Paganism in N. Ger- many. A Christian catechism, 370. A council of Frankish clergy (742). Its references to pagan customs, 371. Reformation of the Frankish Church. Boniface's letter to Pepin (753) : he appeals for the support of his disciples, 372. Invasion of heathen Saxons, 373. Final visit to Frisia. Converts in E. Frisia, 374, Martyrdom (755) : his last words, SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS xvn 375. Punishment of his murderers. Character of Boniface, 376. His reliance on intercessory prayer, 378. Prayers for the hving and dead. Permanent results of his work, 379. Sturmi at Fulda, 380. The Conversion of the Saxons Charlemagne's wars with the Saxons. Opposition of the Saxons to Christi- anity, 380. Results of their forcible conversion. Charlemagne's empire : his character, 381. His social and rehgious reforms : his letter to Bp. Odilbert, 382. Lebuin : his appeal to the Saxons at Marklum, 383. He threatens the Saxons with destruction, 384. Opposition provoked by his address, 385. Speech by Bruto. Charlemagne's religious wars, 386. Alcuin protests against compulsion, 387. And against the exaction of tithes. Eigilis on the conversion of the Saxons, 388. Destruction of the Irmin-Saule idol. Missionary efforts of Sturmi, 389. Rising of the Saxons (778). Death of Sturmi (779), 390. Influence of paganism on the Saxons, 391. Wbndland (Saxonia) The Wends. Their original home, 391. First missionaries to the Wends. Boso, "Apostle of the Wends." Three missionary bishops, 392. Pagan reaction under Mistewoi. Conversion of Gottschalk (1047). Mission- aries sent by Adalbert, 393. Murder of Gottschalk. John, Bp. of Mecklenburg, 394. Cruko. Cupidity of the Saxons, 395. Vicehn, missionary to the Wends. A missionary fraternity, 396. RebeUion of the Wends (1147). Death of Vicelin (1154). Massacre of the Wends (1157), 397. POMBBANIA Introduction of Christianity. Bp. Reinbem. Forcible conversions (1121), 398. The Spanish missionary, Bernard, 399. He is expelled from Julin. Mission of Otto (1124), 400. His method of appeal. Reception of his mission at Pyritz, 401. Baptisms at Pyritz. Address by Otto, 403. His attitude towards polygamy. Baptisms at Cammin, 404. Hostile reception at Julin, 405. Visit to Stettin, 406. Appeal to the Duke of Poland. Baptism of two youths at Stettin, 407. Further baptisms. Letter from the Duke of Poland. Destruction of temples at Stettin, 409. Triglav. Changes effected by baptism, 410. Visit to Clonoda. Otto administers confirmation, 411. His return to Bamberg. Slow progress of missionary work. Otto revisits Pomerania (1127), 412. Liberation of slaves. Diet at Usedom. Wratislav urges the adoption of Christi- anity, 413. Many baptisms. Ulric and Albin at Wolgast. A heathen stratagem, 414. Encodric, 415. Destruction of temple at Gutzkow. Consecration of a church, 416. Mitzlav sets free his prisoners, 417. Otto intercedes with the Duke of Poland. Island of Rugen, 418. Stettin revisited. Pagan reaction at Stettin, 419. Intervention of Witstack, 420. Otto revisits Julin. Death of Otto (1139). Results of his work, 421. His failure to estabhsh a national Church. Forcible conversion of Rugen Island, 422. Destruction of the idol Svantovit, 423. Building of Christian churches, 424. Prussia The Slavs in Prussia. Their chief gods, 424, Adalbert of Prague (997), 425. His martyrdom in Samland. Bruno of Querfurt martyred (1008). Bishop Heinrich of Olmutz (1141), 426. Gottfried (1207). Bishop Christian. Letter from Pope Innocent, 427. Massacre of Christians. Knights b i THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE Brethren of Dobrin (1219). Order of Teutonic knights, 428. Four new bishoprics (1243). Rehgious wars, 429. Oppression of the Slavs. Mon- gols V. Christians. Archbishop Suerbeer (1245), 430. The conversion of Prussia and of Mexico, 431. CHAPTEK XV POLAND Methodius in Poland. Baptism of Mieceslav (966). A bishopric of Posen (968), 433. Introduction of foreign clergy, 434. Boleslav. A heathen reaction (1034). Casimir. Boleslav II, 435. Invasion by the Mongols, 436. CHAPTER XVI DENMARK AND ICELAND Atrebanus (780). Archbishop Ebo (823), 437. Baptism of Danish king. Anskar, 438. Accompanied by Autbert. A missionary school at Schles- wig. King Horick. Horick II, 439. Death of Anskar (865). Character of Anskar, 440. His missionary pohcy. Progress and reaction. King Gorm, 442. Archbishop Unni. King Harald (941) : his baptism (972). Consecration of three bishops. King Sweyn (991), 443. Sweyn invades England. Bishop Gotebald. Canute, 444. "The German god." The Faroe Islands, 445. Iceland First Norwegian settlers (861). Baptism of Thorwald. Stefner, 446. Thang- brand. Gissur and HiaUti, 447. General acceptance of Christianity, 448. Bishop Isleif (1056). Conditions of hfe in Iceland, 449. CHAPTER XVII NORWAY The Heimskringla by Snorro Sturleson. Harald Haarfagar, 450. King Hakon. The Yule festival. A bishop and teachers from England, 451. Meeting of the Froste Thing at Drontheim. Opposition to introduction of Christianity, 452. Hakon compromises with paganism. Murder of Christian priests, 453. Harald Ericson (963). Harald Blaatland conquers Norway (977). A human sacrifice, 454. Olaf Tryggvason : his baptism. Visit to Dublin : in the Orkney Islands, 455. Olaf recommends the Christian faith. Forcible spread of Christianity in Viken and Agder, 456. Opposition at Nidaros. A council at Maere, 457. The Bonders submit. Destruction of heathen images. The country " made Christian." Death of Olaf (1000), 458. His character. Accession of Eric. Olaf Haraldson (1015), 459. Missionaries from England. Olaf's efforts to spread the faith, 460. His punishment of unbeUevers. Conversions at Maere. 461. Opposition of Gudbrand, 462. Speech by Bishop Sigurd. Destruction of the image of Thor, 463. " All receive Christianity," 464. The collapse of paganism, 465. The two Olafs. Olaf Haraldson's laws. Missionaries from Bremen, 466. The effects of Christian teaching, 467. Canute SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS xix conquers Norway (1026). Death of Olaf in battle (1030), 468. King Swend. King Magnus (1035). Establishment of schools and monas- teries, 469. CHAPTER XVIII SWEDEN Worship of Thor and Odin. Human sacrifices, 471. Results of failure to evangelize Scandinavia. Introduction of Christianity (829), 472. Anskar visits Sweden. Herigar. Anskar becomes archbishop of Hamburg, 473. Bishop Gautbert. His expulsion from Sweden (845). Story of a Christian book, 474. King Horick opposes the spread of Christianity, 475. De- struction of Hamburg (845). Archbishop Ebo, 476. The hermit Ardgar (851). Influence exerted by Herigar. Attack on Birka averted, 477. Anskar revisits Sweden. A national assembly, 478. Its acknowledg- ment of the Christians' God. Erimbert. Rimbert, 479. Unni. Odinkar. King Olof. Bishop Sigfrid. The Church in West Gothland, 480. Bishop Thurgot (1013). Spread of Christianity throughout Sweden. Bishop Adalward. A mission to the Lapps, 481. King Inge (1080). The con- version of Smaland. Upsala cathedral (1138). Bishop Eskil in Soder- manland, 482. Three English bishops. St. Botvid. Synod of Linko- ping(1152). Monasticism in Sweden, 483. The island of Gotland, 484. CHAPTER XIX RUSSIA Religion and politics in Russia, 485. Russia receives its Christianity from Constantinople, 486. The Russian Chronicle, 487. Legends concerning St. Andrew, 488. Askold and Dir (860) : their repulse from Constan- tinople. Statement by Photius (866), 489. Igor (941). A church of EHas at Kiev, 490. Visit of Olga to Constantinople (955). Sviatoslav, 491. Accession of Vladimir (980) : his support of paganism. The Russian god Perun, 492. Two martyrs, Theodore and John. Religious envoys visit Vladimir (986). The Moslems, 493. The Romans. The Jews, 494. A Greek philosopher. Vladimir's questions, 495. A council of boyars (987). Dispatch of envoys, 496. Their visit to Constantinople. Vladimir decides to accept Christianity, 497. He attacks Kherson (988). Baptism of Vladimir, 498. Baptisms at Kiev. Description of the baptismal service, 499. Erection of churches at Kiev. Compulsory education, 500. Christianity at Novgorod and Rostoff. Religious pro- pagandism of Vladimir, 501. Character of Vladimir. Kiev, 502. Slavery in Russia. Yaroslav. A Slavonic Bible, 503. Schools for the training of priests. Vladimir II : his dying injunctions, 504. Character of Vladimir II. The Petchersky monastery at Kiev, 506. A centre of missionary activity. Antony and Theodosius, 507. Ideals of Russian monks. Bishop Clement of Kiev (1197), 508. Monasteries in the far north. The Mongols defeated at Kalka (1224). Massacres by the Mongols, 509. Description by Piano Carpini. Usbek Khan. Monks as missionaries to the Finns, 510. Sergius (1315-92), 511. Northern monasteries. Stephen of Perm, 512. Livonia. The monk Meinhard (1184), 513. Bishop Theodoric, 514. Bishop Berthold (1196): his resort to force : his death in battle. Bishop Apeldern, 515 : subjugates the Lieflanders. The " Order of the Sword," 516. Baptisms in Esthonia. THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE Biblical plays in Riga. Work of Sigfrid. Archbp. Andreas at Riga, 517. Martyrdom of Frederic of Celle. The Church in Livonia, 518. Intro- duction of Christianity into Esthonia. A crusade against the Esthonians (1219). Christianity spread by force, 519. The Lithuanians. Baptism of Mendowg (1250). Heathen reaction (1260), 520. Yagello. Christi- anity accepted as the national rehgion. Pagan customs in Lithuania, 521. Yagello assists the Christian missionaries. The Earl of Derby in Lithuania (1390). Missionary labours of Withold (1413), 522. Introduction of Christianity into Finland, St. Juri in Kazan. The Tartars of Kazan, 523. Ilminsky : his work amongst the Tartars, 524. A missionary school at Kazan, 525. Vassili Timofeiev. The Kazan Translation Com- mittee, 526. The Ilminsky system. Moslems in Russia, 527. Mission- ary work amongst Moslems. The treatment of unbelievers and heretics in Russia, 528. The missionary outlook, 529. CHAPTER XX THE ISLANDS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Cyprus Paul and Barnabas at Salamis. Cypriot bishops at Nicsea, 530. And at Sardica. S. Epiphanius, 531. Crete Titus in Crete. Bishop Pinytus of Cnossus, 531. Rhodes, Melos, etc. Rhodes. Thera, 531. Melos. Patmos. Cos, Lemnos, Corcyra, Lesbos. iEgina, 532. Sicily Christian catacomb?. A Church in Syracuse, 532. Malta St. Paul in Malta. Publius, 533. Sardinia Callistus, 633. Pontian and Hippolytus. Lucifer, Bp. of Cagliari. Svm- machus, 534. Corsica, 534. Elba, 635. Corsica, Elba CHAPTER XXI ATTEMPTS TO CONVERT THE JEWS IN EUROPE Treatment of the Jews by the Christian Church, 636. The Jews held respon- sible for the persecution of Christians. Forcible conversions : their wickedness and futility, 537. Conversions eflPected by kindness, in Spain SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS xxi and ill Crete, 538. Persecution of Jews approved by nearly all Christians. No Hebrew N.T. till 1599. Statements by Sidonius ApoUinaris, 539. Bishop Grosstete. Peter of Cluny. Thomas Aquinas, 540. Luther, 541. The Jews in Italy Attitude of Constantino towards the Jews. Constantius. Theodosius I. Ambrose, 541. Theodosius II. Theodoric. Pope Gregory, 542. Innocent III. Nicholas III. Clement IV. Martin V, 543. Corneglio burnt in Rome. The Jews forced to hear sermons, 544. The Jews in France Jews at Aries in 449. Restrictions imposed by early Councils. Persecutions by Childebert, 545. And Chilperic. Fifth Council of Paris (615). Dagobert. Charlemagne, 546. Archbp. Amilo. Treatment of the Jews at Beziers. Persecution by the Crusaders. Remonstrance by Pope Gregory IX, 547. Massacre of Jews at Treves, 548. Jews banished from France (1181). Louis IX burns copies of the Talmud. Emancipation of the Jews (1791), 549. The Jews in Spain Decrees of Council of Elvira. King Sisebut, 549. Protest by Bishop Isidore. Fourth Council of Toledo. King Chintila (637). Sixth Council of Toledo (638). King Recceswinth (654), 550. Seventeenth Council of Toledo (694). Kindly treatment by the Moors. The " golden age " of the Jews in Spain, 551. Massacre of Jews by Moslems. Massacre by Christians at Toledo (1296). Preaching in Jewish synagogues, 552. Jewish population in Spain. A series of massacres. The preaching of Vincent Ferrer, 553. A public disputation. Establishment of the In- quisition (1480), 554. Expulsion of the Jews (1492). The Jews in Portugal. Judaism a permanent factor in Spain, 555. Testimony of Borrow, 556. The Jews in England Early references to Jews in England, 556. William Rufus. Accusations of ritual murders. Attitude of the friars, 557. Massacre at York. King John. Stephen Langton. Franciscans protect Jews, 558. Jews com- pelled to hear sermons. Expulsion of the Jews (1290). Invited back by Cromwell (1655), 559. A bill to naturalize Jews (1753), 560. The Jews in Central Europe Massacres by German Crusaders. Remonstrance by Bernard of Clairvaux, 560. Frederic II protects the Jews, Bull of Innocent IV. Council of Vienna (1267), 561. Attitude of Luther. Sabbathai, " the Messiah " (1666), Spinoza, 562. Jews in Poland and Galicia. Massacre of Polish jews (1655), 563. The Jews in Russia Jews in Russia, 563. Russian clergy converted to Judaism (1490). Perse- cution under Ivan the Terrible. Expulsion of the Jews by Catharine, 564. Efforts to convert Jews. Mission to Jews in Russia. A Mission of the Orthodox Church (1817). Other Missions, 565. Baptism of Jews. Zionism. Enfranchisement of the Jews (1917). Distribution of the THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE Jews in Europe, 566. London Jews' Society (1809). Results of Missions to the Jews. Notable Christian Jews, 567. Rapprochement between Jews and Christians, 568. A new religious era, 570. CHAPTER XXII CONCLUSION Superficial character of conversion of Europe. A spiritual kingdom cannot be established by material force, 571. Has Christianity been tried and failed ? The re-conversion of Europe, 572. Undue haste displayed by early missionaries, 673. The establishment of the Kingdom of God in Europe, 674. LIST OF MAPS FACING PAGE 1. England in the seventh century . . .102 2. Western Europe at the end of the seventh century . 190 3. The Balkan Peninsula in the fifth century . . 230 4. Central Europe in the fourth century . . 284 5. Central Europe at the end of the ninth century . 348 6. The Baltic Provinces early in the thirteenth CENTURY ..... . 450 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY The study of the spread of the Christian faith through- Missions out Europe should have for us a twofold interest, tlmel ^ In the first place it should help towards an intelligent appreciation of the later developments of religious life that are to be seen to-day amongst the various peoples of Europe. A knowledge of the circumstances under which the conversion of a particular race was effected will often throw light upon the subsequent evolution of its individual and national religion and may in some instances help us to interpret its sub- sequent history. The knowledge, for instance, that Christianity only displaced paganism in some parts of modern Prussia during the fourteenth century and that the people who were then converted, after being treated with every Their refinement of cruelty, were finally given the choice of J^g^f™ death or conversion, may help us to understand, and should mitigate our denunciation of, the barbarities that have been committed by descendants of these converts in the course of the recent war. If the British, the French and the Italians have departed less widely than have the Prussians from the dictates of Chris- tianity in their conduct of the war, they have had resting • • !■» .•• 2 •*/. • t/: \»l^kElGOKV:EltSI^N OF EUROPE [chap. i. upon them obligations created by the fact that Christian influences have been working amongst them for more than twice as long as amongst their northern foes. In the second place a study of the work accomplished by Christian missionaries during the first fourteen centuries should throw light upon many of the pro- blems that confront their successors in all parts of the Mission Field to-day. If the politician or social re- former is bound to acquaint himself with the history of the past and with the efforts that have been made by his predecessors in all lands to ameliorate the con- ditions of human existence, a similar obligation rests upon those who are trying to minister to the deepest Light needs of men. It can only be by a careful and pro- uponpre- lougcd study of past missionary efforts that we can ^robiems ^^P^ ^^ benefit by the experience, and to avoid the mistakes, of those who have gone before and to whose efforts we are indebted for our own knowledge of the Christian faith. The very fact that a space of fourteen centuries separates the day on which " strangers from Rome " listened to St. Peter's first missionary sermon, delivered at the Feast of Pentecost, from the day when the nomi- nal, we dare not say the real, conversion of Europe was completed, whilst it should serve to rebuke the impatience of those who are dissatisfied with the pro- gress of Christian Missions in modern times, suggests also that there was something lacking either in the contents of the message delivered by the pioneer missionaries in Europe, or in the methods by which they sought to proclaim their message. If the Christian Church of to-day is to possess any real missionary policy, INTRODUCTORY 3 and if it is to avoid the mistakes committed by mission- aries in the past, it is clear that an obhgation rests upon its members to study with care the records of missionary enterprise that have been preserved. The first difficulty with which the student of Missions in Europe is confronted is raised by the paucity of his materials, and the unsatisfactory nature of those which are available. Anyone who has made himself familiar, whether by study or personal observation, with the methods employed in the Mission Field to-day and with the conditions under which missionary work is being carried on, and who desires to institute a comparison between the labours of a modern missionary and those Paucity of of the men to whom the conversion of Europe was due mateSaK is confronted by serious difficulties. When he attempts to get back to the earliest existing sources of infor- mation he discovers that, whilst there is often a super- abundance of ecclesiastical information available, there is a sad dearth of materials that shed light upon the life and work of the men who accomplished the humble task of ordinary missionaries. To learn the number or the names of the bishops who occupied particular sees, or even the dates at which the sees were established, is of comparatively small interest to anyone who desires to enter into and appreciate the labours of those by whom the task of evangelization was actually accomplished. In the case of Great Britain and Ire- land the materials are more abundant than elsewhere, but even in these countries they are all too scanty. How much would we give to know by what means and under what conditions the Gospel was first preached to the various tribes on the continent of Europe who 4 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. were led, at a very early date, to adopt a profession of Arian Christianity, as for example, the Visigoths in France, the Ostrogoths in Pannonia, the Suevians in Spain, the Gepidse, the Vandals, the followers of Odoacer and the Lombards ? One, perhaps the chief, reason for the dearth of information in these particular instances is that all these tribes were converted by Arian mission- aries whom their orthodox successors regarded with such disfavour that they did not think it worth while to preserve, or hand down, any account of their labours. The only Arian missionary of whose work we can form any clear conception is Ulfilas the Apostle of the Goths (318-S74), whose life, written by one of his own pupils, has happily survived. But even in his case the materials that have survived are hardly more than sufficient to accentuate our longing to recover those that have been lost. Of the available materials which throw light upon the methods adopted by the early missionaries, some of the most valuable for the continent of Europe, as distinguished from Great Britain and Ireland, are the letters of the early popes which have been pre- Mission- scrvcd at Rome. It is true that we have a number of raphiesf missionary biographies, but these were for the most part written so many years, or even centuries, after the death of the missionaries that they are of small historic value, and, even when the writers were their contemporaries, as were the biographers of Martin of Tours, of Gregory of Poitiers, of Severinus of Nori- cum, of Boniface, or of Columbanus, they dwell so much upon the asceticism, the endurance and the miraculous powers of their subjects, that they have little time to tell us of their modes of teaching or of INTRODUCTORY 6 the means by which they endeavoured to adapt their message to the varying needs of the peoples amongst whom they laboured. In a few instances, e.g. in the case of Patrick, Columbanus, Martin, Boniface and some others, we have letters or confessions preserved which, though they tell us little concerning the methods of missionary work that the writers adopted, neverthe- less throw valuable light upon their own characters and idiosyncrasies and help us to realize the times in which they lived. It is only by a long and diligent examination of many different sources of information^ that it is possible, to any extent, to picture to ourselves the scenes amongst which the pioneer missionaries in Europe moved, or to draw from their experiences any useful deductions in view of the prosecution of missionary work throughout the world to-day. The more we study the story of the past the more we feel that there is no appellation of which any human being The title has better cause to be humbly proud than that oftianmis. " Christian missionary." Wherever the foot of man ^^°^^^y- has trod the missionary has followed, inspired by love to his Master and by the belief that the revelation of this love is the one only cure for the world's sorrow. He has traversed seas, threaded his way through forests, braved starvation and want amidst hostile tribes : misunderstood, ridiculed, persecuted and tor- tured, he has shown himself to be the sympathetic friend of all and has ministered to the wants alike of their souls and their bodies. He has shunned no diffi- culty and been daunted by no danger, but has rebuked sin, worked righteousness and wrought reform amongst ^ For a list of some of these sources see BibUography, p. 575 ff. 6 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. all races with whom he has lived. His only visible weapon of attack has been a book, his only means of defence the " shield of prayer." Whilst conscious of his many shortcomings and repeated failures, he has been upheld by the conviction that amidst all his sorrows and difficulties his divine Master walked ever by his side, and by the knowledge that the task to which He called him was divine. The story of the conversion of Europe, if it could be adequately told, would form the most wonderful and inspiring volume which, apart from the Bible, has ever been produced. Its glory and inspiration can in some faint degree be discerned from the perusal of the narratives that have been preserved and which it is possible to accept as history. Mission- Profcssor William James speaks of the typical ary sain s. (^]^j,jg^jg^j^ saiut as "an effective ferment of goodness." The expression might justly be applied to the early missionaries the influence of whose lives, apart alto- gether from their teaching, tended to leaven with a Christian leaven the heathen mass on which their influence was exerted. His description of the role accomplished by the " saints " is applicable to many of the pioneers of Missions in Europe. Their After pointing out that Christianity stands for a the^woricL bcHcf that " cvcry soul is virtually sacred " and that we must despair of no one, he writes : " The saints with their extravagance of human tenderness are the great torch-bearers of this belief, the tip of the wedge, the clearers of the darkness. Like the single drops which sparkle in the sun as they are flung far ahead of the advancing wave-crest or of a flood, they show INTRODUCTORY 7 the way and are forerunners . . . they are impreg- nators of the world, vivifiers and animators of potentia- hties of goodness which, but for them, would lie for ever dormant. It is not possible to be quite as mean as we naturally are when they have passed before us. One fire kindles another, and without that overtrust in human worth which they show, the rest of us would lie in spiritual stagnancy." ^ "It is not the primary function of the Church to diffuse an elevating influence over the world," says another modern writer ; "its primary function is to make saints ... in order that it may really convert the world." 2 The writings of the Fathers contain hardly more Early re- than a few fragmentary references to the missionary qi^®^^^^*° activities of the early Christians. We may perhaps "^^. interpret the allusion in the Third Epistle of St. John to those who, "for the sake of the Name, went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles," as referring to mission- aries who were accustomed to receive nothing from those whom they sought to convert. Eusebius re- state- ferring to the missionary work carried on by the gene- Eusebius. ration of Christians which succeeded that of the apostoHc age, writes : " Very many of the disciples of that age (pupils of the apostles) whose heart had been ravished by the divine Word with a burning love for philosophy \i,e. asceticism] had first fulfilled the command of the Saviour and divided their goods among the needy. Then they set out on long journeys performing the office of evangelists, eagerly striving to preach Christ 1 The Varieties 0/ Religious Ex- ^ The English Saints, W. H. perience, 357 f. Hutton, p. 3. ristian mission- aries. 8 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. to those who, as yet, had never heard the word of faith, and to dehver to them the holy gospels. In foreign lands they merely laid the foundations of the faith, and afterwards they appointed others as shepherds, entrusting them with the care of those who had been recently brought into (the Church), while they themselves proceeded with the grace and co-operation of God to other countries, and to other peoples." ^ The From the Bidache we learn that there were Didache. i^f^erant missionaries who bore the title of " apostle " at the beginning of the second century .^ " Origen and Eusebius assure us that they existed during the second century and Origen indeed knows of such even in his own day, but the name of ' apostle ' was no longer borne, owing to the heightened reverence felt for the The title Original apostles, and also owing to the idea, which post e. gg^jj^gjj currency even in the course of the second century, that the original apostles had already preached the gospel to the whole world. This idea prevented any subsequent missionaries from being apostles, since they were no longer the first to preach the gospel to the nations." ^ Statement Writing in the third century Origen declares that it y rigen. .^ ^ distinguishing characteristic of a Christian to act as a missionary to others. Thus he writes, " Christians do all in their power to spread the faith all over the world. Some of them accordingly make it the business of their life to wander not only from city to city but ^ Hist. Eccl. iii. 37. in the Didache than were formerly ^ Recent critics are disposed to accorded to them, assign a later date and a lower value ^ Harnack, The Mission and Ex- to the historical statements contained pansion of Christianity, i. 349. INTRODUCTORY 9 from township to township and village to village in order to gain fresh converts for the Lord." ^ In order to form any adequate conception of the missionary efforts that resulted in the conversion of Europe, it is necessary to take into consideration the part played by monasteries and monks. With the exception of Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose of Mission- Milan, Leo the Great, and a very few others, all the monks. great teachers in the Christian Church during the fourth and fifth centuries were monks, or had been trained in monasteries. Pacome (292-348) introduced Origin of monasticism into Egypt and by 356 a single town, ™s°m?^*^ Oxyrhynchus, is said to have contained 10,000 monks and 20,000 consecrated virgins. Monasteries were first established in Italy in the middle of the fourth century by Athanasius and his followers, and a great impetus to their expansion was given by the writings of Jerome and Augustine. The first monastery in Gaul was founded by Martin of Tours in 360 at Liguge near Poitiers. He founded another soon afterwards at Marmoutier. About 400 ^ Honoratus founded the still more famous monastery of Lerins on an island near Toulon. By the end of the fifth century monasteries had been established in nearly all the provinces of ' the Roman Empire, many of which, being on the borders of the empire, were in touch with the barbarians who lay beyond. By the end of this century, however. Spiritual the spiritual life of the monasteries had begun to ebb. of the Thus Montalembert writes of monachism, before the J^^j^g^^^^ time of St. Benedict : — ^*^^ century. ^ Contra Celsum, iii. 9. Scott-Holmes, The C. Ch. in Gaul, ^ The exact date is uncertain. Cf. p. 284 note. 10 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. " In the West towards the end of the fifth century the cenobitical institution seemed to have fallen into the torpor and sterility of the East. After St. Jerome, who died in 420, and St. Augustine, who died in 430, after the Fathers of Lerins, whose splendour paled towards 450, there was a kind of eclipse. Condat still shone alone upon its heights of the Jura up to the beginning of the sixth century. . . . Except in Ireland and Gaul, where in most of the provinces some new foundations rose, a general interruption was observable in the extension of the institution, whether because the final triumph of the barbarian invasion had stifled for a time the efforts of zeal and troubled the fountain of life at which these victorious races were to assuage their thirst, or that intervals of apparent inaction are necessary to the creations of Christian genius as to the forces of nature, in order to prepare them for the decisive evolutions of their destiny." ^ Amon- Later on, when monasticism had obtained a new revival. Icasc of life, mouks, filled with missionary zeal, spread over Gaul, Germany, Switzerland, Friesland and Scandi- navia. In Ireland and Scotland the whole organization of the Church became monastic. The conversion of the Saxons was planned and initiated by monks and, when the north of England relapsed into heathenism, it was reconverted by monks from Scotland. The writer whom we have just quoted speaks in another passage of " the superhuman efforts made during five centuries [the sixth to the eleventh] by legions of monks, perpetually renewed, to subdue, to pacify, to discipline and to purify the savage nations amongst 1 Monks of the West, i. p. 514 f . INTRODUCTORY 11 whom they laboured, and of whom twenty barbarous tribes were successively transformed into Christian nations." ^ Monasticism as originally conceived did not seem Develop- likely to serve as an important factor in the conversion monastic of the non-Christian world. In many, perhaps we^^®^^* should be justified in saying in most, cases monasticism . stood for individualism in so far as it tended to en- courage the monk to place first the saving of his own soul and the development of his own spiritual life.^ It was the success with which the latter object was achieved that begat within the monastic community, or within the breast of the individual monk, the re- cognition of the missionary obligation and which transformed many of the monasteries, especially in the north of Europe, into missionary seminaries. Thus it came about that the monk, whose foremost aim in seeking admission into the monastery had been the salvation of his own soul, became the most successful of missionaries for the salvation of others. Whatever views we may hold in regard to the em- No other ployment of monks, or of celibate clergy, as missionaries available. to-day, we cannot but admit that under the conditions which prevailed throughout Europe in early mediaeval times the work that they accomplished could not have been accomplished with the same measure of success ^ by any other agency. A body of married missionaries, dependent for their support upon the goodwill of auto- cratic and pagan chiefs, would have lacked the spirit ^ Id. i. 5. in opening to themselves the way to 2 Thus Montalembert refers to the heaven." — M. of the W., i, 19. early monks as "occupied above all y /^ 12 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [CHAP. I. Limita- tions of their out- look. Their methods of work. of independence and enterprise which was essential for the successful prosecution of such work. At the same time it has to be admitted that the inability of the monks to set before their pagan hearers the pic- ture of a Christian home, or a complete representation of the Christian life, limited their usefulness and tended to produce a one-sided type of Christianity. Thus Professor Hauck suggests that the interpretation of Christian ideals which the monks set before the world tended to hinder its acceptance by the educated classes. He quotes the poet Namatian as saying " the men who shunned the light, who called themselves by a Greek name, ' monks,' were to him an enigma, and repelled him ; he did not understand why anyone should flee from good fortune and willingly become miserable . . . and should imagine that the Godhead should feed on dirt, and he experienced something like hatred towards men whom he judged practised a worse magic than Circe, for whilst she only transformed men's bodies, they transformed men's souls." ^ He notes that on the death of Martin of Tours the people chose Brictius who was an opponent of asceticism as his successor. Tliere is doubtless a measure of truth in this criticism in so far as it concerns the influence exerted upon the educated and cultured classes, but over against it we must set the far-reaching influence which the life of a Christian community exerted upon uncivilized peoples. Thus Dr. Skene, comparing the evangelistic methods adopted by individual missionaries and by those who lived together as monks, writes : " The monastic ^ Hauck, K. D. i. 57 f. Namatian, de redit, i. 439 flf. and 517. INTRODUCTORY 13 missionaries did not commence their work, as the earher secular Church would have done, by arguing against their idolatry, superstition and immorality, and preaching a purer faith, but they opposed to it the anta- gonistic characteristics and purer life of Christianity. . . . They exhibited a life of purity, holiness and self- denial. They exercised charity and benevolence and they forced the respect of the surrounding pagans to a life the motives of which they could not com- prehend, unless they resulted from principles higher than those their pagan religion afforded them; and having won their respect for their lives, and their y gratitude for their benevolence, these monastic mis- sionaries went among them with the Word of God in their hands, and preached to them the doctrines and pure morality of the Word of Life." ^ In describing the work accomplished by missionary monks in the several countries of Europe we shall find frequent illustrations of the truth of the above description. It has sometimes been suggested by critics of modern The , 1 J ,1 , , P • • "J.* material missionary methods that to lorm missionary societies support with the object of sending out and affording material ^^^JJ^^^ support to missionaries in non-Christian countries is to adopt a method that is opposed in principle to the methods by which Missions were maintained in earlier times. It has been asserted that Missions ought to be self-supporting, and the example of St. Paul has been quoted as showing that a missionary ought to be able to maintain himself, if need be by his manual labour, amongst the people to whom he is ' Celtic Scotland, ii. p. 73 f. mis- sionaries. 14 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. trjdng to appeal.^ The point raised is one of con- siderable interest and importance. The argument The deduced from the example of St. Paul is seen to be of s?^^ of doubtful value when we recall his words addressed ^*^' to the Christians at Philippi : "Ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as touching giving and receiving but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity." We do not know whether any kind of missionary society was called into existence at Philippi for the support of St. Paul and his fellow- missionaries, but the principle involved in the support of missionaries at a distance from the spot where the con- tributions were raised and to which he gave his approval is the principle on which modern missionary societies act to-day. St. Paul's words moreover clearly show that he had not found it possible to support himself by his manual labour, or by the contributions of the people whom he was trying to evangelize, and of When we pass on from St. Paul's missionary labours sionaries. in Europc to thosc of a later time we find no traces of attempts on the part of individual missionaries to support themselves by the exercise of a trade or pro- fession. When a pioneer missionary endeavoured to start a Mission he began by appealing to the ruler of the country, and as his continuance in the country in ^ In view of the fact that this Missionary Association : " Quaker principle has been maintained by the Missions have, in most cases, adopted Quakers more strongly than by any the method of paid evangelists and other Body of Christians it is inter- pastors. It has seemed to be the esting to read in a recently pubUshed only thing to do," (Friends beyond history of Quaker Missions written Seas, by H. T. Hodgkin, p. 235.) by the Secretary of the Friends' INTRODUCTORY 16 which he desired to reside depended upon the goodwill of the ruler, so, having obtained this goodwill, he ex- pected to receive from him land on which to settle and in most instances the means whereby to support him- self and his followers. Thus Augustine received from Ethelbert the land on which he built his monastery, Aidan received from King Oswald the island of Lindis- farne, Willibrord in Holland received from Pepin the " assistance of his imperial authority." When Boni- face was anticipating his own death, he sent an urgent request to the emperor that he would provide for the support of his fellow-missionaries after his death. In some instances attempts were made to evangelize a pagan tribe without obtaining the approval of the head of the tribe, but in such cases the missionaries were provided in advance with a sufficient supply of food and other necessaries and were not infrequently assisted by the authority, or prestige, of the king of the country from which they set out.^ In course of time the monas- tery established by the pioneer missionaries became Seif-sup- self- supporting, partly in consequence of gifts received monS? from the king, or his subjects, and partly as the result *^"^^* of the labours of the monks. One of the ways by which the early missionaries sought to provide for the sustenance and expansion of their work was by endeavouring to establish as a general custom the payment of tithes by Christians. The pay- The custom of paying tithes for the support of the tithes. clergy or for the relief of the poor began to be established towards the end of the fourth century alike in the East and the West, and was advocated by Chrysostom, ^ See for example the missionary expeditions of Otto in Pomerania. 16 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. Jerome, Augustine and others. The stress laid upon the obKgation to give tithes for the support of the ministers of the Christian Church raised many difficul- ties in the paths of some of the Christian missionaries.^ It is only fair to point out that the tithes were more often imposed on the initiative of chiefs or kings than as a direct result of the action of the missionaries. The sup- In Norway the endowments attached to heathen clergy in tcmplcs wcrc in many cases transferred to the Christian Norway, ^hurchcs iuto which they had been transformed. A little later the income of the bishops was derived from the biskopsrede, which was a poll tax levied on every male in the diocese.^ In the reign of Sigurd Jorsal- farer {circ. 1111) the payment of tithes was introduced into Norway in accordance with a vow which Sigurd had made at Jerusalem. The tithes introduced pro- vided for the maintenance both of bishops and clergy. Nuns as The establishment of nunneries in various countries at a comparatively early stage of the development of a Christian community helped to produce women of devoted and saintly character, but, if the social and political conditions had rendered it possible to try the experiment, and it had been possible to appeal to women on a large scale otherwise than through the agency of nuns, the status of women might have been indefinitely raised and the family life of the nations of Europe might have developed on more Christian lines than was actu- ^ See remarks of Alcuin, p. 388, time he was to be maintained by the below. priest and his people. If the bishop * It was provided that the bishop failed to visit any parish he forfeited must visit every parish in his diocese his claim to the biskopsrede from that and remain in it for at least three parish for a year. days once every year. During this mission aries. INTRODUCTORY 17 ally the case. The most notable instance in the early history of Missions of a woman exercising an influence far outside the walls of a monastery is that of Hilda, st. Hilda. From the monastery for men and women at Whitby over which she presided five bishops " were taken." ^ Amongst the other women to whose religious influ- ence Bede bears testimony were Ebba the Head of the monastery of Coldingham,^ Elfled the Head of the * monastery of Whitby,^ Ethelthryth abbess of Ely,* and Queen Eanfled.^ Of the written materials of which the missionaries made Mission- use, we know comparatively little. A few specimens of chLms.^ questions to be answered by catechumens prior to their baptism have been preserved, and frequent references occur to courses of instruction that were given to cate- chumens,^ but no catechisms, or text- books similar to those used in the Mission-field to-day have been preserved. The number of those who could read was so small and of those who could do so the proportion who could read Latin or Greek was so considerable that the Bible and liturgy were not translated into the other European languages for a long time. The most striking exception was the translation of the Bible into Gothic Reverence by Ulfilas the Apostle of the Goths. The high value hq^ ^ which the Christian converts before the time of Con- ^^J^P' ^ Bede, Hist. iv. 23. the request of a deacon of Carthage, 2 iv. 25. contains a longer and a shorter 3 iv. 26. mode of catechizing and instructing * iv, 19. heathen who were willing to be taught ^ iii. 24. the Christian faith. Concerning the ^ For the emphasis laid upon the baptism of King Cynegils (see p. 137) need of such systematic instruction see . Bede writes: "cum rex ipse cate- Alcuin, E'p. 28 : Augustine, de cate- chizatus fonte baptismi cum sua chizandisriidibus,s. 52. This treatise, gente ablueretur," iii. 7. which was written by Augustine at B 18 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. stantine set upon the Holy Scriptures is evidenced by the wilHngness which many of them displayed during the Diocletian persecution to die rather than to give up the copies that they possessed. Their reverence for the Bible did not, however, prevent them from recognizing that the gift of inspiration was not merely a gift conferred upon men in the past, but was a power « that was continually being renewed to Christians from age to age. Thus we read in the Passion of St. Philip of Heraclea (in Thrace) that when during the Dio- cletian persecution Hermes was threatened with torture he said : " Though thou shouldst take at our hand all our writings, dread inquisitor, so that there should appear no traces at all of this true tradition anywhere in the whole world, yet our descendants, taking thought for the memory of their fathers and for their own souls, will compose and write greater volumes, and will teach yet more strenuously the fear that we ought to pay to Christ." Lack of In studying the later development of Christian lar Chris- Missious in Europc we are again and again confronted tSe/*^'^* with accounts of pagan reactions and with evidences that tend to show that the teaching given to the first converts was superficial and transient in its effects. The explanation is often to be found in the fact that the missionaries had not mastered the language of the peoples to whom they endeavoured to appeal, and had failed to create any kind of vernacular Christian literature. It excites our astonishment to read of Otto baptizing 7000 converts at Pyritz after a week's instruction in the Christian faith, but when we read that even this INTRODUCTORY 19 instruction was given through an interpreter, we are not surprised to learn that no permanent Church was estabhshed in Pomerania as the result of his labours. The comparative failiu-e of the mission of St. Augustine is partly to be explained by the recourse which, in his first interview with Ethelbert and in his subsequent work, he was compelled to have to interpreters. In the case of Ulfilas and later on of Boniface, we have striking illustrations of the permanent results that followed the teaching of missionaries who could speak to the people in their own tongue.^ The difficulty of the task which the missionaries, who worked for the Vernacu- conversion of Europe, essayed was increased by theiationTof almost complete absence of vernacular translations *^^ ^^^^®* of the Scriptures and liturgies. In this respect there was a marked difference between the practice of the Churches of the East and West. Ulfilas in Moesia, and Transia- Cyril and Methodius in Moravia, produced translations the East of the Bible and the liturgy, and the translations th^west. of the latter were used by the missionaries who helped to form the Russian Church. In the further East the Bible was translated into Syriac, Coptic, Armenian and Georgian. In the West missionaries were everywhere discouraged from translating into any vernacular language and were encouraged to use the Latin Bible and a Latin liturgy. The contrast between the two policies is illustrated by what happened in Moravia where Methodius, who came from Constanti- nople, extracted from Pope John VIII his reluctant consent to the continuation of the use of a liturgy ^ "It was not till the rise of a priest- England received true Christian hood of Anglo-Saxon birth under instruction." — Milman, vi. 530. Wilfrid, or during his time, that 20 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. in the Slavonic language, a consent which was with- drawn by a later Pope, Gregory VII. The ex- Dean Stanley writes : "In every country converted usToTthe by the Latin Church the Scriptures and the liturgy km ^a e ^^^ been introduced, not in the vernacular language of the original or conquered population, but in the language of the government or missionaries, the Latin language of the old Empire or new Church of Rome. Our own sense and experience are sufficient to tell us what a formidable obstacle must have been created by this single cause to the mutual and general understanding of the new faith ; what barriers between the conquerors and conquered, between the educated and the vulgar, above all, between the clergy and the laity. The ill effects of the tardy translation of our own Bible and Prayer-book into Irish amply indicate the probable results. In the Eastern Church on the other hand a contrary method was everywhere followed. The same principle which had led Jerome in his cell at Bethlehem to translate the Bible into what was then the one known language of the West, was adopted by the Oriental Church with regard to all the nations that came within its sphere." ^ As far as concerns Early translations of the Bible or the production of Chris- transia- tiau vemacular literature more was accomplished in England than in most of the other countries of Europe which were influenced by the Church of Rome. Bishop Aldhelm produced the first Saxon Psalter, Bede trans- lated the Gospel of St. John and possibly other portions of the Scriptures, King Alfred translated some of the Psalms, and Caedmon (d. circ. 680) wrote a metrical ^ Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, pp. 297 f. tions. INTRODUCTORY 21 paraphrase of the Bible history which exerted a wide influence upon his fellow-countrymen. On the con- tinent the translations or vernacular paraphrases of the Bible were few and far between. A poem called The the " Heliand " was composed in the dialect of Lower and^"^m Saxony, at the request of the Emperor Louis the Pious, ^^^^^y- the author of which is believed to have lived in Westphalia during the ninth century. It is written in alliterative verse, and the part which has survived sets forth the life of Christ as described by the four Evangelists. Its circulation helped to consolidate the missionary work which had been accomplished amongst the Saxons. Another poem entitled " Krist " and composed in Ger- other man by Otfried a monk of Weissenburg, about 40 years poems"^ later (868), covers much the same ground. A fragment of Muspilli, a Bavarian poem of the ninth century on the Last Judgment, shows traces of greater literary power. Its form is alliterative, and reminiscences of paganism are mingled with its Christian ideas. In the eleventh century a German paraphrase of the Psalms was written by Notker Labro, a monk at St. Gall, and a German translation and exposition of Solomon's Song by Williram of Bamberg. Fragments of an old German version of St. Matthew and of a Gospel harmony by Ammianus exist in Vienna. The Psalms also were translated into the Low German dialect.^ Apparently no attempt was made to produce a French French Bible till 1294 when a modified form of the Historia tlonl^' Scholastica by Peter Comestor, issued about 1190, was ^ See Neander, vi. 177 : Hardwick, Ages, 208. Hist, of the Christian Ch, in the Middle ;22 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. produced. This contained an abstract of sacred history including many absurd interpolations and glosses. After the writings of David of Dinanto had been con- demned at a synod held in Paris in 1209 all theological ^ works in the French language were burnt and forbid- den. A Canon passed at the Council of Toulouse, held in 1229, rigorously condemns the use of vernacular translations.^ In the Middle Ages it often happened that the only information in regard to the contents of the Bible which was given to the common people was ReKgious embodied in religious plays the influence exerted by ^^^^' which was of a very mixed character. Missionaries at Riga in 1204 made use of rehgious plays in the hope that " those who were not Christians might by means of sight learn to believe the rudiments of the Christian faith." 2 The earliest religious play in England, "Ludus S. Catharinae," was performed at Dunstable about 1100. Probation In vicw of the uumbcr of converts who afterwards dates for rclapscd iuto heathenism in the early centuries, it was baptism. Iq^j^^j ucccssary to lengthen the time of testing and preparation prior to baptism. The Council of Elvira at the beginning of the fourth century ordered that candidates for baptism should have a two years' pro- bation before being baptized.^ The ApostoUcal Con- stitutions enact that catechumens are to be kept under instruction for three years, but direct that if men were very diligent and zealous they might be admitted ^ Canon xiv. ' ' Ne prsemissos libros ^ " Eos qui ad fidem primam credu- habeant in vulgari translates, artis- litatis accedunt, si bonse fuerint cou- sime inhibemus." versationis, intra biennium placuit 2 "Ut fidei Christianae rudimenta ad baptismi gratiam admitti de- gentilitas fide etiam disceret oculata. ' ' bere, ' ' — Canon 42. See Neander, vii„ 51, 52. INTRODUCTORY 23 sooner, " because behaviour, rather than length of time, must be taken as the criterion. " ^ The Council of Agda in 506 fixed the time at eight months in the case of converts from Judaism, and gave as a ground for ordering so long a probation the reason, " because they are often found to be perfidious and to return to their own vomit again." ^ In many cases catechumens were instructed during the forty days of Lent, and were baptized on the Easter festival.^ Socrates ^ states that the bishop who baptized the Burgundians only spent eight days in instructing them, and many similar cases might be quoted. As a general rule no instruction was given to cate- chumens relating to the Holy Communion till after their baptism.^ The use of force as a means of spreading the Christian The use faith became more and more common as time passed, as a^mL ^ Great Britain and Ireland are perhaps the only countries ^^^^^J^ in Europe in which the profession of Christianity was not at one time or another spread by the threat of per- secution and death, and Ireland appears to be the only ^country which has witnessed no Christian martyrdom. The worst instances of the use of compulsion are to be found in Prussia, Pomerania and Scandinavia. In the latter country King Hakon hastened the nominal accept- ance of the faith by burning to death those who re- fused to be converted, whilst in Prussia the " Christian " Knights of the Sword ravaged the country for decades ^ L. 8, c. 32, oTL ovx xpoi'os dXX' * vii. 30. 6 Tpdiros KpiveTUL. ^ For an account of the various 2 Canon 25. methods of instructing catechumens, ' Cf. Jerome, Ep. ad Pammachum, see Bingham's Antiquities, x. 1,6. chap. iv. Cyril, Catech. i. 5. 24 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. of years with a view to the conversion of its inhabitants. Those who employed force for this purpose were un- fortunately able to quote the authority of some of the greatest teachers of the Church from the fourth century onwards. The first work in which forcible conversion was distinctly advocated was an appeal to Constantius and Constans to eradicate heathenism, written about 347 by Firmicus Maternus.^ St. Authority Augustiue cxprcsscd his approval of the use of force tine, for the conversion of heretics,^ and it was natural to argue that if force could be efficacious for the recon- version of heretics, it would be equally efficacious and justifiable in the case of the heathen. In one of his letters he definitely expresses his approval of the capital punishment of pagans who offered sacrifices.^ Chrysos- Chrysostom approved of the destruction of idol temples, but disapproved of the employment of force in order to convert the heathen. Thus he writes, "It is not lawful for Christians to overthrow error by force and violence, but they should labour for ^ Liber de errore profanarum advocate are (1) that the coercion religionum. See Migne, P. L. xii. of the Donatist heretics had proved 93, 185 and 139. See effective, (2) that coercion could be Harnack, Exp. of C. ii. p. 457. justified by precedents and texts in 3 Ep. 93, chap. 2. He writes, the Old and New Testaments, and " quisenim nostrum, quisvestrumnon (3) that, as it is lawful to prevent a laudat leges ab imperatoribus datas madman from injuring himself, so contra sacrificia paganorum ? Et it was right to save men from eternal certe longe ibi poena severior con- punishment even against their will, stituta est : ilUus quippe impietatis St. Augustine's advocacy of coercion capitale supplicium est." It is inter- went far towards determining the esting to note that Augustine modified missionary policy of the representa- his opinion in regard to the employ- tives of the Church in the succeeding ment of coercion (compare Ep. ad Vin- centuries. Lecky speaks of him as centium 93, already quoted, and Ep. "the framer and representative of ad Bonifacium 185). The reasons in the system of intolerance " {Rational- favour of coercion which he was led to ism, ii. 22). INTRODUCTORY 26 the conversion of men by persuasion, speech and gentleness." ^ St. Gregory, who sent Augustine to England, approved Gregory. the corporal punishment of the Barbaricans in Sardinia, the imposition of higher taxes upon pagans and the lowering of rents in the case of Jews who accepted baptism.2 He wrote : "If they are not sincerely con- verted themselves, their children at least will be bap- tized with better will." On the other hand protests Protests against the use of force were from time to time uttered. ^^ ^^^^^y* Thus Hilary of Poitiers writes : "If such violence was employed to sustain the true faith, the wisdom of the bishops should oppose it ; they should say, ' God will not have a forced homage.' " ^ Again he writes, " Woe to the times when the divine faith stands in need of earthly power." * Martin of Tours strongly opposed Martin of the condemnation to death of the Priscillianists in Spain ^"^^' on account of their alleged heresy.^ It is not sur- prising that those whose fathers or forefathers had been converted to Christianity by the sword should have regarded it as a duty to employ the same means for the conversion of the Saracens, and that few were found to protest against the policy of the Crusaders. One of those who protested was Raymond Lull, the Raymond famous missionary to Moslems in North Africa (d. 1315), " ' who wrote : " They think they can conquer by force of arms : it seems to me that the victory can be won in no other way than as Thou, Lord Christ, didst seek to win it, by love and prayer and self-sacrifice." 1 De S. Bahyla, 3. c. 6. See Harnack, ii. p. 459. 2 ii. 138, etc. * Contra Auxentium, ii. 4. ^ "Non requirit coactam confes- ^ Harnack, ii. 457. sionem." Ep. ad Constantium, lib. i. 26 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap, i Later on, in the 16th century the Spanish missionary LasCasas. Las Casas, who earned the title of the "Apostle of Mexico," urged, in contravention to the methods adopted by his fellow-countrymen, that men ought to be converted only by persuasion, and that it was not lawful for Christians to carry on war against infidels merely on the ground that they were infidels. Use of Theodosius who succeeded to the throne in 379 was Theo-^^ the first to initiate the forcible extermination of ggj^"^' paganism and the conversion of the Empire to nominal Christianity. In 391 he issued an edict prohibiting anyone from offering a sacrifice or even from entering a pagan temple and in the following year sacrifices were prohibited under pain of death and all other acts of idolatry under pain of forfeiture of the house or land in which the idolatrous act might have been committed.^ The questions raised by the employment of force as a missionary agency will confront us again and again, as we pass from land to land. In estimating the degree of moral responsibility that attaches to those by whom such force was employed we shall be reminded of Cicero's saying that the blame for wrongdoing must often be attributed not so much to the individual as to the age in which the individual lives. ^ Growth of It must also be borne in mind that the spirit of intoier-^ intolerance, which so often characterized the dealings ance. ^£ Christians with non- Christians during the early Middle Ages, was a natural consequence of the bitter persecutions to which the Christians had themselves ^ Codex Theodosii, xvi. 10. 7, 11, ^ "Non vitia hominis, sed vitia 12. saeculi." INTRODUCTORY 27 been subjected at a still earlier period.^ Thus Dr. Hodgkin writes : " The persecutions came and went, and they changed, though they should not have changed, the temper of the Christian champions. So was ren- dered possible that utterance of TertuUian (destined to an evil immortality) in which he consoled his brethren for their conscientious abstinence from the pleasures of the Hippodrome by promising them far greater spectacular pleasures in the life to come, when from the safe security of heaven they should behold so many proud prefects, so many jeering philosophers, writhing in agony under the tortures of the never-dying fires of hell. ... It was not in human nature (though it should have been in the divine that intermingled with it) to see parents, brothers, sisters, dragged off to an insulting and cruel death for refusing to sacrifice to the genius of the Emperor, without some scowl of hatred becoming fixed above the eyes which witnessed these things. . . . And so persecution did not, as was once alleged, always and entirely fail of its end. ' The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church ; ' but it was a Church of different habit of growth, and producing more acrid fruit than that which it replaced." ^ The conditions under which missionary work was Deterioia- carried on after the accession of Constantine differed christian largely from those which had previously prevailed. ^fjer*^i2. If the conversion of Constantine marks an epoch in the consolidation of the Church's authority and organi- y zation, it marks no corresponding epoch in the expansion ^ The views of TertuUian and other study of Jewish apocalyptic litera- early Christians in regard to the ture. future punishment of their enemies ^ Italy and her Invaders, ii. 549. may have been in part inspired by a 28 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. of Christian Missions, nor is the cause far to seek. The deterioration of Christian society subsequent to 312 must indeed have gone far towards checking ^ missionary enterprise and towards rendering any cor- porate action well-nigh impossible. Salvian of Mar- seilles, who wrote about 440, bewails the change which had come over the Christians. " How different," he says, " is the Christian people now from itself, that is from what it once was . . . What is almost any gathering of Christians but a foul collection of vices ? " 1 Compro- In tracing the introduction and development of ^an^m^ Christianity and the Christian Church in different lands we shall frequently have occasion to allude to ^ the compromises which were made by Christian mission- aries in order to break down the opposition of the heathen to the acceptance of Christian teaching. The compromises that were effected with this object in view were seldom productive of satisfactory results, and in some cases the disastrous effects to which they gave rise continued for many generations. The Roman Catholic missionaries who preached in Western India in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies were content to make a compromise with Hindu- J ism and to adopt a large number of idolatrous customs and usages, with the result that in some districts there is little to choose to-day between the moral characters ^ " Quam dissimilis est nunc a se more abject in the annals of cruelty ipso populus Christianus, id est, ab and corruption than the Roman eo quod fuit quondam ! . . . Quid empire from Augustus to Diocletian, est aliud psene omnis ccetus Christi- there is something more surprising anorum quam sentina vitiorum " ? and sadder still, the Roman empire De gubernatione Dei, vi. Mont- after it became Christian ! " — Monks alembert writes, " If there is nothing of the West, i. 252. INTRODUCTORY 29 of their Christian descendants and those of the Hindus in the same districts. In acting thus they were imitating the practices of many earher missionaries who laboured amongst the heathen in Europe. Thus in 742 the Council of Ratisbon, over which Boniface presided, found it necessary to protest against the practices " which foolish men in the churches perform according to pagan rites in the name of saints, martyrs or confessors." ^ The conversion of large numbers of people who had Their received comparatively little instruction in their new on the ^^ faith and who retained the beliefs that they had in- churciT^ herited from their ancestors tended to exert an influence upon the whole Christian Church. Thus Professor Lecky writes : " Vast tribes of savages who had always been idolaters, who were perfectly incapable from their low state of civilisation of forming any but anthro- /^ pomorphic conceptions of the Deity . . . and who for the most part were converted, not by individual persuasion, but by the commands of their chiefs, em- braced Christianity in such multitudes that their habits of mind soon became the dominating habits of the Church." 2 The tendency of the Christian Church to provide ^ See Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 385. et respuat, sive profana sacrificia The wording of the Canon (V) suggests mortuorum, sive sortilegos, vel that the combination of Christian and divinos . . . sive hostias, immola-ti- pagan practices which existed in tias, quas stulti homines juxta North Germany closely resembled ecclesias ritu pagano faciunt, sub what is to be seen to in Western India nomine sanctorum martyrum vel to-day. The canon reads " De- confessorum . . . sive omnes quse- crevimus quoque ut . . . unusquis- cunque sunt paganorum observa- que episcopus . . . gerat . . . ut tiones diligenter prohibeant." populus Dei paganias non faciat, sed ^ Rationalism, vol. i. 238 f. omnes spurcitias gentilitatis abjiciat 90 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. Eiabora- a more and more elaborate ceremonial rendered it Christian ^asy for those accustomed to the ceremonial connected moniaL ^^^ pagan tcmplcs and festivals to enrol themselves as Christians. Gibbon has remarked that whilst the devotion of a philosopher can be sustained by prayer, study and meditation, the religious sentiments of the people can only be maintained by public worship.^ Attitude In one important respect the method adopted by sionaries ^^^ early missionaries differed from that adopted by towards thosc in morc recent days. The supernatural powers supersti- claimed by the priests or other representatives of pag- anism were as a rule accepted as genuine by the early missionaries who ascribed them to the help and in- spiration of demons. They did not deny or attempt to explain them away as the missionary imbued with modern scientific knowledge would do to-day. The remarks of Bishop Dowden with reference to the life and times of Columba apply to many other early missionaries. " There is no escaping the conclusion," he writes, " that the Celtic missionaries and the Fathers ^ of the Celtic Church were themselves unhesitating believers in what would in our time be regarded as puerile superstitions. But we may well believe that in the providence of God such a nearness of intellectual level between teacher and taught materially assisted their evangelistic labours. And we are instructed in the lesson which we shall again and again have to bear in mind, that a great body of baseless superstitions may be held compatibly with large measures of divine truth, with the most sincere piety, and with high in- tellectual ability and acumen." ^ 1 D. and F. of the R. E. chap. 28. ^ y^g (j^m^ Church in ScoUand, p. 101. INTRODUCTORY 31 The attitude of the missionaries towards heathen rehgious and social customs varied in different lands. Gregory's letter to Mellitus and the code drawn up by Olaf and Bishop Grimkell in Norway afford instances of the liberal tendency to continue, in the hope of transforming, heathen observances. The action of Bishop Otto in Pomerania, who urged that the thorns and thistles must be eradicated before the Christian grain could be sown, affords an illustration of a different attitude. In order to understand the rival influences that Two mis- existed at the time when Christian missionary workreU^^ns. was first carried on we must make a brief reference to the two other religions which possessed a missionary character during the earliest centuries of the Christian Era, viz. the worship of Isis and the worship of Mithra. The worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis who mourned The over the death of her husband Osiris whom his brother ^f°£is!^ Typhon had murdered, had become known in every part of the Empire by the end of the second century.^ " Like wildfire," says Dr. Bigg, " far more rapidly than Christianity, this ambiguous cult overran the world. . . . Isis- worship was a sort of savage counter- part of Christianity, deeply tainted, alas, by magic, better able to arouse the feelings than to chasten them, yet, in its wild Egyptian way, a gospel of suffering, a shadow of better things to come."^ For the better educated among its adherents its polytheistic and 1 A temple of Isis and Serapis was bearing the figure of her companion founded in the Campus Martins at the dog-headed Anubis has been Rome in 42 B.C. (Dion Cassius, xlvii. found in a grave in the Isle of Man. 15). Several traces of Isis-worship ^ The Church' s tasTc under the Roman have been found in Britain. A ring Empire, 1905, pp. 40, 45. 32 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. immoral teaching was refined into pantheism and mystery. Thus the inscription round the statue of Isis at Sais read, '^ I am all that is, or has been, or shall be, and no mortal hath ever lifted my veil." ^ Osiris. Osiris, who was originally worshipped as the god of the setting sun, was regarded as the god of the under- world into which all men must pass, and in virtue of the fact that he had suffered a cruel death and yet remained spiritually alive he was looked upon as one who could sympathize with and help men in the hour of death, j^th- The second religion with which the early Christian raism. missionaries were brought into frequent contact was the Mithraic sun-worship which was introduced into Europe from Persia and which began to spread through- out the West a little later than did the worship of Isis.^ By the middle of the third century it had made such progress that it seemed possible that it might displace Christianity and become the religion of the whole Roman Empire. Dr. Bigg has described the religion of Mithra as " the purest and most elevated of all The date nou-Biblical religions."^ It seems probable that we masboT- havc borrowcd from Mithraism the words used to from^ designate the days of our week * and the date of our ^*^- Christmas festival. In regard to the latter M. Cumont raism. . ... thinks that when the Christians in the fourth century ^ Plutarch, de Iside et Osiride, rdatifs aux mysteres de Mithra, par 9. M. Cumont, Bruxelles, 1896. ^ The worship of Mithra was first ^ Neoplatonism, p. 56. It ought, introduced into Rome by Pompey in however, to be added that the more 70 B.C. (Plut. Pomp. c. 24). The chief spiritual side of Mithra worship was modern authority for all available not developed till after it had come information in regard to the worship into contact with Christianity. of Mithra is Textes et monuments * Cumont, i. 299. INTRODUCTORY 33 instituted the observance of Christmas they selected December 25, the Mithraic " natahs invicti," in order to displace the worship of Mithra on this day.^ The missionaries by whom the worship of Mithra was chiefly spread were the soldiers in the Roman army. In some instances legions which had been quartered in the East on being moved to some of the western provinces carried with them the worship which they had adopted.'^ It was also spread by traders and by the many slaves who were captured in the East and sold in the West. Mithra was a Persian deity and is usually portrayed Mitina a as a young man representing Victory and engaged in deity. slaying a bull, the slaying of the bull being emblematic of life secured through death. On either side of him stand his attendants Cautes and Cautopates, the one holding a torch erect, the symbol of life, and the other holding a torch reversed, the symbol of death. As a god he was regarded as the giver of light and man's strong helper against Ahriman, the spirit of evil. When we consider how widespread was his worship it is sur- prising how little we know concerning the religious teaching connected with this cult. Like the Isis- worship, it was largely tinged with pantheism. " We Mithraic read of seven grades of initiation, the three lowest didardrSi not admit to the mysteries, and correspond roughly 1 Cumont, i. 342. See also Chris- This was apparently used by soldiers tian Wership, its Origin and Evo- in 252 ; see Corpus Inscriptionum. lution, by Duchesne. Eng. ed. p. Latinarum, ed. by Hiibner, vii. 646. 261. An altar preserved at Caerleon in 2 A grotto containing six altars Wales and dedicated to Mithra was connected with the worship of Mithra probably erected about 200. Id. has been found at Housesteads p. 1039. (Borcovicus) on the wall of Hadrian. C 34 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. to the catechumenate ; . . . the highest class of all was that of the Fathers. . . . There was a body of priests headed by a chief priest, and there were com- panies of ascetics and of virgins. There was an authori- tative moral teaching which is spoken of as ' the commandments.' ^ Among the rites of initiation was a baptism in water,^ a brand, the use of honey and anointing, and there was a sort of Agape in commemo- ration of the banquet of Mithra and the Sun, in which the worshippers partook of bread, water and wine. The resurrection of the body was taught and the faithful were not cremated but interred." ^ St. Augustine and some others amongst the early Christian teachers regarded the resemblance of the rites and teaching of Mithraism and of other religions to those of Christi- anity as a proof that the former were invented by the devil for the purpose of deceiving the unwary.^ Religious Although the power to redeem the world re- of^theT mained a possession of the Christian Church, popular Christianity in the middle of the fourth century was ill-fitted to act as a missionary agency. Thus Milman, referring to the time of the accession of Julian (361), writes, " Christianity at no period could appear in a less amiable and attractive light to a mind preindisposed to its reception. It was in a state of universal, fierce and implacable discord : the chief cities of the Empire had run with bloodshed in religious quarrels. The ^ The Church's Task under the R. panis oblationem, et imaginem re- Empire, Bigg, p. 54. surrectionis inducit." De Prcescrip. ^ See Tertullian, de Baptismo, c. 5, Hceret. 40. "et sacris quibusdam per lavaerum » y^g Church's Task under the R. initiantur, Isidis alicujus et Mithrae." Empire, Bigg, p. 54. Again he writes, "Mithra signat illic * In Joh. Evang. tractatus, cap. 6. in frontibus mihtes suos, celebrat et Migne, P. L. xxxv. col. 1440. Chris- tians INTRODUCTORY 35 sole object of the conflicting parties seemed to be to confine to themselves the temporal and spiritual bless- ings of the faith ; to exclude as many as they might from that eternal life, and to anathematize to that eternal death, which were revealed by the gospel, and placed, according to the general belief, under the special authority of the clergy." ^ The heathen historian Am- mianus Marcellinus, writing about 380, declared that he had never known savage beasts that were as fierce as were the majority of Christians to each other .^ The social difficulties with which the early mission- Obstacles aries in Europe were confronted resembled those spread of which missionaries in the Far East have to meet to- ^^^^^^j^ day, inasmuch as the old heathen cults, like the religions ^^^ ^^^ ^ . century. of the Far East to-day, represented powerful social forces. Although the obstacle to the spread of Christi- anity presented by the Indian caste- system is greater than any which ever existed in Europe, never- theless before, and in some districts after, the time of Constantine to abandon the ancestral customs of show- ing honour to the gods was to become an outcaste from society. Again, the aid of philosophy was invoked then, as it is now, in order to justify the continuance of formal acts of religious worship in which the wor- shipper had long ceased to have a genuine belief. The Their arguments by which the Hindu who has taken his degree par^s in at Oxford or Cambridge satisfies himself that it is his ^^^^^^^ duty to take part, and to encourage others to take part, in the worship of India's ancient gods are identical with those which Plutarch and his contemporaries used ^ Milman, History of Christianity, bestias ut sunt sibi ferales plerique iii. 54 f. Christianorum expertus." 2 xxii. 5, "nullasinfestashominibus 36 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. in the third or fourth centuries. Then, as now, an allegorical interpretation of gross practices and de- grading legends was evolved which to the initiated transformed their whole character and meaning. Conver- With very few exceptions the conversion of Europe raiersVe- ^^^ brought about by missionary influences that spread ceded that from the Upper and better educated to the lower and of their 111 rrn • • 1 '11 subjects, less educated classes. The principle enunciated by Y one of the Pomeranian Dukes during a missionary tour made by Bishop Otto in his country was generally recognized and acted upon. The Duke said : "It is . for us who are the chiefs and men of importance to have regard to our dignity and to agree together in regard to this most deserving matter, so that the people who are subject to us may be instructed by our example. For whatever religion or virtue is to be attempted I say that it is more correct that it should pass from the head to the members than from the members to the head. Tn the primitive Church indeed, as we have heard, the Christian faith began with the common people and with individuals belonging to the common people, and spread to the middle classes, and then affected the chiefs of the world. Let us reverse the custom of the primitive Church so that the holiness of the divine rehgion, beginning with us who are chiefs and passing on to the middle classes by an easy progress, may en- lighten the whole people and race." ^ Its re- The principle enunciated by the Pomeranian Duke super^^ was a plausible one, but the history of Missions in Europe ficiahty. ^^^ qI more recent Missions to the non- Christian races in other continents, tends to show that a religion which ^ Vita Ottonis, by Herbordus, iii. 3. INTRODUCTORY 37 is recommended to a people by those who are possessed of political authority is most likely to become super- ficial and to fail to secure their convinced assent. To adopt the Duke's illustration drawn from the relation of the head and limbs of a body, modern science has shown that the blood which is the carrier of the vital energy in the human body passes first from the body to the head and not from the head to the body. There is reason to believe that if the missionaries in the various European countries had been able to adopt the methods that were adopted by their earhest predecessors and which are followed by missionaries to-day, and had been able to make their appeal, in the first instance, to the common people and to build up a Christian Church without any adventitious help supplied by social or political influence, the conversion of Europe would have been less superficial than was actually the case. Although as a general rule in the earliest centuries The of the Christian era Christianity began by appealing to christian the poorer and less educated classes there was never a°^^^®^®' time or a country in which there were not also con- verts from the higher and better- educated classes. In confirmation of this assertion we may refer to Pliny's statement to Trajan (98-117), that those accused of being Christians included " many of every rank." ^ Further statements to the same effect might be adduced from almost every country in which a Christian com- munity came into existence in the early centuries. In reading the biographies of the more remarkable missionaries we are struck by the fact that even when these biographies were written by contemporaries, or ^ "Multi omnia ordinis." 38 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap, i Miracles by men who lived only a generation after the mis- to^mis"*^ sionaries whose lives they record, they are for the most sionanes. ^^^^ filled with stories of miracles. Few who beheve that these missionaries were inspired by God to do the work which they accomplished will be prepared to say that the miraculous occurrences which accompanied the delivery of their message are without exception inconceivable and impossible. Nevertheless, when we consider the unscientific character of the age in which these miracles were recorded and the impossibility of obtaining evidence that can satisfy the critical historian, we cannot assume the occurrence of a miracle in any single case.^ In many cases it is probable that a metaphorical expression used by a missionary in the first report of his experiences was, quite honestly, interpreted by a later biographer as implying the A miracle occurrcucc of a physical miracle. We might point by butedto way of illustration to the miracle which Adamnan the biographer of Columba (who was born hardly more than a generation after his death) records as having taken place when Columba left lona to pay a visit to the Pictish king Brude. After stating that the king " elated by pride did not open the gates at the blessed man's arrival," he goes on to say, " when the man of God ^ Bp. Gore v/rites, " There are . . . amount of contemporary evidence ages when belief is so utterly un- which is available in support of critical that it does seem as if they similar miracles said to have been could not under any circumstances wrought by heathen gods. For a afford us satisfactory evidence of list of such see Incubation or the Cure miraculous occurrences." Bampton of Disease in Pagan Temples and Lectures, p. 74. In trying to estimate Christian Churches, by M. Hamilton, the value of evidence available for the London, 1906, also Aniike W under - miracles of healing said to have been geschichten, by P. Fiebig, 1909. In wrought by the early pioneer mission- the latter the original accounts are aries we do well to note the large in many cases quoted. Columba. INTRODUCTORY 39 knew this, he came with his companions to the wickets of the portals and first traced on them the sign of the Lord's Cross and then knocking, he lays his hand against the doors, and immediately the bolts are violently shot back, the doors open in all haste of their own accord, its sug- and being thus opened the saint thereupon enters with pianation. his companions . . . and from that day forth this ruler honoured the holy and venerable man with very gfeat honour all the remaining days of his life." ^ It is not difficult to imagine that Columba, or one of his companions, in sending an account to their friends at lona of their first missionary journey on the mainland, stated in the words of St. PauP that whereas at first the way seemed closed against them ^ ^^^ God had marvellously opened a door of opportunity v^^-^^^ which no man would be able to close. A later writer on reading or hearing this report might, in all good faith, imagine that what actually occurred was what Adamnan has described. However little faith we may find it possible to repose Lessons to in the miraculous occurrences with which the lives of from^the many of the early missionaries abound, we cannot i^SaS. afford to neglect these stories altogether. Bishop Dow- den, referring to the miracles recounted by the bio- grapher of Adamnan, writes : "As illustrating the popular beliefs of his time, the stories related by Adam- nan, however incredible, are full of interest, and much more is to be learned from them than many modern writers, in their contemptuous impatience, have been ready to acknowledge. The stories reflect the re- ^ ii. cap. XXXV. " a door was opened unto me in the 2 C/. "a great door and effectual Lord," 2 Cor. ii. 12. is opened unto me," 1 Cor. xvi. 9: 40 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. ligious notions current in the writer's day, and so supply us with a most precious source of information as to a period of the history of rehgious thought in this country otherwise singularly obscure. ... It is not, I think, less interesting to know what men believed and what they thought, than what kind of dress they wore, what kind of houses they lived in, what weapons they carried, and what food they ate." ^ C!hristian There is no evidence to show that the Christian po ogies. ^pQ^Qgjgg lYidit were written before the time of Con- stantine were productive of any visible results from a missionary standpoint, or that pagans were converted by them. TertuUian lamented that no pagan would read any Christian writing.^ The missionary agency by which the Christian faith was spread during the early centuries was the lives and deaths of the Christians. The blood The truth of Tertullian's oft-quoted statement ^ that the tians is blood of Christians is seed, was again and again exem- plified, and the more cruelly any given Church was persecuted the greater became its efficiency from a missionary standpoint. But if the martyrdoms of Chris- influence tians provided occasional impulses towards the expansion by^Uves of of the Christian Church, their lives exerted a greater tianT ^^^ more continuous influence. It was as a result of witnessing the moral lives and the fearless deaths of the Christians that Justin Martyr * became a Christian, and no effective missionary work has ever been accom- plished which has not been supported by this argument. . During the first three or four centuries after the ^ The Celtic Church in Scotland, ^ ' ' semen est sanguis Christian- p. 141 f. orum," Apol. 50. 2 "ad nostras litteras nemo venit * Apol. ii. 12. nisi jam Christianus," de Testim. i. INTRODUCTORY 41 Christian era the Church's missionary task was accom- and by pHshed not so much by the action of individuals or com-^*^^^ pioneer missionaries as by the steady attraction exer- "^"^^i^ie^- cised by Christian communities. There are districts in India and in South Africa to-day where large numbers of persons have asked to be prepared for Christian baptism, having been moved to make their request by the knowledge and sight of the spiritual and material benefits that the new religion has brought to their fellow-countrymen. What is happening to-day in non- Christian lands happened on a large scale in the early centuries. Up to the time of Const antine there were few material benefits to be anticipated by those who desired to become members of a Christian community, but it was the loving sympathy displayed by the Christians towards each other and the high moral standard of their life that helped to commend their faith to others. The scene of Raymond Lull's missionary labours lay Methods outside Europe and his work does not therefore come mond"^ within the scope of our present enquiry,^ but some- ^^ thing must be said in regard to the missionary methods the adoption of which by the Christian Church through- out Europe he sought to secure. He anticipated the teachings and methods of modern missionaries by his insistence that efforts for the evangelization of the world must be based upon a careful study and know- ledge of the languages and literature of the peoples whom it was sought to evangelize. In 1276 he founded at Miramar in Majorca a school for the teaching of Arabic ^ For a brief account of his work tian Missions, by the Author, pp. in North Africa see History of Chris- 285 f., 466 f. 42 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. t. and geography. He further urged the University of Paris to endow chairs of Greek, Arabic and Tartar. He visited Rome three times, and Avignon once, in order to press upon the Pope the need of systematic Missions to Moslems, and he advocated the founding of monas- teries the special purpose of which should be to promote the study of languages with a missionary intent. His efforts If, howcvcr, he agreed with the modern missionaries conver- ^^ emphasizing the supreme importance of securing ET^Tm^t ^ sympathetic understanding of the life and thought of those whom he desired to convert, he differed, alike from them and from his contemporaries, in believing that their conversion could and would be effected by the employment of philosophical disputation. He himself wrote over two hundred massive Latin folios on philosophy and theology, believing that their study would help to convert the Saracens. The history of Christian Missions in early mediaeval and modern times affords no support for Lull's contention that " com- placuit Deo in dialectica salvare hominem." At the same time we cannot but remember with gratitude and admiration the efforts which Lull made to put a stop to forcible conversions and to base the appeal to non- Christian races upon a sympathetic study of their own teachings, sealed as they were by his heroic life and death. In 1311 four years before his own death the Council of Vienne, moved apparently by Lull's ap- peal, decreed the establishment of professorships of oriental languages in various places of learning. Women It is interesting to note the appeal which Christian in the Missious made to women and the influence exerted Church, ^y women converts in the early Church. INTRODUCTORY 43 It would appear to be the case that in all countries in which the status of women has been a high one, the number of women converts and the influence which these converts have exerted have been great. In India and in other less civilized countries where the position of women is or has been relatively low the proportion of men converts has been large. During the early centuries of the Christian Era women converts attained considerable prominence. This was specially the case in the more civilized parts of the Roman Empire. In the Gospels we read of the ministering women who accompanied our Lord from place to place. According to a very early gloss which appears in Mar- cion's text and two Latin MSS. our Lord was charged by the Jews before Pilate with misleading women.^ St. Paul's directions to the Corinthian Christians in regard to the conduct and dress of women in church suggest that they formed an important part of the Christian community. In the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans St. Paul sends greetings to fifteen women who were apparently of some standing in the Church.^ The second Epistle of St. John was addressed to a woman. Irenaeus also states that Marcus the pupil of Valentinus consecrated women as prophetesses and thereby led many astray in Gaul and that his followers deluded many women in the Rhone districts.^ The increasing restrictions which the Church placed upon the freedom of women to act as Christian teachers was in part due to its anxiety to oppose the spread of ^ The gloss occurs in the text of occupied by Christian women in New St. Luke xxii. 2, drroaTp€ovTa rets Testament times see Harnack, Exp. of yvvaiKas /cat rd r^Kva. C. ii. 65-69. 2 For a discussion of the position ^ i. 13-17. 44 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. i. Gnosticism and Montanism, the followers of which assigned a prominent position to women. The many- women who suffered as martyrs during the various persecutions did much to raise the ideals of Christian womanhood at the same time that they helped to commend the Christian faith to an ever- widening circle of the heathen. In Pliny's letter to Trajan {circ, 103) mention is made of women who were called by their fellow- Christians ministrce (deaconesses). Until the rise of monasticism the influence exerted by women in the service of the Church tended steadily to increase and mention is made of prominent Christian women in nearly all the writings dating from the second centm*y. In the majority of cases the women referred to were resident in Asia or Africa. In Greece and Italy the proportion of influential women converts would appear to have been smaller. Marcellina the Carpo- cratian is said by Irenseus ^ to have taught and to have led many astray in Rome. The Before proceeding to discuss the beginning of Christi-° missionary work in the several countries of Europe, prior to ^* ^^y ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ *^ *^^ ^^^^ categories in which 325. Harnack has suggested that the countries within or ad- jacent to the Roman Empire might be placed in the third decade of the fourth century. At the time to which Harnack's thcsc Categories refer, the total Christian population gories. of the world was about 4,000,000 of whom less than half would have been resident in Europe. Harnack reckons that about the year 312 there were from 800 to 900 bishoprics in the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire and from 600 to 700 in the western portion. ^ Iren. i. 25, " miiltos extermina vit. " INTRODUCTORY 45 "1. Those in which Christianity numbered nearly one-half of the population and represented the most widely spread, or even the standard, religion. " 2. Those in which Christianity formed a very im- portant section of the population, influencing the lead- ing classes and the general civilization of the people, and being capable of holding its own with other religions. " 3. Those in which Christianity was thinly scattered. " 4. Those in which the spread of Christianity was extremely slender, or where it was hardly to be found at all." 1 Under 1. he places " the region of Thrace opposite Bith3niia " and the island of Cyprus. Under 2. are placed Rome, Lower Italy and the coastal districts of Middle Italy. The Christian population, he writes, " would be denser wherever Greeks formed an appre- ciable percentage of the inhabitants, i,e, in the maritime towns of Lower Italy and Sicily, although the Latin- speaking population would still remain for the most part pagan." Under the same category are placed Spain, the maritime parts of Achaia, Thessaly, Mace- donia, the Mediterranean islands and the southern coast of Gaul. Under S. come the interior of Achaia, Macedonia and Thessaly, together with Epirus, Dar- dania, Dalmatia, Mcesia and Pannonia, the north- ern districts of Middle Italy and the eastern region of Upper Italy. Under 4. come Western Upper Italy, Middle and Upper Gaul, Belgica, Germany, Rhsetia and the north and north-west coasts of the Black Sea.2 ^ Exp. of G. ii. 327. ture to pronounce any opinion at all 2 Harnack writes, " I do not ven- on Britain and Noricum." CHAPTER II IRELAND In a volume that deals with the work of Christian missionaries in the various countries of Europe Ireland may claim to engage the early attention of the reader, and this for two reasons. A first ground of claim Ireland is fumishcd by the missionary activities of its own training- SOUS. There is no country which in proportion to the for^fe- extent of its population sent out so many of its sons sionaries. Iq servc as missionaries in other European countries. We shall have occasion to note later on that there is hardly any large district in northern or central Europe which did not share in the spiritual benefits that mis- sionaries from Ireland poured forth with a lavish hand and during a long series of years. In the second place, Ireland has a unique interest from a missionary stand- point because it is the only country in Europe that can No claim no Christian martyrs. The Christian faith, by martyrs in whomsocvcr iutroduccd, was gradually accepted without ^^^^ ■ any outbreak of intolerance leading to the death of a missionary or of other Christians. What little we know of the development of Christianity in Ireland affords a pleasing contrast to the story of the violent and forcible conversions which took place in other lands. Yet another reason for assigning an early and im- portant place to the evangelization of Ireland is afforded 46 IRELAND 47 by the character of the missionary to whom its conver- sion was chiefly due. The work accompHshed by St. Patrick is wrapt in an obscurity that we can never hope to remove, but what we know of him and his work compels us to assign him a place second to none in the long roll of missionaries to whom, after the time of St. Paul, the conversion of Europe was due. We fortunately possess at least two writings which can with reasonable certainty be ascribed to him and which, whilst they throw little light upon his missionary labours, nevertheless help us to under- stand and appreciate the personal character of Ireland's missionary saint. Of the actual beginnings of Christianity in Ireland introduc we know nothing. We know that at some period christi- prior to 431 a.d. the Christian faith was preached ''^"^*^- and that a certain number of converts were obtained, but when and where and by what agency Christianity was first introduced we shall probably never know. The large number of Roman coins, dating back to Roman the first century of the Christian era, that have been ireUnd. found in Ireland tends to show that even in the first century of our era it was not entirely isolated from the continent of Europe, and suggests the possibility that a knowledge of Christianity was introduced by visitors or traders from Italy .^ References occur to a Irish certain number of Irish bishops, or saints, on the on the^ continent, who lived before the time of St. Patrick, l^^^^^ but it is probable that these were converted to the Chris- tian faith after leaving Ireland. Thus St. Mansuetus ^ In 1831 200 Roman coins were of bodies have been found near Bray found at the Giant's Causeway dating Head each with a copper coin of from 70 a.d. to 160 a.d. A number Trajan or Hadrian laid on his breast. 48 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [CHAP. II. Visit of Palladius. Ireland's patron saint. the first bi:*hop of Toul ^ and St. Beatus the first bishop of Lausanne, both of whom Hved in the fourth century, were probably Irish. The poet Sedulius who flourished in Italy in the fifth century was perhaps an Irishman. The first historical statement with reference to Christian Missions in Ireland that has survived is that made by Prosper of Aquitaine in 431 a.d. He states that Palladius, having been ordained as the first Bishop, was sent by Pope Celestine to the Scots {i,e, Irish) who believed in Chris t.^ According to a tradition which was not, however, embodied in writing till several centuries later, Palladius founded three churches, and having crossed to Scotland during the year following his arrival in Ireland died shortly afterwards.^ This statement of Prosper makes it clear that Celestine was moved to send Palladius to Ireland by the knowledge that there were Christians there who needed a bishop to minister to them, but of the extent or previous history of this Christian community we know nothing. Nor can we even claim to emerge into daylight when we pass on to the story of Ireland's patron saint. His very existence has indeed been a matter of dispute.* ^ See below, p. 175. in North Ireland who were the objects 2 Prosper Chronicon. s.a. 431 "ad of his concern." Life of St. Patrick, Scottos in Christum credentes ordina- tus a papa Celestino Palladius primus episcopus mittitur." See Migne P.L. LI. ^ Prof. Bury writes with regard to the visit of Palladius to Scotland, " We may be tempted to suspect that the expedition of Palladius to the country of the Picts was not an abandonment of Ireland and that it was not the Picts of North Britain, but some Christian communities ex- isting among the Picts of Dalaradia pp. 54 f . See below, p. 70 f . * Amongst those who have denied or seriously doubted his existence are Plummer, the Editor of Bede's works (c/. vol. ii. p. 25), and Prof. Zimmcr in Germany. The latter identified him with Palladius. See Liber Ar- machanus, ed. by Gwynn, p. xcvii. No reference to Patrick occurs in Bede's History though a reference is made to him in Bede's Martyrology at March 17. This martyrology has, how- ever, been interpolated by later writers. IRELAND 49 But though on this point there can be no reasonable doubt, we are left in complete uncertainty concerning the length of time which he spent and the extent of his missionary labours in Ireland. We are fortunate to possess two works written by Patrick himself from which we can learn a little in regard to his history and still more in regard to his personal character and the motives by which his missionary labours were inspired. These writings are his Confession and a letter, of some St. Pat- length, addressed by him to the subjects of a king writings^" named Coroticus. He was apparently the ruler of Strathclyde in North Britain, and having made a raid upon the coast of Ireland, had carried away as captives some Christians who had recently been baptized. To these authentic writings, which are written in Latin, may perhaps be added the Lorica, a hymn written in Irish by Patrick, and a hymn written in Latin by Sechnall (Secundinus) a coadjutor of Patrick. The earliest extant lives of Patrick, which were written by Lives of Muirchu and Tirechan,^ were composed in the latter rick. half of the seventh century, whilst the longer and more complete record known as the Tripartite life ^ was probably composed in the eleventh century. The biographical details which we can obtain from Bio- his own writings and on which alone we can rely with details?^ any confidence are as follows : — His father Calpornius, who was a Roman decurio, was in deacon's orders and his grandfather Potitus was a priest. His father owned ^ According to Zimmer the coUec- apparatus by Dr. Whitley Stokes and tions of Tirechan and Muirchu ought published in 2 vols, in the Rolls not to be dated earlier than the first series, 1887. The Vita Tripartita is half of the ninth century. written in Irish but is largely inter- 2 Edited with notes and critical spersed with Latin. D 60 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. ii. # a small farm near a village called Bannaven Taberniae.^ In his sixteenth year ^ he was carried captive with several others to Ireland and for six years was employed by his master in herding swine .^ Before he was carried captive he had thought little about religion, but in his trouble he learned to pray. Thus he writes : " After I had come to Ireland I daily used to feed swine and I prayed frequently during the day ; the love of God and the fear of Him increased more and more, and faith became stronger, and the spirit was stirred, so that in one day I said about a hundred prayers and in the night nearly the same, so that I used even to remain in the woods and in the mountain, before day- light I used to rise to prayer, through snow, through frost, through rain, and felt no harm." The habit and power of prayer which he thus acquired when hardly more than a boy go far towards explaining the marvellous spiritual influence which he exerted in later life. In his Confession he refers to an offence that he had committed when he was fifteen years old which was brought up against him in later life. He writes : "I did not believe in the one God from my infancy but I remained in death and unbelief until I was severely chastised. . . . Before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mud." It is hardly necessary to point out that these statements conflict with the later traditions which tell of the exceptional ^ The locality of this village is un- man. See his references to the Irish certain. According to most critics it as 'barbarians.' Ef. to Coroticus c. 1. was near Dumbarton in Scotland, ^ The date of his birth according Prof. Bury however maintains that to Prof. Bury was 389 a.d. it was on the Bristol Channel. One ^ The Confession sa,yspecora (cattle), of the few things certain in regard to but all the later authorities read sues Patrick is that he was not an Irish- (swine). IRELAND 51 piety of his early days. At the end of six years his longing to return to his native land was enhanced by a vision in which he heard a voice telling him thab the ship in which he was to escape was waiting for him. He accordingly left his master and after a walk of about 200 miles reached a port. Part of the cargo His of the boat in which he sailed consisted of dogs,i ^nd-^-'Gaul after three days at sea he reached land.^ On leaving the boat he and his companions, accompanied by their dogs, travelled for twenty- eight days through a desert, or a deserted country,^ where they suffered greatly from hunger. When food failed the leader of the party, a heathen, appealed to Patrick for help and said to him, " What is it, O Christian ? Thou say est that thy God is great and almighty ; why therefore canst not thou pray for us, for we are perishing with hunger." " I said to them plainly," writes Patrick, " Turn with faith to the Lord my God, to whom nothing is im- possible, that He may send food this day for us in your path, even till you are satisfied, for it abounds every- where with Him." The appearance of a herd of swine, which immediately followed, was regarded by Patrick and his companions as an answer to his prayers. A statement to the effect that after many years he was taken captive once more, which is here abruptly inserted in his Confession, is apparently to be inter- preted as a reference to the spiritual compulsion which forced him to become a missionary to the land in which he had been a captive in his youth. Again " after a few years " but while still young (puer) he was at his ^ Probably Irish wolf-hounds. on the coast of Gaul at Nantes or 2 According to Prof. Bury he landed Bordeaux. ^ See below, p. 185. 62 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. ii. His re- home "in the Britains " where his parents ^ begged Britain, him to remain. " There," he writes, " I saw in the bosom of the night, a man coming as it were from Ireland, Victoricus by name, with innumerable letters, and he gave one of them to me. And I read the begin- ning of the letter containing ' The voice of the Irish.' And while I was reading aloud the beginning of the letter, I myself thought indeed in my mind that I heard the voice of those who were near the wood of Foclut, which is close by the Western Sea. And they cried out thus as if with one voice. We entreat thee, holy youth, that thou come and henceforth walk among us.^ And I was deeply moved in heart and could read no further, and so I awoke." In yet another vision he heard a voice which said, " He who gave His . life for thee is He who speaks in thee." Here unfortu- nately his own record abruptly ends. From the latter part of his Confession and his letter to Coroticus we can glean the following additional details. Before or after this vision he spent some time in Gaul in which country were some whom he had learned to regard as his brethren (fratres). When he was His work almost wom out ^ he went (or returned) to Ireland as in Ireland. . . . , . a missionary, where, on twelve separate occasions, nis 1 By ' parentes,' we should probably he was a slave to Milchu at Mount understand ' kinsfolk.' Miss (Slemesh) in Dalaradia (Ulster). 2 Rogamus te, sancte puer, ut If, however, vdth Prof. Stokes and venias et adhuc ambules inter nos. Dr. Wright we translate adhuc as Prof . Bury argues that the word ad^-wc 'henceforth,' or, with Dr. N. J. D. implies that the neighbourhood of White, as ' hither,' or, again, with Foclut near the Western Sea had been Dr. Gwynn, as ' moreover,' there is the scene of Patrick's captivity, and nothing to show that the vision sum- on the strength of this statement he moned Patrick to return to the exact rejects as a later and incorrect tradi- scene of his former captivity. tion the generally accepted behef that ^ prope deficiebam. IRELAND 63 life was imperilled, and where, he says, it has " come to pass that they who never had any knowledge and until now have only worshipped idols and unclean things, have lately become a people of the Lord and are called the sons of God. Sons of the Scots and daugh- ters of chieftains are seen to be monks and virgins of Christ." Having been consecrated as a bishop (appa- rently in Gaul) he ordained clergy in many different places and baptized many thousands of men. The clergy whom he ordained included one whom he had taught from his infancy.^ Having come to Ireland as a missionary he felt " bound by the spirit " ^ not to see again any of his kindred. The success of his labours as a bishop roused the jealousy of some of his seniors, one of whom charged him, after thirty years, with the offence which he had confessed before he was ordained as a deacon and which had been committed when he was about fifteen years of age. By coming to Ireland he relinquished the advantages conferred on him by his noble birth,^ and suffered insults and persecutions from unbelievers, even unto chains, and was prepared to lay down his life most willingly on behalf of the name of Christ. On the twelve separate occasions on which his life was imperilled, " the most holv God " delivered him. Those to whom his Con- fession, which was written in his old age,* was addressed were " witnesses that the Gospel has been preached everywhere in places where there is no man beyond." The details given above are practically all that we can obtain from the study of Patrick's own writings. ^ Ep. to Coroticus 2. ^ ingenuitas. 2 id. 5. " * in senectute mea. 64 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [CHAP. n. If, as seems almost certain, the Hymn of Sechnall was written by one who was a contemporary of Patrick, his statement that Christ chose Patrick to be His vicar on earth 1 may be regarded as evidence that Patrick went to Ireland believing himself to have received a direct command from God. There are many questions relating to his life and work to which we should like to have answers, but in those which are supplied by Doubtful the later biographies it is impossible to feel any con- mentsby fidcnce. We do not know, for example, whether Patrick laboured in Ireland as a missionary prior to his consecration as a bishop, how many years he spent as a student in Gaulish monasteries, whether he ever visited Rome, or whether he received any communica- tion from the Bishop of Rome. In the Irish Canons attributed to Patrick, but the date of which Haddan and Stubbs place between 716 and 777, the following reference to the Bishop of Rome occurs : — ' If any (difficult) questions arise in this island let them be referred to the apostolic See.' ^ The earliest existing evidence for a visit paid by Patrick to Italy is that contained in the first of the Dicta Patricii included in the Book of Armagh and which is regarded by Prof. Bury as almost certainly genuine. It reads : — " I had the fear of God as my guide in my journey through Gaul and Italy and in the districts that lie on the Tyrrhenian sea." ^ A strong reason for rejecting the later traditions his bio- graphers. Did Patrick visit Rome ? ^ Christus ilium sibi elegit in terris vicarium, 1. 26. 2 si quae (difficiles) questiones in liac insula oriantur ad sedem apostolicam referantur. CoUectio Canonum Hiber- nensis, 29, 5 b. ^ Timorem Dei habui ducem itineris mei per Gallias atque Italiam etiam in insolis quae sunt in mari Tyrreno. IRELAND 65 referring to a visit to Rome is that whereas Patrick's Confession, which was written near the end of his Hfe, was written in part to vindicate against his oppo- nents his action in coming to Ireland at all, he never suggests, or hints, that this action had received the approval of the Pope. It is impossible to understand why he failed to adduce this justification, had he been in a position to do so. Two very different chronologies of his life have been chrono- suggested by Irish scholars. That suggested by Dr. su|gested Whitley Stokes, the Editor of the Tripartite Life of^^^^^^ S, Patrick, is as follows : — " It seems that Patrick stokes. returned to Ireland on or soon after his ordination as priest (say in 397 a.d.) and without any commission from Rome : that he laboured for 30 years in con- verting the pagan Irish, but met with little or no success : that he attributed this failure to the want of episcopal ordination and Roman authority : that ' in order to have these defects supplied he went back to Gaul (say in 427 a.d.) intending ultimately to proceed to Rome ; that he spent some time in study with Germanus of Auxerre ; that hearing of the failure and death of Palladius ... in 431 a.d. he was directed by Germanus to take at once the place of the deceased missionary ; that he thereupon relinquished his jour- ney to Rome, received episcopal consecration from a Gaulish bishop . . . and returned a second time to Ireland about the year 432 when he was 60 years old as a missionary from the Gaulish Church and supplied with Gaulish assistants and funds for his mission." ^ ^ Tripartite Life of S. Patrick, vol. i. p. cxli. 66 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. ii. Chrono- The chronology suggested by Professor Bury which sufgested differs in many important respects from the above, Bury'°*' is briefly as follows :— A.D. 389. Birth of Patrick. 41 1-]2. Escape from his ship-companions. 411-12 j to > At Lerins. 414-15. I 414-15. Returns to Britain. 415-16. Goes to Auxerre. 416-18. Is ordained by Amator. 418. Death of Amator who is succeeded by Germanus. 418-32. Patrick remains at Auxerre as deacon. 429. Germanus goes to Britain to suppress the Pelagian heresy. 431. Palladius consecrated bishop for Ireland. 432. Patrick consecrated bishop by Germanus. 441. Visit to Rome. 461. Death of Patrick. Miracles The later biographies of Patrick abound in stories of to St." ^ th^ miracles which he was supposed to have worked, Patrick. ^^^ -j^ j^-g authentic works and in the hymn of Secundi- nus there is no trace of a claim to exercise miraculous powers. On the other incidents and details of his missionary labours in Ireland supplied by his biographies it is of little use to dwell, as the greater part of them do not rest on historical evidence that can be regarded as satisfactory. State- The outline of his travels and work in Ireland as Srechan givcu by Muirchu and Tirechan is briefly as follows. Mulrchu According to the Jatter he first visited Meath and made a direct attack on paganism at Tara, where Loigaire the high king of Ireland ruled. Having defeated the ^ Druids at the court, he induced the king to tolerate IRELAND 67 the preaching of Christianity, though he did not persuade him to accept baptism. According to Tirechan and Muirchu Patrick sailed north and landed in Strangford Lough. After having converted a chieftain named Dichu he visited Slemesh, where his former master Milchu (or MiHuc) still lived, intending to offer him money to reimburse him for the loss of his run- away slave and thus to conciliate him in favour of the Christian faith. Milchu, however, hearing of his approach and fearing hostile magic, burnt his own house and perished in the flames. Patrick then returned to Dichu and his first church was built at Saul (Irish sabhall a barn) where Dichu had given him a barn in which to worship. He is said to have crossed the R. Shannon and to have visited Connaught three times. During his first tour he visited or, according to Prof. Bury, re- visited the mountain of Crochan Aigli, now Croagh Patrick, and spent there forty days and forty nights in prayer and fasting. His church and monastery at Armagh, which date from 444, were built on land given him for the purpose by Daire a king of Oriel (South Ulster). According to one later account he resigned the bishopric of Armagh in 457 m favour of his pupil Benignus. He died at Saul on March 17, His death 461,^ but Saul and Downpatrick both claim to be possessors of his grave. A careful examination of Patrick's Confession enables His us to answer the question. What were the doctrines on w^hich he laid special emphasis in the course of his ^ This is the date given in the Bury ; Ussher and Todd suggest Annals of Ulster and accepted by 493. 68 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [ohap. ii. missionary labours, in Ireland. The Confession con- tains in fact an outline of his belief which maybe regarded as his creed. After speaking of the obligation which rested upon him to exalt and confess the works of God, he writes : — " There is no other God, nor ever was, nor shall be hereafter, except God the Father, unbegotten, without beginning, from whom is all beginning, up- holding all things, as we say ; and His Son Jesus Christ, whom indeed we acknowledge to have been always with the Father before the beginning of the world, spiritually with the Father, begotten in an ineffable manner before all beginning ; and by Him were made things visible and invisible, who was made man and, death having been vanquished, was received in the heavens to the Father ... in whom we believe and whose coming we look for as soon to take place ; who will be the judge of the living and the dead and who will render unto everyone according to his deeds ; and He has poured upon us abundantly the Holy Spirit, a gift and pledge of immortality, who makes the faithful and the obedient to become sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ whom we confess and adore — one God in the Trinity of the sacred Name." Comparing this informal creed of Patrick's belief with that of Nicaea we notice the omission in the former of any allusion to the burial, the descent into Hades or the resurrection of our Lord, but there are no grounds for supposing that a belief in these did not form part of his faith. His ^ Of Patrick's personal character and disposition we know comparatively little. Most of those who have character. IRELAND 59 studied his authentic writings and the earhest traditions will endorse the statement of Dr. Stokes who wrote concerning him, " He was modest, shrewd, generous, enthusiastic, with the Celtic tendency to exaggerate failure and success. Like St. Paul, he was desirous of martyrdom. He was physically brave and had strong passions which he learned to control." ^ If we are correct in assigning to Patrick the author- The ship of the hymn known as the Lorica or ' Breastplate,' it would appear that he shared the belief of i^any of his contemporaries in the magical powers that certain classes of persons claimed to possess. Thus we find in the hymn an invocation " against the spells of women and smiths and druids." In the same hymn we have Patrick's beautiful ampli- fication of the statement of St. Paul, " I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me." The author of the hymn writes, " Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ under me, Christ over me, Christ to right of me, Christ to left of me, Christ in lying down, Christ in sitting, Christ in rising up." We have already referred to the fact that there was a Christian community in Ireland before the time of Patrick or of his predecessor Palladius. An argument The keep- in favour of the contention that this community Easter. was of considerable size may be deduced from the variation between the Irish and continental uses in regard to the mode of calculating Easter and the form of the clerical tonsure. If, as there is reason ^ Tripartite Life ed. by Dr. W. Stokes, i. cxxxv. 60 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. ii. to suppose, Patrick received his ecclesiastical education and training in France, it is most unlikely that he would have afterwards introduced into Ireland customs disapproved of by the Gallic Church, and the unwilling- ness shown by the Irish to change their customs and to adopt the continental uses, and the vehement con- troversies which the proposal to do so excited, seem to show that the uses objected to had been introduced and widely adopted before the time of Patrick. The dispute in regard to the reckoning of Easter separated for a time the southern from the northern Irish. The southern Irish adopted the English, i.e. the Roman reckoning, in 634, whilst in the north this reckoning was not adopted till 704.^ introduc- If wc may interpret Patrick's own statement that monastic " SOUS of the Scots and daughters of chieftains are seen system. ^^ |^^ mouks and virgins of Christ " in the light of the later information supplied by his biographers, the credit is due to him of introducing the monastic system into Ireland and of inaugiu-ating the monastic schools, the subsequent development of which rendered Ireland famous throughout Europe, ahke for its piety and its learning. 2 The early monasteries and monastic schools founded in, or soon after, the time of St. Patrick were collections of rude huts made of planks and moss : the church which was attached being built of wood frequently bore the name Duirthech, i.e. " house of oak." Many of the monasteries were situated on islands round the coast or in the inland lochs .^ ^ See p. 158 n. examina effuderunt." Vita S. Mala- 2 See the statement of St. Bernard chioe c. 5. Migne P.L. clxxxii. " In exteras etiam nationes quasi ^ For a further reference to Irish inundatione facta iUa se sanctorum monasteries see pp. 65 f., 159. IRELAND 61 The fact that Patrick's Confession and his letter to Use of Coroticus were written m Latin gives support to the language"! later tradition that he caused Latin to become the ecclesiastical language in Ireland. By doing so he rendered it possible for the monks and other students in the monasteries to get into touch with the greater part of the theological and secular literature that was then available in Western Europe. At the same time he prepared the way for the close relations that were eventually to be established between the Bishop of Rome and the Irish Church. Prof. Bury, comparing Patrick's action in making Latin instead of Gaelic the language of the Irish Church with the different policy adopted in Russia at the time of its conversion, writes : " If Greek had been originally established as the ecclesiastical language of Russia in the days of Vladimir, we may surmise that in the days of Alexius all national peculiarities and deviations which had been introduced in the meantime could have easily been corrected without causing the great split. On the other hand if Gaelic had been established by Patrick as the ecclesiastical tongue of Ireland, the reformers, who in the seventh century sought to abolish idiosyncrasies and restore uniformity, might have caused a rupture in the Irish Church, which might have needed long years to heal." ^ Before Patrick died there were, according to tradition, other at least three other bishops in Ireland, Secundinus, porary Auxilius and Isserminus, but of their missionary ^^^^^^^ labours or of those of their successors we know practically nothing. 1 Life of S. Patrick, p. 219 f. 62 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. n. A national It is to be noted that the priests and bishops to ireUind ° whoHi Patrick entrusted the continuation and develop- ment of his work were in almost every instance natives of Ireland, and to this it was due that Christianity be- came almost at once a national institution. Although he was not himself a native of Ireland, he made no attempt to introduce men of his own nationality, nor, as was subsequently done in England, to bring men from Italy or France. Christianity " was not looked upon as coming from foreigners, or as representing the manners and civilization of a foreign nation. Its priests and bishops, the successors of St. Patrick in his missionary labours, were many of them descendants of the ancient kings and chieftains so venerated by a clannish people." ^ St. Although the facts relating to her life and work are lost in the mists of tradition,^ some mention should be made of St. Bridget (Brigid, Brigit, or Bride), who is reputed to have been the foundress of a large number of religious communities for women and to whose honour innumerable churches have been dedicated.^ The earliest existing life of her was written by Cogitosus the father of Muirchu (one of Patrick's biographers) not earher than the middle of the seventh century. This biography does not mention Patrick or bring Bridget into connection with him.^ ^ 8. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, by ^ There are 18 parishes in Ire- Todd, p. 514f. land called Kilbride, i.e. church of ^ The close resemblance between Bridget, the rites connected with the cult of * Cogitosus' Life of Bridget is St. Bridget and those connected with printed in Canisii Lectiones antiquoe, the worship of the pagan Brigantes vol. v. According to Todd the Life has been urged as a reason for sup- was written in the ninth century, posing that the saint and the goddess Another life by Anmchad bishop of are to be identified. Kildare dates from the tenth century. IRELAND 63 According to later tradition she was born about 450, was baptized by a disciple of Patrick and died in 513. For the greater part of her life she is said to have resided at the monastery of Kildare. Two passages in the Life of Gildas, a Welsh saint a revival (circa 516-570), and in the Life of Disibod have been l^sm.^^'^" quoted by several writers as affording evidence of a great pagan reaction throughout Ireland during the latter part of the sixth and the first half of the seventh century, but it is doubtful how far their evidence can be accepted as trustworthy.^ According to the former statement, Gildas by his preaching in Ireland effected a great revival of the faith. Neither of these lives was written earlier than the tenth or eleventh century. The reintroduction of paganism at the time of the Effects of Danish invasion of Ireland throughout large sections invasion. of the island, was in part due to the missionary activities of Charlemagne. He had ravaged Saxony and northern Germany with fire and sword and had compelled their inhabitants to become nominal Christians. Those who escaped his oppression fled to Denmark and Scandinavia and by their tales of the cruelties practised by the Christian King imparted to their hosts their own bitter hatred for the name ^ See Vita Gildce 11, 12. Vita had "lost the catholic faith." Tire- Disihodi 1, 11 (Migne P. L. cxvii. chanus {circ. 750) states that the 1099 ff.) also Les Chretientis Cel- second order of Irish Saints, beginning tiques par D, L. Gougaud, pp. 78 ff, in 544, received their Order of mass The monk of Ruys who wrote the from David, Cadoc and Gildas. Other first life of Gildas states that he went traditions refer to the number of Irish to Ireland at the request of King who about this time went over to Ainmire (568-71) to "restore eccle- seek instruction in the faith in Wales, siastical order," because the Irish See H. and Stubbs i. p. 115f. 64 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. ii. Christian. When then at the close of the ninth century the Danes appeared off the coast of Ireland they were eager to obhterate every sign of Christianity that they found. In 793, according to the Saxon Chronicle, " the Danes came and dreadfully destroyed the churches of Christ." In 795 they were first seen off the Irish coast. Influence It is probable that the reaction against Christianity Druids, was in part due to a revival of the influence of the Druids. Mention occurs of the use of Druidical charms by Fraechan, who is referred to as " the Druid king of Diarmait." ^ The rapid success which Patrick had Super- formerly won is partly to be explained by the super- versions, fi-cial character of the conversions which he secured. Thus Dr. O 'Donovan writes : " Nothing is clearer than that Patrick engrafted Christianity on the pagan superstitions with so much skill that he won the people over to the Christian religion before they understood the exact difference between the two systems of belief, and much of this half pagan, half Christian, religion will be found not only in the Irish stories of the middle ages, but in the superstitions of the peasantry to the present day." ^ Worship Turgesius, who landed in the north in 831, soon made Armagh, himsclf mastcr of nearly the whole island, and established the worship of Thor in Armagh, himself officiating as high priest. His conquests were in fact a crusade directed against Christianity. The murder of Turgesius in 845 put an end to this crusade and ere many decades had passed the Danes began to be influenced by their ^ See S. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, ^ Four Masters, p. 131, note, by Todd, p. 119. IRELAND 65 Christian surroundings, and paganism tended rapidly to disappear. An important feature of Celtic Christianity in Ire- Multi- land and to a lesser extent in Scotland and Wales was bishops^ its tendency to multiply bishops, who were as a rule attached to monasteries and were not in charge of dioceses. Patrick is said himself to have consecrated no less than three hundred. The monastic establishment at St. Mochta in Co. Louth possessed 100 bishops. In some cases bishops lived together in groups of seven, the Donegal mar- tyr ology containing references to six such groups.^ St. Bernard, writing in the twelfth century, says of Ireland that " bishops were changed and multiplied without order, and without reason, so that one bishopric was not content with a single bishop, but almost every church had its separate bishop." ^ Irish monasticism, the development of which dates Irish mon- back to the days of Patrick, soon began to exercise a ^^^°^ dominating influence upon the Irish Church, and its development rendered possible the missionary work on the continent for which Ireland became famous. ^ SeeTodd'siyi/eo/5'^. Pa^ncA;, p. 32. presided, illustrates the subordinate 2 De vita Malachice. Migne P. L. position occupied by bishops in Ire- 182, col. 1086. land. The bishop asked Bridget's The tendency to multiply bishops in permission to go on a visit to Rome, countries other than Ireland is illus- and when she refused her consent he trated by the canon of the Council of started without it. She then prayed Laodicea {circ. 372) which prohibited that as a punishment for his dis- the consecration of bishops for villages obedience he might meet with a or for places where there were no sudden death on the road, and in towns. answer to her prayers he was de- The accepted tradition relating to voured by wild dogs in the plain of the death of Condlaed who was Leinster. (See Scholia in Acta S.S. bishop in the monastery of Kildare on the martyrology of ^Engus for over which the "Blessed Bridget" May 3.) E 66 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. ii. The author of a recent book on Celtic monasticism writes concerning Ireland : " There were three distinct developments of monas- teries which extended from the introduction of Chris- tianity until about the middle of the seventh century. The first was defensive : all Christians Hved together for mutual protection : the village either became a Christian settlement, or all the Christian converts lived together and formed a Christian settlement — a fortified village — of their own. Then came the relapse into paganism, followed by the second conversion of Ireland, when Welsh monks came over and established schools of learning and devotion. South Wales provided for the centre and south of Ireland by the school or monastery of Clonard ; North Wales providing for the north and Ulster by the school of the Irish Bangor. When these schools filled to overflowing, a third development arose. Monks went forth from the monasteries as hermits or missionaries, or both, and Ireland began to pay back her loan to Wales, by sending over missionaries to complete the conversion of that country. The schools continued and great efforts were made at teaching and converting by the missionaries from those schools. . . . The effort of this last development of Celtic monasticism was checked by two causes, the destruction of the great Welsh monastery of Bangor about 632 and the advance of the Latin clergy." ^ The limits of our space forbid us to dwell upon the organization and history of these monasteries, or missionary colleges, as they deserve to be called, but in describing the efforts made to convert other 1 The Celtic Church of Wales by I. W. Willis Bund, p. 177 f. I IRELAND 67 lands we shall frequently be reminded of their activities. We pass on to consider the development of Chris- tianity in the country to which the first missionaries who had received their training in Ireland directed their steps. CHAPTER III SCOTLAND Early traces of Chris- tianity. Inscrip- tion at Kirk- ma dr inc. Use of the word "Scotia." During the Roman occupation of England the south of Scotland as far north as the wall connecting the Clyde with the Firth of Forth was occupied at intervals by Roman troops, and though no record of their work has survived, it is probable that a knowledge of Chris- tianity was introduced amongst its inhabitants by Roman or British Christians. The oldest existing trace of Christianity in Scotland is probably a column in the churchyard of Kirkmadrine in Wigtownshire, the inscription ^ on which reads : — " Here lie holy and eminent priests, namely Viventius and Mavorius." There are several other monumental stones in Wigtown- shire which may perhaps claim an equal antiquity, and which probably date back to a time prior to the withdrawal of the Roman legions, i,e. to the beginning of the fifth century. Before referring to the work of the earliest known missionaries it will be well to recall the fact that the ^ hie jacent sci et praecipui sacer- dotes id es(t) viventius et mavorius. Dean Stanley writes, " Nowhere in Great Britain is there a Christian record so ancient as the grey weather- beaten column that now serves as the gatepost of the deserted churchyard of Kirk Madrine. . . . Long may it stand as the first authentic trace of 68 Christian civilization in these islands." Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland, p. 85. Bp. Dowden suggests that "ides" is a proper name, also that "prsecipui sacer- dotes " probably means "bishops." See Proceedings of Antiquarians of Scotland, vol. xxxii. (1897-8), p. 247. SCOTLAND 69 names Scot and Scotia were, in early times, applied exclusively to the Irish and to Ireland. Up to the twelfth century the word ' Scots ' was used to denote the Irish of Ireland, or the Irish settlers on the west coast of what is now called Scotland.^ It is important to remember this fact when referring to the earliest sources of information concerning the evangelization of Scotland. It is doubtful whether the early inhabitants of idols. Scotland possessed any idols, but their Druids acted as diviners, sorcerers and medicine men.^ The first missionary concerning whose life and work anything can be definitely ascertained is Ninian. Bede, who is St. our earhest and only trustworthy authority for his Hfe, unfortunately devotes but a few lines to him. He writes, " The southern Picts . . . had long before {i.e, before 565), as is reported, forsaken the errors of idolatry and embraced the true faith by the preaching of Nynia a most reverend bishop and holy man of the British nation, who had been regularly instructed at Rome in the faith and mysteries of the truth ; whose episcopal seat, named after Saint Martin the bishop and famous for its church, where he himself and many other saints rest in the body, is still in existence among the English nation. The place belongs to the province Candida of the Bernicians and is commonly called the White asTe^^^^' House because he built there a church of stone, con- trary to the custom of the Britons." ^ Aelred a monk of Rievaulx in Yorkshire, who wrote an elaborate life of Ninian 700 years after his death, claims to have ^ See Skene's Celtic Scotland, ii. ^ See Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum, pp. 137, 398. by Bp. Healy. ^ ^^^^ y^i 4^ 70 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. m. made use of an earlier source, but the marvels and absurdities with which his life abounds render it im- possible to accept even the outline of the life given by him as historical. Ninian was probably born of Christian parents on the shores of the Solway about 350. According to Aelred he was consecrated as a bishop in Rome and, having visited Tours on his way back from Rome, procured from St. Martin masons, by whose help he built his " church of stone." On his return he carried on his missionary labours, which were attended with great success, amongst the southern Picts who inhabited the middle parts of Scotland south of the Grampians. He is said to have died on September 16, 432.^ It is probable that he introduced the monastic system into northern Britain, and many Welsh and Irish students resorted to his monastery at Candida Casa prior to its de- struction by the Saxons. According to some authorities Bannaven Tabernise, where Patrick was born and where he spent his boyhood, is to be identified with Dumbarton on the Clyde. If this identification be accepted ^ it would tend to show that a Christian com- munity had existed here for at least 50 years prior to his birth {circ, 389), as Patrick's grandfather was a Christian PaUadius priest. Forduu's Chronicle, written about 1385, states land? that PaUadius was sent by Pope Celestine to labour ^ Many churches in Scotland have rated in the Irish calendars as Moinenn been dedicated to St. Ninian, one of i.e. my Nynias." Plummer, Baedce the latest being the cathedral church opera ii, 128. The form Trinian at Perth. " Irish tradition, or in- occurs in the Isle of Man. vention, takes Nynias to Ireland to- ^ According to Prof. Bury the site wards the end of his life to found the of Patrick's birth was in South Wales, church of Cluain Conaire in Leinster, or in the neighbourhood of the Bristol and to die there. He is commemo- Channel. SCOTLAND 71 as a missionary in Scotland, but the source of his in- formation which is obviously the statement by Prosper of Aquitaine that he was sent as first bishop to the Scots, has evidently been misinterpreted by him.^ By '^Scots'' Prosper could only have meant the Irish. Fordun further states that St. Ternan and St. Serf st.Teman (Servanus) were fellow-labourers with Palladius. The serf. names of these two are preserved in Scottish tradition. The southern Picts, who had been converted by Ninian at the beginning of the fifth century, and had apparently relapsed into heathenism by the middle of the sixth century ,2 were restored to the faith by the labours of Kentigern commonly known in Scotland as St. Mungo. st. Kenti- The scene of his labours was the British kingdom of ^^^" Strathclyde, or Cumbria, which extended from Dum- barton its capital to the R. Derwent in Cumberland, and was bounded on the east by Bernicia, the kingdom of the Angles. The only life of Kentigern which we possess was written to order for the Bishop of Glasgow by Jocelyn a monk in Furness Abbey, Lancashire. Bp. Dowden refers to this life as a " tissue of mon- strous absurdities."^ The facts concerning his early life which are regarded by modern authorities as possibly true are these. His mother, the daughter of a Pictish king, when about to give birth to a child was cast adrift on the sea in a frail coracle and eventually landed and gave birth to her son on the shore of the Forth. Here the mother and child were cared for by St. Serf ^ See above, p. 48, note, apostasiam lapsi. He speaks of the ^ See Jocelyn 's Life of Kentigern king of Lothian as semipaganus. cap. xxvii. Picti vero prius per ^ The Celtic Ch. in Scotland, p. 52, Sanctum Ninianum ex magna parte and 58-79. . . . fidem susceperunt, Dein in 72 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [CHAP. III. Visit to Wales. and the name Kentigern^ and afterwards the name Mungo were given to the child. At the age of 25 he was chosen as bishop of Strathclyde and was con- secrated by a single bishop who was brought from Ireland for the purpose. Kentigern established a monastery at Glasgow where he remained till the hostility of a new king of Strathclyde induced him to seek refuge among the Christian Britons in Wales. On his journey south he preached in the districts round Carlisle, where to-day nine churches are dedicated to his memory. After residing for a time with Bishop David, he founded the monastery of Llanelwy ^ and, about 57S, returned to Strathclyde, on the invitation of a new king named Roderick ^ who gave him a hearty welcome. Soon after his return, when he was now an old man, he met at Glasgow the famous missionary Coiumba. Columba, who came to Glasgow with a great company of monks to greet him. As the two drew near to each other both parties chanted aloud psalms and spiritual songs. The bishop and the saint embraced each other and exchanged staves in token of their mutual love in Christ. The date of Kentigern's death is probably about 60S.4 We pass with a sense of relief from the largely mythological biographies of Ninian and Kentigern to the more trustworthy record of Scotland's third great missionary, saint Columba, as given by Adamnan. Adamnan was abbot (from 679 to 704) of the monastery ^ Kentigern probably means " chief a kingdom which stretched from the Clyde to the Mersey. ^ Jocel}^! his biographer states that Meeting with St St. Columba lord," Mungo means "Dear and loveable." 2 See p. 157. 3 Roderick having defeated his heathen enemies had become ruler of he died " matured in merit age of 185 ! at the SCOTLAND 73 in lona which Columba had founded and in his early years had " frequent opportunities of conversing with those who had seen St. Columba."^ " Adamnan's memoir," writes Dr. Reeves, "is to be prized as an inestimable hterary relic of the Irish Church ; perhaps with all its defects the most valuable monument of that institution which has escaped the ravages of time." ^ Although his work partakes of the nature of hagiology and consists to a large extent of miracles and wonders, the biographical details which it contains are stamped with the impress of truth.^ Columba, who was born in Donegal in 521, belonged to the clan of the O'Donnells and his father and mother were both connected with royal families. He is said to have received the two names of Crimthann, a wolf, and Columba, a dove. He attended the monastic school of Finnian of Movilla, His life in where he was ordained deacon, and also received instruction from the " bard " Gemman in Leinster. According to later tradition he afterwards resided for several years at the monastery of Clonard over which another Finnian presided, where he was ordained a priest. He subsequently devoted fifteen years to founding monasteries and building churches in various parts of Ireland and of the islands off the west coast. According to the earliest traditions his departure from Ireland and the start of his missionary work in Scot- land were an act of penitence. It is said that his old ^ For traditions respecting Adam- revelations, the second referring to nan see Reeves' Life of Saint Columba, his power of working miracles, and the pp. cxlix. and 99. last dealing with " Angelic appari- 2 Id. p. xxxi. tions which have been revealed either ^ The Ufe by Adamnan consists of to others concerning the blessed man three parts, the first containing illus- or to himself concerning others." tra tions of Columba 's prophetic 74 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. hi. teacher Finnian of Mo villa lent Columba a " book " or a " Gospel " ^ to examine and that he transcribed it before returning the original, whereupon Finnian claimed possession of the copy. The dispute as to its ownership having been referred to the king of Meath, the judgment delivered was, " To every cow her calf belongs, and so to every book its child-book." Columba, enraged at the decision, invited his kins- men to wage war against Diarmaid's clan, and in the battle which ensued SOOO of these were killed, whereupon, moved with remorse, he consulted his friend Molaise who lived on Inismurray, six miles off the coast of Sligo, who bade him leave Ireland and devote his life to missionary work amongst the heathen Picts till he had converted to Christ as many persons as had been killed in the battle against the king of Meath. The tradition is of uncertain value, and, whether or not the story concerning the " Gospel " and the ensuing battle be true, it is not improbable, as Skene suggests, that the defeat which the British Dalriads had suffered at the hands of the Picts under their king Brude had appealed to the chivalrous instincts of Columba and induced him to aid them by attempting to convert their foes. Thus Skene writes, '' This great reverse called forth the mission of Columba, commonly called Columcille, and led to the foundation of the The Irish monastic Church in Scotland." ^ The old Irish life Columba. ^f Columba has nothing to say concerning his remorse or penance. The account which it gives runs as follows : " When Columcille had made the circuit of all Erin, and 1 Probably to be identified with the Dr. H. S. Lawlor), see p. 582. extracts from the Psalter contained ^ Celtic Scotland, ii. p. 79. in the Cathach of S. Columba (ed. by SCOTLAND 75 when he had sown faith and rehgion, when numerous multitudes had been baptized by him, when he had founded churches and monasteries and had left in them elders, and reliquaries and relics therein, the determination that he had determined from the begin- ning of his life came into his mind, namely to go on a pilgrimage. He then meditated going across the sea to preach the word of God to the men of Scotland (Ir. Albanchaib). He went therefore on the journey. Forty-five years was he in Scotland : seventy- seven years was his full age."^ According to the Irish tradition Columba landed on Arrival at lona^ with 20 bishops, 40 priests, 30 deacons and 50 students, but according to the story as told by Adamnan, which is much more credible, he had twelve com- panions in all. The date of his landing was 563. He had apparently received a grant of the island from his kinsman Conal, the reigning prince of the Dalriads in Scotland. Here he built a church and some monastic cells, and after a short time he landed on the mainland and proceeded to visit the Pictish Visit to king Brude whose chief residence was at a place near Brude. Inverness. Arriving at the king's residence he and his companions were met by closed doors, which, how- ever, at the sign of the cross opened at once to admit them, and, after no long delay, king Brude accepted ^ Quoted by W. Stokes in Lives of Highlands," {The Celtic Church in the Saints from the Book of Lismore, Scotland, Doviden,^. 127). The word p. 178. lona is clearly a corruption of loua 2 " In the early Irish records the which is the name used by Adamnan. nameof the island appears as la, Hya, The name Icolmcille = the island of or Hy. This last form (pronounced Colum of the cells. (See Bede Eccl. ee) is still used in reference to the Hist. iv. 9 ; see also Reeves' Life of island by the Gaels of the Western Saint Columha pp. cxxvi.-cxxx.) 76 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. in. the Christian faith and he and many of his people were baptized. Columba's biographers have unfortunately preserved for us no details in regard to his missionary labours amongst the Picts, whose country was the scene of his chief missionary efforts. He laboured also un- ceasingly among the Christians on the south-east coast of Scotland and the islands, and the extent of his influence amongst these may be inferred from the fact that he " ordained " Aidan as king of Scottish Dalriada in 574, Aidan having come to him to lona for this purpose.^ Herevisitsin 575 he was present at a gathering of chiefs and ecclesiastics at Drumceatt in Ireland, attended (if a later tradition be true) by 40 priests, 50 deacons and 20 students, and was instrumental in freeing the in- habitants of Dalriada from the payment of tribute to the chief king of Ireland. He is also said to have been present at the battle of Coleraine, fought between his followers and those of St. Comgall of Bangor in 579, as the result of a quarrel relating to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. About the year 585 Columba paid another visit to Ireland, and revisited the monastery of Durrow, founded by him in 553, and St. Kiaran's monastery at Clonmacnoise, which afterwards became one of the most important centres of religion in Ireland. Refer- Bcdc, in the course of a brief description of Columba enoes in . ^ Bede. and his work, writes : "he converted the Pictish nation to the faith of Christ by his preachiag and example." Of lona he writes : " That island has for its ruler an abbot who is a priest, to whose direction all the province ^ Adamnan iii. 5. SCOTLAND 77 and even the bishops, contrary to the usual method, are subject, according to the example of their first teacher, who was not a bishop, but a priest and a monk." 1 A beautiful and, from the modern missionary stand- Coiumba' point, a helpful story is told by Adamnan of the way cessory in which Coiumba by his intercessory prayers on their p^^^^^^- behalf was enabled to come to the reUef of his fellow- labourers when they were tired and exhausted. He writes : "As the brethren, after harvest work, were returning to the monastery in the evening . . . they seemed each one to feel within himself something wonderful and unusual . . . and for some days at the same place and at the same hour in the evening they perceived it. . . . One of them, a senior (when asked to explain) says . . . ' a certain unaccustomed and incomparable joy is spread abroad in my heart, which of a sudden consoles me in a wonderful way, and so greatly gladdens me that I can think neither of sadness nor labour. The load, moreover, however heavy, which I am carrying on my back from this place until we come to the monastery, is so much lightened, how I know not, that I do not feel that I am bearing any burden.' When all the others had made similar statements, Baithen, ' the superintendent of labours among them,' said, ' Ye know that Coiumba, mindful of our toil, thinks anxiously about us and grieves that we come to him so late, and by reason that he comes not in body to meet us, his spirit meets our steps, and that it is which so much consoles and makes us glad.' " ^ Adamnan describes at some length " the passing 1 Hist. Ecd. iii. 4. ^ Vita i. 29. 78 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. hi. Adam- away " of the saint thirty-four years after his coming sc^ription to lona. Knowing that the end was near at hand, death " ^^ ^^^ man, weary with age, is borne on a wagon and goes to visit the brethren while at their work." To them he says : " During the Easter festival . . . with desire I have desired to pass away to Christ . . . but lest a festival of joy should be turned for you into sadness, I thought it better to put off the day of my departure from the world a little longer." ^ Then " sitting just as he was in the wagon, turning his face eastward, he blessed the island, with its inhabitants." At the end of the same week ^ he and his attendant Diarmaid went to bless the granary, and he gave thanks to God for the store of corn which it contained. As he was returning from the granary " a white horse, the same that used, as a willing servant, to carry the milk vessels from the cowshed to the monastery, runs up to him, and lays his head against his breast . . . and knowing that his master was soon about to leave him, and that he would see him no more began to whinny and to shed copious tears into the lap of the saint." ^ Columba refused to allow the horse to be interfered with, and " he blessed his servant, the horse, as it sadly turned to go away from him." Then he ascended a little hill which overlooked the monastery and after standing for awhile on the top he raised both his hands and ^ Id. iii. 24. which we find traces in the early 2 It would appear that when monastic Church of Ireland, by Christianity first spread throughout which they held Saturday to be the Scotland it was the custom of many sabbath on which they rested from Christians to observe Saturday as a all their labours, and on Sunday, on day of rest and to allow ordinary work the Lord's day, they celebrated the to be done on Sundays. Thus Skene resurrection by the service in church. " writes, referring to this custom, " they {Celtic Scotland ii. 349.) seem to have followed a custom of ^ Id. SCOTLAND 79 blessed the monastery, saying, " Upon this place, small though it be and mean, not only the kings of the Scots (Irish) and their peoples, but also the rulers of barbarous and foreign races, with the people subject to them, shall confer great and notable honour : by the saints also even of other churches shall no common reverence be accorded to it." Returning again to the monastery he sat in his hut transcribing the thirty- fourth Psalm and when he came to the verse " They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing " he said, " I must stop at the foot of this page, and what follows let Baithen write." Then he attended vespers in the church and afterwards, sitting up in his cell, he addressed his last words to the brethren, saying, " These my last words I commend to you, my sons, that ye have mutual and unfeigned love among your- selves, with peace ; and if, according to the example of the holy fathers, ye shall observe this, God, the Comforter of the good, will help you, and I, abiding with Him, will intercede for you." When the bell began to toll at midnight he rises in haste and, " running faster than the others, he enters alone and on bended knees falls down in prayer beside the altar." Here, a few moments later, the brethren found him, " and," writes Adamnan, "as we have learned from some who were there present, the saint, his soul not yet departing, with open eyes upturned, looked round about on either side with wonderful cheerfulness and joy of countenance on seeing the holy angels coming to meet him." After describing the miraculous occurrences which attended his funeral, Adamnan continues : " This great favour has also been granted to this same man of 80 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iii. blessed memory, that although he lived in this small and remote isle of the British Ocean, his name hath not only become illustrious throughout the whole of oiu' own Scotia (Ireland) and Britain, largest of the islands of the whole world, but hath reached even so far as triangular Spain, and the Gauls and Italy . . . even to the city of Rome itself which is the head of all cities."! Character Of Columba's ' character and disposition we know Coiumba. more than of his missionary labours, concerning which his biographers tell us far less than we could have wished to hear. The author of the life given in the Acta Sanctorum writes by way of illustrating Columba's humility and piety : " He would bathe the feet of the Brethren after their daily labour, he would carry the bags of flour from the mill to the kitchen, he subjected himself to great austerities, sleeping on a hide spread on the ground with a stone for a pillow, most strict and constant in fasting, in prayer, in meditation." ^ Apart from the reference to the transcription of the Psalter by Coiumba immediately before his death, frequent allusions occur to his skill as a transcriber of the Scriptures or of other books. Thus Adamnan refers incidentally to a book of hymns for the week which had been written by his hand.^ He writes : " He could not pass the space even of a single horn- without applying himself either to prayer, or reading, or writing, or else to some manual labour. By day and ^ iii. 23. orum. See also ii. 45, where a refer- 2 Acta Sanctorum, June 9. ence occurs to the " books of the ^ ii. 9, hymnorum liber septimani- blessed man placed on the altar." SCOTLAND 81 by night he was so occupied, without any intermission, in unwearied exercises of fasts and vigils that the burden of any one of these particular labours might seem to be beyond human endurance. And, amid all, dear to all, ever showing a pleasant holy counten- ance, he was gladdened in his inmost heart by the joy of the Holy Spirit." i Bishop Westcott writes : " Columba loved men and Bp. west- through love he understood them. He was enabled co^^^ba's to recognize the signs of a divine kinsmanship, the un- ^^^ conscious strivings after noble things, in the ignorant, the rude, the wayward. . . . By a living sympathy he entered into the souls of those who came before him. . . . He had mastered the secret of effective help to the suffering by making his own the burden of which they could be relieved. . . . Columba loved men and he loved nature because in both he saw God. His vision embraced the great spiritual reahties of life. He regarded things with a spiritual eye : there- fore his countenance flashed from time to time with beams of an unearthly joy, when, in the language of his biographer, he saw the ministering angels round about him." 2 In the 8th century the remains of Columba were disinterred and conveyed to Ireland, owing to the fear caused by the ravages of the Danes. In 802 the monas- tery of lona was pillaged and burned by the Danes. The half Christianized tribes of Angles in the south-east of Scotland shared the fate of those in the north-east of England, and were overrun by Penda ^ Bk. i. second preface. by Bp. Lightfoot. Appendix p. 181-3. ^ Leaders in the Northern Churchy F 82 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. hi. the heathen king of Mercia when Edwin was defeated and killed at the battle of Heathfield (633). Efforts to After the death of Columba members of his brother- the^pfctr hood continued their efforts to evangelize the Picts throughout the north of Scotland. The following list of Christian settlements, mostly in Western Scotland, which were the direct outcome of Columba's work in lona, is given by Haddan and Stubbs 1 — St. Mochonna (or Machar), a bishop, one of Columba's companions in Aberdeen: St. Cormac the navigator, either one of St. Columba's disciples, or the Head of an independent monastery in the Orkneys : St. Ernan in the isle of Himba or Hinba : St. Lugneus Mocumin in the isle of Elena : SS. Baithen and Findchan at Campus Lunge and Artchain in Ethica (Tiree) : SS. Cailtan and Diuni near Loch Awe (?) : S. Drostan at Aberdour and Deer in Buchan. The foregoing were all disciples of Columba and their work dates from 563 to 597. The following were independent of Columba : St. Moluag at Lismore in Argyll, 592 : St. Congan at Lochalsh in N. Argyll, about 600, or possibly in the 8th century : St. Donnan in Eigg, martyred in 617 : episcopal abbots at Kingarth in Bute, before 660 : St. Maelrubha at Applecross, 67L Mission- In the extreme north, and more especially in the SbTV SSttlc- merits in northern islands, the heathen Scandinavians, who are North!^ frequently referred to as Danes, gradually increased in numbers. Caithness and Sutherland came to form part of the earldom of Orkney under the suzerainty of the king of Norway. The Irish missionaries failed to convert these intruders, but when Christianity spread 1 vol ii. Pt. i. p. 107 : see also Gdtic ScoUand by Skene ii. pp. 134-138. SCOTLAND 83 throughout Scandinavia at the end of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh century,^ their conversion was gradually effected. Orkney and Shetland Islands The first trustworthy reference to the introduction visit of of Christianity into the Orkney Islands is the account 565^"^ ^' of a visit made by Columba and some of his companions about 565. A Scottish tradition embodied in the Aberdeen Breviary asserts that Servanus a companion of Palladius was sent by him as a bishop to the Orkneys, but this tradition has no historical basis. The Orkney islands were inhabited by Picts till the ninth century, when the Norse invasions began. The Orkney and Shetland islands passed under the rule of the Norwegian jarls who were driven away from Norway in 872 by Harald Haarfager. According to a statement made by the Irish monk Irish Dicuil, who wrote about 825, it would appear that in the Irish monks or hermits had settled on the Shetland lland^"^ Islands during the eighth century.^ These were appa- rently driven away by the pagan Northmen. The Northmen who afterwards settled in these islands remained as heathen till the time of Olaf Tryggveson of Norway. When Olaf was on his way from Dublin to Norway he put in at the island of South Ronaldsa * See p. 469, ferme annis eremitse ex nostra Scotia 2 See De mensura orbis terrce, p. 30, navigantes habitaverunt. Sed sicuti where he speaks of the islands " quse a principio mundi desertse semper a septemtrionalibus Britannise insuHs fuerunt, ita nunc causa latronum duorum dierum ac noctium recta Normannorum vacuse anchoretis navigatione plenis veHs assiduo feHci- plense innumerabihbus avibus." ter adiri queunt, in quibus in centum 84 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. m. and finding that the Earl Sigurd Lodvesson had only- one fighting ship with him he summoned him on board and explained to him that the time had come for his baptism, stating that the alternative would be his immediate execution, to be followed by the devastation of the islands. Sigurd and his followers were accordingly baptized and he was at the same time compelled to swear allegiance to Olaf and to give his son as a hostage for his good faith. Of any missionary work accomplished in these islands we have no record. Both the Orkney and Shetland islands contain dedications to St. Columba, St. Bridget, St. Ninian and St. Tredwell. Their political union with Scotland was not finally accompHshed till 1468, and the Norse language continued to be spoken in the islands till the sixteenth century. CHAPTER IV ENGLAND The names and nationality of the first missionaries to introduc- Britain are wrapt in an obscurity which we cannot chSs^ hope to disperse. It is Hkely that a knowledge of the **^^^*^* faith was first introduced either by Christian soldiers in the Roman army, or by traders, who visited these shores from time to time in order to supply the wants of the legions that were stationed in Britain. An interesting trace of .the presence in the north of England of a Syrian, who was evidently a trader and may have been a Christian Jew, was afforded by the discovery in 1878 at South Shields of the gravestone of a British woman who had been married to a Syrian. The last word of the Syriac inscription is of doubtful meaning, but it may perhaps be translated, " May her portion be in Hfe everlasting." Whether this translation can Early in- be maintained or not, the inscription, which dates with from the end of the second, or the beginning of the ^"^' third century ,1 affords an illustration of the intercourse ^ For an account of the j&nding of basket of fruit at her left side. The this stone, and a discussion in regard stone was found at the site of the to its meaning, see the " Transactions Roman cemetery not far from the oftheSociety of Biblical Archaeology" Castrum. The first part of the in- 1879, vol. 6, pt. 2. On the stone, scription, which is in Latin, reads which is 6 ft. by 2 ft. 6 in., is carved " (To the memory of) the woman the figure of a woman sitting on a Regina of the (British) tribe of the chair with flowers in her lap and a Catuvellauni, the freedwoman and 85 86 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. m. that probably existed between Britain and the East as early as the Christian Era, and suggests one of the sources from which Britons may have gained their first knowledge of Christianity. state- The statement of Clement of Rome ^ that St. ciementf Paul reached the farthest bounds of the West has been interpreted by some as referring to Britain, but there can be no reasonable doubt that Spain was the country to which the words were intended to refer. and The poet Martial, who settled in Rome in a.d. Q^, refers to a British lady in Rome named Claudia, who was the wife of Pudens.^ It is at least possible that these are to be identified with the Claudia and Pudens from whom St. Paul sends greetings to Timothy,^ but, even if we accept the identification, there is no evidence that Claudia ever returned to Britain or made any direct effort to spread the knowledge of her faith there. Pomponia Grsecina, who was accused and acquitted at Rome in 57 a.d. of a " foreign superstition," may perhaps have been a British Christian.* King Bede states that in the time of Eleutherus, bishop of Rome, " Lucius, King of the Britons, sent a letter to him requesting that by his mandate he might be made a Christian. He soon obtained the fulfilment of wife of Barates of Palmyra, (who died) Shields, was supported by Dr. Schiller aged 30." Underneath this is a Une Szinessy. The tomb of Barates has written in Syriac of which the first also been discovered. four words translate, " Regina the ^ Ep. ad Cor. i. 5. freedwoman of Barate," while the ^ ^^ xi. 53. last word may either be an expression ^ 2 Tim. iv. 21. of regret, or may be translated " May * See Tacitus Ann. xiii. 32. Her bis (or her) portion be in Ufe ever- husband Aulus Plautius had come lasting." This translation, which back in triumph from Britain. was suggested by the Jewish Rabbi of ENGLAND 87 his pious demand, and the Britons received the faith and kept it in quiet peace inviolate and entire, unto the times of the Prince Diocletian." ^ This story, which is probably completely fabulous, has been largely embellished by later writers. The following is a copy of the inscription which was inscrip- inscribed on a brass plate in St. Paul's Cathedral before st. Paul's the fire of London. S^'aL^- " Be hit known to al Men that the yeerys of our Lord God An. CLXXIX, Lucius, the fyrst Christian King of this land, then called Brytayne, fowndyd the fyrst Chyrch in London, that is to sey, the Chyrch of St. Peter apon Cornhyl, — and he fowndyd ther an Arch- bishoppys see, and made that Chirch the Metropolitant and cheef Chirch of this Kindom, and so enduryd the space of CCCC yeerys and more, unto the coming of Sent Austen, an Apostyl of England, the whych was sent into the land by Sent Gregory, the Doctor of the Church, in the tym of King Ethelbert, and then was the Archbishopyys See and Pol removyd from the aforeseyd Chirch by Sent Peters apon Cornhyl unto Derebernaum, that now ys called Canterbury, and ther yt remeynyth to this day." ^ Harnack has offered the ingenious and plausible Lucius or conjectiu'e that this Lucius is to be identified with ^ Hist. Eccl. i. 4. Bede here gives Bishop Browne writes, " The docu- the date as 156, but Eleutherus did ments which profess to be the letters not become bishop of Rome till 171 connected with this request are un- (or possibly 177). The earliest skilful forgeries." authority for this story is the Liber ^ Funeral Monuments of St. Paul's Pontiflcalis written about 530. by Weever, 1631, p. 413, quoted by Thence Bede probably obtained it Bishop Browne in The Christian through his friend Nothelm, or his Church in these islands before the com- monks, who visited Rome in 701. ing of Augustine, p. 60. 88 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. Abgarus king of Edessa, who, according to the well- known legend, invited our Lord to visit Edessa.^ Joseph of It is hardly necessary to refer to the legend that the ^l^^' church at Glastonbury owed its origin to Joseph of Arimathea, who was alleged to have been sent by Philip to Britain in 63 a.d. The story first appears in the writings of William of Malmesbury who died about 1142. The legend may at any rate be accepted as proving that a Christian community existed at Glaston- bury at a very early date. state- TertuUian, writing in, or a little before, 208, says ments 7 44 j^ ^jj parts of Spain, among the various nations of tuUian, Gaul, in districts of Britain inaccessible to the Romans, but subdued to Christ, in all these the kingdom and name of Christ are venerated." ^ The inaccuracy of his statement as concerns Spain and Gaul renders it difficult to accept his reference to Britain as altogether and historical. Origen, writing about 230, asks "When ^^^^^' before the coming of Christ did the land of Britain agree to the worship of the one God ? or the land of the Mauri ? or the whole round earth ? But now, thanks to the Churches which occupy the bounds of the world, the whole earth shouts with joy to the Lord of Israel." ^ ^His statement is obviously incapable of a literal interpretation, but, in conjunction with the statement ^ He suggests that by a transcrip- Lucius of Edessa. (See Expansion tional error in a notice inserted in the of C. ii. 410.) Liber Pontificalis, subsequent to 530, ^ ^i^^^ Judceos vii. For a defence Lucius, which was the first of the of the historical accuracy of Tertul- names borne by Abgarus, was inter- Han's statement see Christianity in preted as the name of a British king. Early Britain by Williams, pp. 75 f. In an early list of tombs of the apostles ^ Qrigen Horn. iv. 1, in Ezek. xiv. Edessa is referred to as Britio Edes- 59. See also Horn. vi. in Luc. and senorum. The word Britio may have Horn, xxviii. in Matt, suggested the substitution of a British ENGLAND 89 of TertuUian, it tends to establish the fact that there was a considerable number of Christians in Britain early in the third century. We come now to the well-known story of the martyr- dom of St. Alban, which is stated by Bede to have St. Aiban. occurred during the persecution of Diocletian.^ The account given by Bede ^ may be summarized as follows and partly in his own words. Alban, whilst still a pagan, having received and sheltered a Christian cleric •-^^ho was fleeing from his persecutors, was so influenced by his piety and his prayers that " he left the darkness of idolatry and became a Christian with his whole heart." When the soldiers of the "impious prince" came to seize his guest, Alban assumed his dress and delivered himself to them in his stead. The judge before whom he was taken, who was standing by an altar of the gods, said to him, " Because you have pre- ferred to conceal a rebel and a sacrilegious person rather than give him up to the soldiers, that the scorner of the gods might pay the penalty merited by his blasphemy, whatever punishments were due to him it is yours to undergo, if you attempt to flinch from the observances of our religion." Alban replied that he was a Christian and that " whosoever shall have offered sacrifices to these images shall receive the eternal punishments of hell as his reward." After being scourged he was led forth across the river to be beheaded. Three separate miracles occurred in connection with his martyrdom, whereupon the judge, overawed by the miracles, ^ The Diocletian persecution began the martyrdom of St. Alban occurs in in 303. The Saxon Chronicle dates the Life of Germanus by Constantius the martyrdom of St. Alban in 283. (i. 25), and in Gildas {Hist. viii.). ^ Hist. Eccl. i, 7. A reference to 90 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. refrained from further persecutions. About the same time, according to Bede, " Aaron and Julius, citizens of Legionum Urbs (Caerleon), and very many others of both sexes suffered in different places." The story of St. Alban's martyrdom was fully believed at Verulamium (St. Albans) in 429.^ A century later it was narrated by Gildas and it is alluded to by For- tunatus 2 in a line which Bede quotes. Although the story, as given by Bede, has obviously been embellished, there seems no good reason to doubt the occurrence of the martyrdom. Con- Sozomen, writing about 443, tells of an experiment at^York. which Constautius the father of Constantine is said to have made at York in order to discover which amongst the many Christian servants in his palace were " good men." He issued an order that those Christians who were prepared to sacrifice to the gods whom he himself worshipped might remain in his service and continue to enjoy their former honours, whilst those who were unwilling to sacrifice should be banished and might consider themselves fortunate if they were not punished. The Christians on receiving this order divided into two sections, some being willing to desert their former religion, others " preferring the things which were divine to present good." Constantius then announced that he would treat those who had re- mained faithful to their God as friends and counsellors, whilst he banished from intercourse with him those who had proved to be cowards and impostors, as he considered that those who had readily become traitors ^ See Haddan and Stubbs i. 6. Britannia profert.' Fortunatus, who ^ Fortunatus, De laude virginum became bishop of Poitiers, was born iii. 155, ' Egregium Albanum fecunda circa 530. ENGLAND ' 91 to their God would not be well disposed towards their king.i At the Council of Aries, which met in 314 to discuss "British questions raised by the Donatist schism, three British a rArH, bishops were present, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London and Adelphius of Caerleon on Usk.^ The record of the names of the bishops who attended the Council of Nicsea in 325, which is very incomplete, Nic^, does not contain the name of a British representative ; but, in view of Constantine's connection with Britain, it is extremely likely that the British Church was represented.^ At the Council of Sardica (347), 33 Sardica, bishops were present from the Roman province of Gaul in which Britain was included, but the actual number of British bishops is not recorded. At the Council of Rimini (359), three of the British bishops and who were present were so poor that they accepted ^^^'^^' an allowance for their expenses offered by Constantius.* Gibbon states his opinion that about this time the British Church might have possessed 30 or 40 bishops. The treatise written by Hilary of Poitiers against the Arians in preparation for this Council, and which was addressed to the British bishops among others, takes for granted that they were thoroughly acquainted with the various subtle points that were in dispute. In 363 Athanasius included the British Christians among those who had assented to the decrees ^ Sozomen Hist. Ecd. i. 6. Migne Legionensium. See H. and Stubbs P. (rr-.lxvii. col. 871. The story occurs i. 7: Bright, Bingham, Ldngard and also in Eusebius, Vita Constantii i. 16, others would read Lindensium, i.e. 415. Lincoln. 2 The last is described as de civitate ^ Constantino invited a-rravrax^dev Colonia Londinensium. The last roi)s eiriaKbirovs. word is perhaps a corruption of * See Sulpicius Severus ii. 41. 92 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. of the Council of Nicsea,^ a statement which suggests that Gildas and Bede, who adopted the opinion of Gildas, greatly exaggerated the influence of Arianism in Britain.^ state- Chrysostom says that the " British isles have felt Ch"y-^ ^^ the power of the Word " and that their belief did not sostom, jiffej. from that of the Christians of Constantinople.^ and Jerome, writing about 395, says that Britain " worships the same Christ and that British pilgrims were to be met with in Palestine."* Victricius bishop of Rouen is said to have visited Britain in 396 at the request of the North Italian Bishops. ^ British Several references occur which suggest that it was at^Jeru- commou for British Christians, early in the fifth century, saem. ^^ make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Thus Theodoret, writing about 440, and referring to the year 423, says that " there came (to visit Symeon Stylites near An- tioch) many who dwelt in the extreme West, Spaniards, Britons and Gauls." ^ Peiagius. At the beginning of the fifth century Pelagius,^ whom Jerome ^ calls " that big dog of Albion," and to whom Augustine refers as " the Briton," ^ propounded his doctrine of free will which involved a denial of " original sin." Dr. Bright says of him, "It is right ^ Athanasius Ep. ad Jovian 2. ^ Theodoret, Philoth. xxvi. : see 2 See Bright, Early Eng. Ch. Hist. Haddan and Stubbs i. 4. p. 13. ' The word peiagius, " of the sea," ^ Chrysostom, Quod Christus sit has by some been identified with the Deus 12 : Horn, in Princip. Act. Welsh word Morgan, which has the iii. 1. same meaning. Bury suggests that * Jerome Ep. 146, 1 : 46, 10 : Peiagius was an Irishman and that 68,3. his name=Muirchu, i.e. "horned of ^"Possibly on a mission to quell the sea." See Hermathena, xxx. p. Arianism like that of Germanus to 26 ff. quell Pelagianism." H. and Stubbs, ^ Jerome in Jerem. i. 3 praef. vol. ii. Pt. i. p. xxi. ^ Augustine, Ep. 186, 1. ENGLAND 93 to remember that he had in his own way a zeal for God, a grave indignation against the inertness of many professing Christians who pleaded their weakness as an excuse for not striving after sanctity." ^ The controversy raised by Pelagius does not come within the scope of our subject except in so far as it affected the further evangelization of Britain. Pelagius him- self left Britain in early life and apparently did not return. His doctrine was spread in Britain by Agricola the son of a British bishop named Severianus who, according to Bede, " foully stained with pollution the faith of the Britons." ^ In 429 two bishops from Gaul, Germanus of Auxerre Germanus and Lupus of Troyes, were sent over to Britain " to Lupus. confirm the belief in celestial grace." " The malevolent force of demons, who grudged that such and so great men should proceed to recover the salvation of the peoples,"^ raised a storm in the English Channel which was quelled by the prayers of Germanus, and on their arrival in England *' they preached in churches and even in streets and fields and in the open country." * A number of miracles are alleged by Constantius, the biographer of Germanus, to have accompanied their preaching, which was extended to Wales,^ and ^ Early Eng. Ch. Hist. p. 15. he writes, Agricola Pelagianus, Severi- ^ Hist. Eccl. i. 17. Prosper of ami Pelagiani episcopi ecclesias, Bri- Aquitaine thus describes the teaching tannise dogmatis sui insinuatione of Pelagius, corrupit (id. p. 400 f.) Dogma quod antiqui satiatum felle ^ Ibid. draconis, * Ibid. See also Life of Germanus Pestifero vomuit coluber sermone by Constantius i. 23. Britannus. ^ For a reference to the ' Alleluia {Chron. i. 399). Referring to the in- victory ' won by Germanus in Wales troduction of Pelagianisminto Britain, see p. 153. There are two churches in 94 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. perhaps to Cornwall. Germanus paid a second visit to Britain in 447, and in the following year, according to Bede, " he migrated to Christ." In 409 the last of the Roman troops left Britain and the bishops were left to defend themselves as best The they could against their Saxon invaders. The Saxon iiTvaSons. pirates, to quote the language of a contemporary Gallic bishop, were " the most truculent of all enemies " and made it a point of religion " to torture their captives rather than to pat them to ransom " and to sacrifice the tenth part of them to their gods.^ About the middle of the fifth century the Saxon raids developed into a regular plan of conquest. To quote the description of Bede, which is founded on that given by Gildas : " The impious victor . . . continued depopulating all the . . . cities and fields from the Eastern sea to the Western, with no one to oppose the conflagration, and overran almost all the surface Massacres of the perishing island. . . . Everywhere priests were Chris- slain among the altars ; the prelates and the people, *i*^s- without any regard to rank, were destroyed by fire and sword, nor were there any to give sepulture to those who were cruelly slain. Some of the miserable remnant were caught and slaughtered in heaps upon the mountains, others, outworn by famine, came forth and surrendered themselves to the enemy for the sake Glamorganshire dedicated to Lupus roses and lihes in the meadow of the under the Welsh name of Bleiddian church of Aledh (St. German's). The (wolf cub), and there are churches Abbey of Selby in Yorkshire was also dedicated to Germanus both in Wales dedicatedto him and claimed to possess and Cornwall. A missa of S. Germanus one of his figures. quoted by Haddan and Stubbs i. 696, ^ Sidonius Apollinaris Ep. viii, states that Germanus sent by Pope 6 ; see Milman's Latin Christianity, Gregory shone forth as a lantern and i. 332. pillar to Cornwall, and bloomed like ENGLAND 95 of receiving supplies of sustenance, dooming themselves to undergo perpetual slavery if they were not imme- diately slaughtered ; others in grief sought countries beyond the sea, others abiding in their own country led in fear a miserable life among the mountains, or woods, or lofty rocks with minds always full of mis- trust." 1 If this description be accepted as true, it seems hard on the Christian Britons that Bede should go on to urge it as a ground of reproach that " they never committed the word of the faith by preaching to the nation of Sax6ns or Angles inhabiting Britain together with themselves." ^ How great were the prejudices which British mission- aries would have had to overcome in any attempts that they might have made to evangelize the Saxons may be inferred from the words of Aldhelm of Malmesbury, written soon after 700. He writes : " The people on British the other side the Severn had such a horror of com- saxons. munication with the West Saxon Christians that they would not pray in the same church with them, or sit at the same table. If a Saxon left anything at a meal, the Briton threw it to dogs and swine. Before a Briton would condescend to use a dish or a bottle that had been used by a Saxon it must be rubbed with sand or purified with fire. Tlie Briton would not give the Saxon the salutation or the kiss of peace. If a Saxon went to live across the Severn, the Britons would hold no communication with him till he had been made to endure a penance of forty days." If these were the feelings entertained by the Britons towards the Saxons after the latter had become Christians, we can 1 Hist. Eccl. i. 15. 2 Id. i. 22. 96 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. imagine what they would have felt towards those of them who were still heathen. Fastidius Fastidius, a British bishop who wrote between 420 mission- and 450, at least recognized the obligation of those gation.^ who Were Christians to commend their faith to the heathen by their lives. Thus he wrote : " It is the will of God that His people should be holy, and free from all stain of unrighteousness and iniquity, that they should be so righteous, so pious, so pure, so un- spotted, so single-hearted, that the heathen should find in them no fault, but should say in wonder. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance."^ Referring to the importance of right action, as com- / pared with right thinking, he wrote, in words which compare favourably with much that was then being written elsewhere, '' We should understand that men are to be condemned not because of unbelief but because of lack of good works " . . . " unless a man is just he hath no life " . . . " let no one judge himself to be a Christiaiv^ho does not follow the teaching of Christ, and^Hritate His example." ^ Amongst the signatures of those present at the Council of Tours in 461 occur the words, " I, Mansuetus, bishop of the Britons was present and subscribed." He was probably a bishop in Brittany.^ Capture of Loudou was capturcd by the Saxons about 568 and 568. ' Theonus its bishop, taking with him those of the clergy who had survived, retired to Wales. Thadioc, bishop of York, fled at about the same time. ^ Fastidius, De vita Christiana, ^ Id. cap. xiii., xiv. cap. ix. ; see Migne P. L. L. col. ^ See Labb. iv. 1053 ; also H. and 383 ff. S. vol. ii. Pt. i. p. 72 f . ENGLAND 97 If the description given by Gildas of the character Giidas re of the British clergy during the latter part of the sixth clergy! century contains any large measure of truth, there is little reason for surprise that the Britons failed to act as missionaries to the Saxons. Writing in rhetorical and probably exaggerated language, he gives a mournful account of the character of the clergy working both in England and Wales. He says " Britain hath priests, but they are unwise : very many that minister, but they are impudent : clerks it hath, but they are deceitful raveners : pastors, as they are called, but rather wolves prepared for the slaughter of soals, for they provide not for the good of the common people, but covet rather the gluttony of their own bellies, possessing the houses of the church, but obtain- ing them for filthy lucre's sake : instructing the laity, but showing withal most depraved examples, vices and evil manners." ^ From this period of calamity and strife there has come down to us " shining through a golden mist of fable " the name of Arthur, who, accord- King ing to the tradition^ embodied in the "Idylls of the King," did much "to break the heathen and uphold the Christ." In the fight on Badon Hill, according to a Welsh legend, " Arthur bore the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ three days and three nights on his shoulders, and the Britons were conquerors." ^ This battle, the ^ Epistola c. 66. Migne P. L. Ixix. as historical ; see H. and Stubbs, i. Gildas, the author of De excidio Brit- p. 156. annioe and of an Epistle addressed to ^ Arthur is known to history as a the Britons, was born about 516 and petty prince in Devonshire. The died about 570. The first life of him modern conception of him first appears was written by a monk of Ruys in in the writings of Nennius in the 9th the 10th or 11th century and a later century. life by Caradoc of Llancarvan in the ' Annales Cambrice An. 516. 12th century. Neither can be regarded ^^ 98 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. scene of which is probably to be placed in Dorset, took place about 520, and checked the advance of the English for several years. Export of Evidence is available from several sources to show fro^ that at the end of the sixth century Jewish slave-dealers Britain, ^g^e in the habit of selling in Italy and elsewhere slaves obtained from Gaul or Britain. In a letter which Gregory wrote to a priest in Gaul named Candidus in 595, he bids him to spend some money due to himself in redeeming English slaves who might afterwards be trained to become monks. He further expresses a wish that these youths should be sent to Rome accompanied by a priest who was to baptize them in case they became ill and were likely to die.^ The well-known fact of the existence of this trade may possibly have given rise to the story of the English boys who are said Gregory to havc attracted the attention of Gregory in the English market-place at Rome. The monk of Whitby in his ^°y^- Life of Gregory is perhaps the earliest authority for the story. He writes that it was reported among the faithful that whilst Benedict was Pope there arrived at Rome certain " of our nation, with fair complexions and flaxen hair," whom, when Gregory heard of them, he expressed a desire to see. On seeing them he asked to what nation they belonged and being told that they were Angli, he remarked " Angeli Dei " (angels of God). In reply to his enquiry " Who is your king ? " they said " AeUi," whereupon he replied "Alleluia, laus enim Dei esse debet illic " (Alleluia, for the praise of God ought to be heard there). Lastly he enquired to what tribe they belonged and receiving the answer vi. 7. Migne Ixxvii. col. 799. # ENGLAND 99 " Deire," he said, " De ira Dei confugientes ad fidem " (fleeing from the wrath of God to the faith). Gregory then asked and obtained Benedict's permission to go as a missionary to England, but, as soon as he had started on his journey, the people of Rome clamoured for his return and messengers were sent to recall him. Paul the Deacon and Bede tell the same story but with chronological and other variations.^ In Bede's story the boys are described as slaves. The Canterbury monk Thorn adds that they were three in number.^ The fact that in Gregory's letters he always refers to the English people as Angles and never as Saxons suggests that those whom he had seen in Rome had come from North Britain and were perhaps the results of a war between Northumbria and Kent.^ For the mission of St. Augustine to England our Sources chief source of information is Bede's History, which maW was written not later than 731, that is about 130 years after the time of Augustine. This is the earliest formal narrative, but the letters of Pope Gregory are of greater historical value as they provide a contemporary record of the events to which they refer. Later authorities are the three monks of Canterbury, Goscelin ^ {d, 1098), WiUiam Thorn ^ {circ. 1397), and Thomas Elmham^ ^ The Whitby monk puts the inci- English boys to be trained as dent in the time of Benedict I., when Christians. Gregory was the Prefect of Rome. ^ See Augustine the Missionary, Paul the Deacon puts it in the time Ho worth, p. 14. of Pope Pelagius. ^ His hfe is included in the Acta 2 Hauck (in the Redlencyclopddie Sanctorum for May 26. i. p. 520) and Bassenge (Die Sendung ^ Goscelin, Thorn and Elmham Augustins, p. 17) suggest that the were all inmates of St. Augustine's story of these slave boys is unhis- monastery. Thorn derived much of torical and was suggested by Gre- his information from the Chronicle of gory's letter to Candidus referred Sprott which is lost. Elmham adds to above regarding the purchase of littletotheinformationgivenbyThorn. 100 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. (1414). The traditions preserved by these later writers can, however, only be received with the greatest caution. It is interesting to recall the fact that the sending forth of Augustine occurred only three years after the siege of Rome by the Lombards and at a time when these were still engaged in ravaging Tuscany and Umbria. It must have required a large measure of faith to plan so distant a spiritual campaign whilst war was raging near to the walls of Rome. More-* over to reach Gaul on his way to Britain Augus- tine and his companions must have traversed districts recently devastated by the Lombards. St. Augus- Augustine, before his selection by Pope Gregory as tine.^ the leader of the mission to Britain, had been Prior of St. Andrew's monastery on the Coelian hill in Rome, and his companions were monks from the same mona- stery. Leaving Rome in the spring of 596 they appa- rently went by sea to Lerins, and thence, via Marseilles, to Aix. Here, says Bede, " they were seized with a sluggish fear and began to think of returning home, rather than proceed to a barbarous, fierce, and un- believing nation, to whose very language they were strangers, and this with one consent they decided to be the safer course." ^ They accordingly sent back Augustine to Rome that " he might by humble entreaty obtain of the holy Gregory that they should not be compelled to undertake so perilous, laborious and uncertain a journey." ^ Gregory's The letter which Gregory wrote to them in reply is Augus*^ worthy of a place in missionary annals. It reads : 1 Hist. Eccl. i. 23. 2 i^. tine. > 5 > J ^ I ENGLAND :^ ^ /^^^ f i r'^^ ^i ^,j m. " Gregory the servant of the servants of God to the servants of our Lord. Forasmuch as it had been better not to begin good things, than when they are begun to entertain the thought of retiring from them ; it behoves you, my most beloved sons, to accomphsh the good work which, by the help of the Lord, ye have undertaken. Let not therefore the toil of the journey, nor the tongues of evil-speaking men, deter you, but with all earnestness and zeal perform that which by God's direction ye have undertaken, knowing that great labour will be followed by the greater glory of an eternal reward. . . . May Almighty God protect you with His grace and grant that in the heavenly country I may see the fruit of your labour ; inasmuch as, though I cannot labour with you, I shall partake in the joy of the reward, because I desire to labour." ^ This letter, which Augustine took back to his com- Journey panions, helped to revive their courage and they pro- resumed. ceeded once more on their way. One of the letters of introduction which Augustine brought with him from Rome was addressed to Queen Brunhild at Orleans. From this letter of Gregory we gather that the English people prior to the time of Augustine were anxious to be converted and that appli- cations for help had been made in vain to neighbouring priests. 2 The desire to which Gregory refers was probably Bishop created by the presence of Bishop Liudhard, who had andiQ^ come over from Gaul as chaplain to Bertha on the ^^^*^^- occasion of her marriage with King Ethelbert. This 1 Ep. vi. 51. Migne P. L. Ixxvii. ^ ^^^ yi. 59. Migne P. L. Ixxvii. col. 836. col. 842 f . mission aries in Britain. A/ai ' /' '.' ' ; c". ^ '^ t6,d: QONi^ERSioN of Europe [chap. iv. marriage apparently occurred some considerable time before 597, as Gregory in his subsequent letter to Bertha (601), after congratulating her on the conversion of her husband, remarks that she ought " some time ago " to have bent his mind in the direction of the Christian faith.^ The authority of the " most powerful " King Ethel- bert extended, according to Bede, as far north as the Humber, his principal residence being at Canterbury (Durovernum). Arrival of The missionaries having spent the winter of 596 in France, landed soon after Easter 597 in the " Island of Thanet," probably at or near Richborough.^ The forty members of their party included some interpreters whom they had obtained in France. Having sent forward to King Ethelbert one of these interpreters to tell him of the " joyful message " which they had brought, they were ordered by him to remain where they were. Some days later the King came to see Interview them. The interview took place in the open air as the Ethelbert. King feared lest, in the event of his entering a house, " if they possessed any magical powers, they might deceive and so overcome him." After hearing their message the King replied, " Your words and promises ^ Ef. xi. 29. H. and Stubbs p. 17. Collins suggests that Augustine Howorth {St. Aug. of C. p. 39 f.) landed at Richborough and that and Hauck {Real Ency. \. 520) argue this was then an island at high tide that the marriage had but recently and accounted to be part of Thanet. taken place, Bp. Collins maintained {The Beginnings of Eng. Christianity, that it took place between 571 and p. 182.) For a detailed discussion of 573 {The Beginnings of Eng. Chris- the evidence available relating to the tianity, p. 180). spot at which St. Augustine landed ^ A commemorative cross has been see Dissertation by T. M. Hughes erected near Ebbsfleet, but the evi- in Mason's The Mission of St. Augus- dence for this site is comparatively tine, pp. 209-234. modern. See Howorth, p. 60. Bp. Plate 1. ENGLAND in the 7*.*^ Century Longmans, Green & Cp., London, New York. Bombay, Calcutta & Madras George Philip Gr Son, LtA. To face page 102 ENGLAND 103 are fair, but as they are new and uncertain I cannot, in order to assent to them, abandon the customs which, together with the whole Enghsh nation, I have for so long a time observed ; but because ye have come hither from afar, and as I clearly perceive desire to impart to us those things which ye believe to be true and excellent, we will not molest you but give you kindly entertainment . . . nor do we forbid you to gain as many as ye can to a belief in your religion by your preaching." ^ In response to the invitation of the King, Augustine and his companions proceeded to Canterbury, distant about ten miles, and entered it Arrival by the road that passes St. Martin's Church, which had bury^^ ^^ perhaps been built by Bishop Liudhard and which was now placed at their disposal.^ As the procession entered Canterbury carrying a silver cross as a standard and a picture of our Saviour " painted on a panel," the monks chanted the words, '' We beseech Thee, Lord, in all Thy compassion that Thy wrath and Thine anger may be turned away from this city and from Thy holy House, for we have sinned. Alleluia." ^ Soon after their establishment on the site of what afterwards became St. Augustine's monastery their teaching, and still more their prayers and self-denying life, began to produce results. Thus Bede writes : " Several believed Baptism and were baptized, admiring the simplicity of their bert. innocent life and the sweetness of their heavenly doctrine." ^ Nor was it long before the king professed a desire to be baptized, his conversion having probably been hastened by the influence exerted upon him by ^ Bede i. 25, church points to the fact that Bishop ^ Howorth suggests that their Liudhard was aheady dead. taking immediate possession of the ^ Bede i. 25. * Id. i. 26. 104 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. his wife.^ As the result of his baptism " greater num- bers began daily to come together to hear the word and, forsaking their heathen rites, to join themselves by believing to the unity of the holy Church of Christ." Then follows a statement which distinguishes the action of Ethelbert from that of almost every other royal convert in Europe. " Their conversion," writes Bede, " the King is said to have encouraged, but so far only that he compelled no one to embrace Chris- tianity, but only embraced with a closer affection those who believed in being heirs with himself of the heavenly kingdom. For he had learned from his instructors and those who were the instruments of his salvation that the service of Christ ought to be voluntary and not compulsory." ^ How different would have been the subsequent religious history of the continent of Europe had the principles enunciated in these words been generally accepted and followed. Consecra- In the autumu of 597, Le. soon after the baptism of Augus- Ethelbert, Augustine appHed for consecration to the *"^®* representatives of the Gallic Church and was consecrated a bishop at Aries on November 16. His return to England soon afterwards was followed by the baptism of a large number of King Ethelbert's subjects. Thus Letter to Gregory writing to Eulogius the patriarch of Alexandria °^/^^' in July 598, and referring, no doubt, to reports sent to him by Augustine, says " While the nation of the Anglians placed in a corner of the world, has hitherto remained in unbelief, worshipping stocks and stones, I determined (it was God who prompted me), by the aid ^ Bassenge maintains that the bap- an earUer date see The Mission of St. tism of Ethelbert was as late as 601 Augustine by Mason, p. 189 flf. or 602. For argument in favour of ^ Bede i. 26. ENGLAND 106 of your prayers, to send to it a monk of my own mona- stery for the purpose of preaching, and he having by my leave, been made a bishop by the bishops of Germany ,i has proceeded also with their encouragement to the end of the world, to the aforesaid nation. . . . Moreover at the solemnity of the Lord's Nativity . . . more than ten thousand Anglians are reported to have 10,000 been baptized by the same our brother and fellow- bishop." 2 According to Goscelin, who wrote in the eleventh century, these baptisms took place in the River Swale.^ In 598 Augustine sent a letter to Gregory asking him Augus- for advice relating to liturgical questions, and the laws questions. concerning marriage and other matters.* Together with his reply, which was dated June 22, 601,^ Gregory sent as additional workers Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus and Rufinianus, who became respectively bishops of London, Rochester and York, and abbot of St. Augus- tine's monastery. From a missionary standpoint the most important Gregory's •^ ^ ^ ^ ^ replies. of the pronouncements contained in Gregory's letter relates to the question. How far is it lawful to frame a new form of liturgy with a view to meeting the needs of a race or country which has come to constitute a new Branch of the Christian Church ? This is a ques- ^ Aries was in the province of the * The answers to Augustine's ques- Burgundians, who were of Germanic tions are regarded as spurious by- origin. Duchesne {Origines du Culte Chritien, 2 Epp. viii. 29 or 30. p. 94), but nearly all other authorities ^ It is possible that Goscelin is con- have accepted them as genuine. For fusing these baptisms with those evidence in support of their genuine- which Bede describes as taking place ness see The Mission of St. Augustine in the R. Swale in Yorkshire after the by Mason, vi.-ix. preaching of Paulinus. See Bede, ^ The long delay is apparently to ii. 14. be attributed to the illness of Gregory. 106 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. tion which has been raised, and which urgently needs to be answered, in many parts of the mission-field to-day. We can imagine no more satisfactory statement of the underlying principle that must determine the answer to be given in any individual case than that enunciated An by Gregory. After saying that " Things are not to liturgy^^ be cherished for the sake of places, but places for the sake of good things," he wrote, " From all the several Churches, therefore, select the things which are pious and reHgious and right, and gather them as it were into a bundle and store them in the mind of the English to form a Use." ^ Although Augustine did not avail himself to any great extent of the Hberty which was offered to him, the authoritative statement that such liberty is appro- priate to a church which had come newly into existence is of great significance. Augustine's questions as a whole have no special interest from a missionary standpoint. " They illus- trate," says Dr. Bright, " his monkish inexperience of pastoral administration, and also, perhaps, indicate a certain want of elevation of character : . . . some of them give the notion of a mind cramped by long seclu- sion and somewhat helpless when set to act in a wide sphere. Other questions may occur to us, as naturally arising in presence of spiritual interests and require- ments so vast and so absorbing, but Augustine does not propound them. One feels a sort of chill, a sensation akin to disappointment in reading of his ' difficulties.' " 2 In a later letter addressed to Mellitus in 601 Gregory 1 Ep^. i. 43. 2 E^^iy E^g^ ch. Hist p. 66. ENGLAND 107 enunciates a principle of far-reaching importance from a missionary standpoint. He writes : " When Almighty God shall bring you to our most reverend brother Bishop Augustine, tell him what I have long been turning over in my thoughts in regard to the English, namely that the temples of the idols in that nation idol ought by no means to be destroyed, but let the idols noTto^L that are in them be destroyed ; let holy water be made ^^^^^^y^^- and sprinkled in these temples, let altars be made and relics placed there. For if these temples have been well built they ought to be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God, so that the nation seeing that its temples are not destroyed may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true God may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have been accustomed. And because they are accustomed to kill many oxen Retention •/2 • I J 1 'I J. T_ • of heathen m sacrmcmg to demons, some solemmty must be given festivals. them in exchange on this account ; — say that on the day of dedication or birthday {ix, death) of holy martyrs whose relics are there deposited they may make for themselves huts out of the boughs of trees around those churches which have been transformed from temples, and may celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting : while they no longer offer beasts to the devil, they may kill them to the praise of God for their own eating ... to the end that whilst some pleasures are out- wardly permitted them, they may the more easily con- sent to the inward (divine) pleasures. For there is no doubt that it is impossible to efface everything at once from their obdurate minds, for the man who strives to ascend to the highest place rises by degrees or steps 108 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. and not by leaps." ^ The question which Gregory here discusses, viz. How far heathen customs and usages may be retained in order to facihtate the accept- ance of the Christian rehgion by pagans, is one of the most difficult that missionaries in all ages have been called on to answer. Experience has shown that the right answer to give in any particular case must depend upon many different circumstances, and in particular upon the depth of the conviction which characterizes the converts from paganism in any given district or country.2 More In a letter dated June 22, 601, Gregory suggests to be con- ° Augustiuc that he should consecrate a bishop of York secrated. ^j^^ should bccomc an archbishop with twelve suffragans, whilst he, Augustine, should be Archbishop of London. He further suggests that after the death of Augustine the Archbishops of London and York should take pre- cedence according to the dates of their ordination. It is interesting to note that London, not Canterbury, was intended by Gregory to be the seat of the arch- bishop of the Southern Province. Confer- In 602 or 603, " with the assistance of Ethelbert," British^ Augustine brought about a conference between himself bishops. ^^^ some British bishops and others which met at ^ Bede i. 30. had previously been associated with 2 St. Patrick appears to have held idolatry {Vita Adamn. vol. ii. 11). views similar to those propounded by In a letter bearing the same date Gregory. Thus Stokes writes : " The addressed to King Ethelbert (Bede i. Irish believed that St. Patrick, finding 32) Gregory exhorts the king to three pillar stones which were con- overthrow the structures of the idol nected with Irish paganism, did not temples. It is possible this letter was overthrow them, but inscribed on written earlier than that to Augustine, them the names ' Jesus, Soter, Sal- or Gregory may be here referring vator ' " {Tripartite Life i. 107). to some special temples and not Columba is said to have blessed enunciating a general rule as in the and made holy a Pictish well that letter to Mellitus. ENGLAND 109 Augustine's oak, the site of which is uncertain.^ A first conference which was unproductive of result was followed by a second at which seven Welsh bishops were present, who were not diocesan bishops but representatives from some of the principal monasteries. According to Bede the Welsh representatives who had been selected to attend the second conference " repaired first to a certain holy and prudent man, who was wont to live the life of a hermit amongst them, to consult with him whether at the preaching of Augustine they ought to abandon their own traditions. He replied : ' If he is a man of God, follow him.' ' And how can we prove this ? ' they said. He answered, ' The Lord says, " Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart." If then Augustine is meek and lowly in heart, it is to be believed that he himself bears the yoke of Christ and that he offers it to you to bear. But if he is harsh and proud it is evident that he is not of God and what he says is not to be regarded by you.' ' And how shall we discern this ? ' they said again. ' Contrive,' he said, ' that he may arrive first at the place of the synod and if, when you approach, he rise up to meet you, listen to him submissively knowing that he is a servant of Christ ; if on the other hand he despise you and is unwilling to rise in your presence though you are more in number, let him also be despised by you.' " 2 Augustine's failure to rise on the approach of the Welsh bishops helped, according to Bede, to account for the refusal of the Welsh to accept Augustine's demands. ^ It has frequently been identified favour of " The Oak " in Down with Aust on the Severn, opposite Ampney near Cricklade. Chepstow. Bp. Browne argues in ^ Bede ii. 2. 110 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. The chief representative of the Welsh appears to have been Dinoot, the abbot of Bangor. The discus- sions which ensued related to the keeping of Easter and methods of tonsure and have no direct interest for the student of Missions. It is true that, according to Bede, one of the objects of the conference was to render possible a common effort on the part of the Britons and Saxons to evangelize the heathen, but it does not appear that this object was discusseda^nd the offer to join in a united missionary campaign was made conditional upon the acceptance by the Britons of Augustine's authority. When the Welsh representa- tives finally refused to recognize Augustine as arch- bishop, or to accept his demands for a change in their ecclesiastical customs, he withdrew to Canterbury. Before doing so, says Bede, " the man of God, Augustine, is said in a threatening manner to have predicted that if they would not accept peace with their brethren they should accept war at the hands of their enemies, and if they were unwilling to preach the word of life to the English nation they should suffer vengeance of death by their hands." ^ This prophecy, says Bede, was fulfilled by the massacre {circ, 616) of 1200 monks belonging to the monastery of Bangor. Consecra- In 604 " Augustiuc ordaiucd two bishops, Mellitus and MeiKtus Justus, to preach to the province of the East Saxons Justus, who are divided from Kent by the river Thames and border on the Eastern Sea. . . . When this province," continues Bede, " also received the word of truth by the preaching of Mellitus, King Ethelbert built the church of St. Paul in the city of London where he and 1 Bede ii. 2. ENGLAND 111 his successors should have their episcopal see. As for Justus, Augustine ordained him bishop in Kent at the city which the English nation named Hrofaecaestir (Rochester) from one that was formerly the chief man of it called Hrof."i Augustine died on May 26, 604,2 having previously Death of consecrated Laurentius as his successor. tine"^ Although the name of St. Augustine will always be His char- had in honour as that of the missionary by whose ^^k.^^^ labours the first effective Mission to the Saxons was inaugurated, a dispassionate examination of his char- acter and work forces us to admit that he was a man who possessed few of the qualifications of which the ideal missionary has need. Three of the qualifications necessary for a successful missionary are, power of initiation, courage and humility. His lack of the first is illustrated by the fact that his missionary campaign was undertaken not on his own initiative, but at the instigation and command of a superior authority, and by his letter (the only writing of his which has been preserved) in which he virtually admits his inability to decide comparatively trivial points such as all pioneer missionaries are called upon to decide. His lack of courage is shown by the desire which he evinced to abandon the enterprise altogether when the difficulties and dangers which it would involve had become apparent. His last and greatest weakness, viz. a lack of humility and of power to sympathize with those who disagreed with his opinions, is shown by his treatment of the Welsh bishops and ^ Bede ii. 3. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives 614, an 2 So Haddan and Stubbs. Bright impossible date, gives 605 as the probable year. The 112 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. his failure to establish any working agreement with them. Sir Henry Howorth writes : " The best that can be said of Augustine is that he was a commonplace man, with good motives and high standards, set to do a work much beyond his capacity and for which he had had a very indifferent training. The Church which he planted was a plant with a feeble constitution from the first, and it needed a more vigorous personage, who was also a greater scholar and a bigger man, to set it going again on a more promising journey. He presently came and his name was Theodore." ^ Whilst, however, we are constrained to admit that Augustine lacked important missionary qualifications, we grate- fully remember that he possessed the most important of all, viz. personal piety. He led a devout and self- denying life and left the remembrance of such a life as a precious heritage to the English Church. Thomas Fuller writes concerning him, " Because the beginnings of things are of greatest consequence, we commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning, admire his miracles, admit the foundation of his doctrine, Jesus Christ, but refuse the hay and stubble he built thereon." ^ " Whatever were his shortcomings," says Bishop Browne, " Augustine of Canterbury was a good man, a devout and laborious Christian worker who could, and did, face threatening difficulties and accept serious risks in loyalty to a sacred call ; a missionary whose daily conduct was a recommendation of his preaching, . . . who as archbishop did his duty, as he read ^ St. Augustine of Canterbury, p. 197. ^ The Church History of Britain, i. 170. ENGLAND 113 it, with all his might, if not without mistakes or failures." Before his death Augustine had consecrated Laurence Arch- as his successor and, according to Bede, he " having Laurence. obtained the rank of archbishop strove both by the frequent utterance of holy exhortation and the continual example of pious labour (operatio) to extend the founda- tions of the church which he had seen nobly laid and to carry up its fabric to the due height." Soon after his consecration Laurence, writing in his own name and that of the two other Italian bishops, addressed an appeal to the bishops in Ireland in the His appeal hope of promoting union and co-operation. The chief in Ireland! point of controversy which kept the two churches apart and which prevented any combined missionary enterprise was the fixing of the date for keeping Easter.^ How bitter were the feelings engendered by this con- troversy may be gathered from the statement of Arch- bishop Laurence concerning an Irish bishop who had come on a visit to Britain from the monastery of Bangor in Ireland. " Bishop Dagan," writes Laurence, " not only refused to eat with us, but even to take his repast in the same house where we were entertained." ^ King Ethelbert died in 616 after reigning for 56 Death of years. His son Eadbald "refused to embrace the eie.^ faith of Christ " and, encouraged by his example, many of those who had professed to be Christians returned ^ See above, p. 60. The best is, God, we hope, will be 2 Bede ii, 4. Of. Fuller. " Whilst merciful in his sentence on men, the Britons accounted the Romans though passionate men be merciless wolves, and the Romans held the in their censures on one another," Britons to be goats, what became of i. p. 174 f. Christ's Uttle flock of sheep the whiles? H 114 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. to their former idolatrous ways. To quote the words of Fuller, " those whom JEthelbyrht's smiles had made converts, Eadbald's frowns quickly made apostates."^ Expui- On the death of Sabert, the Christian king of the East Situs. Saxons, his three sons openly professed idolatry, and when Mellitus refused to accede to their demand to receive " the bread of Hfe " in the Holy Communion, they said to him, " If you will not comply with us in so small a matter as that which we ask, you cannot remain in our province " : and they expelled him and commanded that he and his followers should depart from their kingdom.^ Extent of There is no good evidence to show that Augustine tine's^ accomplished, or even attempted, any missionary enter- mfluence. pj.jgg outsidc the Hmits of the present county of Kent. Thorn writing in the fourteenth century says that " he sowed the seed of God's word everywhere through- out the whole land of the English," travelling always on foot, and Goscelin in his life of Augustine repre- sents him as working miracles at York, and as causing tails to grow on the backs of some peasants who had insulted him in Dorsetshire, and even as visiting Colman " King of Ireland " and baptizing the Irish saint Livinus, but these traditions have no historic value. Conver. Archbishop Laurence, although he made ready to ^g^^ flee to Gaul, did not carry out his intention. The ex- Eadbaid. planatiou, given by Bede, is that on the night previous to his intended departure the Apostle Peter appeared to him and having scourged him severely demanded " why he was forsaking the flock which he had him- 1 i. p. 175. 2 Bede ii. 5. ENGLAND 115 self entrusted to him, or to what pastor he was leaving the sheep of Christ placed as they were in the midst of wolves." ^ In the morning the archbishop appeared in the presence of the king and showed him the wounds which St. Peter had inflicted. The king " much frightened abjured the worship of idols, renounced his unlawful marriage, embraced the faith of Christ, and having been baptized strove to promote the affairs of the Church to the utmost of his power." ^ Assuming the latter part of this story to be true, we can only suppose that the archbishop resorted to a pious fraud in order to impress the king and to induce him to abandon his idolatry .^ Whatever was the occa- sion of the king's conversion, it would appear that he became from this time an ardent supporter of the Christian religion. Soon afterwards he sent to Gaul to recall Justus and Mellitus who, however, waited a year before obeying his summons. Justus eventually Bishop returned to Rochester, but " the Londoners would not Rochf ^ receive Bishop Mellitus, choosing rather to be under ^^^^^' their idolatrous high priests."* In 619 Mellitus became archbishop of Canterbury and on his death in 624 he was succeeded by Justus bishop of Rochester. The East Anglians of Norfolk and Suffolk were at Redwaid, this time ruled by Redwaid, who had visited Canterbury th^^East and had been baptized during Ethelbert's reign, but ^''^^''''^• on his return home " was seduced by his wife and certain perverse teachers " and resolved to combine the worship 1 ii. 6. in which Laurence thought that he 2 Id. saw the apostle. For other legends ^ Hook suggests that the story is of a similar character see Bright, the legendary exaggeration of a dream p. 108 n. ■* Bede ii. 6. 116 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. of the Christians' God with the worship of idols. Accordingly " in the same temple he had an altar to sacrifice to Christ and another small one to offer victims to devils." ^ In 617 while Edwin, an exiled Nor- thumbrian prince, was a refugee at his court, Ethelfrid king of Northumbria endeavoured, but without success, to induce Redwald to murder him : eventually in 617 Redwald and Edwin defeated and killed Ethelfrid on the borders of Mercia near Retford, whereupon Edwin Edwin, became king of Northumbria. In 625 Edwin obtained North- in marriage Ethelburga a sister of King Eadbald and umbria. daughter of King Ethelbert. She brought with her Pauiinus. as her chaplain Paulinus whom Justus consecrated as a bishop, and whose " mind was wholly bent on bringing the nation to which he was going to a knowledge of the truth " ; and when he came into that province he laboured much both to prevent those who had come with him from falling away from the faith and to convert some of the pagans to the faith, if by any means Baptism he could do so, by his preaching." ^ The first person Eanfled. ^o be baptized at the court of Edwin was his infant daughter Eanfled whom he " consecrated to Christ " in gratitude for his dehverance from the assassin that had been sent by the king of the West Saxons to murder him. Having defeated the West Saxons in battle, Edwin still delayed to accept the Christian faith, " and being a man of natural sagacity he often sat alone by himself for a long time, silent as to his tongue but conversing much with himself in his inmost heart, deliberating what he should do and to which religion he should adhere." ^ Bede gives two letters written 1 Bede ii. 15. 2 1^. n 9. 3 j^. finis. ENGLAND 117 by Pope Boniface V to Edwin and Ethelburga. ^ In Boni- the letter to the king the Pope urges upon him theietTersto folly of worshipping idols made by men's hands and ^^w^^- exhorts him to " draw near to the knowledge " of his Creator and Redeemer. In the letter to the queen he says that his " fatherly charity, having earnestly enquired " concerning her husband, has ascertained that he still " serves abominable idols and has delayed to give ear or to yield obedience to the voice of the preachers." He urges her to give herself continually to prayer and to " soften the hardness of his heart " by her teaching and exhortations. Paulinus having recalled to the king a promise which Edwin he had made when a refugee at the court of Redwald, become a he agreed to submit the question of the adoption of^^"^*^^"" Christianity to a meeting of his wise men. The meeting, or council, which is graphically described by Bede, took place in ^^Q, or early in 627, at Goodmanham, about 23 miles from York. The speech of the ' chief pagan priest Coifi was to the point, though it Speech of contained no altruistic sentiments. He said : " The religion which we have hitherto professed has, as far as I can learn, no virtue in it. For none of your people has applied himself more dihgently to the worship of our gods than I, nevertheless there are many who receive greater favours from you . . . and are more prosperous in all their undertakings. Now if the gods had any power they would be more willing to help me who have been careful to serve them." His speech was followed by one that has often been quoted, and the ^ Bede ii. 10 and 11. Bright sug- was Honorius the successor of Boni- gests that the writer of these letters face. Early Eng. Hist. p. 119 n. 118 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. pathos of which helps us to appreciate the sadness of a reHgion that has no outlook beyond the grave. The second speaker said : " It seems to me, O King, that the present Hfe of man upon earth, when compared Man's life with the time of which we know nothing, is like the £t^f a swift flight of a sparrow through a room wherein you sparrow, gj^ q^ suppcr iu wiutcr with your chiefs and servants, and with a fire kindled in the midst, whilst the winter storms of rain and snow rage without : Hke the sparrow, I say, which comes in at one door and forth- with goes out at another. As long as he is within he is safe from the winter's storm, nevertheless when the very brief space of calm has ended he soon vanishes from your sight, returning to the (dark) winter from which he had emerged. So this life of man appears for a short space, but of what is to follow and what has preceded it we are altogether ignorant. If therefore this new doctrine has brought any more certain knowledge, it seems justly to deserve to ■ be followed."! Others of the king's counsellors and Paulinus having spoken, Coifi said, " I advise, O King, that we speedily abjure and set fire to the temples and altars which we have hallowed without receiving any benefit there- from." The king thereupon proceeded to announce that he had himself " received the faith of Christ " Destnic- and that permission to preach the Gospel was granted heathen to Pauliuus. Coifi then volunteered, if the king would tempes. pj-^y^^jg j^jj^ with arms and a stallion,^ to superintend the destruction of the temples and idols. " Having .; 1 Id. ii. 13. high priest (pontifex) to ride on any 2 It was considered unlawful for a but a mare or to carry arms. ENGLAND 119 therefore girt a sword about him, with a spear in his hand he mounted the King's staUion and proceeded to the idols. The multitude beholding it thought that he was insane, but he delayed not and as soon as he drew near to the temple he profaned it by casting into it the spear which he held, and, rejoicing greatly in the knowledge of the worship of the true God, he com- manded his companions to destroy and burn down the temple together with all its enclosures." ^ The\ king with all his nobles and a large number of his people were baptized on Easter Day, April 12, 627, Baptism in the wooden church of St. Peter at York.^ Bede/ continues, " Paulinus for the space of six years, that is till the end of the reign of that king, by his consent and favour, preached the word of God in that country. ... So great then is said to have been the fervour of the faith and the desire for the washing of salvation among the nation of the Northumbrians that at one time when Paulinus came with the king and queen to a royal seat called Adgefrin^ he stayed there with them for 36 days fully occupied with the work of catechizing and baptizing, during which days from morning till night he did nothing else than instruct the people, who resorted to him from all villages and places, in the saving word of Christ, and when instructed he washed them in the water of absolution in the river Glen * which was near at hand." ^ He baptized others in the River Swale near the village of Cataract.^ ^ Id. ii. 13. ^ i.e. Yererinnear WoolerinNorth- 2 Nennius states that Edwin and umberland. 12,000 of his men were baptized by a * i.e. Bowmont Water, a tributary British priest named Run, but it is of the R. Till, most unlikely that this was the case. ^ Bede ii. 14. See H. and Stubbs i. p. 124. ® i.e. Catterick in Yorkshire. 120 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. Heathen The Superficial character of these conversions was reaction. ^^^^ ^j^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^i of Edwin in 633, very many abandoned the profession of their new faith. Peace re- The realm over which Edwin ruled extended from ?£hed by the Humbcr to the Forth ^ and his influence was para- Edwin. jjiQ^nt throughout the whole of England outside the kingdom of Kent. The peace, moreover, which he estab- lished was so secure that it was said that " a woman with her newborn babe might walk throughout the island from sea to sea without receiving any harm." ^ But whilst the conditions for extending missionary enterprise were for the time being ideal, the number of missionaries was unfortunately small. During the six Pauiinus ycars of his episcopate in Northumbria Paulinus {circ, cokiSire. ^^^) " preached the word to the province of Lindsey," that is to the northernmost section of the county of Lincoln in which the city of Lincoln is situated, and in the stone church which he built at Lincoln ^ he con- secrated Honorius to succeed Justus as archbishop of Canterbury. If the city of Tiovulfingacestir, men- tioned in Bede's account, be identified with South- well,* it would appear that he also visited Nottingham- shire. At this place in the presence of King Edwin he baptized a great number of people. Conver- Rcdwald the king of East Anglia who had befriended death^of Edwiu whcu an exile, and had sought to combine the S^E^ir^^ acceptance of the Christian faith with the worship of Anglia. idols, was succccded in 617 by his son Eorpwald, who ^ Edinburgh = Edwin's burgh. now occupies this site. 2 Bede ii. 16. * It has also been identified with 2 The church of St. Paul in Lincoln Littleborough, and with Torksey. ENGLAND 121 was persuaded by Edwin " to abandon his idolatrous superstitions and with his province to receive the faith and sacraments of Christ." ^ The pagan party, however, raised a strenuous opposition and Eorpwald was murdered by a pagan named Richbert. Three years later Eorpwald's half-brother Sigebert became King king. According to Bede he was " a most Christian ^^^ ^^ ' and learned man " who during his exile in Gaul was admitted to the sacraments of the faith, whereof, when soon afterwards he began to reign, he made it his business to call all his province to partake. About this time there arrived providentially in East Anglia a missionary bishop named Felix,^ who had come to Bishop Britain from Burgundy and had been sent by Honorius of Canterbury to preach in East Anglia. This " pious cultivator of the spiritual field reaped therein a large harvest of believers, delivering all that province, in accordance with the meaning of his name (Felix) from long iniquity and infelicity, and bringing it to the faith and works of righteousness and the gifts of per- petual felicity." ^ Sigebert endeavoured to imitate the schools which he had seen in France and, with the aid of FeHx and of teachers whom he obtained either from Kent or Burgundy, he established schools at Dunwich * and at other centres.^ ^ Bede ii. 15. the colony of Irish monks resident at 2 Fehxstowe (the dwelling of Felix) Luxeuil in Burgundy. in Suffolk was apparently named after ^ A town which has been submerged him. It would seem that Felix had by the encroaching sea. been consecrated as a bishop before ^ Sigebert has been claimed by some he came to England. See The Con- as the founder of the University of version of the Heptarchy. Bp. Browne Cambridge. See The Conversion of p. 73 f. the Heptarchy. Bishop Browne p. 82 ; 3 Bede ii. 15. Bp. Browne sug- Fuller, i. 187 f. gests that Felix may have been one of 122 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. During the reign of Sigebert there came from Ireland st.Fursey. a missionary named Fursey, who, " after preaching the word of God many years in Scotland {i.e. Ireland), could no longer bear the crowds that resorted to him, and, leaving all that he seemed to possess, departed from his native island and came with a few brothers through the Britons into the province of the Enghsh." ^ On his arrival in East Anglia he was welcomed by the king, and there " executing his accustomed task of preaching the Gospel, by the example of his virtue and the incitement of his discourse he converted many unbelievers to Christ, or confirmed those who already believed in the faith and love of Christ." ^ On a Sigebert piccc of grouud givcu to him by Sigebert at Cnobheres- monas-^ burg ^ he built a monastery. The king himself, says *®^y- Bede, " became so great a lover of the heavenly king- dom that at length he abandoned the business of his kingdom which he committed to his kinsman Ecgric, . . . and entered a monastery which he had built, and, having received the tonsure, applied himself to strive to obtain an eternal kingdom." * Soon after- wards, when East Anglia was invaded by the Mercian king Penda, his people besought him to resume his duties as their king, and on his refusal dragged him from the monastery and forced him to be present at the battle (636) ^ in which he and Ecgric and many of his people were killed. Fursey retired to Gaul where he built another monastery and where he died ^ Bede iii. 19. Bede's account of * Id. iii. 18. His example was St. Fursey is taken from an earlier followed by Kenred of Mercia, Ofifa biography. of Essex and several other princes. ^ Id. 5 rpj^jg jg ^jjg ^Q^Q given by Haddan ^ Burgh Castle near Lowestoft. and Stubbs iii. 89, ENGLAND 123 in 647. After the death of FeHx his deacon Thoma« was consecrated by Honorius as bishop. The next king, Anna, who was a cousin of Sigebert, King several of whose daughters became nuns, was killed by Penda in 654. He had been the means of converting to the Christian faith Coinwalch king of Wessex who had sought refuge with him after Penda had driven him from Wessex. To return to the story of Northumbria : Edwin after defeating Cadwallon the king of Gwynedd, or North Wales, had driven him into Wales. In his extremity Cadwallon, although a Briton and a Christian, allied himself with Penda the king of the Mercians, who was a Saxon and a strenuous upholder of paganism. The two having attacked Edwin at Heathfield ^ in South-East Edwin Yorkshire, defeated and killed him on October 12, 63S. Heath^ At this time, says Bede, " a great slaughter was made ^^^^' ^^^' in the church or nation of the Northumbrians, and the more so because one of the leaders by whom it was made was a pagan and the other, inasmuch as he was a barbarian, was worse than a pagan. For Penda with all the nation of the Mercians was devoted Penda. to idolatry and was ignorant of the Christian name, but Cadwallon, though he had the name and profession of a Christian, was so barbarous that he spared neither women nor children, but ravaged the whole country. Nor did he show any respect for the Christian religion which had sprung up amongst them." ^ The year which followed the battle of Heathfield was regarded, even at the time when Bede wrote, as " unfortunate ^ i.e. Hatfield Chase near Doncaster. ^ jBede ii. 20, 124 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. Heathen and hateful to all good men." ^ Edwin's cousin Osric, ^^North- who succeeded him as king in Deira, and Ethelfrid's umbria. g^j^ Eanfiid, who became king in Bernicia, both renounced their Christianity in order to win the favour , of Penda, but were both killed by Cadwallon. On the death of Edwin Paulinus abandoned his diocese and fled to Canterbury, afterwards becoming bishop of Rochester, in charge of which he remained, according to Bede, " until he ascended to the celestial kingdoms with the fruit of his glorious toil." ^ Referring to the work of Paulinus Bishop Lightfoot writes : " The hasty and superficial work of Paulinus had come to nought. . . . The night of heathendom again closed over the land. The first chapter in the history of Northumbrian Christianity was ended. The Roman mission, despite all the feverish energy of its chief, had proved a failure. A sponge had passed over Northumbria, and scarce a vestige of his work remained." ^ Bishop Browne speaking of the work of Paulinus and the other Italian monks, says, " The history of the Italian Mission is a history of failure to face danger. Melhtus fled from London, and got him- self safe to Gaul ; Justus fled from Rochester. . . . Laurentius was packed up to fly from Canterbury and follow them ; Paulinus fled from York." * Bede says of the first three, " it was decreed by common counsel that it would be better that all should return to their native land and serve the Lord there with a free mind than that they should reside fruitlessly among bar- barians who were rebels against the faith." ^ ^ Bede iii. 1. * The Christian Church in these islands * Id. ii. 20. before the coming of Augv^tine, p. 7. * Leaders in the Northern Churchy p. 41. ^ Bk. ii. c. 5. ENGLAND 126 But although the inhabitants of Yorkshire were deprived of their Christian king and were deserted by their bishop, they did not entirely lapse into heathen- ism. When Paulinus retired " he left behind him in his church at York James the deacon, who, continuing james the long after in that church, snatched much spoil from^^^^^"' the ancient enemy (of mankind) by teaching and baptizing. . . . He was very skilful in singing." On the death of Eanfrid his younger brother Oswald became king of Bernicia and having " advanced with an army, small, but strengthened with the faith of Christ," defeated and killed Cadwallon (634) at Heaven- King field near Hexham, and established himself as king of g^^j^ ^f Deira and Bernicia. ^T7^^'a field, 634. " As soon as he ascended the throne, being desirous that all his nation should receive the Christian faith, whereof he had found happy experience in vanquishing the barbarians, he sent to the elders of the Scots among whom he himself and his followers, when in banishment, had received the sacrament of baptism, desiring that they would send him a bishop." ^ The chief ecclesi- Oswald astical authority in Scotland at this time was Seghine Scotland^ (Segenius) ^ the abbot of Hy or Icolmcille.^ On receipt b^Jh^p of the king's request a bishop, to whom a Scottish tradi- tion has given the name of Corman, was despatched. Bishop He was a man "of austere disposition who, after preaching for a time to the English people and having effected nothing, the people being unwilling to listen to him, returned to his native country and reported in an assembly of the elders that he had not been able ^ Bede iii. 3. ^ Known in later times as lona. 2 Seghine was the fourth successor See p. 75 n. of Columba. 126 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. to benefit in any way by his teaching the nation to which he had been sent, because they were iintameable (indomabiles) and of a harsh and barbarous disposition." A similar report has on many subsequent occasions been given by those who have lacked the inexhaustible sympathy which has been the distinguishing charac- teristic of all the greatest missionaries. Happily for the future of Christianity in England the assembly to which Gorman reported contained a man in whom the power of sympathy had been developed to a mar- st. Aidan. vcUous degree. Aidan, according to Bede, had long been known and loved on account of his humility, his dihgence in the performance of religious duties, and above all for his abihty to sympathize with rich and poor, believers and unbelievers. On hearing the words of Gorman, Aidan said, " It seems to me, brother, that you were more severe to your unlearned hearers than you ought to have been, and that you did not at first, in accordance with apostolic teaching, give them the milk of more easy doctrine, till, having been by degrees nourished with the word of God, they might have become able to receive that which is more perfect, and practise the more sublime precepts of God." ^ Those who were present forthwith recognized in the speaker the man fitted to accomplish the difficult task which was in view. Having been consecrated as a bishop Aidan was accordingly sent to Northumbria. Lindis- The island of Lindisf arne, on which he fixed his residence and presently built a monastery, was probably selected by him, or by Oswald, on account of its nearness to Bamborough, which was then Oswald's principal seat. ^ Bede iii. 6. ENGLAND 127 The site would doubtless have appeared specially attractive to Aidan on account of its resemblance to his former island home. In view of the great influence which the monastery of Lindisfarne exerted upon the conversion of England and the evolution of the English Church it would be hard to name any spot in the British Isles that is more deserving of veneration.^ In Oswald Aidan found an enthusiastic fellow- missionary who, as Aidan knew but little English, interpreted for him when he preached to his " com- manders and ministers." " From this time," says Spread Bede, " many from the country of the Scots began christian to come daily into Britain, and with great devotion ^^^^^' preached the word of faith to those provinces of the English over which Oswald reigned, and those (among them) who had received priest's orders administered to those who believed the grace of baptism. Where- upon churches were built in several places ; the people flocked together with joy to hear the word, property and lands were given of the king's bounty to build monasteries, the English, great and small, were in- structed by their Scottish masters in the more important subjects of study and in the observance of regular discipline, for most of those who came to preach were monks." ^ The character of Aidan, as drawn for us by Bede, Bede's is singularly attractive, and it is the more likely to tion oT be a true picture inasmuch as Bede was strongly pre- ^^<^^^- ^ Alcuin of York in a letter to rupted. After Aidan there were 15 Ethelred king of Northumbria de- at Lindisfarne, then 7 at Chester-le- scribes it as 'locus cunetis in Britannia Street, and 84 at Durham, venerabilior.' See H. and S. iii. 493. ^ Bede iii. 3. Most of the bishops The succession of bishops of Lindis- who succeeded Aidan till 1072 were fame has never since been inter- monks. 128 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. judiced against several of the customs which Aidan introduced. His teaching in regard to the observance of Easter he " very niuch detested," ^ nevertheless he bears ungrudging witness to " his love of peace, charity, continence and huraility, his mind superior to anger and avarice and despising pride and vainglory, his industry in teaching and keeping the heavenly com- mandments, his diligence in reading and watchings, his authority as became a priest in reproving the haughty and powerful, and at the same time his tenderness in comforting the afflicted and relieving and defending the poor." ^ Aidan's At Liudisfarne he lived the Hfe of a monk and when siolary ^LC travelled on his missionary tours he went on foot, journeys, jjjg clothing cousistcd of a thick woollen cape (cucuUa) and in winter he wore a shirt (tunica) and above it a loose cloak (amphibalus). He had the Irish tonsure and his long hair flowed down behind.^ " Wherever in the course of his journeys he saw any, whether rich or poor, he would there and then invite them, if un- believers, to embrace the mystery of the faith, or, if they were believers, he would strengthen them in the faith and would stir them up by words and actions to almsgiving and the performance of good works." * His ascetic life moreover was imitated by his disciples and companions.^ "All those who went about with * Bede iii. 17. character to the Northumbrian * Id. Church. Thus Drythelm of Mehose ^ See Early Eng. Ch. Hist, by would stand at times up to his neck Bright, p. 147. in the R. Tweed reciting prayers * Bede iii. 5. and psalms, and would even break ^ The Celtic missionaries as a rule the ice in order to get into the river. practised a rigorous asceticism and Cuthbert is said to have done the helped to give a strongly ascetic same (see Bcedce Opera by Plummer, ENGLAND 129 him whether they were shorn monks or laymen, were employed in meditation, and were assiduous either in reading the Scriptures or learnmg psalms. This was the daily employment of himself and all that were with him, wheresoever they went, and if it happened, which was but seldom, that he was invited to eat with the king, he went with one or two clerks, and having taken a small repast, he made haste to be gone with them to read or to pray. At that time some religious men and women, stirred by his example, adopted the custom of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays through- out the year till the ninth hour except during the fifty days after Easter." ^ Aidan realized that if the Church in Northumbria was to be securely established educa- His efforts tion must form a chief part of his work, and he accord- mote^edu- ingly gathered about him in the first instance twelve ^^*^^^^' boys "to be instructed in Christ." ^ The fact that these included the two brothers Chad and Cedd, the evangelists of central and southern England, and Eata, who became abbot of Melrose and afterwards bishop of Lindisfarne, suggests that he possessed a remarkable insight into character. Some of those whom he trained had previously been ransomed by him from slavery. Bede attributes to him a number of miracles which His are said to have been wrought by his prayers, the traditions relating to which at least show that he was regarded as a man of prayer. After a reign of eight years, Oswald was killed in i. XXX.). Of Kentigern we read: ium" {see Life of Nynias and Kentigern "nudum . . . se reddens aquis vehem- by Forbes, p. 185). entibus et frigidis se immergebat ... ^ Bede iii. 5. ibique in frigore et nuditate ... ^ iii. 26. totum ex integro decantabat psalter- I 130 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. Oswald 642^ at the battle of Maserfield^ fighting against Maser-** Penda. Oswin son of Osric, who succeeded him, field, 642. supported Aidan in his missionary labours, with as much zeal as Oswald had displayed. Aidan died on August 31, 651, at Bamborough. ' Referring to the circumstances of his death, Bede writes : " Aidan Death of was in the king's country house ... at the time ^51^^' when death compelled him to depart from his body after being bishop for sixteen^ years, for having a church and a chamber there, he was wont often to go and stay there and going thence to preach in the country round about, as he did also at other houses belonging to the king, having no personal possessions other than his church and some small fields near to it. When he was sick they set up a tent for him close to the wall at the west end of the church, and so it happened that he breathed his last leaning against a buttress that was placed on the outside of the church to strengthen the wall." * For the student of missions the long disputes in regard Disputes to the keeping of Easter, which culminated in 664i in to Easter, the Conference of Whitby, are a matter of concern in so far as they tended to divide and thereby weaken the counsels that were from time to time put forward for the evangelization of the non-Christian populations. For many years these and similar disputes rendered it difficult for the Celtic and Saxon or Roman mission- ^ The gratitude with which subse- the gladsome and holy joy of this quent generations regarded the work day ..." accomplished by Oswald is evidenced 2 Usually identified with Oswestry by the words of the collect appointed in Shropshire. in the Sarum use to be said on his day. 3 Xwo of the oldest MSS. read 16 " God, who by the passion of thy and two read 17. holy servant Oswald hast consecrated ^ gg^g jjj j^ ENGLAND 131 aries to co-operate, or to appreciate aright each other's work, and in many instances they gave rise to great bitterness and did much to retard the progress of mis- sionary efforts. At the same time it is but fair to say that the disputants were not quarreUing about trifles. The issue which appeared to them to be involved was nothing less than the preservation of the unity of the Christian Church. When after thirty years many of the Scottish, or Celtic Irish, monks left Lindisfarne, together with their bishop {^ave^ Colman, it became manifest how simple and frugal \^^^l^' had been their life. " There were houses besides the church found at their departure, no more indeed than were absolutely necessary for their daily life " ^ ; Their they had made no attempts to entertain the rich or North- great, " for these never came to church except to ^"^^"^• pray and to hear the word of God." Their repasts, which were of the simplest kind, were shared by their visitors even when these included the king and his courtiers. In a passage of great interest Bede describes the attitude of the people generally towards the monks and the reception which these received when they travelled from place to place. He writes, " Wherever clergy or monks happened to come, such an one was joyfully received by all as the servant of God. And if they chanced to meet him on the way, they ran to him and, bowing their heads, were glad to be signed with his hand or blessed with his mouth. They paid great attention also to their exhortations. Moreover on Sundays they flocked eagerly to church or to the monasteries, not to refresh the body but to hear the word 1 Bede iii. 26. 132 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. of God, and if any priest happened to come into a village the villagers quickly came together, eager to hear from him the word of life, for the priests and clergy went to the villages for no other purpose than to preach, baptize, visit the sick, and, to put it briefly, to care for souls, and were so free from all plague of avarice that none of them received lands and possessions for building monasteries, unless forced to do so by the temporal authorities : and this custom was for some time afterwards generally observed in the churches of the Northumbrians." ^ Aidan To Aidau belongs the honour of introducing the ^^ig^yy ministry of women into the Northumbrian Church, of women. ^^ j^g cousccratcd Heiu,^ the first nun and foundress of the monastery of Hartlepool. According to Bede she is said to have been the first woman in the province of the Northumbrians " to have taken upon her the purpose and the vesture of the reUgious life. Bp. Light- Bishop Lightfoot writes of the character of Aidan, " I cha*racter kuow uo uoblcr type of the missionary spirit. His char- of Aidan. actcr, as it appears through the haze of antiquity, is almost absolutely faultless. Doubtless this haze may have obscured some imperfections which a clearer atmo- sphere and a nearer view would have enabled us to detect. But we cannot have been misled as to the main lineaments of the man. Measuring him side by side with other great missionaries of those days, Augustine of Canterbury, or Wilfrid of York, or Cuthbert of his own Lindisfarne, we are struck with the singular sweet- ness and breadth and sympathy of his character. He had all the virtues of his Celtic race without any of its ^ iii. 26. 2 Bede iv. 23, " consecrante Aidano episcopo." ENGLAND ' 133 faults. A comparison with his own spiritual fore- father — the eager, headstrong, irascible, affectionate, penitent, patriotic, self-devoted Columba, the most romantic and attractive of all early mediaeval saints — will justify this sentiment. He was tender, sympathetic, adventurous, self-sacrificing, but he was patient, stead- fast, calm, appreciative, discreet before all things." ^ If we take into account the work of his disciples Aldan's and the subsequent development of the missionary thrcon^- enterprises which he started, we are justified in claiming En^gJ^nd*^ for Aidan, rather than for Augustine, the larger share in the evangelization of England. That the conversion of the greater part of England was due to the impulse of Aidan and his followers is admitted even by the Roman Catholic writer, Montalembert, who says : " From the cloisters of Lindisfarne and from the heart of those districts in which the popularity of ascetic pontiffs such as Aidan, and martyr kings such as Oswald and Oswin, took day by day a deeper root, Northumbrian Christianity spread over the southern kingdoms. . . . What is distinctly visible is the in- fluence of Celtic priests and missionaries everywhere replacing, or seconding, the Roman missionaries and reaching districts which their predecessors had never been able to' enter. The stream of the Divine Word thus extended itself from north to south, and its slow but certain course reached in succession all the people of the Heptarchy." ^ Again he writes : "Of the eight kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Confederation, that of Kent alone was exclusively won and retained by the Roman monks whose first attempts among the ^ Leaders in the Northern Church, p. 44. ^ Monks of the West, iv. p. 88. 134 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. East Saxons and Northumbrians ended in failure. In Wessex and in East Anglia the Saxons of the West and the Angles of the East were converted by the combined action of continental missionaries and Celtic monks. As to the two Northumbrian kingdoms and those of Essex and Mercia, which comprehended in themselves more than two -thirds of the territory occupied by the German (Saxon) conquerors, these four countries owed their final conversion exclusively to the peaceful invasion of the Celtic monks, who not only rivalled the zeal of the Roman monks, but who, the first obstacles once surmounted, showed much more perseverance and gained much more success."^ We have quoted this appreciation of the work of the Celtic mission by Montalembert at some length because it gives in a few sentences an outline sketch of the conversion of England, and because the writer will not be suspected of exaggerating the importance of the work of Aidan at the expense of that done by the missionaries from Italy. End of The Celtic mission to Northumbria came to an abrupt mission, end as the result of the decisions arrived at by the Conference which was held at Whitby in the spring of 664^. It was decided at this Conference to abandon the Celtic usages relating to the tonsure and the keeping of Easter in favour of the Roman usages. The decision was reached owing to the action of King Oswy, who was largely influenced by Wilfrid. After the Conference the Celtic brotherhood at Lindisfarne was broken up and Colman returned with many of his brothers and scholars to lona. " What heart," writes Montalembert, ^ Monks of the West, iv. p. 125. ENGLAND 135 "is SO cold as not to understand, to sympathize and to journey with him, along the Northumbrian coast and over the Scottish mountains where, bearing homeward the bones of his father (Aidan), the proud but vanquished spirit returned to his northern mists, and buried in the sacred isle of lona his defeat and his unconquerable fidelity to the traditions of his race." i With the departure of the Celtic missionaries ended " the golden age of saintliness, such as England would never see again," ^ but their withdrawal helped towards the unification of the Church and, through the instru- mentality of the Church, the making of the Enghsh nation. Tlie three figures who stand out conspicuously in the story of the planting and early development of the Northumbrian Church are Oswald, Aidan and Hilda, st. HUda. The last of these, who was a member of the royal house, had been instructed and baptized as a child by Paulinus and later on became the chief friend and adviser of Aidan. The first half of her sixty-six years were spent in " the world " and the latter half as the ruler of a religious house. To her initiative was largely due the development of the monasteries which became the centres of education in the north of England. She died in 680.=^ Bede writes : " This servant of Christ, Abbess Hilda, whom all that knew her were wont to call Mother on account of her singular piety and grace, was not only a pattern of life to those who were in her monastery, but ^ Monks oj the West, iv. 170. ^ For life and death of Hilda see ^ Leaders in the Northern Church, Bede iv. cap. 23. Lightfoot, p. 14. 136 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. to many also at a distance, to whom the fame of her industry and virtue came,^'she afforded occasion of salvation and amendment." The Conversion of Wessex Extent of Wcssex, the kingdom of the West Saxons, was founded by Cerdic about 519. At the time when the Gospel was first preached to its inhabitants, its boun- daries were subject to frequent changes according as the wars, in which its kings were constantly engaged, tended to increase or contract the kingdom. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 597 " Ceowulf began to reign over the West Saxons and he fought and contended incessantly with Angle-kin, or with Welsh, or with Picts, or with Scots." About this time Wessex included Hampshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and parts of Buckinghamshire. About the year 63S Pope Honorius received a visit from a man of a missionary spirit named St. Birinus,^ who said that he desired " to scatter the seeds of the holy faith in those furthest inland territories of the English to which no teacher had as yet come." ^ The Pope approved his resolve and sent him to be consecrated as a bishop by Asterius bishop of Milan, who apparently resided at Genoa.^ In 634 Birinus landed, probably at Porchester, in Hampshire, and " finding all the people most pagan, he thought it better to preach the word there rather than to proceed further to search for others to whom ^ The nationality of Birinus is un- Heptarchy, by Bp. Browne, p. 48. certain. It has been suggested that ^ Bede, iii. 7. the name is identical with the Irish ^ Bede refers to him as bishop of Bjrrne : see The Conversion of the Genoa. ENGLAND 137 he might preach." ^ His preaching met with speedy success and the king, Cynegils, " having been catechized was washed in the fountain of baptism together with his people," ^ apparently towards the end of 635. The success of Birinus may have been helped by the presence of Oswald, " the most holy and victorious king of the Northumbrians," who desired to marry the daughter of Cynegils, and who, being present on the occasion, " received ^ him as he came forth from the laver of baptism." Bede continues, " the two kings The see of gave to the bishop the city called Dorcic * (Dorchester) JhSter. in order that he might establish this as his see, where, having built and consecrated churches, and having by his pious labour called many to the Lord, he himself migrated to the Lord." Cwichelm the son of Cynegils was baptized at Dorchester in 636 but died the same year. The king, who died in 643, was succeeded by his son Kenwalch, or Coinwalch, who had " refused King Ken- to embrace the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom " ^^ ^ • and was a strong upholder of heathenism. Having put away his wife, who was a sister of Penda the king of the Mercians, in order to marry another, he was attacked and defeated by Penda (645) and retired as an exile to Anna the king of the East Saxons. During the three years which he spent in exile " he discerned and received the true faith." ^ When at length he had regained his kingdom, " a certain bishop called Bishop Agilbert, a native of Gaul, who had lived for a long time ^^ 1 Bede iii. 7. A later legend, given Birinus is represented on an old font by Bromton, states that on landing in Winchester Cathedral. he preached for three days and that ^ This was the function of a sponsor, among his audience were many who * Eight and a half miles from Oxford, had been converted by Augustine. ^ According to the A.- 8. Chronicle 2 The baptism of Cynegils by the date of his baptism was 646. 138 THE 001^ VERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. in Ireland for the sake of reading the Scriptures," ^ came of his own accord and began to preach, whereupon the king, " observing his erudition and industry," desired him to remain as his bishop. Birinus died on December 3, 650. After Agilbert had acted as bishop for " many years " the king, who understood only the Saxon language, having grown weary of the bishop's " barbarous tongue," brought into the province a Saxon bishop Bishop named Wini who had been ordained in Gaul, and, having divided his kingdom into two dioceses, created for Wini an episcopal seat at Wintancestir (Winchester). Agilbert " being grievously offended because he had done this without consulting him went north to North- umbria and eventually returned to Gaul and was made bishop of Paris." "Not many years after Agilbert's departure out of Britain Wini was expelled from his bishopric by the same king and took refuge with purchases Wulfhcre king of the Mercians, from whom he purchased London, f or mouey the see of the city of London ^ and remained bishop thereof till his death." ^ After the expulsion of Wini the king, moved by the calamities which befell him and his people, sent messengers to Paris begging Agilbert to return. This he refused to do, but he sent Bishop his nephew, a priest named Leutherius, suggesting therius. that he might be made a bishop. At the king's request Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, consecrated him as bishop (670) in the city of Winchester, and — con- tinues Bede — " for many years he zealously governed the bishopric of the Gewissae (West Saxons) with synodical authority." ^ Bede ill. 7. porura Londinensium non meruit 2 Matthew Paris writes of him: recenseri.' 'unde post mortem in serie episco- ^ Bede iii. 7. ENGLAND 139 Of the bishops of the West Saxons who were men of note, and who were specially interested in missionary enterprises mention should be made of Daniel, who Bpp. became bishop of Winchester in 705, and of Aldhelm, and Aid- who became bishop of Sherborne in the same year. ®^"^' The Isle of Wight was finally conquered by the Conquest West Saxons in 630, after which it was held by the Jutes of wight, and later on became part of the kingdom of Wessex. ^^^' In 680 it was given to the South Saxon king of Sussex, but in 686 Ceadwalla, who had seized the kingdom of Wessex, won back the island which was still " entirely given over to idolatry." He then " by cruel slaughter endeavoured to exterminate all its inhabitants and to place in their stead people belonging to his own province, binding himself by an oath . . . that if he took the island he would give a fourth part of it as booty to the Lord, which vow he performed when he gave it to Bishop Wilfrid, who happened at the time to have come hither out of his own nation." ^ Wilfrid committed the task of evangelizing the The i. of island to his nephew Bernwin and gave him as his ev?n- assistant a priest named Hiddila to minister the word Wilfrid. ^ and baptism " to all who desired to be saved." The Conversion of Mercia Mercia, that is the march-land or border-land, was the name given to the territory where the West Angles marched with the Britons of North Wales and the Britons of Cumbria. Its inhabitants were Angles as distinguished from Saxons and Jutes. Penda, the ^ Bade iv. 16. 140 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. Penda heathen king of Mercia, began his career by defeating M^r^cia! ^^^ kilHng Edwin the first Christian king of Northumbria (6S3), and later on he killed his successor, Oswald (642). In twenty -two years he killed five kings, all of whom were Christians. The first attempt to introduce Christianity into Mercia dates from about 653, when Peada, a son of Penda, having been made by him sub- king of the Middle Angles (653), who occupied, roughly speaking, the present county of Leicester, came to Oswy the king of the Northumbrian Angles to ask the introduc- hand of his daughter Elfleda in marriage. The con- Chris^- dition imposed by Oswy was that Peada must become tianity. ^ Christian and try to convert to Christianity the people over whom he ruled. After undergoing a course of instruction, and having " heard the preaching of the truth, the promise of the heavenly kingdom and the hope of resurrection and future immortality, he declared that he would willingly become a Christian, even though he should be refused the virgin." Soon afterwards Baptism " he was baptized by Bishop Finan with all his earls (comitibus) and soldiers who had come with him, . . . and having received four priests who for their learning and good life were deemed fit to instruct and baptize his nation, he returned with great joy. These priests were Cedd, Adda, Betti and Diuma, the last of whom was by nation a Scot (Irish), the others being EngHsh." ^ On the return of Peada to his own people these priests " preached the word and were willingly listened to, and many both of the nobles and of those of lower degree renouncmg the vileness of idolatry were baptized daily." The opposition of Penda to Christianity had 1 Bede iii. 21. ENGLAND 141 by this time ended, and though he did not himself Penda's become a Christian he ceased to prevent his subjects towards from accepting baptism. He was keen, moreover, toj^^^f^y note those who professed the Christian faith and failed to live in accordance with its precepts. Thus Bede writes : " He hated and despised those whom, after they had received the faith of Christ, he perceived not to perform the works of faith, and said that those were contemptible and wretched who contemned obedience to their God in whom they believed." In Q^Q Penda was killed fighting against Oswy and Death of the latter added the kingdom of Mercia to his dominions. 65^ ' Diuma, the Scottish priest, was then made bishop of the Middle Angles over whom Peada continued to rule, and of the Mercians under the rule of Oswy. As ilh.istrating the small share which the Italian Mission had in the conversion of the English we may note that in 656, sixty years after the despatch of this Mission, " Northumbria, Mercia, the East Saxon kingdom and Wessex were all ruled by bishops of Irish or Scottish consecration, and the teaching of Christianity was entirely in the hands of men of the pre-Augustine churches of these islands." ^ In 656 Peada was mur- dered and three years later the Mercians revolted from Oswy and set up Wulfhere a son of Penda as their King king. Soon after Theodore reached Canterbury in 669 Wulfhere applied to him for help, as Mercia was then without a bishop, and it was eventually arranged that Chad should leave York and become bishop of Mercia. By this time the conversion of Mercia was practically completed. ^ The Conversion of the Heptarchy, by Bp. Browne, p. 114. 142 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. The Conversion of Sussex Isolation The last portion of England to embrace the Christian faith was the district which now forms the county of Sussex. The dense barrier of forest and marsh that separated it from the ItaHan Mission in Kent had apparently prevented the representatives of this Mission from making any attempt during three-quarters of a century to secure the conversion of its inhabitants.^ In 681, when Kent had been Christian for 84 and London for about 16 years, the first attempt was made to convert the South Saxons of Sussex, the Wilfrid in leader of the enterprise being the famous Wilfrid of 681. ' York. But although this was the date of the first organised effort to preach the Christian faith to the people, there had been Christians in Sussex before the coming of Wilfrid. Thus Bede writes : " There was among them a certain monk of the Scottish (Irish) Dicui. nation, Dicul by name, who had a very small monastery in a place called Bosanham, encompassed with the sea and woods, and in it five or six brothers who served the Lord in humility and poverty ; but none of the people of the province cared either to imitate their life, or to listen to their preaching." ^ Another and more influential representative of Chris- ^ Bp. Browne writes, " The South " I risk the suggestion that Wulf- Saxons were shut off from the world here, who had good reason to know by a belt of forest, represented as and be grateful for the missionary impassable, 120 m. long from east abiUty of the Scotic Church, had to west and 30 m. deep. So far as recommended Dicul and his monks to ancient roads were concerned, we may Ethelwalch, as 20 years before Oswy fairly say that the best way to Sussex had sent four Scotic teachers to from anywhere was by sea." The Mercia to begin the conversion of Conversion of the Heptarchy, 161. that great kingdom." 2 Bede iv, 13. Bp. Browne writes : ENGLAND 143 tianity in Sussex was the king of the South Saxons, Ethel walch, who had, " not long before,^ been baptized Baptism in the province of the Mercians by the persuasion of EtheL^ King Wulfhere, who was present," and acted as his ^^^^^' godfather. On the occasion of his baptism King Wulf- here gave him the Isle of Wight ^ and the province of Meonwara which included the eastern half of Hamp- shire. His queen, whose name was Ebba, had been Queen baptized before her marriage with Ethelwalch, in the province of the Hwiccii.^ As a result of his missionary labours in Sussex, Wilfrid " with the king's consent, or rather to his great satisfaction, baptized the principal leaders and soldiers ; and many and the priests Eappa, Padda, Burghelm and Eadda, ° either then or afterwards baptized the rest of the people." By a happy— perhaps we should say a providential — coincidence, the day on which the first converts were baptized witnessed the end of the drought that had lasted for three years and had caused widespread famine and even starvation. The ending of the drought was regarded by the people as a token of divine approval and the speedy conversion of the people throughout Sussex ensued. Bede writes : " Their former super- stition having been rejected, and idolatry having been expelled, the heart and flesh of all exulted in the living God, for they perceived that He who is the true God had by His heavenly grace enriched them with both inward and outward blessings." Their gratitude was further increased when Wilfrid proceeded ^ Wulfhere's reign ended in 672 or ^ A district that included parts 673, i.e. about 9 years before the of Worcestershire, Warwickshire and arrival of Wilfrid. Gloucestershire. 2 See p. 139. 144 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. Wilfrid to give his converts lessons in fishing. " For the bishop, m^ c^n- when he came into the province and witnessed the great verts to jQgg caused by the famine, taught them to seek a HveH- hood by fishing, for the sea and their rivers abounded in fish, but the people had no skill to catch them save only eels. The bishop's men having collected eel-nets everywhere, cast them into the sea, and by the blessing of God they soon caught three hundred fishes of different kinds." ^ These they divided into three lots, one of which was given to the poor, one to the owners of the nets and one to the fishermen. It is probable that Wilfrid had himself learned the art of fishing when as a boy he had been educated at Lindisfarne. The method by which he commended his preaching of the Christian faith has been followed by many other missionaries in other lands.^ Seisey At this time the king gave to Wilfrid Selsey, " which tery. is Called in Latin the island of the sea-calf," "in order to maintain his companions who were in exile." ^ On this island, or rather peninsula, Wilfrid built a monas- tery of which Eappa became the head under Wilfrid. And " forasmuch as the king gave him together with the possession of the place all that was there, including the lands and the men, he instructed all m the faith of Christ and washed them in the water of baptism. Baptism Amoug them were two hundred and fifty men and slaves. women slaves, all of whom by baptism he not only rescued from the servitude of the devil but gave to them also bodily liberty and set them free from the ^ Bede iv. 13. Northumbria those of his friends who 2 The biographer of St. Gall refers were banished at the same time con- to his fishing on Lake of Constance, tinned to look to him for support, and but this was to supply the needs of some of them had apparently followed his own brethren, see below, p. 316. him to Sussex. ^ When WiKrid was banished from ENGLAND 145 yoke of human slavery." ^ Wilfrid continued his labours in Sussex for five years and when in 686, after the death of Egfrid of Northumbria, he set out again for the north, he left behind him the Christian kingdom Wilfrid of Sussex.2 " For five years," writes Dr. Bright, " he s^uslex. exercised in those parts the office of the episcopate, both by words and by deeds, deservedly honoured by all, with the Uttle cathedral of Selsey instead of York, with the poor simple neophytes of Sussex instead of the Northumbrian Church in its stately organization, with Ethelwalch and Ebba — a happy exchange — instead of Egfrid and Ermenbarga, his troubles settling down into the quietness of an ' apostleship,' which might for a while seclude the man whose name had been heard through Europe, but which in the general estimate of his life may be truly said to constitute its crown." ^ In 709 it was determined by a West Saxon synod that the South Saxons, who had up to that time been included in the diocese of Winchester, should have a bishop of their own and Eadbert abbot of Selsey was Eadbert consecrated as bishop of Selsey. There were 22 bishops seLey^ ^ of Selsey prior to the Norman Conquest, after which ^^^' the site of the see was moved to Chichester. The Conversion of the East Saxons The kingdom of the East Saxons, which included the town of London, was founded by Erchenwin about 527. 1 Bede iv. 13. church on this site was built by 2 That Wilfrid laboured in Meon- Wilfrid. The name Meonwara is pre- wara, i.e. the eastern half of Hamp- served in the names East Meon and shire, which was given by Wulfhere to West Meon. Ethelwalch, is suggested by an in- ^ Chapters of Early Eng. Ch. Hist. scription in the porch of Warnford p. 317. church which states that the original K 146 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. Conver- The Anglo-SaxoTi Chronicle for 604 reads, " This year K^g° the East Saxons received the faith and baptism under Sabert, Xing Sabert and Bishop MeUitus." As we have aheady noted, on the death of Sabert his three sons professed MeUitus idolatry and forced MeUitus to leave London in 616. bury.^ He returned to London in the following year at the request of the Kentish king, but, as the inhabitants of London refused to receive him, he retired to Canter- bury and in 619 he became archbishop. From 616 to 653 London and the country that now forms the county of Essex remained heathen. The story of the Re-con- re-couvcrsion of London and of the East Saxons which version of.. ^ t% i ti i-i-».tii London. IS giveu by 13ede was supplied to him by Nothelm, who was archpresbyter of London and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, and has a good claim to be regarded as authentic. Sigebert the Good, who became king of the East Saxons shortly before 653, was a friend of Oswy the king of Northumbria, and on the occasion of his visits to Northumbria Oswy " used to endeavour to make him understand that those could not be gods that had been made by men's hands, that a stock or stone could not afford material wherewith to create a god, the remains of which were burned as firewood, or made into vessels for common use or thrown out as refuse and trodden into the ground: that God is rather to be regarded as incomprehensible in majesty, invisible to human eyes, omnipotent and eternal, who created the heaven and the earth and the race of man, who governed and will judge the world in equity, whose eternal seat we must believe to be not in vile and decaying matter but in heaven ; and that it ought to be assumed that all who have learned and done ENGLAND 147 the will of their Creator will receive from Him eternal rewards." ^ King Oswy's arguments eventually prevailed and Baptism Sigebert and his companions and attendants were bap- bert^by tized by Bishop Finan at or about the same time ^^' ^^"^"" as Peada of Mercia was baptized. After his baptism Sigebert begged Oswy to send Christian teachers to act as missionaries to his people, and accordingly Cedd, a Cedd. brother of Chad who became bishop of Lichfield, with another priest went to preach to the East Saxons. " When these two, travelhng to all parts of the country, had gathered a numerous church to our Lord," Cedd returned to Lindisfarne to confer with Bishop Finan and was by him consecrated as bishop of the East Saxons. Returning to Essex Cedd " built churches in several places and ordained priests and deacons to assist him in the work of faith and in the ministry of baptism." ^ The two centres of his work specially mentioned by Bede are Ythancestir ^ and Tilaburg, the modern Tilbury. At these places he " gathered a flock of the servants of Christ and taught them the dis- cipline of regular life, as far as these rude people were as yet able to receive it." After some time Sigebert Murder of was murdered by two of his relations, who alleged as ^^^ ^^ * their reason for committing the crime that " they hated him because he was too ready to spare his enemies and to forgive the wrongs done to him by those who asked his pardon." His successor, Suidhelm, was baptized Baptism by Cedd in the province of the East Angles, Ethelwald Suidi^fm. king of the East Angles acting as his godfather. During ^ Bede iii. 22. the Roman camp at Othona near 2 Id. Tillingham in Essex. ^ Probably to be identified with 148 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. Ceddin one of Cedd's visits to Yorkshire Ethelwald, who ruled sMre. over the Deiri, invited him " to accept some land to build a monastery to which the king himself might frequently resort to pray to the Lord and to hear the word, and in which he might be buried when he died." ^ The site selected was Laestingaen, which is usually identified with Lastingham near Whitby .^ Referring to its foundation Bede writes : " Complying with the wish of the king, he chose for himself a place to build a monastery among craggy and remote mountains, which looked more like lurking-places for robbers and retreats for wild beasts than habitations for men, so that in accordance with the prophecy of Isaiah, ' in the habitations where before dragons dwelt might be grass with reeds and rushes,' that is that the fruits of good works should spring up where before beasts were wont to dwell, or men to Hve after the manner of beasts." ^ Death of In this monastery, soon after the synod of Whitby ■ (664^), Cedd died of the plague and was buried. As an illustration of the love with which Cedd inspired his fellow- workers we may note the fact, recorded by Bede, that when the news of the death of their bishop reached Cedd's monastery in Essex, " about thirty men came thither (to Lastingham) being desirous either to live near the body of their father, if it should please God, or to die and be buried there. After being lovingly received by their brethren and fellow-soldiers (in Christ) they all died there by the aforesaid pestilence, except one little boy." This boy lived to become a priest and to be " useful to many in the church." 1 Bede iii. 23. side. See The Conversion of the 2 Bp. Browne suggests that the Heptarchy, p. 151. site was Kirkdale, near Kirkby Mooi- ^ Bede iiL 23. ENGLAND 149 Although Cedd was bishop of the East Saxons in whose territory London was situated, he is never referred to as bishop of London and it seems probable that the leaning towards paganism of the inhabitants of London caused him to fix the centre of his diocese elsewhere. At this time there were two kings of the East Saxons, Sighere Kings and Sebbi, both of whom owed allegiance to the king of and Sebbi. Mercia as their superior lord. Sighere apparently ruled over those who lived in or near London. Bede says that in consequence of the ravages of the plague of which Cedd died " Sighere, with that part of the people that was under his dominion, forsook the mysteries of the a heathen Christian faith and turned apostate. For the king himself and many of the people and of the great men being fond of this life, and not seeking one to come, nor believing that there was such, began to restore the idol temples which had been abandoned and to worship images, as if by these they might be protected against the mortality." ^ When news of what had happened reached Wulfhere the king of Mercia, he sent Jaruman Bp. Jam- the bishop of Lichfield " to correct the error and to London, restore the truth." His mission proved a remarkable ^®^- success, and having travelled far and wide throughout the country, " he led again both the people and the king into the way of righteousness, so that, forsaking or destroying the temples and altars that they had made, they opened the churches and rejoiced to confess the name of Christ which they had opposed, desiring rather to die in Him with the faith of the resurrection than to live in the filth of apostasy among their idols." ^ Their task having been accomplished, " the priests and 1 Bede iii. 30. 2 Id. 160 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. iv. teachers returned home with joy." Sebbi the other king of the East Saxons had not apostatized, but, " together with all his people, had devoutly preserved the faith which he had embraced." ^ Bp. Wini. Cedd was succeeded by the simoniacal bishop Wini, to whom reference has already been made.^ From this time forward the profession of the Christian faith by the East Saxons continued without any further pagan reaction. Cornwall There is no evidence available to enable us to deter- Cornish mine the date at which Christianity was introduced into Cornwall. Of the three or four hundred early crosses which have been found none apparently date back earlier than the fifth century,^ and, if we may judge by the dedications of the Cornish churches, it would seem to be likely that the first churches were Traces of crcctcd during the fifth century. Several churches are salntr^ dedicated to Gallican saints, e.g. to Germanus of Auxerre, Hilary of Poitiers and Martin of Tours. A connection between the Christianity of Cornwall and Brittany is suggested by the dedication of churches to Brioc the founder of Treguier, Winwolus founder of Landeveneck, Ninnoca the foundress of Lan Ninnoc, Sampson and Budoc, bishops of Dol. Churches are also dedicated Welsh to Welsh saints, e.g. Cybi, Carranog, Petrock,* David Irish and Govan, and to Irish saints, e.g. Columba, Colan, 1 The sarcophagus containing the Langdon, 1896 : Haddan and Stubbs, bones of Sebbi was in St. Paul's i. 163 f. cathedral until the fire. See Bede * According to the Vita 8. Petroci iv. 11. he was an uncle of St. Cadoc, see 2 See above, p. 138. Acta 8S. March 5. * See Old Cornish Crosses, by A. G. saints. Irish saints. ENGLAND 151 Hya, Piran (Kiaran),i Sennen, Feock and Rumon (Ruan), also to Irish virgins, e.g, Bylaca, Burian and la. A few Saxon or Danish saints are also represented, e,g, Cuthbert, Dunstan, Werburgh, Menefrida and Olave. The dedications of the churches suggest that Cornwall Cornwall was raore closely connected with Brittany and South ^\^ Wales than with Ireland, or the rest of Britain, and the ^^d t.""^ character and ornamentation of the early crosses Wales. harmonize with this supposition. It is not impossible that Christianity was first introduced from Brittany. Kenstec, bishop of Dinnurrin in Cornwall, professed obedience to Archbishop Ceolnoth, circ, 870.^ The British Church of Cornwall became subject to the see of Canterbury during the reign of Athelstan, 925-940, and apparently the first Saxon bishop was appointed in 950.3 Sulpicius Severus states that the Priscillianist bishops Instantius, Asarinus and the deacon Aurelius were banished in S80 to the Scilly Isles. This statement The SciUy may perhaps be taken to show that there was a Christian community in the Islands at this period.* 1 According to the Vita S. Pirani, is late and untrustworthy. Piran was bishop of Saighir in Ireland. ^ gee Haddan and Stubbs, p. 674. He is said to have been a contempor- ^ Id. i. 683. ary of St. Patrick, and to have died ^ S. Sev. Hist. Sobc. ii. 51. at Padstow. This tradition, however. CHAPTER V WALES Early Of the missionaries who introduced Christianity into ' Wales ^ and of its early development in that country Httle is known, and most of the traditions that have come down to us, as for example those relating to the work of Germanus and David, are unhistorical. Thus Haddan and Stubbs, after referring to the existing Lives of Dubricius, David, Cadoc, lUtud, Samson, Finian, Brandan, Gildas and others who are reported to have lived in or to have visited Wales, write, " No lives among the above can claim to approach to history. That of St. David by Ricemarch, that of Gildas by the Monk of Ruys . . . were written about four or five, the rest (except perhaps the earliest one of St. Samson) five or six centuries after the deaths of their respective subjects, and they are all simply his- torical legends, but of persons who for the most part really existed." '^ A tradition which has no historical value and which Bran. first appeared in the eleventh century states that Bran ^ The word Wales (or Wealas) title of West Wales, meant foreigners and was applied ^ Councils and Ecclesiastical Docu- by the Saxons to the Britons who ments, i. p. 161 n. It should, how- retired before them westwards. The ever, be stated in justice to Rice- country which is now called Wales march that some of the documents of was formerly called North Wales, which he made use he beheved to be and Devon and Cornwall bore the contemporary with St. David. WALES 153 the father of Caradog or Caractacus was converted to Christianity when a captive in Rome, circ, 51, and on his return to Wales introduced Christianity into that country .1 According to the comparatively late tradition Germanus, bishop of Auxerre,^ who came to England Germanus in 429 in order to combat Pelagianism, went on to Wales, ^^ and by his prayers secured for the Welsh chiefs near the River Dee a victory over the Pictish pirates, which came to be known as the Alleluia victory. As a result of this victory he was able to found the monasteries of Llancarvan and Llanilltyd from which most of the other Welsh monasteries eventually sprang. The tradi- tion further asserts that Germanus consecrated Dub- ricius as bishop and dedicated the palace at Llandaff to the Apostle St. Peter. It is doubtful whether any part of this tradition ought to be accepted as historical. As Germanus died in 448 and Dubricius probably lived till 610, the latter, if the tradition be correct, must have been nearly 200 when he died.^ The author of the Life of Samson in the Acta Sanct- orum (July 6) states that Germanus ordained the priest Ultut* (egregius magister Britannorum), who founded the monastery of Llantwit (Llanilltyd). This monastery in which lUtut is said to have lived, iiitut. was apparently situated on the island of Caldy off the the coast of Pembrokeshire. His pupils included Gildas, Samson and Paul Aurelian. He was probably an ^ See H. & Stubbs, i. p. 22. ^ Haddan and Stubbs regard the 2 See Life of Germanus by J. H. connection of Germanus with Wales Newman (Lives of English Saints) as " unhistorical," and "mixed up p. 150. See also Life of Germanus with evident fiction." by Constantius in Acta Sanctorum ^ The Life of Illtut is published by for July 31. Rees in the Cambro- British Saints. 154 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. v. Armorican Briton, but the earliest life of him, which is not earlier than the twelfth century, is so obviously unhistorical that it is difficult to be sure of any details in regard to his life and work. Christian It is probable that Christianity was first spread in s.^ Wa\es. South Wales by Picts who had become Christians as the result of the labours of St. Ninian, or his followers, the centre of whose work was the monastery of Candida Casa or Witherne on the west side of Wigtown Bay. The date of the building of this monastery is 396 or 397.1 Dubricius. Of the life of Dubricius Httle or nothing can be cer- tainly ascertained. He is said to have been a grandson of Brychan, king of Brecknockshire, and to have be- come archbishop of Caerleon,^ which post he resigned on the occasion of the Synod of Llanddewibrefi in order that David might be appointed as his successor. He is venerated as the founder of the see of Llandaff. Dub- ricius is a prominent character in the story of King Arthur as related by Geoffrey of Monmouth. The date of his death suggested by Rees is 522, but this is a much earlier date than that usually accepted. St. David. The date of St. David (Dewi), the best known of the Welsh saints, and the only one whose name appears in the EngHsh calendar, is a matter of dispute. Accord- ing to the Annales Cambrice, our earliest authority, he died in 601, this date being accepted by Haddan and Stubbs. Rees, the author of Cambro- British Saints, places it, however, in 566. His earliest known bio- graphy was written by Ricemarch, who Kved at ^ Celtic Scotland, by W. E. Skene, ^ Caerleon-on-Usk was near New- ii. 2. See also Bede, Eccl. Hist. iii. port in Monmouthshire, 4 ; Haddan and Stubbs, ii. 105, WALES 155 the close of the eleventh century .^ From this later biographers have drawn most of their materials. Most of the details given by them, such as his visit to Jerusalem to be consecrated as a bishop, are purely legendary. His appointment as archbishop of Wales, as a result of his success in combating the Pelagian heresy, is also unhistorical, as Wales possessed no archbishop at any period of its history. Of the facts relating to his life which may perhaps be true the following are the most important. His father is said to have been the Chief of Keretica, the modern Cardi- ganshire. Educated in the college of Paulinus, who was a pupil of Germanus, he subsequently spent ten years in the study of the Holy Scriptures and after- wards founded, or restored, a monastery, or college, and, after residing for a time at Caerleon-on-Usk, moved to Menevia (St. Davids), of which he became bishop. It has been plausibly suggested that the choice of so remote a site was due to the fact that the tide of Saxon conquest drove the Celtic inhabitants of Wales to cultivate closer relations with their brethren in Ireland.^ He was canonized by Pope CalHxtus about 1120. Although the encomium of Giraldus, one of his biographers, is not founded on satisfactory historical evidence, we may well believe his description to be substantially true. He wrote of St. David that he was " a mirror and pattern to all, instructing both by word and example, excellent in his preaching, but still more so in his works. He was a doctrine to all, a guide to ^ A short notice of St. David ^ Giraldus describes the site of appears in the Life of Paul Aurelian, Menevia as "Angulus remotissimus, written about 200 years before the terra saxosasterilisinfecunda." Itin, time of Ricemarch. Camb. ii. 1. 166 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. v. the religious, a life to the poor, a support to orphans, a protection to widows, a father to the fatherless, a rule to monks, and a model to teachers, becoming all to all, that so he might gain all to God." The wear- From Very early times the Welsh have worn a leek i^fk^^^*^" on St. David's Day (March 1), in memory of the battle against the Saxons at which they wore leeks in their hats by David's advice in order to distinguish them Taflfy. from their enemies. The name Taffy, to which every Welshman responds, is a variation of David. The description given by his biographer of the rule of life established by David at Menevia was written many centuries after his time, and cannot be regarded The as historical, but it is nevertheless interesting as showing J!^ry at the idcals which those who came after attributed to him. His biographer writes — " Knowing that secure rest was an incentive to ill, and the mother of vices, he subjected the shoulders of the monks to divine labours . . . therefore with a view to their benefit they labour with their hands, and put the yoke to their shoulders . . . they obtain all the necessaries of Hfe for their congregation by means of their own labour, they refuse possessions, they reject the gifts of unjust men, they detest riches, they make no use of oxen for ploughing. Every one is rich to himself : when the work is com- pleted no murmuring is heard : no discourse is had but what is necessary, and every one either prays or rightly performs his appointed work. . . . They are dressed in cheap clothing, principally made of skins." Of the head of the monastery he writes, "The father shedding daily abundance of tears and perfuming the mats with the sacrifice of prayer, and sweet with a monas tery at Menevia. WALES 157 double warmth of love and fragrance, consecrated the appointed oblation of our Lord's body with clean hands. . . . Also he sought cold water at some distance, where by remaining long therein, and becoming frozen, he might subdue the heat of the flesh." ^ Giraldus states, that all the bishops of St. Davids rigidly abstained from eating flesh until the thirty- third bishop, Morgenev, who was killed by Danish pirates as a punishment for having eaten meat. If the traditions relating to St. Kentigern that are St. Ken- recorded by Jocelyn can be accepted, he came on a visit waiel"^ to Bishop David about 545, and a little later founded the monastery of Llanelwy (St. Asaph's), which soon afterwards contained 965 brethren. Before leaving Wales (about 573) Kentigern placed his disciple Asaph in charge of the monastery. His name, which was afterwards given to the place, became also the name of a bishopric. Cadoc is said to have founded a monastery and st. Cadoc. several churches in South Wales in the latter part of the sixth century. Professor Rees writes, " The discre- pancies and anachronisms in all the accounts of St. Cadoc, or Cattwg, can only be accounted for by sup- posing that two or three individuals have been con- founded together, and this appears to have been the case in other instances as well as this — Whence has arisen the necessity of lengthening the lives of our Welsh saints to something like double the usual average of human existence, and it has been even asserted that the usual dm-ation of life in the county of Glamorgan was 120 years." ^ 1 See Vita S. David in Rees' Lives 127 f. and 429-31. of the Cambro-Briiish Saints, pp. * Cambro- British Saints, p. 395. 158 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. v. The Saxon monk, Bede, to whom we are indebted for several important statements relating to the Celtic Church both in Wales and in Scotland, was prejudiced against all things Celtic, and in particular against the Celtic Church whereinsoever it differed from the Latin. It is clear that the contest between Augustine and Dinoth turned not upon the questions relating to the keeping of Easter, and the ceremonial of baptism, that are mentioned by Bede,^ but upon issues of greater and Christian morc vital importance. Towards the close of the in Waks. sevcuth ccutury the Christian Church in Wales received many recruits from the number of the Christians who had been oppressed by the pagan Saxons and who fled for refuge to Wales. Thus Chaucer writes — '^ To Walys fled the cristianitee Of olde Britons, dwelling in this ile." ^ Celtic A general characteristic of Celtic Christianity was Chris- tianity, its independence of all control from outside. In Wales, pendent ^s in Scotland and Ireland, its development was in character, accordaucc with tribal as opposed to imperial ideas and institutions. In Saxon England the Church asserted almost from the first an equality with the State, but amongst the Celts the Church became the handmaid of the State or rather of the tribe. It is not surprising therefore to learn that when a tribe decided to accept Christianity a large number of tribal customs which were of pagan origin were retained. The establishment of monasteries and of monastic 1 Hist. Eccl. ii. 2. The Celtic ing in 755 (or 768) and the south method of reckoning Easter was Welsh in 777 (see Haddan and continued in Wales till the middle Stubbs, i. 204). of the eighth century. The north ^ Tale of the Man of Lawe. Welsh adopted the English reckon- WALES 159 institutions was a principal means by which the mis- sionary work of the Celtic Church was accomphshed. The Celtic monasteries, especially those in Ireland and Wales, differed both in origin and character from those founded by Latin monks. Thus Montalembert writes : " The first great monasteries of Ireland were nothing else . . . than clans reorganized under a religious form. From this cause resulted the extra- ordinary number of their inhabitants, who were counted by hundreds and thousands." ^ The monasteries were subject to no general rule or control, and in some cases, at any rate in Ireland, up to the middle of the sixth century, the inmates included women and children. " Whatever else they were, neither the Celtic monks Celtic nor the Celtic clergy in Ireland or Wales ever professed JToTneces- to be a body of cehbates, and this fact goes far to prove celibates. that the monasticism of Wales was not due to Germanus, nor to any Latin source." ^ The fact that David, when he founded his monastery at Menevia, refused to allow any women to reside within its enclosure, suggests that a different practice had previously prevailed. Contact with Latin monks on the continent probably led to the adoption of a regular rule by the Celtic monks. The rule, however, of Columbanus does not appear to have been adopted either in Ireland or Wales. To- wards the end of the sixth century the monasteries tended to become more and more schools of learning. A modern writer thus refers to the low type of Christianity which prevailed in Wales in the fourth and following centuries. 1 The Monks of the West, iii. 86. 2 rpf^ Qgifi^ Church in Wales, by Willis Bund, p. 162. 160 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. v. Early " Wales from the end of the fourth century has never Chris- nominally relapsed into heathendom. Probably this tianity. ^^^ because the establishment of Christianity being on the Irish lines of tribal settlements, and those settle- ments being left to themselves, the Welsh Christians absorbed practically the whole of the existing customs of the Goidelic Celts and called this mixture Christianity. They did not relapse as there was nothing for them to relapse into, as their Christianity was only a modified form of paganism." ^ Welsh The number of bishops in Wales in early times was IS ops. ^^j,j great as compared with the number in England. Haddan and Stubbs, whilst they deny that the Irish and Scotch custom prevailed of having bishops who dis- charged episcopal functions but possessed no juris- diction, admit that Wales in early times possessed bishops who were not diocesan, but presided over mon- astic or educational institutions .^ Some indication of the number of Welsh bishops that existed in the sixth century may be obtained from the statement that at the Welsh synod of Llanddewibrefi there were 118 bishops present. Welsh It would appear that the term Saint was used by the Welsh in early times only less freely than was the case in Ireland. Thus the total number of Welsh saints is between 400 and 500. After the beginning of the eighth century only four additions were made to the list. Virgin Amongst the Welsh saints are included several Virgins. Of these perhaps the most famous is St. Keyne who, like St. Hilda, is said to have turned serpents ^ The Celtic Church of Wales, by ^ Councils and Ecclesiastical Docu- Willis Bund, pp. 139 f. ments, i. pp. 142 f. saints. WALES 161 into stones and, like St. Audrey, to have caused a spring to burst forth from dry ground. She is said to have lived a solitary and ascetic life at Keynsham, near Bristol, and afterwards in Cornwall. When she was about to die she had a vision of an angel who stripped her of her hair-cloth and " put on her a singular white vesture and a garment of scarlet wrought with gold," and said to her : " Be in readiness to go with us that we may bring thee to the kingdom of thy Father." ^ Referring to the failure of the Welsh to attempt the evangelization of the Saxons,^ Haddan and Stubbs write, "It is remarkable that while Scots (Irish) were the missionaries par excellence of nearly all Europe north of the Alps, and in particular of all Saxon England north of the Thames, not one Cumbrian, Welsh or Cornish missionary to any non-Celtic nation is men- tioned anywhere. . . . The same remark applies also to the Armorican Britons." ^ 1 See Acta 88., Oct. 8, also Nova ^ H. & Stubbs, i. 154. Ninian may Legenda, i. 103 ff. perhaps be regarded as an exception. 2 See above, pp. 95, 97. He was a Briton from Strathclyde. CHAPTER VI FRANCE The campaigns of Julius Caesar, 58-51 b.c, resulted in the incorporation of the whole of Gaul in the Ronian Empire. At this time the religion of its people, or at any rate of a large proportion of them, was a form of Druidism Druidism, the chief centres of worship being at Dreux, GauL^^^^ Chartres, and Autun. Druidism had, however, dis- appeared throughout a large part of Gaul before the arrival of Christian missionaries, the influence of its hierarchy having been undermined partly by the action of Tiberius, who had prohibited the human sacrifices that formed part of the Druidical ritual, and partly by the application to their judicial and political assem- blies of the Roman law relating to illicit associations.^ Whilst Druidism, or Druidical worship, had been gradu- ally assimilated to the worship of the Roman gods, the worship of Isis and Mithra had been introduced from the East and claimed a considerable number of ad- herents. In the time of St. Martin, who lived in the fourth century, and even as late as the time of Gregory of Tours, Druidism still prevailed in certain districts. By the time that the Christian faith first began to penetrate the country Roman culture and in some dis- tricts Roman towns had been established. At the end ^ See Lavisse, Hisioire de France, i. 415 ff. 162 FRANCE 163 of the fourth century, when Christian Missions first began to spread, the Roman prefecture of Gaul included Belgium and the greater part of Switzerland, but the present chapter deals only with that part of Gaul which now constitutes France. According to a statement of Gregory of Tours, a Bishop bishop named Dionysius was sent to Gaul, together ^^^"^^^"^* with six other bishops, during the reign of the Emperor Decius (249-251 ).i Early in the ninth century Alcuin, abbot of the monastery of St. Dionysius, suggested that this Dionysius was identical with Dionysius the Areopagite, and declared that he was sent to Gaul by Clement of Rome ; and at the Council of Constance in 1417 the claim was definitely advanced by the French bishops that their country was first evangelized by Dionysius the Areopagite, but the claim has no historical foundation. Other legends of a later date assert that Lazarus and Mary Magdalene first brought the Gospel to Gaul.2 Of the beginnings of missionary work in Gaul we Persecu- have no trustworthy information, the first clear in- Lyons and dication that such work had been attempted and that 177"^^' a local Christian Church had been established being the account of the martyrdom of the aged bishop Pothinus, together with a number of other Christians, at Lyons in 177. This account is contained in a letter, part of which is preserved by Eusebius,^ and was written ^ Historia Francorum, Bk. i. 28. sage was interpreted as denoting ^ Bishop Lightfoot regards as European Gaul by Eusebius, Epipha- deserving of consideration the tradi- nius and Theodore. See Lightfoot 's tion that Crescens, mentioned in Epistle to the Galatians, p. 31 n. : see 2 Tim. iv. 10, was the founder of also The Christian Church in Gaul, the churches of Vienne and Mayence. by T. Scott Holmes, pp. 15 ff. TaKaTia (or TaWia) in this pas- ^ H. E., v. 1-3. 164 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. by some of the surviving Christians at Lyons and Vienne in order to acquaint their brethren in Asia with what had befallen their fellow- Christians. It is one of the most detailed and illuminating accounts of a Christian persecution that have come down to us, and, though it tells us nothing concerning the missionary work of which the persecution was the outcome, it affords evi- dence that this work had been effective. From the letter and from a few additional details supplied by Gregory of Tours we gather that the bishop and about a third of the martyrs, who numbered forty- eight, ^ bore Greek names and were probably Greeks, three at least being natives of Asia Minor. The deacon Sanctus, who was apparently the head of the Church in Vienne, was one of the martyrs. The first uprising against the Christians occurred in June 177. Slaves were tortured in order by their evidence to convict the Christians of abominable crimes, and the Christians who were arrested in Lyons and Vienne were exposed to the wild beasts, or subjected to cruel and prolonged torture in order to induce them to deny their faith, with the result that ten of them recanted through fear of torture. Martyr- The aged bishop ^ himself continued constant in the Pothinus, faith, and when, standing before the tribunal of the legate, he was asked by him who was the God of the Christians, he replied, " If thou art worthy thou shalt know." Two days later he died as the result of the ill-treatment to which he had been subjected. Another and martyr whose name became celebrated was the servant- maid Blandina.^ She remained constant under long- ^ Gregory of Tours, Lib. de gloria ^ See Homily by Eucherius of Martyrum, chap. 48. Lyons : Migne, P. L. 1. 859. * He was ninety years old. FRANCE 165 protracted tortures, and after being tossed by wild bulls was at last killed by the blow of an executioner. In the case of Attains, a Roman citizen of repute, who was one of the martyrs, his execution was deferred until direct authorization from the Emperor had been received by the legate. One of the survivors was Irenseus, the priest of Lyons, who had been ordained irenseus, priest by Pothinus, and was afterwards consecrated by Lyons. the bishop of Rome as the second bishop of Lyons. His episcopate served to connect the Gallic Church with the immediate successors of the Apostles, for, as he tells us, when staying with Polycarp at Smyrna he had heard him describe to the Christians at Smyrna his intercourse with St. John and with others who had seen the Lord. Two others who are said to have suffered martyrdom in 177 are Epipodius, a citizen of Lyons, and Alexander, a Greek.i Lightfoot considers that there is no impro- bability in the tradition that Benignus, who became the patron saint of Dijon, was sent by Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (d. 155), to evangelize Gaul.^ He is said to have suffered martyrdom with Andochius, his com- panion at Viviers. Apart from the evidence afforded by the Greek names The of the martyrs,^ the language in which the letter is written, pre"domi. and which was used by Irenaeus a little later, tends to Greek show that the Church was at this time predominantly Greek. Moreover, half a century later, Greek, rather than Latin,* was the language of educated people in ^ The earliest mention of their * Apostolic Fathers, i. 447. names is by Eucherius of Lyons, ^ No Celtic names are included in circ. 440. See also Gregory of Tours, the list. Liber de gloria Martyrum, 49. * For an attempt to prove from 166 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap, VI. Other Christian Churches. St. Sym- phorian. Ferreolus and Ferrutio. Southern Gaul,^ but, on the other hand, Irenseus ex- cuses himself from speaking Greek fluently on the ground that he had to preach in Celtic : he refers also to Christians and Churches amongst the Celts. We gather also from Irenseus that at this time, apart from the Christian Churches or communities that were to be found at Lyons and Vienne, in the province of Narbonne, there were others in Aquitania, Germania, and the Celtic lands beyond the Loire. After referring to these, he writes, " In agreement with which are many barbarian nations who believe in Christ, having salvation written by the Spirit in their hearts, and not with ink or pen, who preserve, however, the ancient tradition with care." ^ Soon after the persecution at Lyons Symphorian was martyred at Autun,^ of which his father was a senator. The words addressed to him by his mother, " Oh, my son, my son Symphorian, remember the living God : be of good courage, my son ; to-day, by a happy exchange, thou wilt pass away to eternal life," are incorporated in the " Immolatio of the mass de Symphoriano " in the Gothic Missal. Early in the third century a priest Ferreolus, and a deacon Ferrutio, are said to have suffered martyrdom at Besan9on, and three other Christians at Valence, but the evidence for these martyrdoms is unsatisfactory.^ Other references to the early establishment of Christian communities in Gaul are the statements of Solpicius the BibUcal quotations in the letter that Christian worship was abeady conducted in Gaul in the Latin tongue see Texts and Studies, by J. A. Robinson, i. 2, pp. 97 f. ^ Harnack, Expansion of Christi- anity, ii. 260 n. 2 contra Hceres. iii. 4. ^ For reference to St. Symphorian see Gregory of Tours, De gloria Marty rum, 76. * See Duchesne, Fastes Episco- paux, i. pp. 48, 50-54. FRANCE 167 Severus,^ who writes : " Under Aurelius, the son of Antoninus, the fifth persecution broke out. And then for the first time martyrdoms were seen taking place in Gaul, for the rehgion of God had been accepted somewhat late beyond the Alps." The same writer, referring to the reign of Constantine, says : " It is marvellous how the Christian religion has prevailed." ^ The author of the Passio Saturnini of Toulouse ThePassio writes : " After the sound of the Gospel stole out gradu- '^«^^^^*^*- ally and by degrees (sensim et gradatim) into all the earth, and the preaching of the apostles shone through- out om^ country with but a slow progress, since only a few Churches in some of the States, and these con- taining but few Christians, stood up together in their devotion to their religion. . . ."^ It is probable that during the latter part of the second century and the early part of the third century Lyons formed the chief centre of missionary work in Lyons. Gaul. Thus Duchesne writes : " All the Christians from the Rhine to the Pyrenees formed only a single community, and recognised but one chief, the bishop of Lyons."* Gregory of Tours, after referring to the persecution that occurred under the Emperor Decius, 249-251 A.D., says : "In the time of this man seven men were consecrated as bishops and sent^ into Gaul to preach, as the story of the passion of the holy martyr Saturninus informs us. . . . There were sent to Tours story of Bishop Gatianus, to Aries Bishop Trophimus, to Nar- bishops. ^ Chronica, ii. 32. ^ Possibly by Fabian, who became 2 lb. ii. 33. bishop of Rome in 236 and was killed ^ Passio Saturnini. Ruinart, Acta during the Decian persecution in Martyrum, p. 177. 250. * Pastes E-piscopaux, i. 39. 168 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. bonne Bishop Paul, to Toulouse Bishop Saturninus, to Paris Bishop Dionysius, to Auvergne Bishop Stre- monius, to Limoges Bishop Martial."^ This tradition, which was well known throughout Gaul in the sixth century, has probably some historical basis, but if Churches were established at these places by the middle of the third century, their existence was in most cases subsequently interrupted. Of the work accomplished by these seven missionary bishops we know but little. St. Of Gatianus, who is said to have been the first bishop of Tours, Gregory writes : "In the first year of the Em- peror Decius (249) Gatian was sent by the bishop of Rome as the first bishop (of Tours), in which city lived a mul- titude of pagans who were devoted to idolatry, some of whom he converted to the Lord by his preaching. But at times he concealed himself owing to the hostility of those in power . . . and in caverns and hiding- places together mth the few Christians who had been converted by him he was wont to celebrate secretly the Holy Mystery, and in this city under these conditions he lived for forty years and died in peace." ^ Again he writes : " Gatianus, Trophimus, Stremon- ius, Paulus and Martial, after living in the utmost sanctity and having gained peoples for the Church, and having spread the faith in all parts, departed by a good St. Tro- confession."^ Of Trophimus, who is said to have be- come bishop of Aries, Gregory gives no detailed in- formation. A later tradition identified him with Tro- phimus of Ephesus who was a companion of St. Paul. That a Christian Church existed at Aries by the middle ^ Hist. Franc, i. 28. Migne, P. L. gloria Confessorum, 4, Ixxi. col. 175. 3 j^j 2 Hist. Franc, x. 31. Liber de phimus. FRANCE 169 of the third century is proved by a letter which Cyprian A Church addressed, in 25S, to Stephen bishop of Rome, in which ^n 253?^ he accuses Marcianus bishop of Aries of having joined the Novatian schism. The fact that such an accusa- tion was made, suggests that in the Decian persecution some of the Christians in Aries had lapsed from their profession of the Christian faith. If Trophimus is a historical character, he was probably a predecessor of this Marcianus. Of Paulus Gregory tells us nothing beyond the fact st.Pauius. that he was sent as bishop to Narbonne. The poet Prudentius, who wrote 200 years before the time of Gregory, in a brief reference to him, implies that he died as a martyr .^ The account of his martyrdom given in the Acta Sanctorum for March 3 is of little historic value. A late and valueless tradition identifies him with Sergius Paulus. ^ The story of the martyrdom of Saturninus in its St. Satur- present form does not probably date earlier than the ninth centiu-y, though the original may perhaps date from the fourth century.^ According to the story, Saturninus, who had for some time preached against the idolatry of the people of Toulouse, was seized by them on the occasion of an idol festival and tied to a bull that was being led out for sacrifice. When bidden ^ " Surget et Paulo speciosa Narbo. " piled by Exuperius bishop of Toul- Peristephanon, iv. 35. See Migne, P. L. ouse in 405. Gregory in his History lix. (i. 28) says that Saturninus was ^ See Martyrology of Ado, who was sent from Rome in the third century, bishop of Vienne, 860-75. See Migne, but in another place {De gloria P. L. col. 201 ff. Marty rum, i. 48) he suggests that he ^ See Surius, Nov. 9. See also was sent by Clement in the first Duchesne, Pastes Episcopaux, i. p. century. 295. The Life was perhaps com- 170 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. by the people to offer sacrifice to the gods, he repHed, " I know the one true God and will offer to Him the sacrifices of praise : yoin* gods I know to be demons." He was then fastened by his feet to the bull, and after being dragged through the street died of the injuries that he had received. St. Diony- We havc already referred to the legends which make Dionysius the Areopagite a bishop of Paris in the first century .1 In a life of St. Genovefa, a heroine who helped to divert Attila from his meditated attack on Paris in 451, which in its original form may perhaps date back to the sixth century, it is stated that Dionysius was martyred in Paris. Gregory merely states that he was sent to Paris as a missionary bishop during the reign of Decius. The martyrology of Usuard of Paris (circ, 875) states that he was sent by the bishop of Rome to preach the Gospel in Gaul, and that he suffered martyrdom on Oct. 9, together with a priest named Rusticus and a deacon named Eleutherius. A similar statement occurs in the martyrologies of Jerome and of Ado.2 There seems little reason to doubt that these traditions refer to a genuine historical character, but of the nature of his missionary labours we know nothing. st-.strem- Of Strcmouius, or Austremonius, of Auvergne or Clermont, Gregory apparently knew nothing but the name.^ Sidonius Apolhnaris, who became bishop of Clermont in 471, does not refer to Stremonius, but he ^ See above, p. 163. eighth century, wrote a hfe of 2 See below, p. 588. Austremonius, but this has no his- 2 Hist. Franc, i. 28. Liber de torical value. The reputed tomb of gloria Confessorum, xxx. ; Prae- Austremonius was at Issoire. j actus, a bishop of Clermont in the onms. FRANCE 171 speaks of a monk named Abraham who was born on the Abraham. Euphrates and worked as a missionary among the mountains and valleys of Auvergne.^ Of Martial Gregory writes that he was sent by the St. bishop of Rome to preach in Limoges, and that " hav- ing destroyed the superstitious rites connected with the worship of their images, and having filled the town with believers in the true God, he departed this life." Gregory further states that he had come from the East. Venantius Fortunatus, writing at the end of the sixth century, refers to his tomb at Limoges. A doubtful tradition states that the see of Auxerre See of was founded about 257 by Peregrinus who was martyred under Aurelian.^ The first bishop of Auxerre of whom we have any certain knowledge is Amator, who died in 418. The disturbed state of Gaul,^ and the inter- mittent persecutions which took place during the third quarter of the third century rendered the task of Christian propaganda difficult, and apparently but little progress was attained during this period. The list of martyrs includes the names of Pontius,* who Early suffered at Cimiez, near Nice, of Reverianus,^ a bishop, ^^^ ^^^' and Paulus, a priest, and ten companions who suffered under Aurelian at Autun ^ ; of Patroclus,^ Julia and ^ Sidonius ApoU. vii. 17 ; Migne, districts. Eutropius (ix. 23) states P. L. viii. col. 587. Gregory, Hist that on one occasion Constantius -Frarw;. ii. 21, "qui fide at que operibus Chlorus killed 60,000 Alemans at Abrahae illius prioris refulgebat." Langres. See also id. Vitoe. Patrum, iii. * See Acta SS., May 14, vol. iii. 2 Duchesne, Fastes Episcopaux, ii. p. 274. 430. 5 Acta SS., June 1. ' From 254 to 309 Gaul was sub- ^ A bishop of Autun named Re- jected to repeated incursions of bar- ticius was present at the Synod of barians, which resulted in the de- Rome in 313. population of many of the Eastern ' Acta SS., Jan. 21. Thebaid legion. 172 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. several others at Troyes ; ^ of Sanctianus, Augustinus, Felice, Aubertus ^ and Savinian ^ at Lens. The persecution of the Christians in Gaul ceased for a time at the death of Aurehan in 275. Diocletian, who became Emperor in 284, was at first not ill-disposed The towards the Christians. Maximian, however, who became the colleague of Diocletian and the ruler of the western portion of the Empire in 286 a.d., was a strict disciplinarian and greatly resented the growth of Christianity in the army, and the refusal of the Christian soldiers to obey orders unconditionally. When he set out from Milan in 286 to quell some risings which had occurred in Gaul, he is reported to have taken with him a cohort of a legion that had been raised in the Thebaid district in Egypt, and that consisted largely, or entirely, of Christians. Whilst marching down the Rhone valley and before reaching the lake of Geneva, these soldiers learned that they were being led to attack some peasantry in Gaul who had been compelled by misery and hunger to rise, and many of whom were Christians. When the Thebaid soldiers and their officers ventured to protest, Maximian ordered every tenth man to be killed, and after the cohort had been a second time decimated without result he ordered the whole cohort to be put to death. An account of this massacre is given by Eucherius, bishop of Lyons (4S4- 449).* In later times the cohort, which was at first reported to have consisted of 600 men, became magnified by tradition to a regiment containing 6000. This story, although it was generally accepted by later ^ Acta SS., July 21. * See Passio Agaunensium mar- 2 Acta SS., Sep. 7. tyrum. Migne, P. L. 1. 827 ; also ' See Migne, P. L., cxlii., coL 777. Gregory, De gloria Martyrum, i. 76. FRANCE 173 writers, cannot be regarded as history, though it has certainly an historical foundation. Harnack refers to it as " entirely unauthentic." ^ During the time that Maximian spent in Gaul and Britain a number of Christians, most of whom were soldiers or officers, other suffered as martyrs. Of these the best known were^^^*"^^' Victor 2 of Marseilles, Genesius ^ of Aries, Julian and Ferreolus * of Vienne, and Rogatianus and his brother Donatianus ^ of Nantes. The records of their martyr- dom are of comparatively late date, but of the fact there can be no doubt. The persecution ended in 292 a.d., when Constantius Chlorus received the title of Caesar and became the ruler of Britain, Gaul, and Spain. When the Diocletian persecution occurred in 303 a.d. the presence of Constantius in Gaul prevented the edicts ordering persecution from becoming effective in that country.^ In 313 a.d. the Edict of Milan, issued by Constantine and Licinius, which secured to the Christians a recognized legal status, was probably followed in Gaul, as elsewhere, by large accessions to the Church. At the Council of Aries, which was summoned by Con- Council of stantine in 314 a.d., in order to adjudicate on the ^^^' Donatist controversy that had arisen in North Africa, ^ Expansion of Christianity, p. 267 n. Gregory,Z)e virtute Sancti Juliani, i. ; * Passio Victorii, Ruinart, p. 333. Venantius Fortunatus, Ep. viii. 4 ; Victor's brave endurance of torture Sidonius ApoU. Ep. vii. 1. is said to have led to the conversion ^ Gregory, De gloria Martyrum, 59 ; of three other soldiers, Alexander, Ruinart, p, 321. Longinus and Felicianus. Gregory ^ That the Diocletian persecution of Tours refers to his tomb in Mar- did not become effective in Gaul seilles. De gloria Confessorum, Ivi. may be gathered from the fact that Migne, P. L. Ixxi. col. 369. at a later date the African Donatists 3 See Prudentius, Peristephanon, besought Constantine that they might iv. ; Gregory, De gloria Martyrum be tried by GalUcan bishops, as these 68. had never been tempted to become ^ Ruinart, Acta Sincera, p. 489; " traditores." 174 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. twelve bishops from the province of Gaul were pre- sent, the titles of their sees being Aries, Treves, Autun, Rouen, Rheims, Cologne, Lyons, Marseilles, Vienne, Vaison (Vasensis), and Bordeaux. Among those present at the Council were also a priest from the city of Orange and a deacon from the town of Javols in the Cevennes.^ There is no reason to suppose that the dioceses from which the Galhcan bishops came possessed any strict geographical limits, but the names of their sees suggest that Christianity had been rapidly spreading throughout the whole of Gaul. The eighteenth canon passed by the Council, that "Urban deacons are to do nothing without the knowledge of the priests who are set over them," may perhaps be interpreted as referring to missionary activities inaugurated by Churches in the towns or cities. Only one Gallican bishop is known to have been at the Council of Nicsea (325), but it is possible that others were present whose names have not been recorded.2 Atha- In 336 Athanasius arrived at Treves in Gaul, whither Gau^sse. ^^ ^^^ been banished by Constantine, but on the death of Constantine he returned to Alexandria in 338. A later indication of the spread of Christianity in Gaul is afforded by the fact that thirty-four Gallican bishops joined in the decree of acquittal of Atha- nasius at the Council of Sardica in 343-344,^ but ■^ See Mansi, Concil. ii. 463. The must assume that the episcopate was dioceses of Tours, Toulouse and much more widely spread throughout Narbonne were apparently unrepre- Gaul than we are able to prove in sented at this Council. detail." Expansion of Christianity, ii. * Referring to this bishop, Harnack p. 266 n. writes : "If even a small town like ^ Mansi, Cone. iii. 42. Die had a bishop in 325 a.d., we FRANCE 175 possibly this number included the representatives from Spain. ^ Mansuetus, who is said to have been the first bishop Man- of Toul, is represented as an Irishman who became a ^^^^^^* disciple of St. Peter and was sent by him to be bishop of Toul and to convert the Leuci. The chief authority for the story is a Life of Mansuetus by Adso, published in the tenth century. If there be any truth in the story it probably concerns an Irish missionary who preached at Toul in the fourth or fifth centtu-y. In 353 Constantius, who had become sole Emperor, Hilary spent the winter at Aries, and as a result of his in- gainst fluence the bishop of Aries and several other Grallican ^^^^rians bishops became Arians. Hilary, who had been conse- crated as bishop of Poitiers about 350, came forward as a champion of the orthodox faith, and having been condemned by an Arian Council, which met at Beziers,^ was banished to Phrygia in 356. During his exile he wrote a work in twelve volumes which he called De Fide (afterwards called De Trinitate), which was in- tended to explain and refute the teachings of Arius for the benefit of the GaUican Christians. In 360 a meeting of GaUican bishops at Paris acknowledged their previous error and repudiated Arianism, and in 361 Hilary returned to find that the orthodox faith was once again accepted throughout Gaul. Till his death in 368 he was the guide and leader of the GaUican Church. There can be little doubt that during the last seven years of his life he endeavoured to spread the faith ^ On the presence of Gaulish or 125, note 1, British bishops at Sardica, see ^ A town near the sea-coast not Gwatkin, Studies of Arianism, p. far from Narbonne. Poitiers. 176 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. amongst the pagans who were still to be found in Gaul, but unhappily no record of his missionary activities has been preserved. The bitter disputes between the Arian and the orthodox Christians, and later on between the orthodox party and the Priscillianists, must greatly have interfered with the extension of missionary work throughout Gaul. Martin of lu 356 A.D. Martin, a native of Upper Pannonia (now included in Hungary), who had attained the rank of a miUtary tribune, obtained his discharge from the army and arrived at Poitiers. The well-known incident of his cutting his miUtary cloak in half in order to supply the wants of a beggar at Amiens ^ belongs to the previous year. After a brief stay at Poitiers Martin set out to cross the Alps in the hope of converting his parents in Pannonia, who were still pagans,^ and, after being instrumental in the conversion of his mother, he lived for two years as a hermit in company with a single priest on the island of Gallinaria, near Alassio. After the return of Hilary to Poitiers in 361 Martin founded a monastery at Locociacum (afterwards known as Liguge), near Poitiers,^ and in 372 he became ^ The story as told by Sulpicius eighteen, he was baptized. ( Vita, iii. ) is briefly this. Noticing * A brigand who attacked him a beggar at the gate of the city of in the course of this journey is said Amiens who was ill-clad and suffer- to have been converted by his ing from the cold, Martin, who had preaching. Cf. Fortunatus, Vita no money to give, drew his sword Mart. 81. and, cutting his miUtary cloak in ^ " It was the first monastery in two, gave half to the beggar. The Gaul, the pattern probably of many same night Christ appeared to him later groups of little cells, a place in a vision clad in the half of the which St. Patrick must have seen, coat that he had given to the beggar, the forerunner of Bangor, Clon- and said to the angels who stood macnois, lona, Inysvitryn and Lin- with him, "Martin, still a cate- disfarne." — Holmes, The Christian chumen, covered Me with this robe." Church in Gaul, p. 195. Soon afterwards, at the age of FRANCE 177 bishop of Tours, at which place he remained till his death twenty-five years later. Soon after he became bishop he founded the monastery of Marmoutier, about Monastery two miles from Tours. This, which was the second ^oSr. monastery founded in Gaul, became the training home of many of those to whom the evangelization of Gaul was ultimately due. At one time during his episco- pate he had eighty monks living with him at Marmoutier.^ His biographer makes brief allusions to his missionary Martin's labours in a wide circuit round Tours, but devotes much Nonary time and space to recording the miracles that he is^^^°^^^- supposed to have wrought, the details of which we could well have spared if only we could have learned more concerning his missionary methods and experiences. " From Saintes to Treves and from Paris to Brioude the whole central district of Gaul was the scene of his labours as an evangelist.^ It was probably as abbot of Liguge that he evangelized the future dioceses of Angouleme and Saintes. It was certainly when he was a bishop that he preached the Gospel over the districts which afterwards became the dioceses of Blois, Orleans, Macon, Chalon-sur-Saone, and in the dioceses, then without their bishops, of Langres and Autun. . . . The weird and densely wooded districts between the ranges of the Morvan and the Cote d'Or, between Aval] on and Dijon, Dijon and Beaune as far as Autun, ^ The earliest and only contem- occurrence of which his biographer porary authority for the life of Martin evidently believed — cf. his state- is Sulpicius Severus, who had known ment, "alioquin tacere quam falsa him intimately, and wrote a Life, dicere maluissem." Letters and Dialogues. The Life ^ There are 3675 churches in abounds in miracles, many of which France dedicated to St. Martin ; see are of a puerile character, but in the Lavisse, Histoire de France, ii. 15. M 178 THE CONVERSION OF EUBOPE [chap. vi. and westward also to the Loire, claim to be the scene of his labours." ^ Some conception of his missionary activities can be obtained from the statements of Gregory that he built churches at Langeais and Sonnay near Tours, at Amboise, Tournon, Candes and Ciran la Lutte ; he mentions also traces of his work or his cult at Bourges, Brives la Gaillarde in Correze, Brevat, Bordeaux, Cavaillon, Marsas in Gironde, Neris in Allier, Paris, Trois Chateaux, Casignan in Deux Sevres and Mareuil on the Cher. Monuments reminiscent of his mis- sionary activities are also to be found in Burgundy, Nivernais and Forez and in several other districts. The pagan people at Chartres, according to Sulpicius, were induced to abandon their idols and accept the Christian faith after witnessing the restoration to life of a dead man as the result of Martin's prayers .^ At a village called Leprosum,^ where the people had re- sisted his attempts to destroy their richly- endowed temple, Martin, having sat by the temple for three days in sackcloth and ashes, secured by his prayers the help of two angels whose appearance influenced the people to allow the destruction of their temple and idols and eventually resulted in their conversion to the faith. In another village,* after Martin had set fire to a very ancient and celebrated temple, the flames began to spread to an adjacent house, but were miraculously stayed by his intervention. Whatever credence we may give to the miraculous powers exercised by Martin, the above incidents, recorded, as they were, by a con- ^ The Christian Church in Gaul, ^ Vita, c. xiv. pp. 210 f. 4 Id. ^ Dialogues, ii. 4. FRANCE 179 temporary writer, testify to his missionary zeal, and to his success in uprooting pagan worship. On many different occasions he took a leading part His de- in the destruction of idols or heathen temples, and infndoir several instances the people to whom he preached ^^^^ j^^ destroyed these at his instigation, and erected in their places churches for Christian worship. To quote a single instance out of many recorded by Sulpicius : " There was in a certain village (apparently in Burgundy) an ancient temple and a tree which was regarded as A sacred specially sacred. Although the pagans had con- *^^^' sented to the destruction of the temple, they refused to allow Martin to cut down the tree. At length one of them suggested that if the bishop believed in the power of his God to protect him he should stand on the spot where the tree was likely to fall, while he and his companions cut it down. Martin accepted the pro- posal with alacrity, and stood on the spot suggested by the pagans. When, however, the tree fell, it fell amongst the people and left Martin standing unhurt." ^ The incident was followed by the introduction of Christianity into what had previously been a heathen district. There is no evidence to show that Martin was ac- The Celtic quainted with the Celtic language, which by his time was ^"s^^^^- gradually being superseded by the Latin from which modern French has been derived. By the beginning of the sixth century the Celtic language had passed into disuse.2 Its rapid disappearance was partly due to the fact that the soldiers, the slaves and the various immigrants into France seldom troubled to learn it. 1 Vita Mart 13. ^ See Lavisse, Histoire de France, i. 388 ; ii. 250. 180 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. The spread of Christianity and the recognition of Latin as the official language of the Church also tended to hasten its disappearance. Martin's The life of Martin soon became known in Britain,^ E^iand. ^ud the onc Christian church which Augustine found on his arrival at Canterbury had been dedicated to his memory. Archdeacon Hutton, after referring to the life of St. Giles, a hermit who lived in the Rhone valley in the seventh century, writes : " The influence of Giles and Martin was characteristically Gallican, and it was strong and impressive. Most nobly did the English revere the saint who was soldier and missionary. In him there was always before them the example of stern simplicity, an absolute truthfulness, an absorbing missionary zeal." ^ His life Martin's biographer writes : " No one ever saw him acter. enraged, or excited, or lamenting, or laughing : he was always one and the same, displapng a kind of heavenly happiness in his countenance, he seemed to have passed the ordinary limits of human nature. Never was there any word on his lips but Christ." ^ Again, referring to his humility, he writes : " When sitting in his re- tirement he never used a chair, and as to the church, no one ever saw him sitting there, as I recently saw a certain man, not without a feeling of shame at the spectacle, seated on a lofty throne . . . but Martin ^ Venantius Fortunatus, Avriting maerentem nemo ridentem : unus about 580 a.d., says of Martin, idemque fuit semper, coelestem quo- " Quem Hispanus, Maurus, Persa, dammodo laetitiam vultu praeferens, Britannus amat." See Haddan and extra naturam hominis videbatur." — Stubbs, i. 13. Sulp. Sev. Vita, c. 27. The words * The English Saints, p. 101. " nemo ridentem " ought not, per- ' " Nemo unquam ilium vidit haps, to be interpreted literally, iratum nemo commotum, nemo FRANCE 181 might be seen sitting on a rude little (three-legged) stool." 1 A further explanation of the marvellous spiritual influence which Martin exerted, alike upon his fellow- Christians and upon the heathen, is to be found in the statement of his biographer : " Never did a single hour or moment pass in which he was not either actually engaged in prayer ; or, if it happened that he was occupied with something else, still he never let his mind loose from prayer." It would have been a miracle greater than any of those in which his biography abounds if his unceasing prayers had not been productive of far- reaching results. To Martin, more perhaps than to any other great His belief missionary whose biography has been preserved, the powers struggle between the forces of good and evil was as °^ ^^^* real as though these forces had been visible to his bodily eyes. He constantly asserted that not only saints who had lived in the past, but the devil and his angels, appeared in bodily form and conversed with him. It may well have been that his success as a missionary was partly due to the fact that the victories which he believed himself to have won over the powers of evil during his long hours of prayer gave him the assur- ance of divine support which was the immediate cause of his missionary triumphs amongst his heathen neigh- bours. That his behef in the saving efficacy of divine love knew no limits may be gathered from one of his reported conversations with the devil, who had urged that " for those who fall after baptism into mortal sin there is no mercy," in response to which suggestion ^ Dialogues, ii. 1. 182 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. Martin cried aloud : "If thou thyself, wretched being, shouldst abstain from attacking mankind, and even now when the day of judgment is at hand, shouldst repent of thy wicked deeds, I would myself fearlessly promise thee the mercy of Christ with perfect confidence in the Lord."i His The most celebrated of Martin's visions is that in which the devil appeared to him clad in royal apparel and, with golden sandals on his feet, asked from him the homage due to Christ. " Recognize," said Martin's visitor, " whom you look upon. I am Christ, and I have come down to earth to reveal myself to you." As Martin, dazzled by his appearance, pre- served a long silence, he added, " Acknowledge, Martin, who it is that you behold. I am Christ, and, being about to descend to the earth, I desired first to manifest myself to you." Martin continued silent, whereupon his visitor continued, " Why do you hesitate to believe when you see ? I am Christ." Then Martin replied, " The Lord Jesus did not predict that He would come clad in purple and with a glittering diadem on His head. I will not beheve that Christ has come unless He wears that garb and form in which He suffered and dis- plays before me the marks of His passion." On hearing this, his visitor vanished and Martin realized that he had been speaking to the devil. Sulpicius states that he heard this story from Martin's own mouth.^ In this in- stance, and in the case of many of the visions of Martin and his contemporaries, it is a matter of no great moment to decide how far any objective character can be attri- buted to them. In whatever way we interpret the ^ Vita, c. xxii. 2 7^^ xxiv. FRANCE 183 forms in which they were embodied, the lessons which they helped to emphasise are of permanent import. Dr. Newman, commenting upon this vision, wrote : " The appHcation of this vision to Martin's age is obvious : I suppose it means in this day that Christ comes not in pride of intellect or reputation for philosophy. These are the gUttering robes in which Satan is now arraying. Many spirits are abroad, more are issuing from the pit ; the credentials which they display are the precious gifts of mind, beauty, richness, depth, originality. Christians look hard at them with Martin in silence and ask them for the print of the nails." ^ Another missionary bishop, a younger contemporary Victricius. of Martin, and who, like him, had served in the army, was Victricius, bishop of Rouen. Paulinus of Nola,^ writing to him about 398, congratulates him on having been chosen by God to spread the light amongst the forests and wild districts of the Morini, which were inhabited by bar- barians and brigands. Two letters have been preserved that were written by Pope Innocent I^ about 405 to Victricius and to another bishop, Exuperius of Toulouse, giving them advice in regard to work in their dioceses. In or about 400,* ten years after the death of Martin, Honora- a Roman patrician named Honoratus landed on the Lerins. island of Lerins, not far from Toulon, and founded a monastery which soon became famous as a missionary college, a centre of learning, and " a nursery of bishops and saints who were destined to spread over the whole of Gaul the knowledge of the Gospel and the glory of ^ The Church of the Fathers, by P. L. Ixi. J. H. Newman. ^ Migne, P. L. Iv. 2 See Efy. xix. and xxxvii. ; Migne, * See above, p. 9. 184 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. Lerins." ^ To those who had gone forth as missionaries or as monks his letters, written on parchment or tablets which had been smeared with wax,^ brought sweetest memories of their great teacher. Amongst those who were trained at Lerins may be mentioned Vincent of Lerins,^ Salvian, Lupus of Troyes (S83-479),* and Csesarius of Aries (470-542). St. Ger- Germanus, who became bishop of Auxerre in 418, manus. iiii p -tit? had the honour oi consecrating Ireland s great mis- sionary bishop who had been ordained priest by his predecessor Amator. We have already referred to his visit to Britain in 429,^ which was undertaken by him and Lupus of Troyes at the request of Pope Celestine and apparently at the suggestion of Palladius.^ He died at Ravenna in 449. Abbey of Another chief centre of monastic life from which St. Victor . . Pill at Mar- many missionary-hearted workers went forth to labour in Gaul was the Abbey of St. Victor at Marseilles, which was founded by John Cassian (d. 4S2). Soon after its foundation the number of its monks was reckoned at five thousand. Invasion On the last day of the year 406 an army of Vandals, Vandals, Alaus, and Sueves crossed the Rhine and began the Sueves^^ iuvasiou of Gaul. The invaders were pagans, and as they advanced westwards they massacred a large part of the population and spread ruin and desolation around ^ Montalembert, Monks of the quod ab omnibus creditum est." West, i. 465. * In answer to his demand ad- ^ "Cera illitis litteris." Vita dressed to Attila at the gates of Honoraii, by Hilary, c. 22. Troyes, the king of the Huns replied : ^ He was the author of Commoni- " I am Attila, the scourge of God." torium Peregrini (434 A.D.), in which ^ See above, p. 93. first occurs the definition of ortho- • Prosper, Ghronicon. anno 429. doxy, " quod ubique, quod semper. FRANCE 185 them. In, or about, 411 Patrick, who had recently escaped from his captivity in Ireland, landed, probably at the mouth of the River Loire, in order to reach Italy via Aquitaine. In his Confessions he speaks of wandering across country which had been deprived of all means of subsistence, and during a whole month's travel he seems only once to have met with any remaining trace of civilisation.^ Jerome 2 (in 409), referring to Aquitaine, says that, as a result of this invasion, in the four provinces of Lyons and the two of Narbonne there were but few cities left with any inhabitants : as for Toulouse he could not mention it without shedding tears. In a poem attri- buted to Prosper of Aquitaine the writer declares that if the entire ocean had been poured out upon the fields of Gaul the destruction would not have been so com- plete as was that wrought by these invaders.^ Orientius,* bishop of Auch, says that the whole of Gaul smoked like one funeral pyre. Salvian,^ writing a few years later at Marseilles, uses similar language. In 409 the Vandals and their allies passed on into Aquitaine and Spain, and the Lyons provinces, which had suffered most from their invasion, had a brief ^ Confessio, c. 3 : " xxviii dies per Oceanus, vastis plus superesset desertum iter fecimus et cibus defuit aquis." illis et fames invaluit super eos . . . — Migne, P.L. li. col. 617. difficile est unquam ut aliquem ^ " Per vicos villas, per rura et com- hominem videamus." See also Letter pita et omnes. , of Jerome to Ageruchia, 123. Perpagos,totisinde velinde viis, „ _, _ . ,. ,^„ ,,. Mors, dolor, excidium, strages, ^ Jbp. ad Aqeruchiam, 123; Migne, . j- i . Ti X .. , , ^.-^ ' & ' mcendia, luctus. F. L. xxii, col. 1058. TT £ -J. r^ IT X ^ >» Uno fumavit Gallia tota rogo. ^ "Tot loca, tot populi, quid meru- — Commonitorium, ii. 181 ; Migne, ere mali ? P. L. Ixi. col. 995. Si totus Gallos sese effudisset in ^ De gub. Dei., vi. 15; Migne, P. agros L. liii. col. 125. 186 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. respite. In 412 the Visigoths, who had conquered Rome two years before, invaded Southern Gaul. In Attiia, 451 Attila and his Huns crossed the Rhine and cap- tured Metz, all the inhabitants of which he massacred. After he had devastated a huge section of Eastern Gaul, his progress was checked near Orleans, and he retired again across the Rhine. The Bur- Amougst thosc who iuvadcd Gaul from the east in gun lans. ^^^ ^^^ ^ scction of the Burgundian people. These were the first people of German race to embrace Catholic Christianity. When first heard of they were settled between the Oder and the Vistula.^ Ammi- anus 2 refers to their advance across Upper Germany in 370. Moving towards the south-west they defeated the Alemanni and occupied the left bank of the Rhine from Mainz to Worms. Another section of them apparently crossed the Rhine in 406 in company with the Vandals. In 437, when their leader Gundakar was killed, a large part of the Burgundians in Gaul were destroyed. In 473 the Burgundian kingdom was divided into four, the headquarters of the separate divisions being at Geneva, Besan9on, Lyons and Vienne, but it was again reunited under Gundibald, who died in 516. In 534 it was incorporated into the Frankish Empire.-^ Orosius, writing about 417, soon after the Burgundians had occupied the left bank of the Rhine, says, " By ^ For a description of the social by Jahn ; also Hauck's K. D. i. 97- and political characteristics of the 102. The Burgundian kingdom Burgundians see Lavisse, Histoire de had extended from Dijon and the France, ii. 53, 86 ff. upper waters of the Yonne as far as 2 Amm. Marcell, xxviii. 5, 9. the Mediterranean ; see Greg. Hist * See Geschichte der Burgundionem, Franc, ii. 32. FRANCE 187 God's providence they all became Christians, holding conver- the cathohc faith, and dealt kindly with our clergy, ^g^'g^^'g^j.*^^ to whoni they rendered obedience, and they lead ^"^■. *^ . «^ gundians, gentle, kind and innocent lives and do not treat the Gauls as subjects but in truth as Christian brothers." ^ The Eastern Burgundians decided in 430 to follow and of the their example, and, having sent for a bishop (probably ^^^^^ Crotowald of Worms) to instruct them in the Christian gundians. faith, they were baptized in a body after a week's in- struction. According to Socrates the motive which prompted the Eastern Burgundians to seek for baptism was political rather than religious. The following is his account of their conversion, which is, however, of doubtful historical value. He writes : — " I will now relate a thing worthy to be recorded which happened about this time. There is a barbarous nation which has its abode beyond the river Rhine, called the Burgundians. These people lead a quiet life ; for they are, for the most part, wood-cutters, by which they earn wages and get a livelihood. The nation of the Huns, by making continual inroads upon this people, depopulated their district. The Bur- gundians, therefore, reduced to great straits, sought not the help of any man, but resolved to entrust them- selves for protection to some god, and having taken note of the fact that the God of the Romans afforded strong assistance to those that feared Him, they all, ^ Orosius, vii. 32, 12. " Eorum fide nostrisque clericis quibus obe- esse prsevalidam et perniciosam dirent, receptis blande mansuete in- manum, Gallise hodieque testes sunt noeenterque vivant non quasi cum in quibus prsesumpta possessione subjectis Gallis sed vere cum fratri- consistunt ; quamvis providentia Dei bus Christianis. " Christiani omnes itnodo f acti catholica 188 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. by a general consent, came over to the faith of Christ. Repairing accordingly to one of the cities of Gaul, they requested the bishop that they might receive Christian baptism. The bishop ordered them to fast for seven days, and having instructed them in the grounds of the faith, on the eighth day baptized and dismissed them. Being encouraged thereby, they marched out against the Huns, and were not deceived in their expectation ; for the king of the Huns, whose name was Optar, having burst himself in the night by over- eating, the Burgundians suddenly fell upon the Huns, who were destitute of a commander, and, few though they were, engaged and conquered very many. For the Burgundians being in number only three thousand, destroyed about ten thousand of the Huns. And from that time the nation of the Burgundians became zealous professors of Christianity." ^ Burgun- A fcw ycars later the main body of the Burgundians Arians^^ movcd away from the Rhine in the direction of the Rhone. When they first settled in the neighbourhood of the Rhine they became catholic Christians, but later, influenced probably by the Visigoths, who were Arians, the whole tribe, or at least that portion of it over which Gundibald ruled, became Arians. Conver- In 493 Chlodovcch, or Clovis, as he is more ciovis, generally called, who had by a series of campaigns made himself king of the Franks, married the Christian princess Hrothilde, who was a daughter of the Bur- gundian king Hilperik. Three years later, when in great danger in the course of a campaign against the ^ Socrates Scholast. vii. 30. For a reference to the Burgundians Migne, P. Gr. Ixvii. col. 805. in Switzerland see p. 313. FRANCE 189 Alemanni, he invoked the aid of Hrothilde's* God, and, the campaign having proved a success, he became ready to Hsten to his wife's entreaties that he should become a Christian. His baptism, the date of which forms a landmark in the spread of Christianity in Northern Europe, took place at Rheims on Christmas Day 496.^ When Bishop Remigius was about to administer the sacrament of baptism he said to the king : " Bow thy neck in humility, O Sicambrian ; accept as an object of worship that which thou wast wont to destroy, and burn that which once thou didst worship." The Christians throughout Gaul at this time were sharply divided into catholics and Arians, and the subsequent victories which Clovis gained were largely due to the assistance rendered to him by the catholic Christians who had suffered much at the hands of their Arian persecutors. * By the end of the sixth century the Church through- Organiza- out Gaul was organized on a territorial basis, and the GaSican ^ work of the pioneer missionaries was practically com- ^^^^^^• pleted. There were, however, some considerable areas in which heathenism still flourished,^ and in one of these the Irish saint Columbanus,^ estab- Coium- banus. ^ This is the generally accepted but recently been converted to date. Prof. Bury, Dr A. Hauck and Christianity. Dr B. Krusch maintain that the ^ The earliest Life of Columbanus baptism took place at Tours in 507. is that written by Jonas, a native of For arguments for and against this Northern Italy, and a monk of Bobbio, suggestion see Scott Holmes, The circ. 642 a.d. He had not himself Christian Church in Gaul, pp. 330 f. seen Columbanus, who died in 615, 2 The bishops who welcomed but he claims to have obtained the Rhadegund to the monastery which information which he records from she founded at Poitiers in the second those who had known Columbanus half of the sixth century refer to well. His Life includes a number Aquitaine as a district which had of miracles. The best critical in- 190 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. lished a monastery and carried on his missionary work. Columbanus, who was of noble, if not of royal, parent- age, was born in West Leinster in 543, and received a liberal education in grammar, rhetoric, geometry, and the study of Holy Scripture .^ The stern ascetic spirit in which his life work was accomphshed may be illustrated by the farewell scene between him and his mother. When as a very young man he asked her permission to become a monk, she was overcome with grief and threw herself to the ground on the threshold of the door, and it was across her prostrate form that he set forth to seek a monastery in which he might obtain the training for his future work. His arrival After Spending some years in the monastery of 673. ' Bangor (near Belfast) he crossed to Brittany ,2 about 573, with twelve companions, and after labouring there for some time as a missionary, he eventually presented himself before Sigibert of Austrasia and asked his permission to settle in some barren and un- cared-for district in Gaul, the north-eastern portion of which had suffered terribly from the irruption of troduction to the Life of Columbanus the monastic Rule has been chal- is that by Bruno Krusch in the lenged. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, vol. ^ The acts of healing which Jonas iv. Klrusch speaks of him as hold- regarded as miraculous (cf. Vita, i. ing "locum primarium inter prae- 15) suggest that he had also studied dicatores gentium." The writings medicine. of Columbanus that have been pre- ^ That Columbanus went direct served consist of a Monastic Rule in to Brittany and did not pass through ten chapters, a book on the measure of Britain appears to have been estab- penances, seventeen short sermons and lished by Zimmer; see Hodgkin, five letters, and a commentary on the Italy and her Invaders, vi. 112 n. For Psalms. These, with the exception arguments in favour of a contrary of the last, are printed in Migne's view see art. by L. Gougaud, in Fatrologia Latina, Ixxx. pp. 201 ff. Annates de Bretagne, T. xxxi., Jan. The authorship of the sermons and 1907. FRANCE 191 barbarian invaders.^ The spot in which Columbanus and his companions settled Hes on the western side of the Vosges mountains, in what was then called the Jura district, and near the old Roman camp of Anagrates.^ They could have found no wilder or less inviting district, and for a considerable time they suffered pangs Difficui- of hunger and were in danger of starvation .^ The name wsMps. of one of those who helped them in a time of distress, Carantoc, suggests that Columbanus was not the first monk of Celtic origin ^ to settle in this district. Jonas records many miracles that were said to have been wrought in order to supply the wants of the monks, and he describes the miraculous control that Columbanus exerted upon the wild beasts whose lairs he invaded in order to find seclusion in which to pray. Despite the hardships which the monks had to endure, their number continued to increase, and after a few years they began to build on a larger scale at Luxeuil (Luxo- Monas- vium), about eight miles to the south. The site was luLuU. granted by the king, Childebert II., but no permission was obtained or asked from the bishop of Besan9on, in whose diocese the new building was erected. The estabhshment of this monastery involved the breach of a rule the observance of which, as subsequent history was destined to show, was of vital importance ^ Cf. Jonas' Life of Columbanus, a wallet, a leathern case for service c. 5, p. 71 : " Ob frequentiam hostium books, and a case containing relics, externorum vel neglegentiam prse- See Hislory of Christian Missions in sulum religionis virtus pene abolita the Middle Ages, by Maclear, p. 134 n. habebatur." * According to a Welsh legend, ^ Now Faucogney in Haute-Sadne. one of the companions of Patrick ' The outfit of the Irish monks was named Carantoc or Carranog — at this time consisted of a short staff see Monks of the West, iii. 80. (camborta), a leathern water-bottle, 192 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. to the well-being of the Christian Church alike in Gaul and in other countries. It does not come within the scope of this book to discuss the influence exerted by the monastic system upon the organization and de- velopment of the Christian Church in the Middle Ages, but few would dispute the statement that the failure of the monks to live up to the high ideals of their founders was largely due to the fact that their abbots, having itsinde- repudiated the authority and control of the diocesan ^epS^-^^ bishops,^ became a law unto themselves and tended copal more and more towards the adoption of lower ideals control. _ ^ J^ and towards a life which was isolated from the activities and spiritual influences of the Church as a whole. The refusal of Columbanus to accept any kind of control on the part of the GalHc bishops was with him a matter of vital principle. His aim and that of his fellow- monks was not merely to live in the midst of Gallic Christianity and to exert a local missionary influence, but to wage war on the kind of Christianity which he found existing in Gaul. Founda- Vicwcd from the missionary standpoint, the most other permanent result of the work which he accomplished terSr ^^^ ^^^^ • ^^ initiated in North-East Gaul the monastic movement, and from the monasteries founded and controlled by himself and his disciples went forth the missionaries who completed the nominal conversion of the country which lay to the north of 50° lat. and to the east of 2° E. long. He himself only founded three monasteries in Gaul, viz., Annegray, Luxeuil, and ^ At the fifth Council of Aries held their monasteries were situated, and in 463, it had been decreed (canons that they were not to absent them- 2 and 3) that abbots were subject selves from their monasteries with- to the bishop of the diocese in which out the consent of the bishop. FRANCE 193 Fontaine, but more than fifty were founded by his followers, in which his Rule was observed. This Rule was chiefly remarkable for its severity, and was a sharp contrast to that of St. Benedict, with which it was afterwards frequently conjoined.^ In the light of subsequent history it is easy to decide that Columbanus committed an error of far-reaching importance in ignoring the authority of the Gallic bishops and in seeking to secure for his monasteries the indepen- dent position which they possessed in his native land. Before, however, we condemn his action, we need to remember the deplorable condition of Gallic episcopacy Depior- in his time and in the century which immediately ditfonTf followed. Bishops, who were in some cases laymen ^fjjo. and had never been consecrated, regarded their P^cy. dioceses as private estates, and bequeathed them to their friends or relations. Many of them lived as lay- men and spent their lives in fighting, hunting and revelry. The result was the total demoralization of the Prankish Church in Northern Gaul, a demoraliza- tion which was accentuated by the evil lives of the Frankish kings, who were nominally Christians. Thus Montalembert, in The Monks of the West, writes of Clovis and the Frankish kings who succeeded him : " They were sad Christians. While they respected witness the freedom of the catholic faith, and made external aiembert. profession of it, they violated without scruple all its precepts, and at the same time the simplest laws of humanity. After having prostrated themselves before the tomb of some holy martyr or confessor, after having ^ The monastery founded at dicti et Columbani." It was the first Solignac in 632 a,d. had as its rule, of many similar foundations. " Regula beatissimorum patrum Bene- N 194 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. distinguished themselves by the choice of an irre- proachable bishop, after having listened respectfully to the voice of a pontiff or monk, we see them, some- times in outbreaks of fury, sometimes by cold-blooded cruelties, give full course to the instincts of their savage nature. ... In reading these bloody biographies, scarcely lightened by some transient gleams of faith or humility, it is difficult to believe that in embrac- ing Christianity they gave up a single pagan vice or adopted a single Christian virtue." ^ Witness of A ccutury and a half later, in 742, in the course of a oniace. ^q^^qy to Popc Zacharias, Boniface refers to the con- dition of the Frankish Church. He writes, " Eccle- siastical discipline for not less than sixty or seventy years has been trampled on and dissipated. . . . At the present time the episcopal sees in the several cities are for the most part handed over to greedy laics or adulterous clerics, to whoremongers and publi- cans, to enjoy as secular property." ^ An extensive reformation of the Frankish Chiu-ch dates from the joint-council held by Pepin and Carlo- man under the presidency of Boniface in 745. Causes of M. Lavissc, commenting on the low moral condition ^neraey. of the Franks at this era, ascribes it to the fact that a time of exceptional material prosperity coincided with a period in which all the restraints upon conduct that had been imposed by their old laws and religious beliefs had lost their former sanctions. At the same time their bishops and other Christian leaders were for the most part men of small education and weak character, and were wholly incapable of illustrating by 1 Vol. ii. p. 235. 2 j;p, 50 ; Migne, P. L. Ixxxix. FRANCE 195 their conduct, or commending by their teaching, the Christian virtues.^ The much-needed reform of the Church was to come from men of another race, but it was not to come from the saintly Irish monks, who kept themselves untainted from the prevailing corruption by confining themselves for the most part to their monastic circles. The attitude of Columbanus towards the Frankish Letter of bishops and the loving spirit in which his work was banuTto carried on may be gathered from a letter addressed ^[shJ^s^ by him to a Frankish synod (in 602) which had remonstrated with him for not conforniing to Gallic Church customs. In the course of the letter he wrote : — " I came as a stranger amongst you in behalf of our common Lord and Master Jesus Christ. In His name I beseech you let me live in peace and quiet, as I have lived for twelve years in these woods beside the bones of my seventeen departed brethren. Let Gaul receive into her bosom all who, if they deserve it, will meet in one heaven. . . . Choose ye which rule respecting Easter ye prefer to follow, remembering the words of the Apostle, ' Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.' But let us not quarrel one with another, lest our enemies, the Jews, the heretics and pagan Gentiles rejoice in our contention. . . . Pray for us, my fathers, even as we, humble as we are, pray for you. Regard us not as strangers, for we are members together of one body, whether we be Gauls or Britons or Iberians, or to whatever nation we belong. Therefore, let us all rejoice in the knowledge of the faith and the re- ^ Histoire ginirale, i. 157. 196 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. velation of the Son of God ... in communion with whom let us learn to love one another and pray for one another." ^ Coium- The work of Columbanus at Luxeuil was eventually expeUed cut short (in 610) by Theodoric, the young king of the Luxeuil. Burgundians, who was himself instigated by his grand- mother, Brunichildis. Columbanus had again and again rebuked the gross immoralities of the king, who at length expelled him from his dominions and caused him to be placed on board a ship at Nantes which was bound for Ireland. The boat in which he descended the river Loire stopped at Tours and Columbanus spent the night praying at the tomb of St. Martin. The ship in which he eventually sailed met with a violent storm, whereupon the captain put the missionary and his four companions ashore and proceeded on his voyage without further difficulty. Columbanus then visited the king Chlothachar (Clothaire II.), in Neustria, who besought him to remain there. Leaving him, how- ever, he passed on to King Theudebert of Austrasia, and thence made his way to Italy. The time spent by him in Gaul was twenty years. We refer later on to his work in Switzerland and in Italy. Hisinde- Columbauus started his missionary work entirely of Roman on his owu initiative, and did not visit Rome until on y. giQ^ after he had left Gaul. In one of his letters to Pope Gregory relating to the time of the observance of Easter, he displays his complete independence of ecclesiastical tradition when he urges the Pope not to. feel bound by the decrees of his predecessor St. Leo on the ground that a living dog is better than a dead lion 1 See Epist. ii. ; Migne, vol. Ixxx. col. 264 fif. FRANCE 197 (leo), and suggests that a living saint may correct the omissions of one who went before him.^ A letter addressed to Boniface IV. shortly before his own death illustrates the attitude which the Celtic missionaries of his time adopted towards the bishops of Rome. He writes : " We Irish who inhabit the extremities of the world are the disciples of St. Peter and St. Paul and of the other apostles who have written under dictation of the Holy Spirit. We receive nothing more than the apostolic and evangelical doctrine. . . . Pardon me if ... I have said some words offensive to pious ears. The native liberty of my race has given me that boldness. With us it is not the person, it is the right which prevails." ^ His character was a strange combination of ardent Character faith and angry impatience. Where in the bio- banus. graphics of missionaries could we find a nobler ideal than that expressed in these words which he is said to have used, " Whosoever overcomes himself treads the world underfoot : no one who spares himself can truly hate the world. If Christ be in us we cannot live to ourselves ; if we have conquered ourselves we have conquered all things. . . . Let us die unto ourselves. Let us live in Christ that Christ may live in us." ^ It is hard for us to realize that the author of these words could have invoked curses and maledictions upon those who rejected his preaching in the following words : " Make this generation to be a reproach, that the evils His de- which they have wickedly devised for thy servants Jion^if'his they may feel on their own heads. Let their children ^'^^^i®^- 1 Cf. Migne, vol. Ixxx. col. 261, ^ ^^^ y^ . Migne, id. col. 275. " melior forte est canis vivus in pro- ^ Gallandus, Bibl. Vet. Pair. xii. ; blemate leone mortuo." Ep. iii. sionaries on the continent. 198 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. perish, and when they conie to middle age let stupe- faction and madness seize upon them." ^ On another occasion, after he had been expelled by Theodoric from his dominions, he was heard to remark, " This dog, Theodoric, has hunted me from the home of my brethren " ; and when one said to him " in a low voice," " Methinks it is better to drink milk rather than wormwood," he replied, " Say to thy friend and thy lord that three years from this time he and his children will be destroyed, and that God will utterly root out his whole race." ^ Celtic mis- Apart from the success which they attained as mis- on the sionaries to the heathen, the results of the work accom- phshed by Columbanus and the other Irish missionaries who followed him were mainly three — (1) They raised the standards and ideals of learning in Gaul, and especially in Northern Gaul, and inspired monks and clergy alike with the desire to study the Scrip- tures and in addition the Greek and Latin classics. It was a common saying in the days of Charles the Bald (823-77), that anyone on the Continent who knew Greek was an Irishman or had obtained his knowledge from an Irishman.^ It frequently happened that those who came in contact with the Irish in other countries were induced to visit Ireland in order to study in its monas- teries. Thus Aldhelm, who was bishop of Sherborne at the end of the seventh century, describes the EngHsh students as going over in crowds to obtain instruction ^ The words were uttered on the ^ See " Die Iren und die Frank- occasion of his rejection by the ische Kirche," by W. Levison. Suevi on the 1 ake of Zurich. GJ. Historische Zeitschrift, Band 109, Vita Gain, ii. 7. P- 21. 2 Vita, c. 22. FRANCE 199 in Ireland.^ In the middle of the seventh century Bishop Agilbert, of Paris, is reported to have spent a long time in an Irish monastery engaged in studjdng the Holy Scriptures.^ It would appear that the Celtic missionaries were as a rule men of good education, and that their training included not only the Scriptures and early Christian writers, but the ancient classics. Patrick Their speaks of himself as " rusticissimus," but his know- le^ming. ledge of Latin was considerable and was not less than that of Martin of Tours. The writings of Columbanus show that he was acquainted with Virgil, Ovid, Horace and Sallust. Adamnan, the biographer of Columba, was familiar with Virgil. Several of the Irish who devoted themselves to missionary work were the authors of treatises on grammar and rhetoric. Dicuil wrote in 825 a treatise entitled " De mensura orbis terrae," also a treatise on astronomy. The study, however, of ancient languages and of Their profane Hteratiu-e was ever regarded as subsidiary and^^e^H^jy as a means whereby to obtain a more perfect under- ^^^^p- standing of the Holy Scriptures. It is doubtful whether any missionaries of modern times have regarded an intimate acquaintance with the Scrip- tures as of more vital consequence for the prosecu- tion of their work than did these early monkish students.^ {%) We may claim as a second result of the work Their of the Irish missionaries the popularizing of the peni- 1^^ ^^' tential system which Columbanus had elaborated, ^y^*^^- and the application of its principles to the lives ^ " Catervatim . , . classibus ^ Id. p. 5. advecti." Aldhelm, Ep. ad Eah- '^ See Bede, H. E. iii. 3, 7 ; v. 9, fridum, col. 94. 10, etc. 200 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. of many of the laity as well as to those of the monks. (3) A third result which must be attributed to the work of the Irish missionaries, and to which we have already referred, was the introduction of the monastic system into Northern Gaul, and Monas- the establishment of the principle that monasteries Northern might bccomc independent of the control of the dio- ^^^^ cesan bishops. An indirect result which continued for a century or more was the consecration of an immense number of bishops who had no definite duties, some of whom wandered from monastery to monastery, and whose existence did much to render ineffective the episcopal organization of the Church. The French monasteries continued to receive recruits from Ireland as late as the thirteenth century, but long before this time their influence upon the hfe of the French Church had ceased to be felt. Remains Although paganism was abolished throughout Gaul paganism, ^.t an carHcr period than in most of the other countries of Europe, several centuries elapsed before even the public observance of pagan rites was entirely eradicated. Gregory of Tours, in his life of Simplicius bishop of Autun, speaks of the worship of Cybele in that diocese and says that it was customary to carry her statue round the fields and vineyards in order to render them productive. In 689 St. Kilian found at the court of Dagobert II., king of East Francia, a golden image of Diana which was greatly venerated.^ Temples to Jupiter, Mercury and Apollo at Rouen were still visited by worshippers in the seventh century. 1 Acta 88., July, p. 616. FRANCE . 201 Hincmar archbishop of Rheims states that in the time of Charles Martel the Christian faith had almost died out in Austrasia and Neustria, many of the Eastern Franks never having received baptism.^ In 743 the Council of Lestines referred to and de- nounced many still existing pagan superstitions .^ Amongst other missionaries who laboured to convert St. Vaiery pagans in France, mention should be made of Vaiery vergne. (Walaricus), a shepherd of Auvergne, who became the gardener at Luxeuil under Columbanus. The scene of his missionary labours was the neighbourhood of Amiens and in that part of Neustria in which the Salian Franks were established. Another who preached at Ponthieu and in the country bordering on the Somme was Riquier, who had been converted to the Chris- st. tian faith by two Irish companions of Columbanus ^^"^^'^• whom he had received into his house. He gained great influence alike amongst the poor and the rich, and was for a time one of the " companions of the king " at the court of Clothaire II. Eustace, the successor of Columbanus as abbot of st. Luxeuil (610-625), was an ardent missionary, and in ac- cordance with his own desire was deputed by the bishops who assembled at the Council of Bonneuil-sur-Marne in 616 to preach to pagans. He began by preaching to the heathen amongst the Varasques, not far from Luxeuil, who worshipped the fauns and dryads and genii of the woods. Later on he preached among the Boii in eastern Gaul.^ ^ Migne, P. L. cxxvL, col. 200, Ep. Christianitatis pene fuit abolita." Ad episcopos de Jure Metropolitan- ^ Mans. Cone. xii. 385. orum. "In Germanicis et Belgicis ^ See Vita Eustasii, hy J ona,s. ac Gallicanis provinciis omnis religio 202 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vi. The Wulflaich, a native of Lombardy, built himself a Wuiflaich. pillar in imitation of Simeon Stylites in the valley of the Moselle {circ, 560), and by the austerities which he practised converted some of the heathen around. He was eventually induced to descend from his pillar and share the labours of other missionaries who were woi'king in the same district. ^ St. Omer. Tlie modem town of St. Omer takes its name from Audomar, who was apparently converted by Columbanus near Lake Constance, and after being a monk at Luxeuil for twenty years became bishop of Therouanne. To St. Bertin. him and to his relative Bertin the conversion of the neighbouring district is said to have been due. So Irish mis- large was the number of Irish missionaries who landed Monaries ^^ Brittany ,2 coming in some cases direct from Ireland Brittany. ^^^^ jj^ othcrs from Comwall, that a French writer (M. Berger) has referred to the Brittany of this period as " une colonic spirituelle d'Irlande." Though the permanent results achieved by Colum- banus and the other Irish missionaries in France and elsewhere are disappointing, and cannot be compared with those of the Enghsh Boniface and his successors, their labours nevertheless formed a briUiant episode in the development of the Christian Church in France. We must regret that so few records have survived of their labours and of those of the other missionaries to whom the conversion of France was due. But, though we cannot know as much as we desire of their lives and ^ See Acta SS., July 7. Greg. Labb. iv. 1053, also Haddan and Tur. vii. 15. Stubbs, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 72 f. This ^ One of those who was present Mansuetus was probably a bishop in at the Council of Tours in 461 signed Brittany. For a tradition relating to a thus, "Mansuetus episcopus Britan- Bishop Mansuetus of Toul see above, norum interfui et subscripsi." See p. 175. FRANCE 203 methods of work, we can at least form some conception Difficui- of the difficulties which they had to encounter. which mis- At the period when their missionary labours were ^JJ^q^J^i^ accomplished the greater part of France, and indeed laboured. the greater part of Europe, consisted of forests inhabited by numerous wild beasts, infested, in many districts, by still fiercer brigands, and as difficult to traverse as is any Central African forest to-day. " To plunge into these terrible forests, to encounter these monstrous animals . . . required a courage of which nothing in the existing world can give us an idea. . . . The monk attacked these gloomy woods without arms, without sufficient implements, and often without a single com- panion. . . . He bore with him a strength which nothing has ever surpassed or equalled, the strength conferred by faith in a living God. . . . See, then, these men of prayer and penitence who were at the same time the bold pioneers of Christian civilisation and the modern world. . . . They plunged into the darkness carrying light with them, a light which was nevermore to be extinguished." ^ 1 The Monks of the West, ii. pp. 320 f . CHAPTER VII ITALY introduc- Of the first preaching of Christianity in Italy we Christi- know nothing. It is probable that it was introduced anity. -^^^^ Rome by Christians whose names have not been preserved and who formed part of the countless stream of visitors that flocked year by year to the metropolis of the world. The " sojourners of Rome " who listened to the preaching of St. Peter on the Day of Pentecost would probably have carried back to Rome some report of what they had heard. The list of Christians in Rome to whom St. Paul sends greeting at the close of his Epistle to the Romans suggests that by about the year 57 there was a well- Prisca and established Christian community, Prisca and Aquila, ^"^ ■ in whose house it may have met, being perhaps its leaders. That the ChiKch was filled with missionary zeal may be inferred from St. Paul's statement that its faith was " proclaimed throughout the whole world." ^ Aristo- There were Christians in the houses of Aristobulus Narcissus, and Narcissus who were apparently Roman nobles ^ ; and, later on, when St. Paul himself was in Rome, there were Christians " in Caesar's household." ^ Tacitus, referring to Nero's persecution of the Christians in ^ Rom. i. 8, i] irlaris vfiQp KarayyeX ^ See Harnack's Exp. of C. p. 45. Xerai if BXcf t<^ /fo'c/iy. 3 pi^il, iy. 22. 204 ITALY 205 64, speaks of " a great multitude " ^ of Christians, an expression which cannot have denoted less than several hundreds. That Peter visited and taught in Rome St. Peter cannot reasonably be doubted. He may have be- ^^ ^^^^' come interested in the great city as the result of con- verse with those to whom he preached on the Day of Pentecost, or he may have obtained introductions to dwellers in Rome from Cornelius the captain of the Italian Band {cohors Italica), which consisted of volunteers from Italy. He may also have heard that Simon Magus, whom he had silenced in Samaria, was teaching and influencing many in Rome.^ Clement of Rome, writing to the Christians at Corinth A.D. 95, after referring to the deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul, wrote, " Unto these men of holy lives was gathered a vast multitude of the elect, who through many indignities and tortures ... set a brave ex- ample among ourselves." ^ By the time that he wrote a " rule of tradition " had already been estab- Hshed. A Roman consul Titus Flavins Clemens and Clemens his wife Domitilla, who were closely related to the D^omitiiia. Emperor Domitian, were Christians and were punished as such (95-96) .4 From the Shepherd of Hermas, which was probably written about the middle of the second century, we gather that the Christians in Rome included a number of wealthy persons.^ In 166 the Roman bishop Soter, Bishop the author of the so-called second Epistle of Clement,^ ^ "ingens multitudo," ^ww. XV. 44. mundson's The Church in Rome iv ^ See statements by Justin Martyr, the First Century, pp. 180-205. Apol. 56, SbTidDial c. Tryphonem, 126. * Eus. H. E. iii. 17 ; Dion Cassius, ' Ep. ad Cor. vi. For arguments Ixvii. 14 ; Suet. Domit. 15. in favour of assigning a.d. 70 as the ^ Mandates, x. date of Clement's Epistle see Ed- * So Harnack, Exp. of C. p. 245. 206 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vn. referring to the Christians in Rome, or in Italy, claims that they were already more numerous than the Jews.^ Statement Referring to a period about twenty years later, Eusebius. Eusebius writes, " About the time of the reign of Commodus (180-192) our affairs changed for the better and by God's grace the churches all over the world enjoyed peace. Meanwhile the word of salvation was conducting every soul from every race of men to the devout worship of the God of all things, so that a large number of people at Rome eminent for great wealth and high birth, turned to their salvation along with all their households and families." ^ During the reign of Commodus a Christian named Carpophorus belonged to the Emperor's household, one of whose Bishop slaves, Callistus, afterwards became bishop of Rome. a istus. Xhere are many references, alike in Christian and non -Christian writings, which prove that in the second, and still more in the third century, the number of Christians belonging to the richer and more cultured classes was considerable. The second rescript issued by the Emperor Valerian in 258 suggests that there Christians wcrc many Christians belonging to the highest classes rank ^f Romau socicty. It reads : " Senators and pro- minent men and Roman knights are to lose their position and moreover be deprived of their property, and if they persist in being Christians after their goods have been taken from them, they are to be beheaded. Matrons are to be deprived of their goods and sent into exile : but members of Caesar's household are to have their goods confiscated and be sent in chains by appointment to the estates of Caesar." ^ 1 Ep. ad Cor. chap. ii. ^ jj j^ y^ 2I, 1. » Cypr. Ep. Ixxx. 1. ITALY 207 Eusebius, referring to the reign of Diocletian (prior to 303), says, " The Emperors even trusted our members with provinces to govern (ra? tcop iOvSiv rj-yefjuovtaf;) and exempted them from the duty of offering sacrifice." ^ Harnack writes, " We know a whole series of names christian of orators and grammarians who came over tOand^g^am- Christianity." ^ He goes on to suggest that, whereas n^^i^ians. in the East " the decisive factor " in the conversion of the more cultured classes was the development of Christian learning at Alexandria and Csesarea, in the West " the upper classes were brought over to the faith by the authority and stability of the church." ^ TertuUian writes, " Even Severus * himself, the state- father of Antoninus, was mindful of the Christians xer^*^ ^ . . . and both men and women of the highest rank*"^^^^^' whom Severus knew to be members of this sect he not merely refrained from injuring, but he bore honour- able testimony to them and he restored them to us out of the hands of a raging mob." ^ Dionysius bishop of Alexandria, speaking of the and attitude of the Emperor Valerian (253-260) towards ofTiex-"^ the Christians, says that he treated them with quite ^''^"^• undisguised friendliness and goodwill at the commence- ment of his reign : "his whole court was full of pious people ; it was a church of God." ^ The wife and daughter of Diocletian, who became one of the chief persecutors, were Christians. Some of the most effective missionary work was christian done by soldiers who, from very early times, were to in the Roman ^ H. E. viii. 1. ^ Ep. ad Scapulam, iv. Migne, army. 2 Exp. of Christianity, ii. 41. P. L. i. col. 703. 3 Id. ii. 42. « Euseb. H. E. vii. 10. * S. reigned from 193 to 211. 208 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [cHAr. vii. be found in the Roman army, nor is there any evidence to show that the early Church regarded the profes- sion of a soldier as inconsistent with the practice of Christianity .1 In the prayers of the Church the army was regularly mentioned.^ As the number of Christian officers and soldiers increased, especially after the time of Gallienus, the authorities frequently connived at their non-attendance at the sacrifices, or other rites, in which they could not conscientiously take part. Galerius endeavoured to stamp out Christianity from the army, and the first persecution of Dio- cletian, which occurred at his instigation, was directed primarily against Christian soldiers and was followed by an edict against them issued by Licinius. This persecution came to an abrupt end when Constantine in his expedition against Maxentius affixed the cross Pach- to the standards of his regiments. Pachomius, who afterwards became a monk and the founder of the monastic settlement at Tabennisi, was a soldier in Constantine's army, and was converted to Christianity by the brotherly love displayed by the Christian soldiers in the army. One of the canons passed at the Council of Aries in Gaul (SI 4) pronounced sentence of excommunication upon any Christian soldier who should decline to perform his military duties. ^ Tertullian and Origen were number of Christian soldiers in the amongst the few early writers who Roman army. Thus he writes regarded service in the army as circ. 200 : " We are of yesterday inconsistent with the profession of and we have filled your camps. . . . the Christian faith. Tertullian de- Along with you we fight," Apol. 37, votes a treatise to the discussion of 42. Origen held that all war was the case of a soldier who was put to opposed to the teachings of Christi- death because he refused a military anity {contra Celsum, viii. 73). crown. Incidentally he bears wit- ^ Of. Tert. Apol. xxx. Migne, P. L. ness to the existence of a very large i. col. 441 ; Amob. iv. 36. omms. ITALY 209 The only places in Italy in which we know that Christians existed before the end of the first century are Rome and Puteoli. To these we may perhaps add Pompeii, where a terra-cotta lamp has been dug christians up bearing the Christ monogram.^ By 180 there werepompeii? Christians at Naples,^ at one or more of the Greek- speaking towns in southern Italy ,^ and probably at Syracuse in Sicily.^ The number of Jews in Rome about the time of the Christian era has been estimated at 10,000.^ At the time when St. Paul preached in Rome the character of the inhabitants was as cosmopolitan as that of any city has ever been. The upper classes were accus- use of the tomed to speak Greek in preference to Latin andJ^J!f|^ amongst the lowest classes a debased form of Greek was generally used for trade purposes. Thus Juvenal taunts his fellow-countrymen with living in a Greek city.^ The first missionaries to visit Italy probably spoke Greek and for more than a century after the foundation of a Christian Church the majority of its members apparently used the Greek language and were not natives of Italy ."^ The first bishop of Rome who wrote ^ Harnack regards this discovery ^ It has been estimated that at as affording evidence that the mono- this time there were 1,000,000 in gram itseK is of pagan origin. Exp. Egypt, 700,000 in Palestine, and of C. ii. 93 n. The words " Sodoma in the whole Roman Empire 4,000,000 Gomora " were found scratched on to 4,500,000 out of a total population a wall at Pompeii, but this might of about 55,000,000. have been done by a Jew. * Of. Juvenal, Sat. iii. 60, " Non ^ See evidence provided by cata- possum ferre, Quirites, Grsecam combs of St. Genaro. urbem," and, again, i. 62, " Jam ^ Clement of Alexandria, Strom, i. pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit 1, 11. Orontes." * According to evidence supplied ' Seneca writes with regard to by catacombs. the inhabitants of Rome, " They 210 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vii. in Latin was Victor (189-199) and of the bishops who preceded him only two bear Latin names. When Polycarp bishop of Smyrna reached Rome in 154 he conducted service there in Greek ; and the Apostles' Creed was apparently composed in Greek about the middle of the second century .^ The majority of the Roman clergy appear to have used Greek as their official language till the middle of the third century. A Latin How soon the Bible was translated into Latin for the benefit of the Roman Christians it is impossible to determine, but it is probable that the Latin versions made in North Africa in the second century were earlier than any of the Italian versions. As an illustration of Greek influence in Rome at a much later period we may note the fact that Pope John V, who was appointed in 685, and six of his immediate successors were either Greeks or Syrians. The first Roman provincial synod of which we know was presided over by Bishop Telesphorus (142-154) and was attended by twelve bishops. Theniim- Somc indication as to the number of Christians in Christians Romc in 251 is afforded by a letter of CorneHus bishop in25T^ of Rome referred to by Eusebius,^ which states that there were then 46 presbyters, 7 deacons, 5 sub -deacons, 42 acolytes, 52 exorcists, readers and doorkeepers, and 1500 widows and persons in distress, all of whom the Master's grace and lovingkindness support." Har- nack, commenting on this statement, suggests that these figures point to a Christian Catholic community have flocked thither from the whole which is not their own. " Ad Helviam world. . . . The majority have left Matrem de Consolatione, c. 6. their homes and come to the great- ^ See Harnack, Exp. of C. ii. 241 f . est and fairest of cities, yet a city ^ vi. 43. ITALY 211 numbering about 30,000.^ There were also at this period in Rome a Montanist, a Theodotian, and a Marcionite church and several Gnostic churches. ^ If we count the Catholic and Novatian bishops it would appear that by the middle of the third century Italy possessed nearly 100 bishops.^ Harnack suggests that by the beginning of the fourth Spread of century almost every town of any considerable size anity/ in Italy had a bishop or at any rate a Christian com- munity within its walls.* Gaudentius bishop of Brescia (387), referring to the state- rapid spread of Christianity in Italy during the fourth ^au* ^ century, writes, "It is clear that the heathen hastened ^entius. with the celerity of a running wheel to leave the error of idolatry into which they had formerly sunk and to adopt Christian truth." ^ Prior to the reign of Constantine the Christians slow pro- in Italy formed, however, but a small fraction of fh?^ ^^ the total population. Thus Harnack writes : " This '^^Z. [Christian] population would be denser wherever Greeks formed an appreciable percentage of the inhabitants, i.e, in the maritime towns of Lower Italy and Sicily, although the Latin- speaking population would still remain for the most part pagan. The fact that the Christian Church of Rome was predominantly Greek till shortly before the middle of the third century is proof positive that up till then the Christianizing * ^ Exp. of C. ii. 248. Gibbon and * For a list of places in Italy and DoUinger put the number at 50,000, Sicily in which Christian Churches The total population of Rome at probably existed before 325 see this time is estimated by Gibbon at Harnack, Exp. of G. 253-7. There 1,200,000. were Christians at Syracuse at least 2 Harnack, Id. p. 247. as early as 250. 3 Harnack, Id. p. 249. '" See Migne, P.L. xx. col. 892. 212 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vn. of the Latin population in Middle and Lower Italy must have been still in an inchoate state, although it certainly made rapid strides between 250 and 320." ^ Christian Somc indication of the extent of the Christian popu- the"cata^ lation in Rome is afforded by the number of Christians combs. ^Yio were buried in the catacombs. The total length of the galleries has been reckoned at from 500 to 800 miles and the number of burials at from one and a half to six milHons. There are no inscriptions later than 410, and by far the larger part of the tombs belongs to the century and a half which preceded the edict of Constantine in 313. Sites of With the possible exception of Genoa there do not ric8,T25. appear to have been any Christian Churches in Piedmont or Liguria prior to 325. By this date bishoprics had been established at Ravenna, Milan, Aquileia, Brescia, Verona, Bologna and Imola, and Christian communities perhaps existed at Padua, Bergamo, Como, Piacenza, Modena, Cremona and Christi- Pavia.^ That Christianity subsequently spread through- north out the north of Italy with considerable rapidity ^*^^^* is shown by the fact that in 396 Ambrose bishop of Milan could write to the Church in VerceUi, "The Church of the Lord in your midst has not yet a priest, it being the only one that is deprived of the service of a priest in all Liguria, or ^Emilia, or Venetia, or the other districts that border on Italy." ^ A poet named Severus Sanctus Endelechius, a friend of Paulinus of Nola, writing at the beginning of the fifth century says that Christians are only to be found 1 Harnack, Exp. of G. ii. 329. ^ ^p. i. 63. Migne, P. L. xvi. 2 Harnack, ii. 259. col. 1189. ITALY 213 in large towns,i and his statement contains a con- siderable measure of truth. A distressing picture of the luxury in which the Luxury bishop of Rome lived in S66 is suggested by the words christian of Ammianus Marcellinus, who, after describing aggg^^^' fight that took place in a church in Rome between the followers of Damasus and Ursinus, rival claimants for the bishopric, and which resulted in the death of 137 persons, writes, " I do not deny . . . that those who are ambitious for this thing [the bishopric] ought to spare no effort in the fray to secure what they want, for if they get it, they will be sure of being enriched by the offerings of matrons, of riding about in carriages, dressed in clothes the cynosure of every eye, and of giving banquets so profuse that their entertainments shall surpass the tables of kings." ^ Nor was it only in Rome that the luxury of the bishops became a scandal to the community. In the East Bishop Paul of Samosata lived in greater state than that adopted by the Roman emperors.^ By the middle of the fourth century the Govern- Pagan ment, influenced by the representatives of the Christian monies Church, had begun to prohibit the public performance ^[bited. of pagan rites. Thus the Emperor Constantius, in an edict issued in 341, writes : — " Let superstition cease and the insanity of sacrificial rites be abolished." ^ In 391 Theodosius prohibited all entrance into heathen temples, and in the following year he pro- ^ He writes, ^ xxvii. 3, 12. "Signum quod perhibent esse ^ See Euseb. v. 30. crucis Dei, * Codex Theodosianus, xvi. 10, 1, Magnis qui colitur solus in 2, "cesset superstitio, sacrificiorum urbibus," aboleatur insania." quoted in Hauck's K. D. i. 38 n. 214 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vii. hibited even private worship and all offerings to Lares, Penates and family deities. ^ But though Theodosius endeavoured to suppress pagan worship, he continued to honour many who openly professed their old religion. Thus he appointed Symmachus ^ as a consul at Rome, Libanius ^ as prefect of the palace at Constantinople, and Themistius* as prefect of Constantinople. Decline of At the beginning of the reign of Honorius (395), Fn Rome? templcs to at least nine different deities were still standing in Rome, and festivals and ceremonies in connection with them were observed. Shortly after- wards, however, it would appear that these temples fell into disuse. Thus Jerome, writing in 403, says, " The golden capitol is dishonoured, all the temples of Rome stand begrimed with cobwebs . . . and the populace streams past the half- demolished shrines on their way to the tombs of the martyrs." ^ The hope of being able to forecast the future by the examination of the entrails of victims explains why many, who were intellectually convinced of the truth of Christi- anity, still clung to the practice of offering heathen sacrifices. A decree of Theodosius issued in 385 had pronounced the punishment of death upon any who thus attempted to forecast the future.^ An imperial edict, issued by Theodosius II, in 423, assumes that heathenism was then almost extinct, ^ Codex Theodosianus, xvi. 10,1,12. where presides the king of kings, 2 Prudentius, In Symm. i. iv. 623. even Jupiter himself." Themist. ^ Libanius, E'p. 765. Orat. xvi. * Libanius, E'p. 38. Themistius, ^ Ep. cvii. referring to his entering the place ® Codex Theod. xvi. 10, 1, 9. See where the senate was assembled, Chastel, Destruction du paganisme, said, " I entered this sacred place 188. ITALY 215 and directs that any found sacrificing to " demons " are to be punished by confiscation of goods and banishment.^ St. Augustine's City of God, which was com- pleted in 426, and, to a lesser degree, the History of the World written by the Spaniard Orosius at the instigation of St. Augustine, helped to give the death- blow to the cause of philosophic paganism. In December 408 Honorius issued a decree ad- Removal dressed to Curtius the prefect of Italy, which directed i^mrgfs^.^ that all images in temples should be removed, that the temples should be converted to secular uses, and that the endowments of heathen festivals should be devoted to provide payment for the army.^ It is interesting to note that Augustine disapproved of the treatment of the temples which was ordered by this edict. He wrote, " Let us first extirpate the idolatry of the hearts of the heathen and they will either themselves assist us, or anticipate us, in the execution of this good work." ^ The bishops of the towns were empowered to suppress pagan customs and the civil authorities were ordered to assist them. The edict was not however extensively enforced and the next emperor of Rome, Attains, was himself a pagan. A belief in magic, divination and The belief astrology exercised a widespread influence in the later ^^ "^^s^^- days of paganism and long after paganism had been legally suppressed. Thus when Rome was threatened by the Goths in 408, some Tuscan magicians offered ^ C. Th. xvi. 10,1,22,23. "Pag- later decrees against paganism, in anos qui supersunt, quanquam jam 435 and 438. nullos esse credamus, promulgatarum ^ Cod. Theod. xvi. x. 20. legum jamdudum prescripta com- ^ Tom. v. p. 62, pescant." Theodosius II issued two 216 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vii. their services to Pompeianus the prefect, assuring him that by their spells they could save the city from its enemies. Pompeianus on this occasion sought advice from Innocent the bishop of Rome. Whether he, too believed in magic, or whether he feared the populace is uncertain ; but, instead of protesting against its use, he merely stipulated that the magical rites should be performed in secret. The Christian historian Sozomen ^ implies that the magical rites were performed, but were unavailing : the heathen writer Zosimus ^ says that they were not performed. Capture of The Capture of Rome by Alaric in 410 meant the Aiaric, ^ final ovcrthrow of paganism in the city of Rome. As ^^^* paganism gradually died out many temples were con- verted into churches and local deities were in some cases transformed into Christian saints.^ Heathen " The worship of the heathen deities . . . was super- Christian scdcd by the new form of Christianity, which at least saints. .^ .^g outward appearance approximated to polythe- ism : the Virgin gradually supplanted many of the local deities. In Sicily, which long remained obsti- nately wedded to the ancient faith, eight celebrated temples were dedicated to the Mother of God." ^ The last pagan festival, the Lupercalia, was sup- pressed by Pope Gelasius in 493, but heathenism lingered on till it was finally eradicated by the efforts of the monks towards the end of the fifth century. The reverence, if not worship, offered to the relics ^ ix. 6. iii. 182. According to Beugnot {De- ^ V, 41. struction du paganisme, ii. 271) this ^ At Siena the temple of Quirinus occurred soon after the Council of became the Church of St. Quirino. Ephesus had accorded to the Blessed ^ Milman, Hist of Christianity, Virgin the title deoroKos. ITALY 217 of martyrs and saints which became prominent at the end of the fourth century, was in many cases a con- tinuation of worship that had been previously offered to some pagan god. Whilst Julian and Libanius had ridiculed the Christians for worshipping a number of dead men, the Christian writer Theodoret definitely claimed that the Lord had substituted the martyrs for the heathen gods, and given them their glory. ^ Looking back over the long period of time that has Zeus and elapsed since the Greek and Roman gods ceased to be Krishna^ regarded as real beings, it is difficult for us to recon- ^^^ ^^^• struct in thought the conflict that was waged during the third and fourth centuries between their wor- shippers and the followers of Christ. The conflict which is now in progress in north India may, however, give us some help towards such a reconstruction. Dr Glover writes, " Zeus and Athena are not now, and we can only with difficulty conceive them ever to have been for thinking men, even with all the generous allowances philosophers might make, a possible alter- native to Christ. Yet are they stranger than Krishna and Kali ? Is it not possible to-day for man to halt between two opinions in India, and find in the philo- sophy or theosophy of thirty centuries of Hinduism an attraction which may outweigh Christianity ? When we think of the age of JuHan we must not forget that the Brahmo-Samaj exists to-day." ^ The last stage of the final struggle between Christi- anity and paganism in the Roman Empire, and more ^ Grcecarum Affectionum Guratio, tols Se rb eKelvcav diriveifxe yipas. viii. Migne, P. (?r. lxxxiii.,col. 1033. ^ Life and Letters in the Fourth Tovs oLKeiovs veKpoi)s 6 AecrTrdrT^s avreia-TJ^e Century, by T. R. Glover, p. 48. {dvT^Ta^e) Toh vfieripocs Qeoh . . . toij- 218 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vn. particularly in Italy, has for the student of Missions a peculiar interest, inasmuch as it resembles in several essential features the struggle between Christianity and Hinduism, Buddhism or Confucianism which is going on now in India and the Far East. As is the case to-day in India, China and Japan, so was it in the fourth century, the opposition that was called forth by the preaching of the Christian faith resulted The sub- in the sublimation and purification of the faiths to onfeathen which it was placed in opposition, until the rules of teachings. jj£g ^^^ couduct iuculcatcd by their noblest exponents became so exalted that there seemed little to choose between them and those of the teachers of Christianity. In this and in several other respects, the exponents of Hinduism and Buddhism in their efforts to stem the tide of Christianity in the East are acting even as the teachers of paganism acted in the time of Julian. JuHan. His story is one of the saddest which it is possible to read. A man naturally religious was driven, we might almost say forced, by the meanness, the bigotry and the hypocrisy of the Christians with whom he was brought into contact, to renounce his profession of Christianity and to seek in a purified and eclectic heathenism the satisfaction for himself and, as he vainly hoped, for his fellow-countrymen of his pure and noble aspirations. The words attributed to him as he was dying (S6S), "0 Galilean, Thou hast conquered," are apocryphal, but they none the less represent the truth. With the death of Juhan was extinguished the last hope of a purified heathenism that could offer any effective opposition to the ad- vancing tide of Christianity. How rapidly a nominal ITALY 219 Christianity reasserted itself in the Roman army may be seen from the statement of Socrates ^ that when his successor Jovian, who was saluted by the soldiers as Caesar, refused the title on the ground that he was a Christian, they answered with one voice that they too were Christians. Fifteen years later Ambrose of Milan (writing in 377 or 378) says that the schools of the heathen philosophers which Julian had encouraged were already deserted, whilst the number of simple believers daily increased.^ The last stronghold of heathenism in Rome was the Roman senate. Its members represented the tradi- tions and the glories of the past. Moreover, the city was full of temples,^ many of which had been built to commemorate victories, and the senate was specially concerned to preserve intact the religious ceremonies connected with them. Paganism in fact remained the Paganism state religion of Rome till 383, and well on into thereHgltTn^ fifth century it was represented in Rome by some*^^^^^^- of its leading citizens. Professor Lindsay writes : " Paganism never showed itself to greater advantage than during its last years of heroic but unavailing struggle. Its leaders, whether in the schools of Athens or among the senatorial party at Rome, were for the most part men of pure lives with a high moral standard of conduct, men who commanded esteem and respect. Immorality abounded but the pagan standard had ^ Hist. Eccl. iii. 22-26. ^ In the time of Julian the city of 2 De Fide, i. cap. xiii. " Philo- Rome contained 152 temples and 180 sophi soli in suis gymnasiis reman- smaller chapels or shrines, most of serunt. Illi quotidie a suis con- which were used for public worship. sortibus deseruntur, qui copiose dis- The capitol alone contained 50 putant ; isti quotidie crescunt qui temples or shrines. simpliciter credunt." 220 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vn. become much higher. Christians and heathen were full of mutual esteem for each other. The letters ex- changed between Symmachus and Ambrose reveal the intimacy in which the nobler pagans and earnest- minded Christians lived. Even the caustic Jerome seems to have a lurking but sincere affection for some of the leaders of the pagan senatorial party." ^ The weak- The wcakucss of this nobler form of paganism was juvenated the wcakucss which characterizes the rejuvenated paganism, jjjjijj^jgj^ ^ud Buddhism of to-day ; it had no saving or uplifting force which it could impart to the poor, the unlearned and the miserable. The possession of this force and of the power to impart it gave to Christi- anity its irresistible success as a missionary religion. Despite all the failings of individual Christians, despite the avarice, the self-seeking, the pride and the bigotry, which repelled men of a noble nature who like Julian possessed a genuinely religious spirit, the Christian community then as now was the embodiment of the only force which could regenerate human society. Survival In the country districts outside Rome and especially ism in the in Southcm Italy paganism lingered on for many years. districte. Naples was specially distinguished for its persistent ad- herence to paganism, and Etruria continued for a long time to supply the whole of Italy with pagan diviners. A tractate of Maximus of Turin written about 450 entitled Contra paganos speaks of paganism as pre- vailing generally in the surrounding district s.^ The lack of means of communication may in part account for the long continuance of paganism in the south. Its formal abolition may perhaps be dated from 500, ^ Cambridge Mediaeval History fi. 116. ^ See Migne, P. L. Ivii. col. 781. ITALY 221 when Theodoric issued a decree directing that all persons found sacrificing in accordance with pagan rites should be put to death. When Benedict arrived at the site of Monte Cassino Benedict in 529, prior to the foundation of the monastery, hefo^pag^ns found paganism still surviving. St. Gregory in his ^"^ ^'^^■ life of Benedict says that there existed there a very ancient shrine of Apollo and a sacred wood where the foolish peasants worshipped Apollo and other demons.^ As the result of Benedict's preaching they cut down the sacred wood and destroyed the shrine and idol, and on this site rose the famous monastery from which missionaries went forth into far distant lands. On leaving Bregenz in 613 Columbanus, who hadcoium- at first contemplated attempting missionary workitTiy^6i3. amongst the Slavonians, crossed the Alps accompanied by a single disciple named Attains, and betook himself to the court of Agiluf, the king of the Lombards, who with his wife Theodelinda gave him a hearty welcome at Milan. In a secluded gorge of the Apennines between Genoa and Milan he founded, and helped with his own hands to build, the monastery of Bobbio which afterwards became widely famous. During his last days he laboured to win the Arians of Lombardy to the orthodox faith and to convert the pagans who were still to be found in the neighbourhood. He decHned an invita- tion sent to him by Clothaire II to return to the mona- stery which he had founded at Luxeuil and eventually Death at died at Bobbio in 615 a.d., at the age of 72.^ ^^^^'''' ^ Gregory, Vita Ben. c. viii. 189 ff. His age at the date of his death ^ For references to the life and is not quite certain, work of Columbanus see above, p. 222 THE CON VERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vn. A cave is pointed out in a mountain gorge near Bobbio in which Columbanus is said to have Hved towards the end of his hfe, only returning to the monastery to spend Sundays and Saints' Days with his brethren. Jonas, the biographer of Columbanus, tells how a certain monk when travelling from Bobbio to Tortona attempted to destroy a wooden temple which he found on the shores of the Serivia, and how he was beaten and thrown into the water by the pagan worshippers connected with the temple. St. Bar- Although the life of St. Barbatus, given in the Acta Sanctorum ^ for Feb. 19, does not, in its earliest form, apparently date earlier than the m'nth century, it affords evidence that instances of paganism were to be found in southern Italy well on into the seventh century. Barbatus was born in 602, and the scene of his missionary labours was among the Samnites near Beneventum, whose king Romwald, was a son of the Lombard king Grimwald. Romwald's subjects had been baptized, but nevertheless continued to worship the image of a viper, and to pay homage to a " sacrilegious " tree that grew near the walls of their city. Barbatus reasoned with them and showed them that they could not serve two masters, but must choose between idolatry and the worship of God, and by the performance of many wonderful miracles he softened their hearts and induced them to listen to his teaching. becomes After a time the town of Beneventum was besieged by bishop of . b J Bene- the forccs of Coustantius, and its inhabitants were on the point of surrendering, whereupon Barbatus promised ^ An edition by Waitz is printed in the Scriptores Rerum Langohardicarum. ITALY 223 them that if they would renounce their idolatry God would defend them and deliver the city out of the hands of their enemies. Their deliverance having been effected, Barbatus was allowed to cut down the " sacri- legious " tree, and eventually the image of the viper was melted down and made into a chalice and paten. Barbatus is said to have continued as bishop of Beneventum for nearly nineteen years, and to have died on February 19, 682, in the eightieth year of his age. In trying to sketch the spread of Christianity throughout Italy we have only referred incidentally to the work of Constantine and to the influence which he exerted upon the missionary activities of the Church throughout the Roman Empire. The battle of the Milvian Bridge (October 28, 312), Con- foUowed as it was by the Edict of Milan, marks a influence^ turning-point in the history of the development of christian Christianity. From this time forward the Christian c^^^^^^- Church was left free to expand throughout the Empire, but from this time forward it was deprived of the bracing and purifying influence which the con- tempt and intermittent persecution of the State had exerted upon its members. " The world," wrote William Law, " by professing Christianity is so far from being a less dangerous enemy than it was before, that it has by its favours destroyed more Christians than ever it did by the most violent per- secution." 1 We need not here stop to discuss the personal char- acter of Constantine. His greatest admirers will admit 1 Serious Call, chap. xvii. 224 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vii. that he committed ghastly crimes ^ and that throughout his hfe his profession and practice of the Christian faith bore Httle relation the one to the other. On the other hand we must remember the low standard of morality which prevailed at the time in which he lived. The German historian Niebuhr writes : " Many judge of Constantine by too severe a standard, because they regard him as a Christian. But I cannot look upon him in that light. The religion which he had in his head must have been a strange jumble indeed. . . . He was a superstitious man, and mixed up his Christian reUgion with all kinds of absurd superstitions and opinions. When certain oriental writers call him ' equal to the Apostles ' they do not know what they are saying, and to speak of him as a saint is a profana- tion of the word." 2 Whatever judgment we may pass upon the personal character of Constantine we The com- cau entertain little doubt that the compromise between between paganism and Christianity which he effected^ was dis- and^cSS- astrous to the best interests of the Christian Church, tianity. Q^^ ^.]^q ^g^g g^ carcful studcut of history and who did much to emphasize the missionary obligations of the Christian Church, referring to his conversion, wrote : " The conversion of Constantine was the greatest calamity which ever happened to the Church. ' Con- quer by this.' Surely none can conquer by this save by dying upon it. Up to that time martyrs looked ^ E.g. the murder of his wife Bp. J. Wordsworth in the Dictionary Fausta and his son Crispus, which of Christian Biography. occurred after the Council of Nicsea. ^ After his death Constantine re- 2 Lectures on Roman History, ceived the honours of apotheosis and cap. V. For a critical appreciation the title of " divus. " See Eutropius, of the life and character of Con- x. 10. stantine see art. " Constantine " by ITALY 225 to the Cross that they might have divine strength to follow their crucified Redeemer. Thenceforward the benefits of Christ's Passion came to be regarded rather as a security for a future life than as an elevating power by which they might glorify God on earth. . . . Chris- tianity triumphed in name but the world triumphed in power." ^ Bishop Westcott, who takes a more favourable Bp. West- view of Constantine's work and character, writes : thfchar- " Slowly and painfully, moving ever towards the light, ^cter of he seems to have seen, as he advanced, more and more tine. clearly what the faith was which at first he identified with the Author of his own successes. . . . Constantine is a figure of the passage from the old world to the new. ... If his worth be estimated by what he did he will rank second to few among the benefactors of humanity." ^ The conversion of Constantine resulted in the rapid Results of extension of a profession of Christianity throughout version. the Empire, but, as might have been anticipated, the conversion of his subjects was no deeper or more com- plete than was that of their Emperor. "It is a fact of grim and terrible significance that the geographical extension and external triumph of Christianity, which was intended to be the light of the world, coincided with the beginning of that period which historians ^ Art. by R. M. Benson (Founder Saviour to the Cross, according to the of the Cowley Brotherhood) : The familiar legend, he used them for East and the West, vol. i. p. 293. his helmet and the bit of his war- 2 The Two Empires, p. 232 f. horse. The fragment of the Cross Bp. W. adds, "Even to the last he itself he placed in his own statue stands before us as Constantine the with the attributes of the sun at Conqueror. When Helena sent him Constantinople." the nails which had fastened the P 226 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vii. have generally, and not unjustly, called " the Dark Ages." 1 Eusebius in his life of Constantine refers to the " unspeakable hypocrisy of those who creep into the Church and make a spurious profession of Christi- anity." 2 Constan- It is hardly possible to avoid asking the question, Marcus On what lines might the Christian Church have deve- Aure US. j^pg^j^ ^j^ J what would havc been its influence as a missionary agency if the character of Constantine had been other than it was, or if an emperor such as Marcus Aurelius had been on the throne when Christianity became nominally the religion of the State ? It is indeed a tragedy of history to which it would be impossible to find a parallel that to the best and most religious emperor who ever controlled the fortunes of the Roman Empire should never have been vouch- There- safcd any knowledge of the Christian faith other than ofu. that which was supplied to him by its opponents. Aure us. rpj^^ solitary and scornful reference to it which occurs in his Meditations suggests that he was wholly unacquainted with its teachings. Had he read any defence of Christianity such as the second Aj)ology of Justin Martyr which was addressed to the emperor, or had he come in contact with any great Christian personaHty, we cannot doubt that he would have become an ardent disciple of Jesus Christ. Had he become a Christian, and had he been able to retain his ^ The Church and the World in &\eKTov ruiv t7]p iKKkrjaiav vwobvoixivoiv Idea and in History, by W. Hob- koI to Xpia-TLapuv eTriTrXdcrrws axvi^^~ house, p. 153. TL^ofiivuv 'ovofia. 2 Vita Const, iv. 54. eipuivelav r ITALY 227 seat on the imperial throne, it might well have been the case that he would have exerted a profound in- fluence upon the development of the Christian Church throughout the world. "It is," as John Stuart Mill says in his Essay on Liberty, " one of the most tragical facts of all history that Constantine, rather than Marcus Aurelius, was the first Christian emperor. It is a bitter thought how different the Christianity of the world might have been, had it been adopted as the religion of the empire under the auspices of Marcus Aurelius instead of those of Constantine." As the case was it is not difficult for us to understand his motive for instituting a persecution against the Christians. He was unfeignedly devoted to the worship of the gods on whose temples from his palace on the Palatine he gazed from day to day, and to whose providential care he believed the building up of the greatest empire which the world had ever seen was due. He was told by those on whose word he had been accustomed to rely that the imperial city, which contained countless thousands who worshipped the national deities, contained also a sect which had arisen but yesterday, and which, not content with refusing to do honour to these gods, declared that they were phantoms of the imagination, or worse still personifi- cations of the forces of evil, and who claimed for the Being whom they worshipped a solitary supremacy. He would further have been told that this sect was inspired with missionary activity foreign to the wor- shippers of all other gods, which had already resulted in spreading its doctrines throughout the remotest districts, doctrines which constituted an increas- 228 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap, vn. ing danger to the institutions and religion of the empire. Diary Dr Glover, after referring to his diary as "in many AureHus. ways the saddest of all books," writes, " Its manliness and purity, its high ideals and earnestness, make more pathetic that haunting uncertainty and want of rest which one feels throughout it. The theory of life is so obviously only a working hypothesis, unverifiable at best. . . . He is no atheist, no sceptic perhaps, but he looks for heavenly guidance and is not conscious of receiving it, and so he makes his own way sadly as well as he can. Yet from the story of his life we learn that this thinker, this speculator, emancipated as we might suppose him from common weakness, sacrificed perhaps more than any other Roman Emperor. If he was not to attain light from the gods, it was not to be for want of asking it. So doubt and devotion went hand in hand in sadness." ^ Had the conversion of Italy and of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean been less superficial, and had the missionaries and early Christian teachers succeeded in inspiring the population of these countries with the true ideals of the Christian faith, the sub- sequent history of Europe would have been far other than it has been. As it is, we cannot dispute the truth Christi- of the words of a modern historian who writes : "It thf Jady is impossible to read the history of the early Middle Middle Agcs without feeling that for the first six centuries after the fall of the western Empire, there is little or no progress. The night grows darker and darker, and we seem to get ever deeper into the mire. Not * Life and Letters in the Fourth Century, T. R. Glover, pp. 306 f. ITALY 229 till we are quite clear of the wrecks of the Carolingian fabric, not till the days of William the Norman and Hildebrand, do we seem to be making any satisfactory progress out of Chaos into Cosmos." ^ ^ Italy and Her Invaders, H. T. Hodgkin, ii. 536 f. CHAPTER VIII THE BALKAN PENINSULA Countries Under the term Balkan peninsula we include the in the couutries which now constitute Greece, Bulgaria, penS^suia. Rumania, Turkey in Europe, Serbia, Herzegovina, Albania and Dalmatia. The ancient districts or pro- vinces as they existed in the fourth century in which these territories were included were Achaia, which included the Peloponnesus ; Epirus, which included the western half of northern Greece ^ ; Macedonia, which included north-eastern Greece and the southern parts of Serbia and Bulgaria ; Thracia, which included Turkey in Europe and part of Bulgaria ; XTpper Mcesia, which included the northern parts of Serbia; and Lower Mcesia, which included north Bulgaria ; and Dalmatia on the Adriatic which extended much more to the east than does the present Dalmatia and included Albania and Herzegovina. Modern Rumania formed part of Dacia. Christian By the end of the first century a Christian community munities apparently existed in the following places : Philippi, '^ ^^^ '^•°' Thessalonica and Beroea in Macedonia (Acts xvii.) ; Nicopolis in Epirus (Titus iii. 12) ; Athens, Corinth and Cenchrsea in Greece; lUyria (Romans xv. 19), and ^ The expression Illyria was used The term was also used of a much in the early centuries to denote wider area including Dalmatia and portions of Epirus and Macedonia. Pannonia. 230 Plate 3. BALKAN PENINSULA in the 5*^ Century I Sta.tute Mi|es ■, SO 100 150 George Philii> &• Son, Ltd, Lonsfinans, Green & Co.. Loadon, New York. Bombay Calcutta & Madras. Tofacepage230 THE BALKAN PENINSULA 231 Dalmatia {2 Tim. iv. 10). It is possible that St. Peter st. Peter may have laboured as a missionary in Greece, or in '"^ ^''^^''^' other parts of the Balkan peninsula. That he taught for some time in Corinth may perhaps be inferred from the statement of St. Paul that there arose a party in that city which said of him, " I am of Peter." Moreover Dionysius of Corinth, writing to Soter bishop of Rome, speaks of " the plantation of Peter and Paul at Rome and Corinth." ^ By the year 180 a.d. Christian communities were also in existence at Debeltum and Anchialus ^ and prob- ably at Byzantium,^ at Larissa in Thessaly,* in Lace- daemon,^ at Cnossus and Gortyna and other towns in Crete ^ and at Same in Cephalonia.^ The one outstanding figure in Greece in the second Dionysius century is Dionysius bishop of Corinth {circ. 170) who '^*^''"'^^^- wrote a series of letters containing counsel and exhorta- tion to the Christians of Lacedaemon, Athens, Rome and other places.^ Fragments of these letters have been pre- served for us by Eusebius. Early in the fourth century there were apparently separate churches or ecclesi- astical provinces in Pannonia, Dacia, Moesia, Thrace, Achaia and Macedonia.'^ A little later, according to the list given by Duchesne,^^ Euboea had three bishop- ^ See Euseb, Hist. Eccl. ii. 25. wrote to Athens and Lacedaemon ^ Euseb. H. E. v. 19. as metropolitan, to Crete and Pontus •' Hippol. Philos. vii. 35. as a colleague and equal, and to the ^ Melito in Eus, H. E. iv. 26. bishop of Rome as a modest and ad- ^ Dionysius of Corinth in Eus. miring colleague." Exp. of C.n.2Z\. H. E, iv. 23. ^ Optatus bishop of Milevi (ii. 1), * Ibid. writing about 384, refers to the ' Clem. Alex. Strom, iii. 2, 5. "ecclesiaintribusPannoniis,inDacia, ^ Harnack writes, " The tone of his Moesia, Thracia, Achaia, Macedonia." letters which can be felt in the brief ^" Les anciens h^ches de la Grice, extracts of Eusebius, shows that he p. 14. 232 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. viii. rics, Attica one, Northern Greece ten, and the Pelo- ponnesus seven. It is probable that throughout the greater part of the Balkan peninsula, prior to the time Christi- of Coustantinc, the Christian population was small con&ied ^ud chicfly confined to the towns. Of the missionary to^^t activities by which the Christian faith was spread we know nothing. The following references to Christians in various towns in the peninsula, whilst they prove the existence of Christian communities in the places mentioned, throw little light upon the means by which they were established. Polycarp addressed an epistle Phiiippi. to the Christians at Philippi just before his martjnrdom in 155, in which he specially exhorts them to refrain from covetousness, and recalls the teaching given to Thes- them by St. Paul. The metropolitan bishop of Thes- salonica, Alexander, was present at the Council of Nicaea. According to the statement of Dionysius of Athens. Corinth, the first bishop of Athens was Dionysius the Areopagite.i The apologist Aristides and perhaps Clement of Alexandria came from Athens. Origen, who had spent some time in Athens, wrote, " The Church of God at Athens is a peaceable and orderly body, as it desires to please Almighty God." ^ Its bishop, Pistus, was present at Nicaea. On the other hand Gregory of Nazianzus, who was educated at Athens in the middle of the fourth century, refers to the strength of paganism and pagan teaching at that time.^ Clement bishop of Rome, writing in a.d. 95 to the Corinth, church at Corinth, after referring to the " detestable and imholy sedition " that had arisen in their midst, ^ Acts xvii. 34. also statements by Libanius in De 2 Contra Celsum, iii. 30. vita sua, p. 13. ^ See Oration 43, ch. xiv. See THE BALKAN PENINSULA 233 praises them for their " stedfast faith " and that they " were ready unto every good work." ^ Hegesippus, a Jewish Christian, writing about 180, says, " the church of the Corinthians continued in the orthodox teach- ing till Primus was bishop in Corinth. I conversed with them in the course of my voyage to Rome and spent many days with the Corinthians during which we refreshed each other with orthodox teaching." ^ Origen speaks of the Christians at Corinth in the same terms as of those at Athens. ^ Dionysius of Corinth wrote a letter to the church of Lacedaemon enjoining Lace- peace and unity.* Of this church Harnack writes, ^*°^<^^- " The fact of a Christian community existing in a country town like Lacedaemon by the year 170 proves that missionary work had been done from Corinth throughout the Peloponese, although, as we see from the subsequent period, Christianity only got a footing there with difficulty." ^ Philostorgius ^ relates how the Emperor Constantius brought what he beheved to be the remains of St. Andrew and St. Luke from Achaia to Constantinople.^ Achaia. There was a Christian church at Byzantium in Europe Byzan- prior to the founding of Constantinople in 326.^ Some Slavonic tribes who had settled in the interior ^ Ep. ad Cor. i. and ii. to Harnack there was a Christian ^ Hegesippus in Eus. H. E. iv. 22. community before 325, in addition ^ Contra Celsum, iii. 30. to those ah-eady mentioned, are ^ Eus. H. E. iv. 23. ^ Heraclea (Perinthus), Stobi in Mace- 5 Exp. of Christianity, ii. 233 f. donia, Thebes in Thessaly, Euboea, ' Philostorgius, iii. 2. Pele in Thessaly, Scupi (Uskub) in "^ Harnack writes, " It is not im- Dardania, Adrianopolis, Drizipara possible that Andrew and Luke and Ephibata in Thrace, Buthrotum really died in Achaia." Exp. of C. in Epirus and Pydna. Exp. of G. ii. 234. ii. p. 235. ® Other places in which according tium. 234 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. vm. TiiePeio- of Hellas were converted by missionaries who were ponnesus. ^^^^ ^^ them by the Emperor Basil, circ. 870, and about this time the Mainots, descendants of the ancient Greeks who inhabited the rocky fastnesses in the neighbourhood of Mount Taygetus in the south of the Peloponnesus, were forced to accept Christian baptism. Constantine Porphyrogenitus (905-59) refers to the obstinacy with which these had long clung to the pagan worship of the Greeks.^ St. Paul apparently visited lUyria^ to the south of Daimatia. Dalmatia, which was afterwards included in Macedonia, and Titus went to Dalmatia.^ Harnack writes, " The wealth of inscriptions which have been discovered reveals a considerable amount of Christianity in Dal- matia which may be held with great probability to go back to the pre-Constantine period, particularly as Saiona. regards Salona where a local churchyard is traced back as far as the beginning of the second century."^ Domnio bishop of Salona was martyred there under Diocletian. Four Christian stonemasons worked in the mines of Fruschka Gora, whither Cyril bishop of Antioch was also banished. Moesia. We Icam from the list of bishops who were present at Nicsea that there was at that time a bishop of Sardica in Upper Moesia,^ and one at Marcianopolis in Lower Moesia near the shores of the Black Sea. From the Acta Sanctorum we learn that there had been Christian martyrs before this date at Dorostorum, Tomi, Axio- ^ Constant. Porphyr. de administ ^ 2 Tim. iv. 10. imp. : see Hardwick's Middle Ages, ^ Exp. of G. ii. p. 238. p. 136 n., and Chastel, Destruct. du ^ Known also as Dacia Aureliani, Paganisme, p. 305 f . the scene of the Church Council, see 2 Rom. XV. 19. above, pp. 91, 174. THE BALKAN PENINSULA 235 polis and Noviodunum. There was also probably a bishopric at Naissus in Upper Moesia. Eusebius, describing the dedication of a church at Moesians Jerusalem, says that the Moesians and Pannonians saiem .'' were represented by " the fairest bloom of God's youth- ful stock among them." ^ His words imply that Christianity had but recently spread in Moesia and Pannonia. At Sardica, the modern Sofia and the capital of Council of Bulgaria, a Church Council was held in 343 during the 343. ^^^' Arian controversy. The Eastern bishops, having failed to agree with those who came from the West, withdrew and held a rival Council at Philippopolis. The majority of the pagan temples in Greece remained intact, and the pagan ceremonial connected with them continued till nearly the end of the fourth century. Tlie destruction of the temples and the abolition of pagan sacrifices were effected by the Gothic invaders invasion who, after devastating the whole country between the Goths. Adriatic and the Euxine, forced the Pass of Thermopylae in 396, and overran with fire and sword the whole of Greece. According to Eunapius ^ it was Greek monks who showed the Goths the Pass of Thermopylae and helped them to invade Greece. The Goths had them- selves been recently converted to Christianity. They razed Olympiad with its famous temple of Zeus and massacred its inhabitants. Athens alone was spared, in consequence apparently of a large bribe contributed by its inhabitants. The magnificent temple of Eleusis, famous during so many centuries for its mysterious 1 See below, p. 284, note. Synop. i. 326) the last Olympic 2 Eunap. in Maxim, p. 476. games were held in 393. ^ According to Cedrenus {Hisl. 236 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. viii. rites, was destroyed. Many Greeks, on hearing of the destruction of Eleusis and Olympia, are said to have committed suicide.^ The temples, moreover, that escaped the ravages of the Goths were for the most part destroyed at the instigation of the Christian bishops. Early in the fifth century Chrysostom ap- pealed to the rich landowners to build Christian churches on their estates to take the place of the temples that had been destroyed,^ and in several of his letters that have been preserved he urges the monks and clergy to promote the destruction of heathen temples. In 432, or soon afterwards, the temple of Esculapius in Athens was destroyed and the statue of Minerva was removed from the Parthenon.^ The schools of philosophy at Athens continued to be centres of pagan teaching till the reign of Justinian (527-65), who issued a decree addressed to the magistrates at Athens forbidding the Forcible teaching of philosophy.^ A later decree issued by sionT^ Justinian, probably in 531, threatens the punishment under Qf (Jeath UDOU thosc who continue as pagans after Justinian. ... r o having received baptism. It further orders all who have not been baptized to assemble, together with their wives, children and dependants, in churches and there to receive baptism, the administration of which in the case of adults was to be preceded by instruction in the Christian faith. Those who refused to be baptized were to be deprived of all their property and, if convicted of sacrificing to idols, were to be put to death.^ Three months were allowed for the execution of this decree. ^ Eunapius in Prise, p. 482. See Chastel, Destruction du Pagan- 2 Chrysostom, Horn, xviii. in Act. isme, p. 232. Apost. 1, 9. ^ John Malalas, Chron. xviii. 3 Marinus, Vita Prodi, c. 29, 30. ^ Codex Justinian, i. 11. THE BALKAN PENINSULA 237 Constantinople was founded by a Christian Emperor Paganism and had no heathen traditions,^ but, as the sermons stantf- and other writings of Chrysostom, who was bishop of "^"^p^®* Constantinople from 398 to 404, testify, much of the Christianity which prevailed there was superficial and was largely mingled with paganism. A heathen named Optatus was prefect of Constantinople in 404.^ As an illustration of the pressure that was exerted by Theodosius II (408-450) to compel the profession of Christianity in Constantinople and of the super- ficiality of the conversions that resulted we may note the case of Cyrus, a leading patrician in Constantinople Bishop and a pagan. In order to save his life, when he had^^^^^* been accused as a pagan, he allowed himself to be ordained a priest. The Emperor then caused him to be made bishop of Cotyaeum, a remote town in Phrygia. He reached this town at Christmas time, whereupon the people insisted that he should preach them a sermon suitable for the festival. The bishop, being compelled to comply with their request, spoke as follows, "Brethren, let the birth of oiu* God and Saviour Jesus Christ be honoured by silence because by hearing alone was the Word conceived in the Sacred Virgin. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." ^ As late as the sixth century we read of the presence Baptism of pagans in Constantinople and of the means adopted l^n Con-^^ by the Emperor Justinian in 546 for their conversion, nopie By his orders a number of them were collected in a church where they received a brief instruction from ^ Constantine prohibited from the ^ Socrates, H. E. vi. 18. first idols, sacrifices, pagan festivals ^ Joannes Malalas, Chronographia, and gladiatorial shows in Constant!- xiv. p. 362. Migne, xcvii. col. 357 ff. nople. Cod. Theod. xvi. 10, 1. 238 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. viii. Bishop John who immediately afterwards baptized them all.^ In 561 a number of heathen were dis- covered to be hving in Constantinople, whereupon, their books and idols having been burnt, they were mutilated and led in disgrace through the streets of the city."^ Kuma- In the eleventh century the Rumanians who were Vomynia akin to the Turks entered Europe and settled in Vol- Mddavia. hyuia and Moldavia, the latter of which forms the northern province of Rumania, where many of them retained their pagan forms of religion. In 1220 the archbishop of Gran is said to have baptized the king of the Rumanians and a large number of his subjects,^ but many of them remained as pagans. In 1340 some Franciscan missionaries in Szeret in Bukhovina were murdered by the inhabitants, whereupon an army of Hungarian crusaders marched into the country and compelled the inhabitants to accept baptism and to acknowledge the authority of the Pope, a bishopric being established by Pope Urban V at Szeret in 1370. A little later Moldavia was subdued by the Wallachians and the Christians became subject to the jurisdiction of the Eastern Church. The Conversion of the Goths Early The first appearance of the Goths * concerning which the Goths, any historical details are available was in the lands north of the Lower Danube during the third century of ^ This bishop was despatched in ^ See Annates Spondani, iii. 109. 556 on a mission in Asia Minor where ^ Most modern writers are of he is said to have baptized 70,000 opinion that the Goths are not to be pagans. See Destruction du Pagan- identified with the ancient Getse. isme dans V Orient by Chastel, p. 289. It seems certain that the point of 2 John Malalas, Chron. xviii. departure for their migration south- THE BALKAN PENINSULA 239 the Christian era. Their appearance on the borders of the Roman Empire dates from 238. In the reign of PhiHp (244-248) they crossed the Danube and ravaged Moesia (which included what is now the northern part of modern Serbia and Bulgaria), and in 251 the Emperor Decius fell fighting against them. Between 238 and 269 they made no less than ten inroads on the Roman Empire. Their first per- Goths in manent settlement appears to have been in the Crimea c^ij^ea about 268. In 274 the Roman legions were withdrawn 2^^- from Dacia north of the Danube, and the occupation of this territory by the Goths was legally recognized. The first Goths to become Christian were settlers in the Crimea, who became Catholic as distinguished from Arian Christians.^ Athanasius, writing in 320 before the Council of Nicsea, refers to Christians amongst Goths and Scythians.2 A Gothic bishop named Theophilus was present at this Council,^ and whilst nothing is certainly known of the Christian community which he repre- sented, it is probable that he represented a Gothic Church on the Cimmerian Bosphorus.* wards was the southern shore of ^ Socrates, ii. 41. Migne, P. Gr. the Baltic Sea. They reached the Ixvii. col. 349. Euxine early in the third century, ^ His signature is preceded by the travelling up the basin of the Vistula words " de Gothis," and followed and down the valley of the Pruth, by " Bosporitanus." Another MS. and settled for a time in what was reads " Provinciae Gothise : Theo- after wards known as Moldavia and philus Gothiae metropolis." Accord- WaUachia. They are to be identified ing to the Paris MS. another signatory with the Gothones mentioned by was Domnus Bosphorensis or Bosphor- Tacitus {Germania, 43 ; Ann. ii. 62). anus. This may have been another See also Pliny, N. H. iv. 28. Gothic bishop. Bessell suggests that ^ See Bessell, Ueher das Leben des Domnus was the representative of Ulfilas, ip. 115 f. the Orthodox Catholic Christians in 2 De Incarnaiione Verbi, c. 51, 52. the Crimea. See Leben des U. p. 116. sionanes. 240 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. viii. Cyril of Jerusalem about the middle of the fourth century refers to martyrs amongst the Goths. ^ Eutyches, Basil of Caisarea, in a letter addressed to Ascholius ary^toXe thanking him for the gift made to the Church of Cappa- ^Q^^' docia of relics of Gothic martyrs, after referring to a Cappadocian named Eutyches who had been a mission- ary amongst the Goths about 360,^ writes, " No one of us stands near to Eutyches for worth, for we are so far from bringing to gentleness the barbarian by the power of the Spirit and the exercise of the gifts received from Him, that even those who are gently disposed are made fierce by the exceeding number of our sins." Christian In the raids made by the Goths along the southern as mis- shores of the Black Sea the captives whom they carried away included several clergy and other Christians, and it was by these that a knowledge of the faith was first introduced amongst the Goths. Thus Sozomen,^ writing about 440, says : "To almost all the barbarians the opportunity of having Christian teaching proclaimed to them was offered by the war which took place at that time between the Romans and the other races, imder the reign of Gallienus and his successors. For when in those reigns an untold multitude of mixed races passed over from Thrace, and overran Asia, while from different quarters different barbarian peoples treated in hke manner the Romans who were their neighbours, many priests of Christ were taken prisoners and abode with them. And when they healed the sick who were there, cleansed those who had evil spirits by simply naming the name of Christ and calling on the 1 Catech. x. 19. 3 jji^i^ Ecd. ii. 6. Migne, P. Gr. 2 Basil, Eyp.; Migne, P. Gr. xxxii. Ixviii. col. 949. col. 636; BesseU, p. 113 n. THE BALKAN PENINSULA 241 Son of God, and further maintained a noble and blame- less conversation, and overcame their reproach by their virtuous conduct, the barbarians marvelled at the men, their life and wonderful works, and acknowledged that they themselves would be wise and win the favour of God if they were to act after the manner of those who thus showed themselves to be better men and like them were to serve the right : so getting them to in- struct them in their duty, they were taught and baptized and subsequently met as a congregation." Philostorgius {circ, 358-427) , who was a native of one umias. of the districts in Asia Minor ravaged by the Goths, states that the captives carried to Europe by the Goths included the parents of Ulfilas,^ who was afterwards to win for himself the title of Apostle of the Goths.^ Ac- cording to Philostorgius his parents came from Sada- golthina in the neighbourhood of Parnassus in Cappa- docia. Doubts have been thrown upon the statement Doubts that Ulfilas was a Cappadocian, and the facts that his ing his name is Gothic, and that his pupil Auxentius does not aSty." suggest that he was not of Gothic origin, and that in their negotiations with the Romans he was treated by the Goths as one of themselves tend to cast doubt upon the statement. The question is one which it is impossible to settle. Until within recent times we ^ The name has been variously the latter reminds Damasus that spelt as Wulfila, Vulfila, Hulfila, Dionysius, a former bishop of Rome, Gulphilas, OvcpiWas, and Oi>people to accept the new religion. The people replied : " What have we to do with you ? . . . Amongst the Christians are thieves and robbers who (for their misdeeds) are deprived of feet and eyes, and there are all kinds of crimes and punishments. One Christian execrates another Christian. Let such a religion be far from us." With these and other similar Stettin. GERMANY 407 excuses they refused to listen to the missionaries, and for the space of two months these made no way. It Appeaito was then decided to send messengers to the duke of of^po^^nd. Poland to ask whether they should leave Stettin and return to him, and what was his will in regard to the people of Stettin who had refused to accept the Christian faith. When the inhabitants of Stettin heard of the sending of this embassy they feared its possible out- come, and sent a message themselves to the duke stating their willingness to accept Christianity provided that he would diminish their tribute and grant them a permanent peace. Whilst waiting for the return of his messengers. Otto strove by peaceful means to win over the inhabitants of Stettin to the Christian faith. On the market days, which occurred twice a week, when many of the country people from outside visited the town. Otto appeared, dressed in priestly robes and with a cross borne in front of him, and strove to explain to the crowds who gathered round him the doctrines of Christianity. By doing so he risked his life, but " God protected him," and neither he nor his companions suffered any harm. ^ The baptism of the two sons of one of the most Baptism influential residents in Stettin did much to increase the youXs at bishop's influence. They came to him again and again ^*^t^^^- asking to be instructed concerning the faith : the bishop spoke to them of the purity of Christianity, of the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and of the hope and glory of eternal life, and ere long they expressed a desire to receive baptism. After they ^ "Jugulum neci quodammodo cottidie aptaverunt, sed Deo protegente Isesi non sunt." 408 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. had received further instruction they were washed and baptized and arrayed in white robes, and for eight days they stayed with the bishop without returning to their home, their father being away from home at the time. On receipt of a message from their mother that she was coming to see him and her sons, the bishop took his seat on a bank in the open air surrounded by the other missionaries, and with the two youths arrayed in white garments below him. On the approach of their mother her sons rose to meet her, whereupon she fell fainting to the ground, overcome, as the spectators imagined, with grief that her sons had become Christians. When, however, the bishop and his companions raised her up she exclaimed to the amazed spectators : "I thank Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou source of all hope and of all consolation, that I behold my sons initiated into Thy sacraments, and enlightened by the faith in Thy truth, for Thou knowest. Lord Jesus Christ, that for many years I have not ceased in the secret recesses of my heart to recommend these youths to Thy com- passion, beseeching Thee to do in them that which Thou now hast done." Then turning to the bishop, she said : " Blessed be (the day of) thy coming to this city, most reverend father, for if thou wilt but persevere, much people shall here be gained for the Lord, let not delay cause thee to become weary : behold I myself, who stand here before you, do by the aid of Almighty God, encouraged by your presence, reverend father, but throwing myself on the help of these my children ipignorum), confess that I am a Christian, a truth which till now I dared not openly acknowledge." She then related how as a girl she had been carried GERMANY 409 away from a Christian land and had been given as a wife to a rich and noble man by whom she had had these two sons. Her confession was soon afterwards followed Further by the baptism of the members of her household and ^^p*^^^- of many of her neighbours. The two youths were filled with missionary enthusi- asm, and pleaded with their fellow-countrymen that a religion which resulted in the emancipation of slaves and in the other beneficent deeds which distinguished the conduct of the missionaries, must be true and deserving of acceptance. Their father, on his return home, was sorely grieved ^ at the conversion of his wife and household to the Christian faith, but ere long, influenced by the prayers and example of his wife, he too became a Christian. Soon afterwards a letter was received from the duke Letter of Poland in reply to the embassage which had been^Xo^^ sent to him. In his letter, in which he described him- Poland. self as " the enemy of all pagans," he said that if the inhabitants embraced Christianity they might look for peace and a decrease of tribute, but that otherwise their land would be laid waste with fire and sword, and his relation to them would become one of " eternal enmity." On receipt of the letter Otto proposed to the assembled people that, inasmuch as the worship of the true God could not be combined with that of idols, they should proceed to destroy the temples of the false gods. When they hung back, moved by superstitious Destruc fears, Otto and his assistants armed with hatchets [emp^L at and pickaxes, and having obtained their reluctant ^^^^t^^ consent, proceeded to carry out the work of destruction. ^ "Mori voluit prae dolore." 410 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. The first temple to be attacked was that of the Slavic god Triglav, or Triglaus, i.e, the three-headed, which contained an image of the god and was decorated with sculptures and paintings. As it had been the custom to dedicate to this god a tenth part of all the spoils taken in war, its temple contained much treasure. The bishop having sprinkled the spoils with holy water and having made the sign of the Cross, distributed them Triglav. amougst the people. The heads of Triglav he after- wards sent to Rome. A sacred oak,^ which was valued for its shade, the bishop allowed to remain, but he in- sisted that a horse which was used for purposes of divination should be sent out of the country and sold. After the destruction of all heathen emblems a large Changes uumbcr of the people were baptized. Otto's biographer baptism/ refers to the change in the countenances of those who had been baptized, which soon made it easy even for the heathen to distinguish the Christians from those who had not been converted : a change similar to that which has often been noted by missionaries in the Christian villages of South India and elsewhere. He writes : " On the faces of all who had been baptized there shone happiness and the brightness of spiritual grace, so that those who had been baptized could be distinguished from those who had not been baptized, even as light from darkness." ^ After a stay of five months and the erection of a Christian church in the middle of the market-place, ^ The oak was regarded as specially baptizatorum quendam jucundum et sacred to Perun, the god of thunder. spirituaHs gratiae rutilare fulgorem, See La Mythologie Slave, par M. L. ita ut baptizati a non baptizatis, velut Leger, p. 74. luxatenebris, facile discernipossent." * " In vultibus scilicet omnium Vita, ii. 24. GERMANY 411 the bishop left Stettin and, descending the River Oder, crossed the sea to JuKn, in the island of WoUin. Its inhabitants, who had previously opposed the bishop's mission, had become friendly and were eager to welcome him, as a result of the news which had reached them from Stettin. During the two months that the bishop and his companions spent in Julin they were busily occupied in teaching and baptizing the large number of the inhabitants who desired to become Christians.^ He next went to a place called Clonoda (or Clodona), visit to the neighbourhood of which had recently been devas- tated by the duke of Poland, and then visited Colberg (Colbrega), many of the inhabitants of which were at the time absent on voyages. He baptized many both here and at Bielgrad, which was distant one day's journey from Colberg, and then turned back in the hope of reaching his own city of Bamberg before Easter.- Before leaving Pomerania to return home, he re- otto ad- visited the churches that he had helped to found, in^nfirma- order to administer confirmation to those who had*^^'^' been baptized, and to baptize those who had been away from their homes on the occasion of his previous visits. He was also able to consecrate several Christian churches, the building of which had been completed.^ The Christians throughout Pomerania entreated Otto to remain with them and be their bishop, and his biographer states that had it not been for the dissuasion 1 " Tota civitas et provincia cum ^ " Redire ad suam sedem conse- populo suo apposita est ad Deum, craturus crisma." Vita, ii. 27. tantaque fuit multitudo virorum et ^ The number of baptized Christians muHerumetutriusquesexuspuerorum in Pomerania at this time was about ut in spatio duorum mensium quamvis 22,000, and the number of churches sine cessatione ageretur opus, vix eleven. See Hauck's Kirchenge- omnes tingi potuissent." Vita, ii. 25. schichte Deutschlands, iv. 600 n. 412 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. of the clergy, his companions, he would have yielded to his own inclination and would have complied with His re- their request. On his journey home he passed through Bamberg Poland and arranged with the Duke Boleslav for the consecration of Adalbert, one of the missionaries who had accompanied him on his tour, to be the first bishop Slow pro- of Julin. The missionaries whom Otto left behind mission- J^i^ ill Pomerania were few in number and were, more- arywork. Qygj.^ Iqq deficient in wisdom and zeal to consolidate the work that had been begun, and during the next three years that he spent in Bamberg very little progress was achieved. When he left to return home Christianity had been introduced into one half of Pomerania, whilst the other half remained heathen, and as those who had become Christians from political rather than from religious motives came into contact with their heathen neighbours, the few missionaries who had been left in their country found it hard to prevent the spread of a reaction in favour of their ancestral customs. Otto In the spring of 1127 Otto set out to revisit p^mer- Pomerauia. Passing through Saxony he descended ania,ii27. ^]^g River Elbe for some distance and travelled over- land as far as Demmin (Timina), a town which was still heathen. On this second expedition he defrayed all his personal expenses and those of his companions, and with this object in view he purchased a quantity of grain and other merchandise at Halle, which was conveyed by boat down the Elbe and afterwards transferred to fifty waggons to be carried overland to Demmin. Here he met Duke Wratislav (Frocislaus), who was returning from a campaign against the Leuticians, GERMANY 413 and was accompanied by a large number of captives Liberation whom he had reduced to a condition of slavery. Xhe°^^^^^^^' bishop entreated the duke to exercise Christian com- passion and not to separate wives from their husbands or young children from their parents. He himself bought some of those who were pagans, and, having instructed them in the Christian faith, sent them back to their homes. From Demmin Otto proceeded to Usedom (Unz- Diet at noimia), a three days' march, where he met Duke ^^®^°°^' Wratislav, who, at his suggestion, agreed that at the approaching Whitsuntide a diet or assembly should be held at Usedom in order to induce the various States in Pomerania to establish the Christian Church throughout the whole country. When the assembly met, Wratislav himself spoke and urged those present to abandon idolatry and to be baptized as Christians. Presenting Otto to them, he drew their attention to the fact that although he was of noble birth and a rich man, and possessed of gold, silver, and lands, and " all that the world calls precious," he had left his life of ease and honour in order to benefit the peoples of Pomerania. He urged, wratisiav too, that as his motives could not be impugned, he was adlp^tfon deserving of an attentive hearing and of credit : they ^nit^"^^^' had refused to listen to the missionaries who had come to them before on the ground that they were poor : let them listen then to those who were rich.^ The bishop in the course of his address spoke of the divine mercy, of the forgiveness of sins, and of the gift of the Holy Spirit. His words were productive of immediate ^ "Noluistis audire mendicos evangelistas, audite opulentos." 414 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. Many results, and some who had abandoned their profession ap isms. ^£ Christianity professed repentance, and many others, together with all the chiefs and their attendants, were baptized. Otto stayed altogether a week in Usedom, and when he left to prosecute his missionary labours elsewhere, he adopted the plan of sending his clergy two by two into the towns and villages which he pro- uiricand. poscd himsclf to visit. Two missionaries, named Ulric Woigast. ^^^ Albin, were accordingly sent to the town of Wolgast (Hologosta), where they were welcomed by the wife of the burgomaster. When, however, they told her the object of their visit she explained to them the danger which threatened them owing to the fanaticism of the people. After concealing them in the top of her house and sending their baggage away, she en- deavoured to divert the suspicion which their appear- ance in the city had already excited, sending mean- while to acquaint Otto with the peril which they had incurred. The hostility of the people of Wolgast on A heathen this occasiou was largely due to a stratagem which gem.^ one of the heathen priests had played in order to prevent missionary work being started in his city. Dressing himself in white robes he hid in the forest near by and showed himself in the early dawn to a passing peasant, to whom he declared that he was the chief of their national gods. " I am thy god," he said, " I am he that clothes the fields with grass and the woods with leaves ; without me the fruit tree cannot yield its fruit, nor the field its corn, nor the cattle their increase : these blessings I bestow on my worshippers, and from those that despise me I take them away. Tell the people of Wolgast, therefore, that they accept not any GERMANY 415 other god who cannot profit them, and warn them that they suffer not to hve the representatives of another rehgion, who, as I predict, will come to their town." ^ The priest then vanished in the darkness of the forest, but soon afterwards appeared in Wolgast, where the peasant had already begun to tell his tale. By pre- tending at first to disbelieve him and by skilful question- ing, he caused the peasant to tell the story over and over again to fresh groups of hearers, who spread it far and wide and helped to raise a flame of fanaticism against the new religion and any who might attempt to introduce it. Turning to the people the priest said : " This is what I have been telling you for a whole year. What have we to do with a strange god ? What have we to do with the religion of the Christians ? Our god is justly angry, inasmuch as after all his benefits bestowed upon us we turn ungratefully to another." On hearing of the dangers which threatened his two missionaries, Otto, accompanied by the duke and several chiefs and an escort of soldiers, hastened to their rescue, and soon ensured their safety. Fear now gave place to an undue feeling of security, and one of the clergy, named Encodric, who had tried to enter Encodric. one of the idol temples, hardly escaped with his life. He had already placed his hand on the door of the temple when the pagans rushed upon him, whereupon, terrified, and seeing no means of escape, he rushed into the innermost recess of the temple and took up a large •• shield that was embossed with gold, and was dedicated to Gerovit (Gerovitus), the god of war. The shield was regarded as sacred, and was supposed to render the ^ Vita, iii. 4. 416 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. person of anyone who carried it inviolable ; when, therefore, the crowd who were preparing to murder him, discerned what he was carrying, they were aghast at his daring, and some fell to the ground as though dead, whilst others took refuge in flight, Encodric meanwhile being enabled to rejoin his companions in safety. Otto remained at Wolgast till all the heathen temples had been destroyed, and a church had begun to be built, to preside over which he ordained as priest Destruc- a man named John. The next place visited by him temple at was Gutzkow (Gozgaugia), the magnificent temple in Gutzkow. ^}^i(>]^ lY^^ pagans besought him to spare and, if he wished, to convert it into a Christian church. Otto, however, feared that if this were done a reaction in favour of paganism might occur after his departure, and he accordingly insisted on its destruction. " Would you think," he said, " of sowing your grain among thorns and thistles ? No, you would first pluck up the weeds, that when the good seed is sown in your fields you may be able to obtain the crops which ye desire. So I must first utterly destroy from the midst of you this seed of idolatry and this thorn to my preach- ing, in order that the good seed of the Gospel may bring forth fruit in your hearts to eternal life." ^ The objections of the people were at length overcome, and with their own hands they destroyed the temple and its idols. In its place he designed a Christian church, which by its splendom* and magnificence might out- Consecra- shiuc the temple that had been destroyed. When part church.* of it had been completed he endeavoured to make the festival of its consecration one which should eclipse 1 Vita, iii. 7. GERMANY 417 in the popular imagination any of their pagan festivals, and to the chiefs and their followers who had assembled for this purpose he endeavoured to explain the sym- bolism of the service, at the same time warning them that Christianity meant more than mere outward forms. He urged upon them, moreover, that the true meaning of the consecration of a church had reference to the consecration of God's temple in the soul of every believer, since Christ dwells by faith in the heart of the behever. Then turning to Mitzlav, the Governor of the district, he said, " Thou art the true house of God, my beloved son. Thou art this day to be consecrated and dedicated, consecrated to God thy almighty Creator, so that, separated from every foreign master, thou mayest become exclusively His dwelling-place and His possession : therefore my beloved son do not hinder thy consecration, for it is of little avail that the house thou seest before thee should be outwardly consecrated, should a like consecration not be made in thy own soul ^ also." The bishop went on to urge upon Mitzlav that he should abandon all deeds of violence and fraud, and ended by demanding of him that he should forthwith set free all persons whom he had confined in prison in order to extract from them the payment of debts. After some demur Mitzlav, " sighing deeply," exclaimed : " I Mitzlav do here in the name of the Lord Jesus give them all his their liberty, that so according to your words my sins may be forgiven and the consecration of which you spoke may be completed in me this day." It eventually transpired that Mitzlav had excepted from the number of those set at liberty the son of a Dacian nobleman ^ Vitaf iii. 9 "In me " should apparently be " in te." 2 D pris- oners. 418 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. who owed him five hundred pounds of gold, but he too was eventually set at liberty, and, laden with fetters as he was, he was brought forth from his cell, and in the presence of a large congregation, which was bathed in tears, was led to the altar of the newly erected church, where his freedom was formally granted to him by Mitzlav. The duke's example was productive of much result, and many deeds of self-denial were performed by the newly made Christians. Otto in- Soon after this Otto increased his influence with the with the people by his successful efforts to ward off an invasion Poknd. t^^t the duke of Poland was preparing to make at the head of a large army. Otto and his clergy met the duke, who was advancing with his troops, and, by assuring him of the fidelity of Wratislav and the loyalty of his subjects, appeased his anger and induced him to desist from the threatened invasion. His biographer writes of him that whereas his popularity tended ever to increase, " he himself attributed nothing to his own merits, but showed himself the more humble before God and men, as he knew that without His aid he could do nothing." ^ Island of About this time Otto determined to attempt the conversion of the inhabitants of Rugen (Verania), a large island, distant about a day's journey from Use- dom, which was a stronghold of paganism and had never admitted a Christian missionary. As any attempt to land on the island seemed Hkely to involve instant death, the duke and Otto's companions besought him to abandon his intention, and this, despite the fact that he had " hoped to obtain there the crown 1 Vita, iii. 9, GERMANY 419 of martyrdom," he was reluctantly constrained to do.i In order to extend the sphere of his missionary labours Otto desired to send the clergy who had accom- panied him to different parts of Pomerania, but they lacked the courage and enthusiasm of their leader and were afraid to expose themselves to the hostility of the pagans when unaccompanied by him. When he himself announced his purpose of revisiting Stettin, stettin where a heathen reaction had taken place, they refused "^^^^^^^^ • to accompany him. Otto accordingly, after spending a day in solitude and prayer, resolved to proceed alone, and, taking with him his service book and sacramental chalice, he stole away in the dark. When his clergy came to call him in the morning and found that he had gone, they were struck with a sense of shame, and hurrying after him, some on foot and some on horse- back, they prostrated themselves at his feet and en- treated him to return with them, promising that they would accompany him on the following day. On pagan reaching Stettin he found that the pagan priests had arstettin. regained much of their lost influence, a pestilence which had broken out having been interpreted as a sign that the gods were angry at the conversion of the people to Christianity. An assault on one of the Christian churches failed of its purpose owing to the sudden illness which befell one of the ringleaders of the attack, who was a relapsed Christian. On his recovery he persuaded his fellow-townsmen to spare the church, but to erect a pagan altar by its side, so that they might secure the joint protection of the Christian and heathen deities. ^ See above, p. 405 f. 420 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. Soon after this, whilst the frenzy of the pagans against the Christians was still at its height, Otto and his party reached the gates of the city. On his arrival he entered one of the Christian churches, but as soon as his presence became known, armed men, led on by the pagan priests, gathered round, bent upon the immediate destruc- tion of the church and its occupants. Otto had never been in greater danger, but his courage did not fail. After commending himself and his companions to God in prayer, he walked forth, dressed in his bishop's robes and siKrounded by his clergy, who carried a cross and relics, and chanted psalms and hymns. His courage and the calmness and dignity of his action amazed and overawed the pagans, and when a lull in the tumult occurred some of those who were favourably disposed Inter- towards the Christians intervened and urged that the wLtSk. priests should defend their cause with arguments rather than by violence. Amongst their number was a chief named Witstack (Vitstacus), whom Otto had previously baptized, and who, after being taken prisoner in an expedition against the Danes, had obtained his release, in answer, as he believed, to prayer addressed to the Christians' God. On Sunday, two days after the attack on the church. Otto, accompanied by Witstack, went to the market place and there addressed an assembly of the people. At the end of his address a heathen priest blew a trumpet and called upon the people to take vengeance on the enemy of their national gods. Lances were poised, and the crowd seemed about to carry their threats into execution, when once again the undaunted behaviour of the bishop over- awed his enemies and they suffered him to depart in GERMANY 421 peace. On the following day the people assembled in order to decide upon their action in the matter of religion, and, after a debate, which lasted from early morning till midnight, a decision was reached that Christianity should be accepted as the true religion and all traces of idolatry should be destroyed. Otto soon afterwards received back those who had apostatized and baptized many others. From Stettin he proceeded to Julin, where he con- Revisits solidated the work that had been accomplished, and, ^^"* before returning to Bamberg, in 1128, he visited the other churches which he had helped to establish in Pomerania. At this time he expressed a great desire to evangelize the Ruthenians who were fanatical heathen, but was unable to accomplish his desire. On one occasion after his return to Bamberg, having learnt that a number of Pomeranian Christians had been taken captive by pagans, he ordered a quantity of cloth to be purchased at Halle and sent to Pomerania to be used as a ransom for the captives. He continued to show an active interest in the Missions which he Death of had helped to establish till his death on June SO, 1139.^ nso! Judged by the visible results which accompanied his Results of work, Otto was the most successful missionary in mediaeval tjmes, and his success was the more remark- able in view of the fact that he was never able to speak to the Pomeranians in their own language, but had to rely upon the services of interpreters. It is true that ^ His biographer writes concerning mediocres cum plebe rusticana omnes his death: "Fie bat civitas uni versa, patrem ademptum luge bant amarius juvenes et virgines, senes cum juniori- quanto ab omnibus ilhs carius ipse bus, fie bat omnis ordo, flebat omnis amabatur." religio, divites et pauperes, nobiles et 422 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. he had recourse to material force or to the threats of its use, but he always preferred to rely upon gentler influences, and never hesitated to run any personal risk in order to win the confidence and the affection of the people whom he passionately desired to help. To his faith and courage and his constant rehance upon the power of prayer more than to any political influences the results which he achieved must be attributed. His failure His failure to arrange for the training of any Pomeranian Usha clergy, and the recourse which he was accordingly Church, obliged to have to German clergy, who in customs, dispositions, and language differed widely from those to whom they ministered, rendered it impossible for the Church which he helped to establish to become the Church of the people. Moreover, the German colonists who, in ever-increasing numbers, were brought into the country to repeople the districts which had been devastated by war, tended to make the earlier in- habitants less well disposed to the German clergy, whose nationality was that of their oppressors. Forcible The island of Rugen, which lay off the coast of conver- ^ . sionof Pomerania, was inhabited by Slavonic pagans who Island. were fanatically addicted to idolatry and opposed to the introduction of Christianity. Whilst Otto was engaged in preaching in Pomerania about 1127 he announced his intention of visiting the island and was, as we have already seen, with difficulty dissuaded from doing so by his companions, who feared for his safety. Ulric, one of his clergy, actually set sail for Rugen but was driven back by a storm. In 1168 Waldemar, King of Denmark, assisted by the chiefs of Pomerania, after a series of battles succeeded in subjugating the GERM Any 423 island, and a militant bishop named Absalom of Roeskilde ^ undertook the forcible conversion of its inhabitants to the Christian faith. He entered into an agreement with the inhabitants of the capital, Arcona, by which they bound them- selves to accept Christianity and to hand over to Christian clergy the landed estates which belonged to the idol temples. Their chief idol Svantovit was re- Destruc- garded with the utmost awe by the inhabitants, and-do^gvln- a vast crowd gathered round the men whom Absalom ^°^^*- sent to effect its destruction, anticipating their sudden death. Even when it had fallen to the ground after its feet had been cut away with axes, the people of Rugen were afraid to touch it and the services of captives and of strangers who were staying in Arcona were requisitioned in order to drag the idol into the Danish camp. Its progress to the camp was accom- plished amid the mingled lamentations and jeers of the onlookers. On reaching the camp it was chopped up to form firewood for cooking the food of the soldiers .^ A similar fate befell other idols in Arcona and else- ^ Saxo Grammaticus, who under- and Saxo Grammaticus explain the took the writing of his history at the name Svantovit as equivalent to Saint suggestion of Absalom, speaks of him Vit (Sanetus Vitus), and suggest that as "miUtiaeetreUgionissociatofulgore the name originated in the ninth conspicuus." Again he writes con- century, when monks from Corvey, cerninghim, "nequeenim minussacro- the patron saint of which was St. Vit, rum attinet cultui, pubUce religionis attempted to preach the Christian hostes repellere, quam cseremoniarum faith in Rugen. It is more probable tutelse vacare," lib. xiv. that the veneration of St. Vit was 2 For an account of the worship of introduced in later times in the hope Svantovit see Gesta Danorum, by that it might supplant the worship of Saxo Grammaticus, lib. i.; Chronica Svantovit,the change being facilitated Thietmari, lib. vi. ; Chronicon Slav- by the similarity of sound of the two orum, by Helmhold, lib. i. 52, 53; ii. names. Svantovit probably means .12; also La Mythologie Slave, par " sacred oracle. " L. Leger, pp. 76-107, Both Helmhold 424 THE CONVEB^ION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. where. Amongst the idols destroyed by Absalom were three which had respectively seven, five, and four heads. Building A number of Christian churches were forthwith tian built, which were served by clergy whom Absalom churches. ^^^^ ^^^^ from Denmark, and for whose support he himself provided. Several miracles of healing were attributed to the effects produced by their prayers, but the Danish historian is careful to tell us that these cures were not to be attributed to the sanctity of the missionaries, but were granted by God in order to facilitate the conversion of the people.^ After the Danish conquest the profession of Christianity spread throughout the island and efforts were made by the clergy who came from Denmark to instruct the people in the faith which they had been induced to accept. Prussia The Slays At the closc of the tenth century, when the first 'attempts were made to introduce Christianity into Prussia, the population, which was for the most part of Slavonic origin, included only a small number of Germans. The country was at this time divided into eleven practically independent states, the inhabitants of which were fanatical idolaters, and in every town Their and viUagc a temple was to be found. Their chief c le go s. g^^g were Percunos,^ the god of thunder, Potrimpos, the god of corn and fruits, and PicuUos, the god of the ^ See SaxoGrammaticus, trf.:" quod cessum videri potest." potius lucrandse gentis respectui quam ^ i.e. the Russian Perun. sacerdotum sanctitati divinitus con- GERMANY 425 lower regions. Peter de Duisburg, the author of the Chronicon Prussice, writes : " They worshipped as a god every creature, whether it were the sun, the moon, the stars, or thunder, as well as birds, quadrupeds, and toads. They had also groves, plains, and sacred waters, and in these none dared to cut wood, to cultivate fields, or to fish." ^ Every man was allowed to have three wives, who were regarded as slaves, and were expected to commit suicide on the death of their husband. On the death of the chiefs, or nobles, their slaves, maid- servants, horses, hunting dogs, hawks, and armour were burnt together with the body.^ It can easily be understood that the fierceness and cruelty of the Prussians made the task of the pioneer missionaries one of no ordinary hazard. The first missionary who attempted to preach the Adalbert Gospel in Prussia was Adalbert, archbishop of Prague. 997.^^^"^' After working in Bohemia for several years he visited Boleslav I, the duke of Poland, in the hope of develop- ing missionary work in his country, but he eventually determined to go as a pioneer missionary to Prussia. Having received from the duke a vessel and thirty soldiers to act as bodyguard, he sailed to Dantzic (Gedania), on the borders of Prussia and Poland, in 997. After baptizing a number of its inhabitants he set sail again, and, having landed on the opposite coast, he sent back the vessel and his bodyguard, and, accompanied only by two priests, named Benedict and Gaudentius, he disembarked on a small island at the mouth of the River Pregel. Driven away by its inhabitants, he and his companions landed on the ^ Chronicon, p. 79. * Chronicon, p. 80. 426 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. coast of Samland on the other side of the Pregel. Having been refused a hearing by the inhabitants of this district, they began to retrace their steps, and after five or six days passed through woods, the dreari- ness of which they enlightened by singing spiritual His mar- sougs, till at length they came to open fields. Here, Sam?and^ after they had celebrated the Holy Communion, they lay down on the grass and presently fell into a deep sleep, from which they were roused by a tumultuous band of heathen, who seized and bound them. "Be not troubled, my brethren," said Adalbert to his two companions, " we know for whose name we suffer. What is there more glorious than to give up life for oiu" precious Jesus ? " Thereupon a heathen priest named Siggo plunged a lance into his body, and with his eyes fixed on heaven Adalbert yielded up his life. The date of his death was April 23, 997. Bruno of The ucxt missionary to preach to the Prussians was martyred, Bruuo of Qucrfurt, who was surnamed Bonifacius. 1008. jjg YiSid been a court chaplain to Otto III, and it was apparently a picture of the English Boniface that he saw in Rome which led him to resolve to withdraw from the court and devote himself to the work of a missionary. Having become a monk of the Order of St. Benedict, he obtained from Pope Sylvester II a commission to preach the Gospel to the heathen, and, with this end in view, the Pope consecrated him and bestowed upon him the pall of an archbishop. He started for Prussia in 1007 with eighteen companions, but all suffered martyrdom on February 14, 1008. Bishop For more than a century no further efforts were made of camutz. to evangelize Prussia, but in 1141 Bishop Heinrich of 1141. GERMANY 427 Olmutz made another attempt, which was, however, unproductive of result. Nothing more was done till 1207, when Gottfried, whose name suggests a German Gottfried, origin, and who was abbot of Lukina in Poland, sailed ^^^^' down the River Vistula (Weichsel), accompanied by a monk named Philip and some other Cistercian monks, and succeeded in winning over to the Christian faith two chiefs named Phalet and Sodrach. The murder of Philip interrupted the work for a time, but in 1210 Christian, a native of Freienwalde in Pomerania, who Bishop had been a Cistercian monk at the monastery of Oliva, near Dantzic,^ after obtaining the approval of Innocent III ^ and the help of several other monks, restarted the Mission. Having met with a considerable amount of encouragement he was nominated as bishop of Prussia in 1212, and in 1215 he visited Rome, attended by two Prussian chiefs, in order to report his success to Pope Innocent, and was then consecrated as bishop. The Pope expressed much interest in the Mission, and Letter when Christian returned to Prussia he wrote a letter in^j^cent!^ urging the dukes of Pomerania and Poland not to turn the spread of Christianity in Prussia into a means for oppressing the Prussians. " We beseech and exhort you," he wrote, " for the sake of Him who came to save the lost and to give His life a ransom for many, do not oppress the sons of this new plantation, but treat them with the more gentleness, as they are liable ^ According to another authority mending the Mission to the Cistercian he had been monk at Lukina. monks (1212) he writes, "Ohm de ^ In a letter to the archbishop of nostra hcentia inceperunt seminare in Gnesen (1210) the Pope writes, "Ad partibus Prussise verbum Dei." See partes Prussiae de nostra licentia Migne, P. L., ccxvi., col. 316, 669. accesserunt," and in a letter com- Epp. 128, 147. 428 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. to be misled and to relapse into paganism, since the old bottles can scarcely hold the new wine." ^ Christian returned to Prussia, accompanied by two Prussian chiefs, Warpoda and Suawabona, who had been baptized in Rome ; but soon after his return a reaction against the Christian missionaries occurred. Moved, partly by a disHke for Christianity, but chiefly by their repugnance to submit to the exactions of the Massacre Christian chiefs of Poland and Pomerania, the Prussians tians"^ rose in force and destroyed nearly three hundred Christian churches and chapels and massacred many Christians .2 Knights Bishop Christian then, despairing of effecting the of Dobrin, couvcrsion of Prussia by peaceful means, resolved to ^^^^' follow the example set by Bishop Albert in Livonia, and accordingly he founded the Order of the Knights Brethren of Dobrin, whose constitution was similar to that of the Order of the Sword. With their help he endeavoured (1219) to compel the Prussians to accept the Christian faith. Their aid proved, however, to be insufficient for the task, and Bishop Christian was forced to look elsewhere for helpers. In 1189 there had come into existence before the town of Acre an Order of " Order of Teutonic Knights," whose object was to Knights, succour German pilgrims or crusaders in the Holy Land. In 1238 this Order was united to the " Order of the Sword," and the union was solemnized at Rome in the presence of the Pope. The United Order under- took to subjugate the Prussians, and for nearly fifty years they carried on a remorseless war against them. Little by little they overran the country, building ^ Ep, 148. 2 Chronicon, p. ii. c. 1. GERMANY 429 castles at Culm, Thorn, Marienwerder, Elbing and elsewhere, in order to maintain their conquests. Baptism was made the condition of enjoying any kind of civil rights, and those who refused to be baptized were regarded and treated as slaves. In 123S Bishop Christian was captured by the heathen and held as a prisoner for several years until a ransom had been paid. In 1243 the Pope created the bishoprics of Culm, Four new Pomerania, Ermeland, and Samland, each of these rics,°m3. districts being again divided into three parts, one part of which was subjected to the bishop, whilst the other two parts were held by the brethren of the Order.i As churches and monasteries were built throughout the country, sacrifices to idols, infanticide, polygamy, and the burning of the dead were gradually discon- tinued. The Pope from time to time impressed upon the knights the duty of treating the people with kindness and upon the clergy the duty of giving careful instruc- tion to those under their care. In 1251 schools began to be built, and Dominican friars ^ endeavoured to give to the people an intelligent knowledge of the faith which they had been compelled to accept. In 1260 Religious the knights suffered defeat at the hands of the^"^^^ Lithuanians, who burnt eight of them alive in honour of their gods, whereupon the Prussians rose again in revolt and murdered many of the clergy and destroyed their churches and monasteries. It was not till 1283 that the knights, aided by other soldiers whom the Pope summoned to their aid, gained ^ Bishop Christian, who had lost the ^ In 1230 Gregory IX had autho- favour of the Pope, was offered, but rized the Dominicans to take part in did not accept, one of the four sees. the work of evangelizing Prussia. He died in 1245. 430 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. a final victory. The knights then became the rulers of the land, the bishops, who were often selected from their ranks, being rendered dependent on them. Oppres- The oppression of the Slavs who formerly inhabited Skvs! ^Pomerania and other districts in the neighbourhood of the Baltic by their German conquerors was as cruel as it was persistent. Though it was at times exercised in the name of religion, it was carried on long after the Slavs had become Christians. Krasinski, comparing the conduct of the Germans with that of Mohammedan Mongols conquerors, writes, " The Mongols who conquered the tians.^^ north-eastern principalities of Russia under the descendants of the terrible Genghis Khan, and who are always quoted as the acme of all that is savage and barbarous, not only left to the conquered Christians full religious liberty, but they exempted all their clergy with their families from the capitation tax imposed upon the rest of the inhabitants. Neither did they deprive them of their lands or bid them forget their national language, manners and customs. The Mohammedan Osmanlis left to the conquered Bulgarians and Servians their faith, their property and their local municipal institutions, whilst the Christian German princes and bishops divided amongst themselves the lands of the Slavonians who were either exterminated or reduced to bondage by whole provinces." ^ Arch- In 1245 the Pope appointed Albert Suerbeer as Suerbeer, archbishop of Prussia, and placed under him the bishoprics of Li viand and Estland, and in 1255 he ^ Lectures on the Religious History of the Slavonic Nations, by Valerian Krasinski, 1869, p. 8 f. GERMANY 431 became bishop of Riga with the title and authority of an archbishop. There is a note of pathos, not to say tragedy, in the story of the conversion of Pomerania and of Prussia, inasmuch as in both cases the land did not become Christian till the inhabitants whom it was sought to convert had been practically exterminated, and this as a direct result of the process of conversion. In both instances the Church which was eventually established was in chief part composed of Germans or men of Teutonic race who forcibly supplanted the earlier Slavonic inhabitants. In the case of Prussia the The con- methods employed and the results attained remind p^uXa °^ us painfully of the missionary activities of the Spanish ^^-^^ conquerors of Mexico and the West Indies. The judgment, moreover, which Prescott passes upon the Conqueror of Mexico is the judgment which the charit- able student of the conversion of Prussia will be inclined to pass upon the Christian knights who forced upon that land a profession of Christianity. Prescott writes : " When we see the hand red with blood . . . raised to invoke the blessing of Heaven on the cause which it maintains, we experience something like a sensation of disgust at the act, and a doubt of its sincerity. But this is unjust. We should throw ourselves back into the age — the age of the Crusades. . . . Whoever has read the correspondence of Cortes . . . will hardly doubt that he would have been among the first to lay down his life for the faith. . . . There can be no doubt that Cortes, with every other man in his army, felt he was engaged in a holy crusade." ^ * Conqueat of Mexico, vii. 5 and vi. 3. 432 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xiv. The only other country in Europe in which the forcible conversion of the people was accompanied by cruelty similar to that which attended the conversion of Prussia was, as we shall see later, the kingdom of Norway, but in this case the oppression of its non-Christian inhabitants was of comparatively short duration and was followed by religious tolerance, which did much to obliterate the effects of the period of persecution. CHAPTER XV POLAND Of the first introduction of Christianity into Poland Methodius we have no satisfactory record. Methodius (d. 885) /'' ^''^'''^' who became the evangehst and archbishop of Moravia, which bordered on Poland, made some attempt to evangelize it, and in 949 missionaries from Moravia are said to have founded a church at Kleparz near Cracow where, for five centuries, Christian services were con- ducted in the national language. In 966 Duke Mieceslav^ (or Mjesko), the first king Baptism of Poland, married Dambrowka the sister of Boleslav II siav/oee. (of Bohemia), and as a result of her influence he received baptism. Hardly any information is available which throws light upon the conversion of the Poles to a nominal Christianity, but the result was due more to political than to moral suasion. Having embraced Christianity for himself Mieceslav regarded it as his duty to make his subjects Christians with the least possible delay. A bishopric was established at Posen a bishop- in 968, but the means which he adopted for securing pogen. adherents to his new faith were not such as to com- ^^^• mend its adoption to his subjects, or to render possible missionary efforts of a more enduring character. Thiet- mar (Ditmar), the bishop of Merseburg, states that he 1 Pronounced Meecheslav. 2 E *33 434 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xv. issued a proclamation forbidding them to eat meat between Septuagesima Sunday and Easter Day and threatening them with the loss of their teeth in case of disobedience. Thietmar pleads that, as the Poles were a people who needed to be tended like oxen and chastised like dilatory asses, nothing could be accomplished by their ruler except by means of severe punishments.^ The threatened punishments did not however meet even with superficial success. The subsequent marriage of King Mieceslav (982) with his fourth wife Oda, who was the daughter of a German count, and had apparently been a nun,^ re- introduc- sultcd iu the introduction of many clergy from Germany, foreign Italy and France, and in the establishment of closer clergy. relations between the Roman Church and the Christian communities in Poland. Oda helped to establish several monasteries throughout Poland, and the close relations which existed between the Polish and the German Courts tended to increase the influence exerted by the German clergy throughout Poland. Many parishes in Poland were placed in charge of German clergy who were unable to speak to their people in their own language, and many of the monasteries made it a rule to admit only those who were of German nation- ality. As late as the thirteenth century Polish bishops found it necessary to enjoin the parish clergy to preach in the language understood by the people and not in the German language, and to prohibit the appointment of priests unacquainted with the national language.^ Mieceslav died in 992 and was succeeded by his son ^ See Thietmari Chronicon, v. 861 ; ^ See Krasinki's Lectures on the ix. 2, 240. Migne, P. L. cxxxix. religious history of the Slavonic 2 Thietmar, iv. 57, 895. nations, p. 173. POLAND 435 Boleslav. In 1000 the Emperor Otto III, on the Boiesiav. occasion of a visit to Gnesen, created this city a metropohtan see and gave it authority over the sees of Breslau, Cracow and Colberg.^ During the troublous years at the beginning of the eleventh century the chief disputants were the Germans and the German sym- pathizers who represented a nominal Christianity, and the Slavs, who were for the most part heathen. The tendency of the intermittent fighting was to increase German influence and the number of German settlers. Boleslav was succeeded in 1026 by his son Mieceslav II, who died in 1034. On his death the heathen party A heathen regained the ascendancy, burnt many of the monasteries, io34.^°^' and killed some of the bishops and other clergy. The miseries of the people were increased by two foreign wars, one with Russia and the other with Bohemia. Casimir, a son of Mieceslav II, who was eventually Casimir. chosen (1040) to succeed him, had become a monk and was living in a monastery at the time of his election to the throne. Having been released from his vows by the Pope Benedict IX, he became king and soon afterwards married Maria the sister of Yaroslav, the prince of Kiev. As a result of his influence the use of the Slavonic liturgies was still further restricted and the Pope obtained greater control over the Polish Church. Casimir introduced monks from the monastery of Cluny and founded for them two monasteries, one near Cracow and the other in Silesia, which at this time formed part of the kingdom of Poland. His successor Boleslav II Boleslav (1058-1081) murdered with his own hand Stanislaus ^ Milman, Latin Christianity y ii. 485. 436 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xv. bishop of Cracow, who had denounced his many crimes, and in consequence of the unpopularity which this act provoked he fled as an exile into Hungary, where he died in 1082. Invasion During the reign of Boleslav V (1227-79) the Mongols Mongols, invaded Poland and carried off many prisoners and much plunder. Cracow was burnt in 1241. In 1386 the kingdom of Poland was united with that of Lithuania.^ 1 See below, p. 521. CHAPTER XVI DENMARK 1 AND ICELAND In 780, whilst Willehad was engaged in preaching inAtre- Wigmodia, one of his clergy, named Atrebanus, visited 780"^' the Ditmars ^ who dwelt to the south-west of Denmark immediately to the north of the town of Hamburg. Liudger a little later, wished to go as a missionary to Denmark, but Charlemagne refused his consent. Soon after the accession of Louis the Pious, the successor of Charlemagne, Harald Klak king of Jutland solicited his help to enable him to make himself king of Denmark. It was agreed that an army of Franks and Slavonians should be sent to his assistance, and Ebo, archbishop Arch- of Rheims and primate of France, took part in the Ebo!^8S expedition in the hope that he might be able to intro- duce Christianity into Denmark. He was accompanied by Willerich bishop of Bremen and went as the legate of Pope Pascal and with the formal approval of the diet of Attigny. A start was made in the early spring of 823 and a centre of rnissionary work was established at Welanao in Holstein. In 826, when the Danish king and his wife, together with a train of about 400 followers, visited Louis at ^ Until the conquest by Prussia cxviii. col. 1018. " Atrebanum vero of Schleswig and Holstein in 1864 clericum in Thiatmaresgao." Atre- these provinces formed part of the banus was one of those who were kingdom of Denmark. killed by Wittekind in 782. 2 See Vita Willehadi, vi. Migne 437 438 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvi. Baptism Ingelheijii, the emperor stood as godfather to the king, king!^^^^ and the enipress Judith as godmother to the queen, on the occasion of their baptism in Mainz cathedral. With the king and queen were baptized a large part of their retinue. In view of the return of Harald to Denmark Ebo was anxious to find a capable missionary whom he might send with him and who might help to confirm the king and the other newly-made Christians in their faith. The missionary who was selected, and who himself expressed an eager desire to undertake this arduous post, when others to whom the work had been Anskar, suggested huug back,^ was a monk named Anskar, or Ansgar, who was born near Corbie in the diocese of Amiens about 801. Educated first of all at the monastery of Corbie, he was afterwards transferred to New Corbie in Westphalia, where he acted as a teacher in the school and a preacher in the sur- rounding districts. As a boy he had frequently seen visions, and in one of these he seemed to be lifted up to * the Source of all light and to hear a voice saying to him " Go and return to me crowned with martyrdom." ^ In another vision, which he had before setting out for Sweden, having obtained an assurance that his sins were forgiven, he asked, ' ' Lord, what would'st thou have me to do ? " and received the answer, " Go, preach the word of God to the tribes of the heathen." ^ When the proposal to accompany Harald was suggested to him by the abbot Wala, he himself eagerly accepted, ^ See Adam Brem. 17. " Nemo ^ Vita, c. 6. The life of Anskar doctorum facile posset inveniri qui was written by B/imbert, his deacon cum illis ad Danos vellet pergere and his successor as archbishop of propter crudelitatem barbaricam qua Bremen, gens ilia ab omnibus fugitur. " ^ yita, c. 15. DENMARK AND ICELAND 439 but only one of his companions, a monk named Autbert, accom- was willmg to accompany him, and the two, after AuTbert.^ receiving encouragement and material assistance from the Emperor, proceeded together to Cologne. Here Bishop Hadebald presented him with a vessel in which to continue his journey and Harald himself joined him as a passenger. During the two years in which Anskar laboured as a ncdssionary in Denmark he started a school at Schleswig for twelve boys whom he hoped a mis- eventually to train as missionaries. It does not schoo?at appear that he achieved any large amount of success ^chieswig. as a result of his preaching and at the end of two years, in 828, when Harald was himself driven out of his kingdom, Anskar also retired from Schleswig, and soon afterwards went on a pioneer roissionary journey to Sweden. King Harald had roused the bitter hostility of his subjects by his destruction of their temples and by endeavouring to force them to adopt his own faith.^ He was succeeded by King Horick who at the be- King ginning of his reign opposed the spread of the Christian faith, but later on withdrew his opposition. The favour which he showed towards the Christians pro- voked his heathen subjects and other heathen chiefs to rise in rebellion, and a battle, which lasted for three days and which was fought near Flensburgh in 854, resulted in the complete victory of the heathen and the destruction of nearly all King Horick's relations and chiefs. His one remaining descendant Horick II, who Horick ii. was left as regent over a small portion of the country, ^ See Saxo Grammaticus, ix. 460, inconditse patriae Christianismi sacra " delubra diruit, victimarios pro- primus intulit, rejectoque demonum scripsit, flaminium abrogavit, atque cultu divinum emulatus est." 440 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvi. forbad for a time the practice of Christian worship, but ere long he invited Anskar to send missionaries again into his country. He also caused the church at Schleswig to be reopened and to be provided with a bell, the use of which had never before been allowed,^ and soon afterwards gave permission for a second church to be built at Ripen in Jutland. After his return to Hamburg Anskar devoted himself to the organization and administration of the united diocese of Hamburg and Bremen.^ One of the last incidents which his biographer records is his inter- vention with some of the chiefs in North Albingia in order to secure the release of a number of Christians Death of who had been seized as slaves.^ He died at Bremen 865. ' on Feb. S, 865, at the age of sixty-four, after spending altogether thirty-four years in missionary labours. His one regret as he lay ill was that his hope and expecta- tion of winning a martyr's crown had not been fulfilled. As he lay dying he repeated over and over again the words : " Lord be merciful to me a sinner : into Thy Character hauds I commeud my spirit." His biographer dwells ns ar. ^p^^ j^.^ charity, his asceticism and his humility. He supported a hospital at Bremen for the sick and needy, he gave a tenth part of his income to the poor and gave them a share of any presents which he received, and every five years he gave an additional tithe of the animals which he possessed in order that the poor might receive their full share. Whenever he went on a tour throughout his diocese he would never sit down to dinner without ordering some poor people to be brought in to share the meal, and during Lent he 1 Vita, c. 54. 2 See below, pp. 473 n., 477. ^ y^ta, c. 66. DENMARK AND ICELAND 441 would wash the feet of the poor and himself distribute bread and meat amongst them. He wore a hair shirt by day and by night ; in his earlier years he measured out his food and drink, and he chanted a fixed number of psalms when he rose in the morning and when he retired at night. He would also sing psalms as he laboured with his hands and would chant litanies as he dressed or washed his hands, and three or four times a day he would celebrate Mass. Although his biographer attributes to him the working of miracles he never laid claim to this power himself. When one suggested to him that he could perform miracles of healing he replied : " Were I worthy of such a favour from my God, I would ask that He would grant to me this one miracle that by His grace He would make of me a good man." ^ Bishop Wordsworth writes of him : " There can be no question of Anskar's saintliness, according to the standard of any age of Christendom. His missionary zeal and courage, his uncomplaining patience, his generosity ... his austere self- discipline and his diligence in the work of his calling were all striking features of his character. . . . His relations with Ebo, who might so readily have been regarded as his rival, seem to have been more than friendly. He evidently felt the great importance and future possibilities of their joint mission and he seems to have done his best to leave it as a legacy to be fostered by the whole Church of Germany." ^ ^ " Si dignus essem apud Deum nem." Vita, c. 67. meum rogarem quatenus unum mihi ^ The National Church of Sweden^ concederet signum videlicet ut de by the late bishop of SaUsbury, me sua gratia faceret bonum homi- p. 56. 442 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvi. His mis- The policj with regard to the question of self-support poUcy^ in the Mission Field that Anskar adopted, and which he recommended to the missionaries whom he sent out, was this. He maintained that a missionary should ask nothing of those to whom he went but should rather endeavour, following the example of St. Paul, to sup- port himself by his own labour. At the same time he accepted from the emperor and from kings, and himself gave to his missionaries, what was needed for their subsistence, and in addition enabled them to make presents, by the gift of which friends and patrons might be secured amongst the heathen. Progress Missiouary work both in Denmark and Sweden was action. Carried on under great difficulties and was frequently interrupted by the desolating raids made by the pagan tribes of the north. The Danes, however, who settled in England at this period became subject to Christian influences and a Dane named Odo became archbishop of Canterbury in 942. Referring to a period half a century or more after the death of Anskar, Adam of Bremen writes : " Let it suffice us to know that up to this time all (the kings of the Danes) had been pagans, and amid so great changes of kingdoms or inroads of barbarians some small part of the Christianity which had been planted by Saint Anskar had remained, the whole had not failed." ^ i^ing During the earlier years of the tenth century King Gorm showed bitter hostihty towards the Christians, but in 934 he was compelled by the German Emperor Henry to desist from persecuting them and at the same time to give up Schleswig to the German 1 Adam Brem, i, 54. DENMARK AND ICELAND 443 Empire. Schleswig was afterwards occupied to a large extent by Christian settlers and from it as a starting ground several efforts were made to spread Christianity in Denmark. One of these was made by Archbishop Unni of Hamburg,^ who exercised con- Arch- siderable influence with Harald the son of Gorm and Unni.^ the heir to his throne. Harald's mother Thyra was a daughter of the first Christian prince Harald and she had influenced her son to declare himself a Christian although he had not been baptized. Harald himself King became king in 941 and reigned for nearly fifty years. ^41^^^' In 972, after an unsuccessful war wdth Otto I, he and His bap- the whole of his army accepted Christian baptism,^ ^^^^' and on this occasion the emperor himself stood as godfather to his son Sweyno (Sweno). After his baptism he hesitated to renounce altogether his ancestral gods, but he gave encouragement to Christian mis- sionaries and endeavoured to establish churches and Christian institutions throughout Denmark.^ In 948 Archbishop Adaldag of Hamburg had been encouraged by him to consecrate three bishops of German nationality Consecra- for Denmark, Hored, Reginbrand and Liafdag, thethree^ iast of whom was a devoted and successful missionary. ^^^^°p^- ^ After Harald had reigned nearly fifty years his son feweyn, although he had been baptized as a Christian, placed himself at the head of a pagan reaction and on the death of his father in battle he became king in 991. King On acceding to the throne he re-established paganism, 99l^^' expelled the Christian missionaries and destroyed ^ Adam Brem. c. 61. said miraculously to have carried 2 See HeimsJcringla, i. p. 393 f. molten iron in order to convince 3 The story of Bp. Poppo, related Harald of the truth of Christianity, by Adam Brem. and Thietmar, who is is probably unhistorical. 444 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvi. Sweyn many of the Christian buildings. Later on Sweyn England, invaded England, where he devastated wide districts, burning villages and plundering churches and monas- teries. Before his death in England on February 2, 1014, he had abandoned his hostihty towards Christianity and returned to the faith in which he had been baptized. After he resumed his profession of the Christian faith he took active measures to win over his Danish subjects to the same faith. Instead of applying to the Bishop of Hamburg for additional missionaries he caused Bishop Gotebald to be consecrated as a bishop in England and sent him to Denmark to act as a leader in a new mis- sionary campaign. His son Canute became an earnest supporter of the Christian faith. It was no easy task which the missionaries in Denmark essayed, — to influence a people who thought it disgraceful to shed tears over their own crimes, or on the occasion Canute, of the death of those whom they had loved.^ Canute issued orders forbidding honours to be shown to the pagan gods and directing that his subjects should everywhere be taught to say the Lord's Prayer and the Creed and to receive the Holy Communion three times a year. Of the many bishops whom Canute had consecrated in England for missionary work in Denmark Adam of Bremen mentions three by name, Bernard bishop of Schonen (Sconia), Gerbrand bishop of Seeland and Reginbert bishop of Funen. It is uncertain whether these bishops were of English or of German nationality.^ Before the close of the twelfth century the influence 1 Hauck's K. D. iii. 641. 2 gee Hauck's K. D. iii. 642 n. ; Adam Brem. iL 53. DENMARK AND ICELAND • 446 ^ exerted by Christianity in Denmark had again de- creased and the God of the Christians was regarded in the same Ught as the national gods of the country and was referred to as " the German god." ^ Moreover, 'TheGer- the profession of Christianity ceased to exert any ™^^ ^° definite influence upon the behaviour of its professors.^ The Faroe islands^ were probably first colonized The Faroe by Grim Kamban during the reign of the Norwegian ^^ ^^ ^' king Harald Haarfager. Christianity was introduced by Sigmund Bresterson, one of the chief men in the islands, towards the end of the tenth century. King Olaf Tryggvason sent for him and offered him his friendship and great honour if he would become a Christian. He and his companions were accordingly baptized and, returning to the islands in 998 accom- panied by missionaries sent by King Olaf, he en- deavoured to persuade the islanders to follow his ex- ample. They, however, raised a strenuous opposition which was put down by force in the following year, when a large number of baptisms took place. Signmnd erected a church on his own estate and endeavoured to spread the Christian faith, but as soon as the argu- ment of force was removed many of those who had been baptized relapsed into their former heathenism. Later on a bishopric was established at Kirkebo, but the islands are at present connected with the bishopric of Zealand. They now belong to Denmark, but prior to 1815 they belonged to Norway. 1 "Teutonicus deus," c/. Ebo, iii. 1. professionem operibus polluentes." 2 See Saxo Grammaticus, xiv. 893, ^ They are said to have derived " qui tametsi christiano nomine cen- their name from the word " faar," serentur titulum moribus abdicabant, sheep. 446 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvi. Iceland Iceland {Insula Glacialis) was apparently first visited by Irish Christians, traces of whose work were found First Nor- when the first Norw^egian settlers arrived about 861. Sere, These settlers remained heathen till 981, when Thorwald, ^^^' who was roving the seas as a pirate chief, fell in with a bishop named Friedrich in Saxony, by whom he was 'Baptism instructed and subsequently baptized as a Christian. waid.^^ The bishop visited Iceland in company with Thorwald and spent five years in travelling from place to place and preaching Christianity. One of those whom he baptized, Codran the father of Thorwald, had challenged the bishop to prove to him that the God of the Christians was stronger than the idol which he worshipped and which consisted of a large stone. The bishop accepted the challenge and proceeded to chant hymns over the stone until it burst in pieces.^ Needless to say the result brought conviction to those who witnessed the miracle. The preaching of the bishop encountered much opposition and, despite his remonstrance, Thorwald killed two of the scalds or national poets who had composed satires upon Christianity. In the northern part of the island a number of converts were obtained, one of whom Thorwald Spakbodvarssum built a church on his estate, to serve which the bishop appointed a priest. Soon after this the bishop re- turned to his own country. In 996 King Olaf stefner. Tryggvason of Norway induced Stefner, a member of one of the principal famihes in Iceland, to go as a missionary to his fellow-countrymen. He failed to ^ Kristni Saga. DENMARK AND ICELAND 447 influence theni by his words, but destroyed several of their temples and idols, whereupon he and other Christians were forced to leave and to take refuge in Norway. The next to attempt the conversion of Iceland was one than whom it were hard to conceive a more imsuitable missionary. The author of the HeimsJcringla writes of him : " There was a Saxon priest who was called Thangbrand, a passionate, un- xhang- governable man, and a great man-slayer, but he was ^^^^^* a good scholar and a clever man. The king (Olaf) would not have him in his house upon account of his misdeeds, but gave him the errand to go to Iceland and bring that land to the Christian faith." ^ King Olaf's authority procured for him a hearing, but his missionary activities met with little success, and having murdered two scalds who had ridiculed him, he was pursued as a murderer and returned to Norway in 999. King Olaf threatened to take vengeance for the repulse of Thangbrand on the Icelanders who were in Norway, but eventually agreed to pardon them on condition of their accepting baptism. In 1000 two Icelanders named Gissur and Hiallti, accompanied Gisaur and by a priest named Thormud and several other clergy, undertook a mission to Iceland.^ This mission met with more success and the Christians soon became an important section of the whole population. A meeting at which the introduction of Christianity was being discussed was interrupted by a messenger who came running to say that a frightful volcanic eruption had just occurred and that " a stream of lava had burst out at Olfus and would run over the homestead of ^ HeimsTcringla, i. p. 441. ^ Id. i. 465. 448 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvi. Thorod the priest." Then the heathen began to say, " No wonder that the gods are wroth at such speeches as we have heard." Whereupon Snorro, the (heathen) priest, spoke and said, " At what, then, were the gods wroth when this lava was molten and ran over the spot on which we now stand ? " The heathen eventually decided that, in accordance with their custom in times of great calamities, each of the four districts of the island should offer two men in sacrifice to their gods. When this proposal was adopted Hialti and Gissur said to their friends : " The pagans devote as sacrifices to their gods the most abandoned men and cast them headlong from pre- cipices. We will choose an equal number from the best of the people, who in the true sense shall devote themselves as offerings to our Lord Christ, shining forth to all as conspicuous examples of Christian life and confession." Of the results which attended this new missionary enterprise we have no information, but soon afterwards Sido-Hallr one of the leaders of the Christians came to an agreement with Thorgeir the supervisor of laws, which was subsequently ratified by a national council, that the following new laws should General be enacted : 1. that all the people of Iceland should anceTof accept baptism and profess Christianity ; 2. that all ^i^^^~ idol-temples and idols which stood in any public place should be destroyed ; 3. that anyone who offered sacrifices to idols in public or performed any public idolatrous ceremonies should be banished, but that the worship of idols in secret should not be prohibited. Though paganism continued to be recognised for some time as a private religion, the influence of Christianity DENMARK AND ICELAND 449 tended to increase. King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway shortly after his accession in 995 sent an embassy to Iceland to urge that the exposure of infants and other pagan customs that still prevailed should be abolished. Until the middle of the eleventh century the bishops who had worked in Iceland had all been foreigners, but in 1056 Isleif, who had been sent by his father Bishop Gissur to Erfurt to be educated, was chosen by the 1055 ' Icelanders as their bishop and fixed his see at Skalholt. A second see was founded in 1107 at Holum. The teaching and influence of these bishops who were natives of Iceland soon resulted in the extirpation of heathen worship and customs. The first bishops who were appointed by the Icelanders themselves exer- cised regal authority.^ Adam of Bremen gives an optimistic account of the condi- conditions prevaiHng in Iceland a little later than this. nf^eTn^ice- He writes of its inhabitants : " As in their simpHcity ^^'^^• they lead a holy life and seek nothing beyond what nature has bestowed on them, they can cheerfully say with the Apostle Paul, ' having food and raiment let us be therewith content,' for their mountains serve to them as forts, and their springs are their delight. Happy people whose poverty no one envies, and happiest in this that at the present time they have all received Christianity. Many things are remarkable in their manners, but above all their charity, which places all they own in common, alike to the foreigner and the native." ^ 1 See Adam Bremensis, Descriptio Deo, ex scripturis, ex consuetudine insularum Aquilonisy 35, " episcopum aliarum gentium ille constituit, hoc habent pro rege, ad cujus nutum pro lege habent." respicit omnia populus, quicquid ex * Id. 2 F CHAPTER XVII NORWAY The The chief source of information relating to the early kri^ia by history of Norway and the introduction of Christianity i^urkson. i^^^o this couutry is Snorro Sturleson, 1178-1241, whose work the HeimsJcringla (i.e. the World) was written in Icelandic.^ The author was murdered by Hakon the king of Norway in 1241. His work throws much light upon the religion and customs of the early in- habitants of Norway and of Iceland and may be re- garded as generally trustworthy. Until the latter half of the ninth century Norway was divided into a number of independent states or principalities, the Haraid first king to rulc over the whole being Harald Haarfagar fagar. ( Fair-hair ),2 who in 933 resigned the throne to his son Eric Blodoxe (Bloody-axe). Soon after the death of Harald, which took place in 936, his youngest son Hakon, who had been residing with King Athelstan in ^ An English translation was pub- well attested " {The National Church lished in 1844. See below, p. 604. of Sweden, p. 39 n.). The evidence, 2 It is interesting to note that ho we vei, which is available relates ex- according to the Saga of Half dan the clusively to sons of princes, and we are Black (c. 7) Harald Haarfagar had inclined to agree with Laing, the Eng- received heathen baptism. Thus the Ush translator of the ^eimsAjrmg'Za, that Saga states, " Queen Ragnhild gave this baptism was attributed by later birth to a son, and water was poured Christian writers to the ancestors of over him and the name Harald given their kings in order to enhance their him." Bishop Wordsworth referring dignity and sanctity. See Laing's to this statement writes : " This Heimskringla, i. p. 82. ceremony of heathen baptism is 450 Plate 6. Longmans, Gxcea & Co^ London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta & Madras Gorze- Philip & Son, Ltd. To face page iSO NOEWAY 451 England and who had been baptized and instructed in the Christian faith, sailed for Norway, and having been joined by the principal jarls succeeded in estab- hshing himself as king. Eric was subsequently killed whilst fighting in England (944). The author of the Heimskringla writes : " King King Hakon was a good Christian when he came to Norway, ^^^°^- but as the whole country was heathen, with much heathenish sacrifice, and as many great people, as well as the favour of the common people, were to be con- ciliated, he resolved to practise his Christianity in private. But he kept Sundays, and the Friday fasts, and some token of the greatest holy- days. He made a law that the festival of Yule ^ should begin at the The Yule same time as Christian people held it and that every man, under penalty, should brew a measure of malt into ale and therewith keep the Yule holy as long as it lasted. It was his intent as soon as he had set himself fast in the land, and had subjected the whole to his power, to introduce Christianity." ^ He resided for a considerable time in the district of Drontheim, and when he thought that he could rely upon the support of his people he sent a message to England asking for a bishop a bishop and other teachers.^ When they arrived teachers from Eng ^ The word Yule is derived from been monks at Glastonbury given land. Yiolner, which was one of Odin's by WilHam of Malmesbury in De names. The festivities connected antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesioe, with this pagan celebration were then occurs the name " Sigefridus Norweg- amalgamated with those of the ensis episcopus." It is not impossible Christian festival, and the word that this may have been the bishop Yule-tide still exists as a synonym referred to in the Heimskringla. for Christmas. For evidence for and against this * Heimskringla, i. 326, Eng. ed. identification see Hist, of the Ch. by Laing. awd State in Norway, Willson, pp. 3 In the list of bishops who had 355 ff. 452 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvii. Hakon announced his intention to make Christianity the national rehgion and had several churches built and consecrated. When he invited the people to accept Christianity they expressed a desire that so important a proposal should be deferred for the con- Meeting of sideration of the Froste Thing (Assembly) which was Th4Tt*^ soon to meet at Drontheim. The king began his Sdm address to the Thing by saying that " it was his message and entreaty to all Bonders (landowners) and householding men both great and small, and to the whole public in general, young and old, rich and poor, women as well as men, that they should all allow themselves to be baptized, and should believe in one God and in Christ the Son of Mary, and should refrain from all sacrifices and heathen gods and should keep holy the seventh day and abstain from all work on it and keep a fast on the seventh day." The king's Opposi- proposal was received with expressions of vehement ^troduc- dissatisfaction, which was voiced by one of the Bonders ^risfi- present who said, " We Bonders, King Hakon, ... do anity. not kuow whether thou wishest to make vassals of us again by this extraordinary proposal that we should abandon the ancient faith that our fathers and fore- fathers have held from the oldest times, in the times when the dead were burnt, as well as since they are laid under mounds, and which, although they were braver than the people of our days, has served us as a faith to the present time." He went on to say that unless the king would abandon his proposals the Bonders would choose another king and would fight against him. At a harvest festival in honour of the gods, which NORWAY 453 occurred soon afterwards, great pressure was brought to bear upou the king to take part in the heathen ceremonial. When a goblet, that had been blessed in Hakon the name of Odin, had been handed to the king he mise^^with made the sign of the cross over it, and when one of the p^s*^^^™- chiefs present exclaimed, " What does the king mean by doing so ? Will he not sacrifice ? " Earl Sigurd, who desired to mediate between the king and his subjects, replied, " He is blessing the full goblet in the name of Thor by making the sign of his hammer over it before he drinks it." ^ On the next day the king was pressed to eat horseflesh, the eating of which was regarded as an essential part of the ceremonial.^ He refused to do this, but at length, after the request had been many times repeated, he consented to '' hold his mouth over the handle of the kettle, upon which the fat smoke of the boiled horseflesh had settled." Neither party, however, was satisfied with this com- promise. In the following winter eight chiefs who were opposed to the introduction of the new religion bound themselves, four to root out the Christianity which already existed, and the other four to compel the king to offer sacrifice to the national gods. The first four went to More, where they killed three Christian Murder of priests and burnt three churches. When the king came priests. to More, on the occasion of the Yule feast, they in- sisted that he should offer sacrifice. This he refused to do, but he consented to eat some pieces of horse- liver and to drink goblets which had been filled in 1 Heimskringla, i. p. 330. to the practice in a letter addressed 2 The eating of horseflesh was to Boniface as " immundum atque pronounced to be sinful for Christians execrabile." by Pope Gregory III, who referred 464 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvii. honour of the gods. On this occasion too neither party was satisfied and the following summer the king began to collect an army, apparently with the intention of attacking those who were opposed to the adoption of Christianity. Whilst his plans were still undeveloped news reached him that the sons of his brother Eric had come from Denmark and were invading the country. At the battle of Augvaldsness the invaders were defeated and forced to retire. They returned however on several later occasions to raid the coasts of Norway and in a battle fought against them in 963 Hakon was Haraid killed. He was succeeded by Harald the eldest son 963?^^"' of Eric who, together with his brothers, had been baptized in England. He and his brothers, " when they came to rule over Norway made no progress in spreading Christianity, only they palled down the temples of the idols, and cast away the sacrifices where they had it in their power, and raised great animosity by doing so." Harald In 977 Harald Blaatland, the king of Denmark, conquers couqucrcd Norway and appointed Earl Hakon as his Ncorway, representative to rule over it, having first constrained him to accept baptism. After the baptism of Earl Hakon and his followers " the king gave them priests and other learned men with them and ordered that the earl should make all the people in Norway to be bap- tized. ' ' 1 On his return to Norway, however, Hakon allied himself with the heathen party and on one occasion, before a battle with a party of raiders at Jomsburg, A human he sacrificed one of his own sons as an offering to Thor sacrifice. • i i . . m the hope of securing a victory. In 995 he was ^ Heimskringla, i. p. 394. NOBWAY 455 succeeded by Olaf Tryggvason. Olaf, prior to his oiafTryg- becoming king, had travelled much and had visited ^'^*^°"* England, Russia, Greece and Constantinople. He had learned something of the Christian faith in Bremen, but his baptism was brought about by a seer or fortune- teller in the Scilly Islands.^ This man, having con- vinced Olaf that he could forecast the future and having correctly foretold what would immediately befall him, urged him to be baptized. After his baptism His bap- he visited England where he was confirmed by Elphege ^^^^' the bishop of Winchester in 994, in the presence of the Saxon king Ethelred. He then visited Dublin, which contained a large settlement of Norsemen, and there married Queen Gyda a sister of Olaf Quaran (Kvaran) the king of Dublin. During his visit to Dublin he was Visit to invited by a Norwegian named Thorer (Thorir) to come to Norway where, he assured him, the people would welcome him as their king. On his way to Norway Olaf put in at the island of in the South Ronaldsa in the Orkneys, and after telling theisiandl earl whom he met there that " he would lay waste the islands with fire and sword, if the people did not accept Christianity," he witnessed their baptism before proceeding on his voyage.^ On his arrival at Drontheim he was unanimously chosen as king of Norway. Soon after Hakon was murdered by one of his servants who brought his head to Olaf, but was executed by him for having killed his king. After his accession king Olaf " made it ^ Cf. Heimshringla, i. 397, but pos- monastery existed, sibly the islands meant are the ^ Heimshringla, i. 419. See ako SkelUg Islands on the S.W. coast above, p. 83. of Ireland, where at this time a 456 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvii. oiaf known that he recommended Christianity to all the mends" the people in his kingdom, which message was well received ^mtian ^j^^ approved by those who had before given him their promise, and these being the most powerful among the people assembled, the others followed their example, and all the inhabitants of the east part of Viken Forcible allowed themsclves to be baptized. The king then of Chris- went to the north part of Viken ^ and invited every TOen"^" man to accept Christianity, and those who opposed him he punished severely, killing some, mutilating others, and driving some into banishment." Ac- cording to Adam of Bremen, Liafdag, who became bishop of Ribe in Denmark in 948, preached beyond the sea, that is in Sweden and Norway. Viken was at this time subject to the king of Denmark. The author of the Heimskringla also states that Harald sent " two jarls to Norway to preach Christianity, which was done in Viken where King Harald's power prevailed." This Christianity had apparently disappeared before the time of Olaf. In the following spring Olaf pro- and ceeded northwards to Agder accompanied by a great ^ ^^' army and " proclaimed that every man should be baptized." To quote the words of the old Saga : " Thereafter were all folk baptized in the eastern part of Vik ; and then went the king to the northern parts thereof and invited all men to receive Christianity, and those who said nay chastised he severely, slaying some and maiming some and driving away others from the land. So it came to pass that the people of the whole of that kingdom over which his father Tryggvi had ruled aforetime, and likewise that which his kins- ^ Heimskringla, i. 427. NORWAY 457 man Harald the Grenlander had possessed, received Christianity according to the bidding of King Olaf. Wherefore in that summer and in the winter thereafter were the people of the whole of Vik made Christian." ^ At a Thing held in Rogaland some opposition was encountered, but before the Thing dispersed all its members had received baptism.^ Soon afterwards the king summoned the Bonders of the Fiord district, South More and Romsdal, to meet him, to whom he " offered two conditions, either to accept Christianity, or to fight." The result was that the inhabitants of these districts were also baptized.^ At this time Olaf destroyed the temple at Lade on the door of which Hakon had hung a large golden ring. At Nidaros Opposi- in the district of Drontheim Olaf encountered such Nidaros. serious opposition from the Bonders that he pretended to give way and expressed a desire to visit the place where " the greatest sacrifice-festival " was to be held, so that he might compare the customs of the pagans with those of the Christians. When the time for this festival, which was to be held at Maere, drew near, the king summoned a number of chiefs and other great a council Bonders to a feast which he had prepared at Lade. ^ On the morning after the feast the king referred to the proposal that had been made that he should attend the great sacrifice-festival in honour of the heathen gods. He then went on to say, " If I, along with you, shall turn again to making sacrifice, then will I make the greatest of sacrifices that are in use, and I will sacrifice men. But I will not select slaves or male- 1 The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and ^ Heimskringla, p. 429. Harald the Tyrant (Eng. ed.), p. 68. ^ j^. 431, 468 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE chap. xvn. factors for this, but mil take the greatest men only to be offered to the gods." ^ He then proceeded to name eleven of the principal men there present whom he The said he had selected to be offered as sacrifices. The sublnH.^ Bonders, realizing that they were not sufficiently strong to resist, submitted themselves to the king and were forthwith baptized. When the king came to Maere he appealed to the assembly which had gathered there to accept Christian baptism. When they expressed strong disapproval he asked if he might visit the temple which stood near and ha\dng entered Destnic- it, together with a few of his soldiers, he struck down herthen with his owu hand the image of Thor, whilst his men images. |-]^j.g^ dowu the othcr gods from their seats. The people, moved by the inability of their gods to defend their images, or overawed by the determined action of their king, agreed to be baptized and gave hostages to the king as a pledge that they would remain Christians. On another occasion the king " sailed northwards with his fleet to Halogaland. Wheresoever he came to the land, or to the islands, he held a Thing and told the people to accept the right faith and to be baptized. No man dared to say an3rthing against it, The and the whole country he passed through was made "made Christian." ^ As a result of this series of forcible tian?' conversions nearly the whole of Norway became nominally Christian within the space of four years. Death of In 1000 Olaf was worsted in a naval engagement ■ against the united forces of Denmark and Sweden, and in order to avoid capture he threw himself over- board and was drowned. 1 Heimskringla, i. 438 f ; Saga of Olaf T., p. 80. ^ Heimskringla, i. 445. NOBWAY 459 From the limited historical materials that are avail- His char- able it is hard to obtain any distinct information in^^*^^' regard to the sincerity of Olaf's religious behefs, or in regard to the motives that induced him to become one of the most intolerant and unchristian defenders of the Christian faith which the history of the middle ages can produce. Although in pubUc life he seemed to delight in cruelty, in private hfe he was sociable and generous. His religious fanaticism was to a large extent due to the religious education that he had received, his interpretation of which was influenced by the Viking traditions of his family and countrymen. After the death of Olaf , Eric, the brother-in-law of Accession King Canute, who was supported by the Danish and^ Swedish kings, ruled the country for about fifteen years, during the whole of which time Christianity made little progress. In 1015 Olaf Haraldson, a descendant of Harald oiaf Har- Haarfager, and usually known as Olaf the Saint, whose 1015."' youth had been spent in piratical expeditions to England and elsewhere, succeeded in overthrowing the rule of the Swedes and Danes and in making himself king of Norway.^ As soon as he had established himself as king he sent to England and brought over both bishops ^ The date of Olaf's baptism is to the faith of Christ, was washed in uncertain. According to the Heims- baptism and anointed with holy oil kringla he was baptized at Ringerike by the archbishop, and full of joy when he was three years old, but at the grace he had received returned WiUiam of Jumieges in his Chronicle, straightway to his own kingdom." referring to a visit paid by Olaf to A similar statement is made in the Duke Richard at Zoven, writes, Passio et miracula heati Olaui, by " King Olaf being attracted by the Archbishop Eystein, who adds that Christian rehgion, as were also some previous to his baptism at Rouen of his followers, on the exhortation " he had learned the truth of the of Archbishop Robert, was converted Gospel in England." 460 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvii. Mission- and clergy from thence. We may gather from the Engknd"^ names of those who are particularly mentioned that they belonged to Danish families who had settled in England. Adam of Bremen specially mentions the names of Sigafrid, Grimkil, Rudolf and Bernard.^ He also invited the archbishop of Bremen to assist in the evangelization of Norway. oiaf's " It was King Olaf's custom," writes the author of spread the the HeimsJcringla, "to rise betimes in the morning **^*^' . . . and then go to church and hear the matins and morning mass. . . . Christian privileges he settled according to the advice of Bishop Grimkil and other learned priests and bent his whole mind to uprooting heathenism and old customs which he thought con- trary to Christianity." ^ Referring to a progress made by the king through the southern part of his kingdom, he writes, " The king proceeded southwards . . . stopping at every district and holding Things with the Bonders, and in each Thing he ordered the Christian law to be read, together with the message of salvation thereto be- longing, and with which many ill customs and much heathenism were swept away at once among the common people ; . . . the people were baptized in the most places on the sea-coast, but the most of them were ignorant of Christian law. . . . The king threatened the most violent proceedings against great or small who, after the king's message would not adopt ^ See Adam Brem. ii. 55, " habuit ad regendum commisit. Quorum secum multos episcopos et presby- clari doctrina et virtutibus erant Siga- teros ab Anglia, quorum monitu f rid, Grimkil, Rudolf et Bernard. " et doctrina ipse cor suum Deo prse- ^ Heimskringla, ii. 52. paravit, subjectumque populum illis NORWAY 461 Christianity."^ On a later occasion when he was visiting the people in the district of Vingulmark, in the uplands, " he enquired particularly how it stood with their Christianity, and where improvement was needed he taught them the right customs. If any there were who would not renounce heathen ways, he took the matter so zealously that he drove some outnispun- of the country, mutilated others of hands or feet, stung otS"- their eyes out, hung up some, but let none go un- ^^®^^^^- punished who would not serve God. He went thus through the whole district, sparing neither great nor small. He gave them teachers and placed these as thickly in the country as he saw needful." ^ We can but hope that the Christianity which these teachers inculcated differed materially from that which their king strove to enforce. After he had been king for about five years he was Conver- informed that heathen sacrifices were being offered Maere** by the inhabitants of Maere near the head of the Drontheim Fiord, whereupon he made an attack upon the inhabitants of this district at the head of 300 armed men. " Some were taken prisoners and laid in irons, some ran away and many were robbed of their goods." The chronicler continues, without any sense of im- propriety or touch of humour, " He thus brought the whole people (in this district) back to the right faith, gave them teachers, and built and consecrated churches." ^ Again, referring to the uplands not far from Maere, he writes : " Here he laid hold of all the best men and forced them, both at Lesso and Dovre, either to receive Christianity or suffer death, 1 Heimskringla, ii. 56 f. 2 i^. ii. p. 79. 3 i^. ii. 152, 462 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvii. if they were not so lucky as to escape. After they received Christianity the king took their sons in his hands as hostages for their fidehty, ... he summoned by message-token the people ... for the districts of Vaage, Loar and Hedal and gave out the message along with the token that they must either receive Christianity and give their sons as hostages, or see their habitations burnt." ^ Opposi- In the neighbourhood of Loar lived a chief named Gud-° Gudbrand, a leader of the pagans who were prepared brand. ^^ pcsist by force the introduction of Christianity into their districts. When Olaf advanced towards his place Gudbrand sent his son with 700 men to meet him, but, a sudden assault having been made by Olaf's men, these were scattered and Gudbrand's son was made prisoner. Olaf sent his son back to Gudbrand and summoned all to meet him at a Thing. The assembly met on a very wet day and Gudbrand then proposed as a test of the power of the Christians' God that He should intervene on their behalf and cause the next day to be cloudy but without rain. In the evening Olaf asked Gudbrand's son what their god was like. He replied that " he bore the Hkeness of Thor, had a hammer in his hand, was of great size, but hollow within, and had a high stand upon which he stood when he was out. ' Neither gold nor silver,' he said, ' are wanting above him and every day he receives four cakes of bread besides meat.' " ^ That night the king " watched all night in prayer." The weather next day proved to be what Gudbrand had desired and at the Thing which met that day and at ' ^ Heimskringla, ii. p. 153 f. ^ i^^ p^ 158, NORWAY 463 which Olaf was present the bishop (Sigurd) stood up in Speech by his choir robes, with bishop's mitre upon his head and si^vd. bishop's staff in his hands. He spoke to the Bonders of the true faith, " told the many wonderful acts of God and concluded his speech well." To this speech one of the leaders of the pagans replied, " Many things we are told of by this horned^ man with the staff in his hand crooked at the top like a ram's horn, but since ye say that your God is so powerful . . . tell Him to make it clear sunshine to-morrow forenoon and then we shall meet here again and do one of two things, either agree with you about this business or fight you." 2 That night also King Olaf spent in prayer " be- seeching God of His goodness and mercy to release him from evil." But before withdrawing for prayer he gave orders that holes should be bored in the ships of the Bonders and that their horses should be let loose. After hearing mass in the morning the king went to the Thing accompanied by a chief named Kolbein-the- strong who carried with him a great club. When the Thing was assembled " they saw a great crowd coming along and bearing among them a huge man's image glancing with gold and silver." As it approached, the king whispered to Kolbein, " If Destruc- it come so in the course of my speech that the Bonders i^age of^^ look another way than towards their idol, strike him^^°^' as hard as thou canst with thy club." The king then stood up and spoke thus to Gudbrand : " Much hast thou talked to us this morning, and greatly hast thou wondered that thou canst not see our God, but 1 The allusion is to the bishop's mitre. ^ Heimskringla, ii. p. 158. 464 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvii. we expect that He will soon come to us. Thou would'st frighten us with thy god, who is both blind and deaf ' and can neither save himself nor others, and cannot even move about without being carried : but now I expect it will be a short time before he meets his fate, for turn your eyes towards the east, behold our God advancing in great light." As the people turned to look at the rising sun Kolbein struck the idol with such violence that it burst asunder and " there ran out of it mice as big almost as cats, and reptiles and adders." The Bonders, awestruck and frightened, ran for their ships and horses in order to flee from the scene, only to find that the first had been sunk and that the latter had run away, whereupon they returned to the spot where the Thing had assembled. When they had seated themselves again the king addressed them once more and said : "Ye see yourselves what your god can do . . . take now your gold and ornaments that are lying strewed about on the grass and give them to your wives and daughters, but never hang them hereafter upon stock or stone. Here are now two conditions between us to choose, either accept Christ- ianity or fight this very day, and the victory be to them to whom the God we worship gives it." ^ Gudbrand confessed that the inability of their god to help them had been demonstrated, and the chronicler continues : "All re- "All received Christianity: the bishop baptized Christi- Gudbrand and his son : King Olaf and Bishop Sigurd amty: j^£^ behind them teachers : they who met as enemies parted as friends, and Gudbrand built a church in the valley." ^ Similar scenes were enacted in one district * Heimskringla, ii. p. 160. , ^ Id. ii. p. 160. NOBWAY 465 after another, as Olaf progressed from place to place, accompanied by Christian bishops. After referring to a battle which he fought with the people of Raumarige, the chronicler writes : " They were forced by this battle into a better disposition and immediately re- ceived Christianity, and the king scoured the whole district and did not leave it until all the people were made Christians. He then went east to Soloer and baptized that neighbourhood." ^ It is doubtful whether the forcible conversion of a people to Christianity was ever carried out as com- pletely and methodically in any other country as it was in Norway during the reign of Olaf. The collapse of paganism, however, and the willing- The coi- ness on the part of the people as a whole to accept paganism. Christianity cannot be explained entirely by the fact that physical force was employed to hasten their con- version. They were partly due to the fact that there was no regular priesthood to defend idolatry or to organize opposition to the king. The priestly offices at the three annual festivals were performed by the heads of families or by the chiefs of the district. When therefore a chief allowed himself to be baptized it was natural that his people should follow his example, and if the chief of a district allowed the temple which was under his charge to be destroyed, there was no place left in which the worship of the heathen gods could take place. In Norway, to a greater extent than in any other European country, the sites or the buildings of heathen temples became the sites or buildings of Christian churches. ^ Heimskringla, ii. p. 161. 466 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvii. The two The Icelandic monk Odd comparing the work ac- ^^^^^' comphshed by Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf Haraldson, says, " Olaf Tryggvason prepared and laid the founda- tion of Christianity, but St. Olaf built the walls ; Olaf Tryggvason planted the vineyard, but St. Olaf trained up the vine covered with fair flowers and much fruit." Olaf Har- As soou as Olaf had succeeded in establishing Christ- laws, ianity as the national rehgion he summoned an assembly at which a code of laws was drawn up known as Olaf's Kristenret which was apparently the joint work of Olaf and Bishop Grimkil.^ The law which related to the observance of heathen customs is of special interest from a missionary standpoint. It made no attempt to suppress the social customs connected with heathenism, but endeavoured to associate them with the observance of Christian customs. It directed that wherever three families could meet together and have a common feast the custom of drinking beer was to be observed, the beer having first been blessed " in honour of Christ and the Blessed Virgin for good years and peace." Fines were imposed in case of a breach of this law.2 A step towards the abolition of slavery was made by the law which provided that, instead of offering a slave as a sacrifice at the meeting of a Thing one slave should be set free, and that one should be liberated every Christmas. Mission- At some time during the archbishopric of Unwan Bremen'!"' of Bremen (1013 to 1029) Olaf apphed for additional ^ The original code has not been embodies the code as promulgated preserved, but the form which is by, Olaf. extant and which dates from about ^ gg^ jjist. of the Church and State the middle of the twelfth century in Norway, Willson, p. 73. NOEWAY 467 missionaries. His reason for seeking to obtain them from Bremen rather than from England was probably that Canute who was his enemy was then in England. Adam of Bremen writes : " He (Olaf) sent also am- bassadors to our archbishop with gifts praying that he would receive these bishops kindly and would send some of his own bishops to him, who should strengthen and confirm the rude Norwegians in the faith." We do not know whether this request was complied with, but apparently soon afterwards Olaf was himself a fugitive from Norway. The first missionaries to Norway who came either from England or Germany to work under the bishops whom the two Olafs introduced were foreigners and would not have known the language of the people. The next generation of clergy were natives of the country who had been trained by them, and until 1100, when monasteries began to spread, these were probably men with very slender education. Later on there came a great improvement in the education of the clergy. Adam of Bremen, contrasting the The condition of the people of Norway with its state in christian the old Viking days, writes, " After they received ^^^chmg. Christianity, being imbued with fuller knowledge, they have now learned to love peace and truth and to be content in their poverty . . . and although they had from the beginning all been enslaved by the evil arts of wizards, now with the apostle they in simplicity confess Christ and Him crucified. . . . In many places in Norway and Sweden those who tend the flocks are men even of the most noble rankj who, after the manner of the patriarchs, live by the work of their hands. 468 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvn. But all who dwell in Norway are altogether Christian (Christianissimi) with the exception of those who are far off beside the seas of the Arctic regions." ^ Canute In 1026 Canute king of England and Denmark con- Norwuy! qucrcd Norway, and Olaf fled to Sweden and afterwards ^^^^' to Russia, where he was hospitably received by King Yaroslav,^ who offered him the kingdom of Kazan to the east of the Volga, the inhabitants of which were heathen. Having been directed, however, as he be- lieved in a vision to return to Norway, he refused the offer and set out to return. After reaching Norway he was joined by many of his former subjects and he succeeded in mustering an army of 3000 men. On making enquiry he found that 900 of these were heathen, whereupon he refused to allow any who had not been baptized to fight on his behalf. As a result 400 were baptized and confirmed and the others returned to their homes. Before the battle which ensued the king had a white cross painted on the helmets and shields of his soldiers and he said, " When we come into battle we shall all have one countersign and field- cry, ' For- ward, forward, Christ-man, Cross-man, King's man ! ' " ^ He also " took many marks of silver and delivered them into the hands of a Bonder, and said. This money thou shalt conceal, and afterwards lay out, some to churches, some to priests, some to alms-men, as gifts for the life and souls of those who fight against us and may fall in battle." * The battle was fiercely con- Death of tested, but Olaf, after killing many of his foes was battle, himself killed, and his forces were dispersed. An Wdv. 1 Doscriftio insularum Aquilonis, ^ Heimskringla, ii. p. 295. XXX., xxxi. See Migne, P. L. cxlvi. » i^j pp 399^ 323. col. 647 f. -* Id. p. 313. NOEWAY 469 eclipse of the sun which occurred during the course of the battle apparently fixes its date as August 31, 1030.^ After the death of Olaf, Swend, a son of Canute, King became ruler of Norway, but the severity of his rule ^^^^^• and the taxes which he imposed soon rendered him unpopular, and so complete was the revulsion of feeling in favour of Olaf which occurred that he came eventu- ally to be regarded as the patron saint of Norway. Churches were dedicated to him, not only in Norway but in England,^ Ireland and elsewhere. Many miracles too were reported as having taken place at his tomb in Nidaros.3 In 1035 Magnus the son of Olaf returned to Norway, and King Swend retired, without fighting, to Denmark where he died in the following year. Magnus reigned from 1035 to 1047. During his reign King and the reigns of his immediate successors opposition J^3^"^' to Christianity gradually died out ; churches, schools and monasteries were built throughout the land and the new faith which the majority of the people had been forced to adopt began to be understood and to gain an influence over their lives. The establishment of the Estabiish- schools and monasteries brought about the substitu- ^hoob^ tion of the Roman alphabet for the old runic characters, a^^^r^s^" and an advance in the knowledge of agriculture and of other useful arts. It was the influence of Christianity which, as Adam of Bremen tells us, caused the Norsemen to leave off their piratical expeditions and to love peace.* ^ The date given in the Reims- ing his tomb, " ubi usque hodie kringla is July 29, 1033, but this is pluribus miracuUs et sanitatibus quae probably incorrect. per eum fiunt, Dominus ostendere dig- ^ There are three churches in natus est quanti meriti sit in coelis qui London dedicated to him (St. Clave). sic glorificatur in terris." Hist. c. 43, ^ Adam of Bremen writes concern- * De situ Danice, c. 96. 470 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvn. In the establishment of Christianity throughout Norway, the monasteries played a part, although a less important part, than in many other countries. The first monastery in Norway was apparently that founded by Canute on the island of Nidarholm (after- wards called Munkholm) near Nidaros shortly before the defeat and death of Olaf. Tliis was served by English Benedictine monks. Other monasteries were established by Sigurd Jorsalfarer after his return from Palestine, the next monks to arrive after the Bene- dictines being Cistercians and Augustinians. The Dominican and Franciscan friars arrived in the follow- ing century. In 1152 the English Cardinal Nicholas Breakspeare, who subsequently became Pope, was sent as legate to Norway and as a result of his visit Nidaros was chosen as the metropolitan see of Norway and the Norwegian Church was brought into close touch with the papacy. CHAPTER XVIII SWEDEN The iron age in Sweden, with which apparently com- worship menced the worship of Thor, dates back to about °^Jq%j^^ 500 B.C. Later on the hamnier, as a divine tool, was considered sacred, and with it brides and the bodies of the dead were consecrated : men also blessed with the sign of the hammer as Christians did with the sign of the Cross. ^ The worship of Odin, who came to be regarded as the god of wisdom and poetry, dates back to about the Christian era and was probably introduced from Denmark, or from the south Germanic races. As late as the eighth century human Human sacrifices were not unknown, and Domald, one of the ^^°^^^^^^- Viking kings, is said to have been offered as a sacrifice to the gods by his subjects in the hope of obtaining relief from a long period of famine. Another king, " Ane the Old," is said to have purchased ten years of life by offering a son to Odin every ten years. When he reached the age of 110 and was about to sacrifice his last son, he was prevented by his subjects from doing so, whereupon he died. It was not till the ninth century was well advanced that the Christian peoples in Europe made an attempt to impart to the inhabitants of Sweden a knowledge of a higher faith. Referring to the long delay that occurred Bishop Wordsworth ^ See Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie, p. 180 f. Eng. Tr. 471 472 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap, xviii. Results of writes, " The neglect of Scandinavia by the papacy evang^eUse ^nd by the Christian Goths, Franks, Angles and Irish, mv^a* ^^^ rewarded by the ravage and rapine of the Viking age, the horrible sufferings of many innocent men and women, the destruction, especially in the ninth century, of many churches, and of many treasures of literature and art which we should love to possess. The Viking Age continued until the North itself became Christian. . . . The neglect of the Scandinavian nations by their Christian neighbours brought disaster upon those who neglected them. That sure punishment of neglect of duty and opportunity falls upon nations and Churches as well as individuals, is one of the laws of God's kingdom." ^ Litroduc- In 829 ambassadors from Sweden who had come to Christi- the court of the emperor on political business, sug- anity,829. ggg|.g^ to him that many of their countrymen were favourably disposed towards Christianity and would gladly welcome Christian missionaries, if such could be sent to them. Christian merchants who had visited Sweden had in fact already sown the seeds of Christian knowledge, and Swedish merchants who had visited Dorstede (Doerstadt) had carried back to their fellow- countrymen further information in regard to the teach- ings of Christianity. Moreover some of the many slaves whom the Swedes had captured during their raids in Christian countries had taught their captors what they themselves knew concerning its doctrines, and thus had prepared the way for the reception of a Christian mission. Anskar,^ on the invitation of the emperor, ^ The National Church of Sweden, Bp. J. Wordsworth, pp. 30 f . ^ For reference to the earlier missionary activities of Anskar see above, p. 438. SWEDEN 473 gladly undertook to go as a missionary to Sweden, Anskar and having entrusted his work in Denmark to a monk Sweden. named Gislema, he embarked on a vessel sailing for Sweden accompanied by a monk named Witmar from New Corbie and carrying with him presents sent by the Emperor to the king of Sweden. His ship was attacked by pirates and the missionaries lost almost everything that they possessed. Their loss included forty books. They eventually arrived at Birka^ on Lake Malar near Sigtuna the ancient capital, where the king, Biorn, gave them permission to preach and to baptize all who were mlling to become Christians. Their first congregation of Christians included a number of slaves who had been carried captive from their own lands. One of their first converts, however, was a man of rank^ and a counsellor of the king, named Herigar, who built a church on his own estate. Herigar. After spending a year and a half in Sweden Anskar returned in 831 and reported to the Emperor the work that had been accomplished and the encouraging prospect which had developed. In order to promote the extension of Christian Missions in the countries which lay to the north of Germany, Louis determined to carry out a design formed by his father and to make Hamburg an archi- episcopal see and a centre for missionary operations in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Anskar was Anskar accordingly consecrated as archbishop of Hamburg ^ arch-"^ by Bishop Drogo of Mainz and shortly afterwards ^^^J^^^ ^ The modern Biorko. * and Bremen were united. The resi- ^ " Prsefectus vici ipsius et con- dence of the archbishop was then siliarius regis." Vita Anscharii, 17. fixed at Bremen. See below, p. 477. ^ In 864 the two sees of Hamburg 474 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE chap, xviii. paid a visit to Rome. On this occasion he received from Gregory IV the pall and a definite charge which was given to him and Archbishop Ebo of Rheims to preach the Gospel to the northern nations.^ On his return from Rome he handed over the charge of the Bishop Swedish mission to Ebo's nephew Gautbert, who was consecrated as his coadjutor bishop, and at his con- secration received the name of Simon. The new bishop received a hearty welcome from King Biorn and soon afterwards laid the foundation of a church at Sigtuna. He continued his missionary His ex- labours for about ten years, but in 845 a rising of the Fiom^^ heathen against the Christians occurred and he was sS^^"' attacked, deprived of all that he possessed and driven out of the country. His nephew Nithard was murdered at the same time. Story of a Auskar's biographer tells a story relating to this book/^'' time, which reminds us of what befell the Phihstines during the sojourn of the Israelitish Ark in their, midst, and at the same time illustrates the difficulty which the heathen found to distinguish between the character of the God of the Christians and that of their heathen deities. After the expulsion of Gautbert one of the heathen carried home a book belonging to the Christians. Soon afterwards he and his wife, his son and his daughter, died. His father finding that his property was rapidly diminishing, consulted a soothsayer and asked which of the gods he had offended. The soothsayer replied that he had not offended any of the gods of the country ^ Vita, 20. The Pope at the same peratoris insidiantem anathematis time added his curse upon any who mucrone percussit atque perpetua should reject his preaching, " quoHbet ultione rerum diabolica sorte modo his Sanctis studiis piisimi im- damnavit." SWEDEN 475 but that he had offended the God of the Christians and that " Christ " was the cause of his loss. He further suggested that there was something hidden in his house that had been dedicated to the service of Christ, and that he could not be delivered from his calamities as long as it remained in his house. Eager to avert complete ruin he called together his fellow- townsmen and, having explained to them what had happened, asked for their help. As no one was willing to receive the sacred book into his house, he covered it up and fastened it to a stake which he fixed in the public road, with a notice to the effect that anyone who wished might take it and that for the crime which he had committed against " the Lord Jesus Christ " he was willing to offer any satisfaction that might be asked. Eventually the book was removed by a Christian, and the man's fears were appeased.^ After the expulsion of King Harald from Denmark King and the accession of King Horick, who was strongly op^poses opposed to Christianity, missionary work in that *f ^^.^p ^^^^^ country was for the time being interrupted. When, ^nity. however, Anskar was established at Hamburg he began to purchase Danish, Norman and Slavonian boys, some of whom he retained with him, whilst he sent others to be educated at the monastery of Turholt between Bruges and Ypres. This monastery had been given him by the emperor as a source of revenue wherewith to maintain his missionary enterprises. He hoped that amongst these youths he might find those who would become missionaries to their fellow- countrymen. His work at Hamburg was however 1 Vita, c. 24. 476 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvni. rudely interrupted. The Emperor Louis died in 840 and in 845 Eric king of Jutland at the head of an army Destnic- of Northmen sacked and burned Hamburg and de- Hamburg, stroyed all Christian churches and other buildings both ^*^- in Hamburg and in the surrounding district. A Christian library containing many books perished in the flames. Accompanied by a few clergy and scholars he wandered about for some time and at length found refuge on the estate of a noble lady called Ikia at Rameshoe (Ramsola) in the district of Holstein. From this place as a centre Anskar travelled for several years through his wasted diocese, in which the devastation wrought by the Northmen was such that the total number of churches was reduced to four.^ But although the missionary work had received a serious set-back, good work had been accomplished Arch- which was afterwards to bear fruit. Archbishop Ebo, Ebo!*^ by whom Anskar was originally sent out as a missionary, said to him before his death : "I am assured that what we hav:e begun to do on behalf of the name of Christ ^^11 bring forth fruit in the Lord, for it is my firm and settled belief, and I know assuredly, that although what we have undertaken to do among those nations meets for a time hindrances on account of our sins, yet it will not everywhere be altogether lost, but will thrive more and more by the grace of God, and will prosper till the name of the Lord extends to the extreme boundaries of the earth." ^ In August 845, soon after the destruction of Hamburg, Bishop Leuderich of Bremen died and the German ^ " Non nisi quattuor baptismales cursionibus devastata." Vita, c. habebat ecclesias dioecesis, et haec 22. ipsa multoties jam barbarorum in- ^ Vita, c. 56. SWEDEN 477 King Louis expressed a desire to appoint Anskar to the vacant see. This was eventually accomplished in 849. As soon as Anskar became bishop of Bremen and obtained the means wherewith to support the missionaries whom he wished to send, he despatched (in 851) a hermit named Ardgar to Sweden. Ardgar The her- received a welcome from Herigar, who induced the^r,85L king, the successor of Biorn, to sanction the preaching of Christianity. During the seven years that had elapsed since the expulsion of Gautbert Herigar had consistently maintained his profession of Christianity and had tried to influence his countrymen in its favour. On one occasion when the town of Birka was attacked by Danes and Swedes under the command of Avoundus, a king of Sweden who had been expelled from his country, the inhabitants consulted their heathen priests and offered sacrifices to their gods, but failed to obtain any encouraging replies. At this crisis Herigar inter- influence vened, and, after pointing out the inability of their Heriglr. national gods to come to their assistance, he urged that they should make a solemn vow of obedience to the God of the Christians, and assured them that if they did so He would aid them against their enemies. The people accordingly went forth to an open plain and solemnly vowed to keep a fast to " the Lord Christ " and to give alms if He would liberate them from their enemies. 1 Their deliverance came about in the following way. Whilst his army was waiting for the Attack signal to advance, the king, Avoundus, suggested that averted. lots should be cast in order to ascertain whether it ^ Vita, c. 29. " Exeuntes sicut ibi liberatione sibi jejuniuni et eleemo- consuetudinis erat, in campum pro synas domino Christo devoverunt." 478 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap, xviii. was the will of the gods that Birka should be destroyed. " There are," he said, " many great and powerful deities there, there also a church was formerly built, and even now the worship of Christ is observed by many Christians, and He is more powerful than other gods, and is ever ready to aid those that put their trust in Him. We ought then to inquire whether it be the divine will that we attack the place." ^ When the lots were cast the auspices were unfavourable for the attack and Birka was delivered. After the death of Herigar, Ardgar, who pined for the hermit life which he had forsaken, returned from Sweden in 852, after spending less than two years in that country. On his return Anskar tried to induce Gautbert to resume his former work in Sweden and when he refused he himself Anskar sct out for Birka. He arrived in 853 at a time when the Sweden, fcclings of the people had been greatly excited against Christianity and in favour of their national rehgion, but, nothing daunted by their hostility, he asked King Olaf to a banquet and, after presenting him with gifts which he had brought from King Horick, invited him to declare himself in favour of the Christian A national religion. The king replied that an assembly of the people must be called and that their gods must be consulted by casting lots in order to ascertain what ought to be done. When the lots were cast the answer obtained was favourable to the request which the missionaries had made. A proposal was accordingly put before the assembly that Christianity should be accepted as the rehgion of the country. While discussion was pro- 1 Vita, c. 30. SWEDEN 479 ceeding and it seemed uncertain what the vote of the assembly would be an old man stood forward and said : " Hear me O king and people : concerning the worship of this God it is already known to many of us that He can be of great help to those who hope in Him, for many of us have had experience of this in dangers at sea and in manifold straits. Why then should we spurn what is necessary and useful to us ? Once several of us, perceiving that this form of religion would profit us, travelled to Dorstede, and there em- braced it uninvited. . . . Why then should we not embrace what we once felt constrained to seek in distant parts, now that it is offered at our doors ? . . . Now that we cannot secure the favour of our own gods, surely it is a good thing to enjoy the favour of this God who, always and at all times, can and will aid those that call upon Him." ^ The resolution in favour of acknowledging the its ac- Christians' God which the assembly subsequently ledgment passed bound only the inhabitants of Gothenland, ^hris- but similar resolutions were subsequently passed in ^'^^^' other parts of Sweden. After leaving a companion named Erimbert to superintend the Mission Anskar Erimbert. returned to Hamburg in 854. He died at Bremen ^ in 865. For seventy years after the death of Anskar hardly anything was done to extend missionary work through- out Sweden. Rimbert his successor and biographer Rimbert. during the twenty years of his episcopate (865-888) paid several visits both to Sweden and Denmark, but the political conditions which prevailed rendered mis- 1 Vita, c. 48. 2 See above, p. 440. 480 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvin. sionary enterprise difficult. In his efforts to ransom Christians who had been carried captive by pagans from the north he parted with the gold and silver Unni. vessels belonging to his church. Unni, a successor of Rimbert, visited Sweden on more than one occasion and died at Birka in 9S6. His successor Adaldag Odinkar. ordained as bishop a Dane named Odinkar for Sweden, but it is doubtful whether the work of the latter ex- tended beyond Birka. KingOiof. The first Christian king of Sweden was Olof Skotkonung usually called the Lap-king, who reigned from 993 to 1024. According to Swedish tradition Bishop he was baptized by Bishop Sigfrid at the well of Husaby ^^^^ near Skara in 1008. Sigfrid was almost certainly an Englishman 1 and is probably to be identified with Sigurd who was associated with Olaf Tryggvason.^ According to Adam of Bremen he " preached alike to Swedes and Northmen." ^ He apparently acted also as a missionary in the district of Verend in Smaland, where he is venerated as the founder of the Church in Wexio. The In regard to the establishment of Christianity in West Got- West Gotland we have a definite and trustworthy state- ment by Adam of Bremen. He writes : " Olaf is said to have been eminent in Sweden for a like love of rehgion. In his desire to convert his subjects to Christianity, he laboured with great zeal to effect the destruction of the idol temple which is in the middle of Sweden at Ubsola. The heathen, fearing his in- tention, are said to have passed a statute (flacitum) ^ A late tradition represents him worth, p. 72 f. as archdeacon of York. ^ Adam Brem. c. 242. Migne, P. L. » See The N. Gh. of Sweden, Words- cxlvi. col. 651. SWEDEN 481 together with their king that if he wished to be a Christian he should hold as his own the best district of Sweden, wherever he desired to live, and might there establish a Church and Christianity, but should not use force to niake any of the people give up the worship of the gods, and only admit such as wished of their own free will to be converted to Christ. The king, gladly accepting this statute, soon founded a church to God and a bishop's seat in West Gotland, which is close to the Danes or Norwegians. This is the great city of Skara, for which, on the petition of the most Christian king Olaf, Thurgot was first ordained by Bishop Archbishop Unwan (1013-1029). He vigorously dis- JoYs.^^*' charged his mission among the Gentiles and by his labour gained to Christ the two noble peoples of the Goths." i During the reign of his successor Anund Jakob, Spread Christianity spread throughout a large part of Sweden ^ tianity and in 1030 Gotescalk was consecrated by the Arch- ^^^^''''^^" bishop of Bremen as the second bishop of Skara. Sweden. Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen (1045-1072) conse- crated five bishops for Sweden, including John the monk bishop of Birka,^ the latter being the first monk who is referred to as having worked in Sweden since the time of Anskar. One of these bishops Adalward Bishop the younger made many converts in the city of Sigtuna and its neighbourhood and tried to destroy idolatry at Upsala.* Another named Simon or Stenfi preached to the Scritefinni, or Skating Finns, or Lapps, in the a mission far north, who, according to Adam of Bremen, could Lapps. 1 Adam Brem. c. 94. Migne, P. L. 3 Id. c. 206. cxlvi. col. 541. ^ Id. c. 237. 2 Adam Brem. c. 107. 2 H 482 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xvm. outrace on their snow-shoes the wild beasts of the country.^ He is venerated as St. Staffan. Stenkil, who became king in 1066, was urged by the bishops to use force in order to spread the Christian faith and eradicate idolatry, but to this request he refused to King Inge, accedc.^ His son Inge, who succeeded hini in 1080, lacked the wisdom of his father, and having abolished the heathen sacrifices in Svithiod and having ordered all the inhabitants to be baptized, was pelted with stones and obliged for a time to abdicate his throne. This use of force to compel the acceptance of baptism The con- stauds almost by itself in Swedish history. The Smaiand. forcible couvcrsiou of Smaland was the work of a Norwegian king Sigurd (1121-1130). After three years Inge recovered his throne, but he refrained from destroying the temple at Upsala. A later king, Upsaia Sverker, laid the foundations of the old Upsala 1138. ' cathedral in 1138 and used in its construction the materials of the heathen temple. In 1066 a pagan reaction had taken place at Bremen which had forced Adalbert to flee, and he had died in Bishop 1072. About this time Eskil an Englishman, who Soder- was cousecratcd by St. Sigfrid as bishop of Strengnas, preached as a missionary in Sodermanland. When Blot-Sven the brother-in-law of King Inge came to Strengnas to offer a sacrifice, the bishop is said to have prayed to God to grant a sign from heaven and as a result of his prayer a storm of thunder, hail, snow and rain overwhelmed the assembly and overturned the pagan altar, at which the heathen were so enraged that they murdered the bishop. His martyrdom is ^ Adam Brem., c. 232. 2 Id. c. 238. SWEDEN 483 celebrated on June \% but the year of his death is uncertain. Towards the end of the eleventh century three Englishmen in succession became bishops of Three Skara, Rodulward, Ricolf and Edward. Another bisLps. Englishman, a monk named David, the founder of the see of Vesteras in Vestermanland, is said to have been martyred in 1082. St. Botvid the first native Swedish missionary, who st. was baptized in England, also suffered as a martyr °*^^ " about this time. The town of Botkyrka is named after him. By about the year 1130, that is 300 years after the mission of Anskar, Sweden as a whole had become a Christian country. About 1150 the Swedish king asked the Pope to give the Swedish people a primate and the English Cardinal Breakspeare, who afterwards became Pope Adrian IV, was sent to Sweden in com- pliance with this request. At the Synod of Linkoping, synod of held in 1152, it was decided that the Swedes should ping,u52. pay an annual tax to the Pope. Bishop Wordsworth suggests that the absence of any reference to the cehbacy of the clergy at this synod was a matter of arrangement between the Pope's legate and the Swedish bishops, the acceptance of Peter's Pence being the price paid for this silence. In 1213 the clergy of Sweden were publicly married and claimed to have a privilege from the Pope for this indulgence.^ Monasticism was apparently not introduced into Monasti- Sweden till the twelfth century, the first Swedish sw?d^. monastery being founded at Alvastra in East Gotland in 1143. A year later one was founded at Nydala in 1 The National Church of Sweden, pp. 109, 114. 484 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap, xviii. Smaland and within a few years every large district in Sweden possessed one or more monasteries. The island Christianity was introduced into the island of Gotland Sand!^ early in the tenth century, but nothing is known con- cerning its earhest missionaries. Traces of a' church which may date as far back as 900 have been found at Visby in Gotland. CHAPTER XIX RUSSIA There is no country other than Russia in which ReHgion national and reHgious aspirations have been so com- tks i^T^ pletely identified and the national life of which has ^"«^i*- been so inseparably connected with its religion.^ As a present-day illustration of this statement we may point to the fact that down to the time of the recent Revolu- tion all the chief government offices in Petrograd had churches or chapels attached in which prayers were constantly offered that the blessing of God might rest upon the work which was being transacted in them. Ever since the time of Vladimir religion has been a dominant factor in the evolution of Russian life and character, and he who would forecast the future de- velopment of Russia must first strive to understand and to breathe the spiritual atmosphere in which its peoples live. As a step towards the accomplishment of this difficult task, he would do well to study care- fully the conditions under which the Russians accepted the Christian faith and the story of the missionaries who first sought to evangelize their country .2 ^ M. Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu this day it is the cement that holds writes, "The Church is to them (the both together." The Empire of the Russians) a part of Russia, first and Tsars and the Russians, Eng. ed., vol. foremost a national institution ... iv. p. 45. and not only has it helped to mould ^ xhe Metropohtan of Kiev, in the the nation and make Russia, but to course of a letter addressed to the 486 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. Russia re- It was foi Russia an event of far-reaching significance Oiristi- ^ that the Christianity which it received came to it from Con^l^ntT- Constantinople and not from Rome, and the whole nopie. subsequent development of religion in Russia has been conditioned by this fact. Discussing the advantages and disadvantages which accrued therefrom, the French historian, M. Rambaud, writes : " Without doubt a church language which, thanks to Cyril and Methodius, blended with the national language and became intelligible to all classes of society, and a church that was purely national and did not receive the word of command from a stranger chief, being altogether independent of the civil powers and developing on national lines, these were the untold advantages which Byzantine Christianity brought to Russia."^ He goes on to point out that over against these ad- vantages must be set the fact that in the time of her national peril, when attacked and overrun by the Mongols, there was no one to raise the Christian powers of Europe in her defence, as was the case when Spain was attacked by the Moors, or when Hungary was attacked by the Turks .^ Regret has sometimes been Archbishop of Canterbury in 1888, strength of her people, but also to wrote : " I offer you, beloved brother, the fact that our branch of the Holy sincere thanks on behalf both of CathoUc and ApostoHc Church has myself and of all the Russians that grown up together with our nation, were at Kiev at the celebration of and that the Christian faith has the 900th anniversary of the baptism illuminated it through nine long of Russia into the Christian faith for centuries of history." your loving letter of congratulation. ^ Histoire de la Russie, p. 69. . . . Your Grace rightly says that ^ Pope Innocent IV wrote to Russia is indebted for her power and David of Gahch in Southern Russia the position which she holds amongst suggesting a united crusade against Christian nations not only to the the Mongols on condition that the wisdom of her rulers and the inborn Russian Church should accept the RUSSIA 487 expressed that at a critical stage in the development of Russian history its people came under the influence of the decadent Greek power and of the representa- tives of a Church which has been more distinguished by its punctilious orthodoxy than by a strenuous activity displayed in efforts to ameliorate the con- ditions under which its adherents have lived. It is impossible to imagine what political and social con- ditions would prevail in Russia to-day if Vladimir had accepted the overtures of the bishop of Rome, and if the subsequent development of the religious history of Russia had been influenced by Western teachers and Western theology. Our chief authority for the story of the introduction The of Christianity into Russia ^ is the Russian Chronicle, chronicle. the earliest section of which was for a long time believed to have been compiled by a monk named Nestor, who was born about 1056 and has been called the " Father of Russian history." He was an inmate of the monastery of Petchersky at Kiev, and, as his editing of the Chronicle apparently ended in 1106, this year is supposed to have been the date of his death. From 1116 to 1124 the Chronicle was edited by Silvester, abbot of the Viebuditski monastery in Kiev. It was subsequently continued by a number of anonymous monks .2 supremacy of the Pope. David Swedes, and is a corruption of part of refused but suggested referring the a word (Rothskarlar) meaning rowers matter to an ecumenical council. and representing a seafaring race. SeeMomsivie&,History of the Russian ^ Professor Kluchevsky, after a Church, Eng. ed., p. 46. full discussion of the available evi- ^ The name Russia is probably dence{seeHisiory of Russia, trst'nsla.ted derived from the Finnish Ruotsi, by C. J. Hogarth, i. pp. 2-28), arrives a name given by the Finns to the at the conclusion that the work of 488 THE CONVERSION OF EUBOPE [chap. XIX. Legends concern- ing St. Andrew. The legend that the Apostle Andrew preached at Kiev ^ has no historical foundation and is of compara- tively late origin. The tradition as recorded by the Chronicler has, however, gained so wide a currency that it is worth repeating.^ When St. Andrew, the Apostle of Scythia, ascending the river Dnieper on his way from Sinope to Rome, beheld the heights of Kiev, he exclaimed, " See you those hills ? The grace of God shall enhghten them. There shall be a great city and God shall cause many churches there to be built." Then he climbed these heights and blessed them and set up a cross and prayed to God. The first attempts to introduce Christianity into any part of Russia date from the time of the Varangian ^ prince, Rurik (d. 879), who was himself a Norseman. Nestor was so largely re -edited and expanded by Silvester that the latter ought to be regarded as the author of that part of the Chronicle to which the name of Nestor has been attached. Of this portion of the Chronicle there are two versions which differ con- siderably from each other : the earlier being the recension made by the monk Laurentius in 1377, whilst the later one, the Ipatievski, was tran- scribed about the end of the four- teenth century. The Chronicle was translated into German by Schlozer and pubhshed at Gottingen in 5 vols, in 1802, and has twice been edited and published in French, in 1834, and again by M. L. Leger in 1884. The Chronicle is of great historical value, and although in the sections which relate to the introduction of Christianity into Russia it is possible to detect a few chronological errors, there is good reason to believe that the greater part of the contents of the chronicles are true to history. ^ The old Russian capital has been variously spelt in English as Kiev, Kieff, Kief and Kiew, but the first of these is nearest to the original. 2 Chronique dite de Nestor, ed. Leger, pp. 5 f. ; Nestor^ s Annals, ed. Schlozer, ii. p. 93. The tradition probably originated in the statement made by Eusebius that " Andrew received Scythia," efK-rj-x^v 'Apdpias "EiKvdiav, Hist. Eccl. iii. 1. ^ Of the Varangians who during the succeeding centuries formed so large a section of the mihtary and trading classes Kluchevsky writes : " All the signs point to the fact that these Baltic Varangians . . . were Scandinavians and not Slavonic in- habitants either of the South Baltic seaboard or of what now constitutes South Russia." Id. i. p. 58. RUSSIA 489 According to Russian tradition, the first Russians to embrace Christianity were Askold and Dir, two princes Askoid of Kiev. In a.d. 860 ^ these appeared in two hundred seo. armed vessels at Constantinople, and threw its in- habitants into great alarm, whereupon — ^to quote the words of the Russian chronicler — " The Emperor, together with the Patriarch Photius, Their re- betook themselves to the church of the Mother of God constant? in Blacherna. Here they spent the whole night in^^P^^ prayer, then they took the divine robe of the Mother of God from the church with song and lamentation, to the edge of the sea and plunged it in the water. Up to this time the wind had been still, but now a violent storm suddenly arose which stirred up the sea, and the ships of the godless Russians were broken and thrown on the beach. Only a few escaped mis- fortune and returned awestruck to theii homes." ^ This tradition is embodied in an anthem in honour of the holy Virgin, who is described as a victorious general, which is used daily in the Russian liturgy.^ The attack made by Askold and Dir is historical, but it is doubtful whether there is any substratum of truth in their alleged conversion to Christianity. In a letter written by the Greek Patriarch Photius state- in 866 and directed against the Latin Church he says photius^ that the people called Russians, who had hitherto ^^^• been noted for their barbarism and cruelty, had abandoned their idolatry, accepted Christianity and 1 The Chronicler gives the date as Nestor's Annals, Schlozer, ii. pp. 223 f. 866, but modern Russian historians ^ t^ virepfxaxv arpar-qyi^ rh vLKrfT^pia. are agreed that the date given above The hymn concludes the first hour is the correct one. See Kluchevsky, in the daily matins of the Greek i. p. 20. Church. 2 Chronique dite de Nestor, p. 16 ; 490 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. allowed a Christian bishop to be placed over them.^ This statement of Photius, which is certainly incorrect, is based upon the alleged conversion of Askold and Dir at Contsantinople. The commercial intercourse that existed between Russia and the Greek Empire during the ninth and tenth centuries must have familiarized many Russians with Christian teaching and customs. 2 Rurik died in 879 after a reign of seventeen years and was succeeded by Oleg who acted Igor, 941. as the guardian of his young son Igor. He reigned for thirty-three years and was succeeded by Igor. In 941 Igor undertook expeditions against Constantinople and devastated the provinces of Pontus, Paphlagonia and Bithynia, destroying numerous Christian churches and monasteries. In a treaty of peace which he eventually concluded with the Greek emperors in 945, A church reference is made to the existence of a church of the Kiev. Prophet Ehas in Kiev. The Chronicler states that the Russians who had been baptized before the cross in the church of the holy Prophet Ehas swore to keep all that was contained in the treaty, whilst those who were not baptized took an oath on their swords and other weapons of war.^ It is interesting to note, as 1 Photii EpisiolcB, xiii. See Migne, let them be punished by Almighty P. Gr. cii. col. 735. God ... if any (do so) who are not 2 Constantine Porphyxogenitus and baptized let them not receive help other Greek annalists relate that in either from God or from Perun. . . . the lifetime of Askold a bishop was If any prince or people of Russia sent to the Russians by the Emperor violate that which is written on this Basil. In Codinus' hst of sees subject paper let him die by his own weapons to the patriarch of Constantinople and let him be cursed by God and the metropohtical see of Russia by Perun because he has broken his appears as early as 891. oath." Chronique de Nestor, pp. 39, 3 The words of the Chronicler are, 41. There was also a church dedi- " If any Russians who have received cated to the Prophet Elias in Con- baptism try to disturb the friendship stantinople. M. L. Leger in his BUSSIA 491 indicating the origin of the principal Russian famihes in Kiev, that of the fifty names appended to this treaty only three are Slavonic, whilst the rest are Norse. Igor was killed fighting against the Dereviech soon after the signing of the treaty, after he had reigned for thirty -two years. The first account of the introduction of Christianity Visit of into Russia which is certainly historical dates from constanti- A.D. 955. In this year 01ga,i the widow of Igor, prince ^^f^' of Kiev, who acted as regent during the minority of her son Sviatoslav, and who, it appears, had already been influenced by Christian teaching, started with a numerous retinue for Constantinople, where she em- braced the Christian faith and was baptized by the Patriarch Polyeuctes by the name of Helena, the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus becoming her godfather. On her return to Kiev, accompanied by a priest named Gregory, she endeavoured, but without success, to induce her son Sviatoslav to accept the Sviatos- new faith. 2 It was this prince who began the fatal custom of breaking up the Russian territory into sections so that each of his sons might become an independent work, La Mythologie slave (pp. 54- tism of Olga see Karamsin, i. pp. 76), gives an account of the worship 206-9. of Perun, who was regarded as the ^ xhe Chronicler writes concerning god of thunder and storm. By the Olga : " She was the forerunner of early Slavonic Christians the attri- Christianity in Russia, as the dawn butes ascribed to Perun were trans- is the forerunner of the sun. . . . f erred to the Prophet Elijah. The As the moon shines at midnight, she latter is regarded by Russians, Bui- shone in the midst of a pagan people, garians and Slovenes as the saint She was like a pearl in the midst of who presides over thunder, rain and mire, for the people were in the wind. mire of their sins and had not yet 1 For a detailed account of the been purified by baptism." Chro- ceremonies connected with the bap- nique de Nestor, c. xxxiv. p. 54. 492 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xtx. ruler. His action paved the way for the invasion of Russia by the Mongols, who held it for two centuries and left their mark upon all its subsequent history. Whilst, however, Olga failed to effect the conversion of her son, her efforts to influence her grandson Vladimir met with a larger measure of success. Al- though Vladimir was destined to be canonized as a saint, his character during a considerable part of his Accession rcigu left much to be desired. Soon after his accession mir, 980. he murdcrcd his brother Yaropolk (980) and seized his territories, adding to his own dominions also Gahcia and parts of Lithuania and Livonia. After he had com- mitted many acts of cruelty and debauchery ^ his character, or at any rate his rehgious aspirations, underwent a great change. His sup- During the early part of his reign he had been a paganism, streuuous supportcr of paganism, and had erected near his palace at Kiev an image of Perun " with a silver head and golden beard," together with images of five other gods,^ to which, according to the statement of the Chronicler, the people " offered in sacrifice their sons and their daughters." To quote the words of The Rus- a modern Russian writer — " The chief deity (of Russian Pe?un^ mythology), the angry and jealous Perun, appears as a ' centre of crystallization ' for various conceptions concerning the creative powers and processes of nature ^ He had 800 concubines — 300 at writing in the sixth century and Vyshegorod, 300 at Bielgorod and Hehnhold writing in the twelfth 200 at Berestovo. Chronique de century state that the Slavs beUeved Nestor, p. 65. in the existence of one supreme God * The names given by the Chronicler who did not, however, concern him- are Khors, Dajbog, Strybog, Simargl self with human affairs, but their and Mokoch. See Chronique de statements do not appear to admit Nestor, p. 64 ; Karamsin, i. p. 251. of verification. Procopius {De hello Qothico, iii. 14) RUSSIA 493 connected with thunder-storms and thunder-showers, and even embracing some elements of culture : thus vivifying fire could be obtained, according to tradition, from the oak tree which was sacred to Perun : oaths were tendered in his name, and so on. . . . Even in our own times some Russian peasants, for instance in the government of Rskof, mention Perun in their oaths." 1 The only martyrs of whom record exists. Two who suffered during Vladimir's reign (who were after- Theodore wards known as Theodore and John), were apparently ^"^ ''^°^^' Norsemen. They were put to death by the fury of the people, because one of them, from natural affection, had refused to give up his son when he had been devoted by Vladimir to be offered as a sacrifice to Perun.^ In 986, according to the Chronicler,^ envoys who Religious represented the adherents of four different religions vTslt"^^ or forms of religion came to Vladimir. The first to Jgg^^"^^'^' arrive, who were Bulgarian Moslems from the neigh- The Mos- bourhood of the Volga, said to him, " Wise and prudent ^^^' prince as thou art, thou hast no religion. Take our religion and render homage to Mohammed." " What is your faith ? " asked Vladimir. They replied that they believed in God and accepted Mohammed's commands to observe circumcision and to abstain from pork and wine, and they believed that after death Mohammed would give to every man the choice of a ^ See art. by Lappo-Danilevsky in Yatvagers, a Finnish tribe, of whose Russian Realities and Problems, p. land he took possession. 167. ^ The " Legend of the Conversion " 2 Chronique de Nestor, p. 67 ; of Vladimir appears to have been Karamsin, i. p. 254 ; Mouravieff, incorporated into the Chronicle from p. 355. The occasion referred to an early life of Vladimir. See was the celebration of a victory Kluchevsky, pp. 12 f. which Vladimir won in 983 over the 494 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. wife amongst seventy beautiful women. This last statement, says the Chronicler, attracted Vladimir, " for he loved debauchery," but the suggestions in regard to circumcision and abstinence from pork and wine displeased him. He said, " We Russians cannot live without drinking." The Next came representatives from Rome,^ who said, Romans. " We have been sent by the Pope who has com- manded us to say : Your country is like our country, but your faith is not like our faith, for our faith is the light : we adore God who has made the heaven, the earth and the stars, the moon and all creatures, whilst your gods are made of wood." " What are your commandments ? " asked Vladimir. They replied, " To fast according to our ability, to eat or drink always to the glory of God as our Master Paul said." " Begone," said Vladimir, " our ancestors did not accept this (commandment)." The Jews. Then came Jews who lived amongst the Khozars in the Crimea and said to Vladimir, " We have heard that Bulgarians and Christians have come to inform you of their faith. The Christians believe in Him whom we have crucified ; as for us, we beheve in one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Vladimir asked, " What are your observances ? " Their representa- tives replied, " Circumcision, abstinence from pork and hare, and the observance of the sabbath." " Where is your country ? " he asked. They replied, " At Jerusalem." " Do you live there now ? " he added. They answered, " God was angry with our fathers and ^ The word " niemtsi " {i.e. dumb) but was most commonly applied to used by the Chronicler was used by Germans, for whom it is still the the Russians of strangers generally, Russian name. RUSSIA 496 has scattered us throughout the world for our sins," and our country has been given over to the Christians." He rephed, " How is it that you teach others, you who have been rejected and scattered in strange lands ? Do you wish that this evil should come upon us also ? " The representative of yet another form of religion a Greek appeared at the court of Vladimir, viz. a philosopher ^pher. sent by Greeks, who said to him, " We have heard that Bulgarians have come to invite you to accept their faith, a faith which defiles heaven and earth ; they are accursed more than any other nation and are like to Sodom and Gomorrah." The description which the Greek proceeded to give concerning the habits of the Bulgarians caused Vladimir to spit on the ground and to say, " This is an abomina- tion." The philosopher then continued, " We have heard that men have come from Rome to teach you their faith : there is no great difference between their faith and ours." He then proceeded to explain that by withholding the wine from lay communicants the Romans had acted contrary to the directions given by Christ Himself. Vladimir said, " Jews have come and have said to me, ' The Germans and the Greeks beheve in Him whom we have crucified.' " The Greek Vladimir's philosopher answered that what the Jews said was ^"^^ ^^^^* true, and that as a punishment for their evil conduct God had sent the Romans to destroy their cities and to disperse them throughout the world. Vladimir asked again, " Why did God descend upon earth, and did He endure such a martyrdom ? " In response to this inquiry the Greek philosopher gave to Vladimir a brief resume of the world's history as narrated in 496 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xtx. the Old Testament and in the Gospels, and having ex- plained to him the nature of the Christian faith, he went on to describe the future judgment and the pains of hell reserved for sinners. He then displayed a picture representing the separation of the just and the unjust and the entry of the just into paradise. ^ Vladimir sighed as he beheld the lot of those who were placed on the left hand of the judgment-seat, where- upon the Greek philosopher said to him, '' If you would be on the right hand with the just, be baptized." Vladimir replied, " I will wait a little, for I desire to meditate upon all the faiths." A council In the following year (987) Vladimir called a council (^^^oyars, ^^ j^^ hoydTS, and having told them what the repre- sentatives of the different religions had said, asked their advice. They replied, " If you desire to be en- lightened, send some of your men to study the different religions and to see how each (race) worships God." Dispatch Euvoys wcre accordingly dispatched, and on their return they reported their experiences to the boyars. Concerning the Moslems in Bulgaria they reported that " in their temples they bow and sit down, looking about them as though they were possessed, and they have no joy, but sadness, and a horrible stench." " Their rehgion," they said, " is not good." Of the Germans, that is the Romans, they said, " We have seen them perform their service in their church and we have seen nothing that is beautiful." On the ^ Methodius is reported to have universal in Russia to-day, is to be effected the conversion of Boris dated back to the introduction of (Bogoris), king of Bulgaria, by paint- Christianity into that country. For ing a picture of the Last Judgment. an account of the use of ikons in the If this tradition be correct the use of seventeenth century see Travels of ikons, or sacred pictures, which is Macarius, vol. ii. p. 49. of envoys. RUSSIA 497 other hand words failed to express the impression which had been made upon them by their experiences in Constantinople. As soon as their arrival became Their visit known to the Emperor Basil he sent to the patriarch gtanti^" saying, " Russians have come to study our faith, make ^^p^®- ready the church and your clergy and put on your pontifical robes that they may see the glory of our God." The Emperor himself, moreover, escorted them to St. Sophia. Of the service at which they were present they afterwards reported : " We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for there is no similar sight upon earth nor is there such beauty. We cannot describe it, but we only know that it is there ' that God dwells with men.' " Having heard their report the boyars said to Vladimir, " If the Greek religion were bad, your grandmother Olga, who was wiser than all, would not have received it " ; where- upon Vladimir simply replied, " Where then shall we receive baptism ? " Although the story of the conversion of Vladimir viadimir as given by the Chronicler ^ has been idealized, there accepT is no reason to doubt that it contains historical truth, f^H?^ and the details supplied by the Chronicler are of interest as illustrating the accepted belief of the Russian Church concerning the establishment of Christianity in their country. Now that Vladimir had at length decided to seek Christian baptism the question presented itself, where and by whom should he be baptized ? The Russian historian, Karamsin, writes : " It would have been very easy for Vladimir to be ^ Chronique de Nestor, pp. 69-90. 2 r 498 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. baptized in his own capital where there had for a long time been churches and Christian priests, but this magnificent prince desired eclat ... . the Greek emperors and patriarchs seemed to him to be alone worthy to give to his whole people the dogmas of a new rehgion. On the other hand the proud and mighty Vladimir would have to humble himself before the Greeks by acknowledging what were in their eyes the errors of idolatry and by humbly asking baptism at their hands. Accordingly he formed the project of conquering, so to speak, the Christian religion and of receiving its sacred dogmas as the price of victory." ^ He attacks It was apparently with thoughts such as these in ^^^erson. y^ mind that in 988 he embarked his numerous army and sailed to attack Kherson in the Crimea which belonged to the Greek emperors. After he had be- sieged it for a long time, but without success, a priest in the town named Anastasius shot an arrow into his camp to which was attached a letter advising him to cut the subterranean canal that supphed Kherson with water. On receipt of this letter Vladimir vowed that if he captured Kherson he would be baptized. He captured it forthwith and thereupon sent to demand of the two emperors, Basil and Const antine, the hand of their sister Anna in marriage, threatening an attack upon Constantinople in the event of his request being refused. The princess, whose sister Theophano had already become the wife of the German emperor Otto, agreed, albeit with great reluctance, to become his Baptism wife, and, accompanied by a body of clergy, sailed mir. for Kherson, where the baptism of Vladimir took ^ Karamsin, i. pp. 264 f. RUSSIA 499 place. His baptism was followed immediately by that of many of his princes and suite. After building a church in Kherson and restoring the city to the Greek emperors he returned to Kiev, taking with him the relics of St. Clement of Rome and those of his disciple Thebas, together with " chm^ch vessels and ornaments and ikons." On reaching Kiev he caused his twelve sons to be baptized and then proceeded to destroy the idols which the city contained. The principal idol Perun ^ was thrown into the Dnieper. He then issued a proclamation commanding his people to assemble on the banks of the river Dnieper in order that they might receive Christian baptism. His proclamation Baptisms stated that " whoever on the morrow does not repair ^* ^^^^' to the river to be baptized, whether rich or poor, will incur my disfavour." On the morrow there assembled an innumerable multitude of the people, together with their wives and children, and were baptized by the Greek bishops and priests who had come with Vladimir to Kiev. The Chronicler writes : " Some were up to their necks in the water, others Descrip- up to their breasts, the youngest were on the bank, bapdsmaf men held their children, the adults were altogether in^®^^^^®- the water and the priests stood and said the prayers, and there was joy in heaven and on earth at the sight of so many souls who were saved." On this occasion the demon of the river was heard groaning and bewailing his expulsion from the place in which he had so long resided. The prayer which the Chronicler makes Vladimir utter on this occasion reads : ^ 1 See above, p. 492. For an account Kluchevsky, i. pp. 43 £f. ; also La of the religious beliefs and prac- Mythologie Slave, by Louis Leger. tices of the Eastern Slavonians see ^ Ghronique, de Nestor, p. 98. 500 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xtx. " God, creator of heaven and earth, look upon this Thy new people, and grant them to know Thee as the true God, as Thou hast been made known to Christian lands. Strengthen and confirm in them the true faith ; assist me against the attacks of the enemy, and enable me to triumph over his malice, trusting in Thee and in Thy Kingdom." Erection Vladimir subsequently erected a wooden church churches dedicated to St. Basil on the spot on which the idol at Kiev. pgj.^j^ ]^^(j stood and which adjoined his palace. At the same time he sent to Constantinople for builders, by whose assistance he erected on the site where the two martyrs had died a stone church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The majority of the inhabitants of Kiev consented to receive baptism, and it should be recorded to the credit of Vladimir that he made no attempt to compel those who persisted in their heathenism to become Christians. " He did not wish," writes Karamsin, " to tyrannize over their consciences but adopted the wisest course of destroying the errors of idolatry, and applied himself to enlighten the Russians in order to establish the bases of religion upon the knowledge of the holy Scriptures, which had been translated into Slavonic in the ninth century by Cyril and Methodius ^ and had doubtless been known for a long time to the Christians of Kiev." ^ Compui- The only force that he employed was used to compel cation." scholars to attend the schools which he established. ^ The oldest MS. of the whole of different recensions dating back Bible is dated 1499, but there are to the eleventh century, many MSS. of the New Testament ^ Karamsin, i. p. 272. RUSSIA 501 In many cases the mothers of these scholars regarded the invention of writing as the most dangerous form of sorcery and did their best to prevent their sons from being bewitched by learning to read or write. When they were forced to attend school their mothers " lamented for them as for the dead." ^ Christianity having been firmly established in Kiev, bishops and clergy, accompanied in some instances by Vladimir, visited the cities of Rostoff and Novgorod, christi- baptizing and instructing the people, and within four or Notgonxi five years bishoprics had been established in Novgorod, ^^^ ^°^" Rostoff, Tzernigov and Bielgorod. In most instances no opposition was offered by the pagans, but at Rostoff the first two bishops were driven away, the third, Leontius, was murdered, and many years elapsed before the inhabitants of this district became nominal Christians. 2 Before Vladimir died in 1015 the greater part of his subjects had become Christians. The French historian A. Leroy-Beaulieu, com- ReHgious menting upon the religious propagandism of Vladimir, gandls writes : " As pagan feeling was still alive in all its force, and the people's soul was thoroughly imbued with it, the triumph of the one God was more apparent than real, and that for a long time. What Vladimir overthrew was the wooden idols with the gilt beards, not the ancient conceptions which they represented. The old idols convicted of being powerless before the God of the Byzantine missionaries were succeeded by the Christ and the saints of Christianity. The gospel victory, therefore, was easy in proportion as it was ^ Karamsin, p. 98. ^ History of Eussia, hy Khiehevsky, i. pp. 205 f. lism of Vladi- mir. 502 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xtx. shallow. It quickly took possession of the hills of Kiev and the Varangian homes for the very reason that it did not take hold of men's souls ; it hardly disturbed them or made a change in their ideas. They understood Christianity so little that they often remained half pagan without knowing it. Such, after centuries, still frequently is the mujik^s rehgion." ^ Karamsin, referring to the influence which the Christian faith exercised upon Vladimir, writes : Character " This priucc whom the Church acknowledged as mir. ^ ^ ' equal with the apostles {Isapostolos) ' has merited in history the name of ' great.' To God alone, and not to men, it appertains to know whether Vladimir became a Christian as the result of personal conviction of the holiness of evangelical morality or whether he was only influenced by the ambitious desire to become the relation and ally of the Greek emperors. It is sufficient (for us to know) that after having embraced the divine religion, Vladimir was, so to speak, sanctified by it and that he became entirely different from that which he had been when paganism enveloped him in its dark- ness. . . . Without doubt his chief title to immortality is that he set the Russians on the path of true religion, but his prudence in administration and his brilliant deeds of arms have equally merited for him the title of great." 2 Kiev. Before the death of Vladimir, Kiev had become a centre of Christian influence and, if we may believe Thietmar, who was a contemporary of Vladimir, it ^ The Empire of the Tsars and the Eng. ed. pp. 28 f. Russians, by Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, ^ Karamsin, i. pp. 286 f. RUSSIA 503 contained no less than- four hundred Christian churches.^ In trying to form any impression of the condition slavery in of Russia at the time when Christianity began to spread ^'''^'^' throughout its territory, it is necessary to remember how large an element of the population the slave class constituted at that time. Kluchevsky writes : " The economic prosperity of Kievan Rus depended for its maintenance upon slavery — a system which towards the close of the twelfth century attained im- mense proportions. For three centuries the slave constituted the principal article of export to the markets of the Volga, the Black Sea and the Caspian, with the result that the Russian merchant came to be known first and foremost as a slave- dealer .^ The introduction of Christianity did much to amehorate the condition of the slaves and to secure them against arbitrary punishments inflicted by their masters. Yaroslav, one of the princes who eventually sue- Yarosiav. ceeded him, strove to promote the spread of Christ- ianity by building churches and monasteries and by placing clergy in his principal towns in order to in- struct their inhabitants. The Chronicler tells us that he caused the Scriptures to be translated from Greek a Slavonic into Slavonic, and that he himself read them by day ^ ^' ^ Thietmar writes : "In magna the Russian chroniclers 700 churches hac civitate (Kiev) quae istius regni and chapels were destroyed by a fire caput est plus quam quadringenta which occurred in 1124, but probably habentur ecclesise et mercatus octo." this reckoning and that of Thietmar Adam Bremensis {Chron. vii. p. 16) are exaggerations. See Mouraviefif, WTites : " Ostrogard Ruzziae cujus p. 364. As a place of pilgrimage metropolis civitas est Chive (Kiev) Kiev ranks perhaps first in Christen- semula sceptri ConstantinopoHtani, dom, the number of pilgrims in one clarissimum decus Grecise (Russiae)." year often reaching a million. Hist. Eccles. ii. p. 13. According to ^ Hist, of R. vol. iii. p. 185. 504 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xtx. and by night and transcribed them many times with his own hand. He also placed a copy of them in the church of St. Sophia in Kiev for the use of the people.^ In 1044 he ordered the bones of Oleg and Yaropolk, brothers of Vladimir who had died as heathen, to be Schools for disinterred, and to be baptized.^ He prepared the ingor"^ way for establishing an independent Russian church priests, i^y opening schools for training youths, who might eventually become priests, at Kiev and Novgorod : the church which he built at Kiev, dedicated to St. Sophia, still exists.^ Of the Russian rulers who helped to raise the ideals of his subjects and to show them how the profession of Christianity should influence their life and conduct Vladimir uoue is morc dcscrviug of mention than Vladimir the Second (d. 1126), the grandson of Yaroslav and the husband of Gytha, who was a daughter of our Enghsh king Harold. We may venture to believe that he owed to his English wife part at least of the religious in- His dying flueuce which dominated his life. His dying injunc- tions, tions to his sons afford evidence that the true meaning of the religion which by this time had become the nominal faith of a large part of Russia was beginning to be understood. A few sentences will enable the reader to appreciate their general trend. " my children, praise God . . . and shed tears over your sins . . . both in the church and when you lie down. Do not fail a single night to bend at least ^ Karamsin, ii. p. 30 ; Chronique Mstislav, the next oldest being that de Nestor, pp. 128 f. of St. Sophia, at Kiev, and another 2 Id. p. 131. also dedicated to St. Sophia at Nov- ^ The oldest existing Russian gorod founded by Vladimir, a son of church is the cathedral of St. Saviour, Yaroslav. founded at Tzernigov by Prince RUSSIA 505 three times to the ground. . . . And when you go for a ride, if you have nothing to engage your attention and know no other prayer, repeat secretly and without ceasing, ' Lord, have pity,' for this is the best of all prayers. And (to do) this is much better than to think of evil things. . . . When you tell anything whether good or evil do not swear by God ... if you kiss the cross to make an oath to your brother, or to anyone else, probe well your heart to see if you are prepared to keep your oath, then kiss it and beware lest you lose your soul by failing to keep your oath. Be not proud in your heart or thought, but say, ' We are mortal, to-day we live, to-morrow we are in the tomb.' . . . Do not hide your treasure in the ground : to do so is a great sin. . . . Avoid lying, drunkenness and debauchery, for these destroy body and soul. . . . Visit the sick, escort the dead, for we are all mortal. Do not pass in front of a man without saluting him and giving him a good word. Love your wives, but do not let them have power over you. Finally, that which is above all, have the fear of God. . . . Idleness is the mother of all the vices. . . . Let not the sun find you in bed ... as soon as you see the sun rise, praise God and say with joy, ' Open my eyes, Lord Jesus, Who hast given me Thy beautiful light.' " ^ The author of this testament did not regard a some- what fierce treatment of his enemies as inconsistent with the due performance of his religious duties, as he continues : " I have made eighty -three campaigns. ... I have set free the chief princes of the Polovtsi . . . and ^ Chronique de Nestor, pp. 243-57. 506 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. a hundred others. And other princes whom God has dehvered ahve into my power ... I massacred them and threw them into the river SlavHa. ... I have killed up to this time two hundred important prisoners." ^ Character The character of Vladimir II was a strange mixture II. of devotion and of barbarism, nevertheless it compares mir favourably with that of many of his predecessors, and at least some of his contemporaries in other countries. The reUgion which he professed was a real factor in the making of the man, and his ideals of conduct and action would have been much worse than they were had the uplifting and restraining influence of his imperfect Christianity been absent. The Pet- The monastery (Lavra) of Petchersky at Kiev, of monas- which the Chronicler Nestor eventually became an KiJv? inmate, was founded in 1010 by a hermit named Antony, who, after spending some time in the Greek monastery on Mount Athos, took up his abode in a cavern near Kiev. He was presently joined by twelve monks who began by digging out a subterranean church and subterranean cells for their accommodation.^ When their number still further increased they built a large church to serve the monastery of which Vaarlam and Theodosius became the first abbots, Antony having refused to accept the honour. A few years later King Yaroslav founded two other monasteries at Kiev, one for men called after his own angel St. ^ Chronique de Nestor, pp. 243-57. by the Tartars in 1240, and was 2 Lavra, which is apphed to mon- burnt down in 1718. It was again asteries of the first rank, is equivalent rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1729. to caves. This famous monastery See Karamsin, ii. pp. 109-11 ; was destroyed in 1096 by Doniak, MouravieflF, pp. 22 ft., 361. the Khan of the Polovtsi, and again RUSSIA 607 George and one for women which was called after St. Irene, the angel of his consort.^ The Chronicler, referring to the foundation of the Petchersky monastery, writes : " Many monasteries have been founded by princes and nobles and by wealth, but they are not such as those which have been founded by tears and fasting and prayer and vigil. Antony had neither gold nor silver, but he procured all by prayer and fasting." 2 This monastery became a centre of religious life and a centre of religious training from which went forth many mis- g/onaJy sionaries to the heathen as well as the founders of the activity. many other monasteries which began to spread over northern Russia. Thus Mouravieff writes : " The names of Antony and Theodosius began to Antony be invoked in prayer from the time of the reign ofdosms/^ Sviatopolk as . . . the fathers of all who lived a life of religious retirement in our country, for the lavra shot its roots deep into the soul of Russia. It gave its monks to the Church. . . . Some of them preached the name of Christ to the heathen and died the death of martyrs, as Gerasimus, the first illuminator of the savage Vess in the northern quarters, as Kouksha and Pimen who suffered for the word of God on the banks of the Oka while engaged in the conversion of the Viatichi. Others, whose names are too many to be ^ "His angel" or "her angel" over every baptized person in the is the customary phrase in the Church, whom they call the guardian Russian language to designate the angel, without confounding him with patron saint after whom anyone is the angel or saint from whom they named. At the same time the have their Christian name. Moura- Russians have also the belief that vieff, p. 361. an angel, properly so called, is set ^ Chronique de Nestor, p. 135. 508 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. reckoned . . . supplied examples in their seclusion of the practice of all the virtues." ^ Ideals of In coursc of time, as Russia became nominally monks. Christian, and their role as centres of missionary activity was accomplished, the monks gave themselves up more and more to a life of contemplation and the practice of asceticism. Referring to the ideals of the Russian monks generally Leroy-Beaulieu writes : " It was neither the need of organizing for the struggles of life nor zeal for the saving of souls — ^it was the love of seclusion, renunciation of the world and its strife which filled the Russian monasteries. . . . The Russian monks' object was neither intellectual work nor manual labour, neither charity nor proselytism, but merely personal salvation and atonement for the sins of the world." 2 There are and have been many monks and many monasteries to whom this statement would not apply, but the criticism is justified by the history of Russian monasteries taken as a whole. Bishop The first metropolitan of Kiev who was appointed of Kiev, by the Russians themselves without consultation with the Patriarch of Constantinople was Clement, a monk of Smolensk. When he was elected (in 1197) " Bishop Onuphrius proposed that as a substitute for patriarchal consecration they should in ordaining him lay on his head the hand of St. Clement of Rome, whose relics had been brought from Kherson by Vladimir." ^ Until the latter part of the twelfth century the ^ Mouravieff, p. 25. containing 11,000 monks and 18,000 * The Empire of the Tsars and the nuns. See p. 198. Russians, Eng. ed., vol. iii. p. 192. ^ j^ jg ^^^ certain whether this According to M. Leroy-Beaulieu proposal was adopted or not. See there were in 1896 in the Russian Mouravieff, pp. 35, 367. Empire 550 convents or monasteries 1197. RUSSIA 609 Russian nation was more or less confined to the basins of the rivers Dnieper and Volga. Outside these districts Christianity made comparatively little progress and at the time of the Mongol invasion large tracts of southern Russia were still unevangelized. At this time many of the monks who escaped being massacred by the Tartars directed their steps towards the north, and during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries a large number of missionary monasteries were founded Monas- in the northern districts, more particularly amongst J^"^^^^ the Finnish tribes which bordered on Russia. ^°^*^- By the beginning of the thirteenth century when the Tartar Mongols, who were to dominate Russia for two centuries, first began their invasions, the greater part of Russia had become nominally Christian. The The great battle which was fought at Kalka in 1224 checked defeated their invasion for the moment, but twelve years later ^g^^^^^' they returned and overran the greater part of the country, razing the chief towns, including Kiev, and destroying the Christian churches. How ruthlessly Massacres the Mongols massacred the inhabitants of the countries Mongols. which they conquered may be gathered from the statement of Howorth in his history of the Mongols that between the years 1211 and 1223, " 18,470,000 beings perished in China and Tangut alone at the hands of Jengis and his followers." To quote the words of another writer : "In Asia and Eastern Europe scarcely a dog might bark without Mongol leave, from the borders of Poland and the coast of Cilicia to the Amur and the Yellow Sea." ^ Again Kluchevsky writes : " For a long period 1 The Book of Marco Polo, by Colonel Yule. 510 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. after 1240 the provinces of ancient Rus, once so thickly Descrip- peopled, remained in a state of desolation. A Roman PknoCar- CathoHc missionary named Piano Carpini, who traversed P"^*' Kievan Rus in 1246, on his way from Poland to the Volga to preach the Gospel to the Tartars, has recorded in his memoirs that although the road between Vladimir in Volhynia and Kiev was beset with perils, owing to the frequency with which the Lithuanians raided that region, he met with no obstacle at the hands of Russians, for the very good reason that few of them were left alive in the country after the raids and massacres of the Tartars. Throughout the whole of his journey across the ancient provinces of Kiev and Periaslavl he saw countless bones and skulls lying by the wayside, or scattered over the neighbour- ing fields, while in Kiev itself — once a populous and spacious city — ^he counted only 200 houses, each of which sheltered but a few sorry inmates." ^ Many Russians died as martyrs rather than renounce their Christian profession ; but as time passed rehgious persecution ceased, and the Christian churches were Usbek gradually rebuilt.^ Usbek Khan,^ who became the head of the Tartars in 1S13, and who lived at Kara- korum in Central Asia, became a Mohammedan and many of the Tartars followed his example. Monks as During the two centuries which followed the time aries to ot Vladimir monks played a foremost part in spreading ^^^' a knowledge of Christianity amongst the peoples of ^ History of Russia, p. 195. by Stanley, p. 324. 2 On the top of every Russian ^ For an account of the Christian church in every town which was embassies sent to the Great Khan under the Tartar yoke the Cross is by the Pope in 1245 and by Louis planted on a Crescent. Cf. Lectures IX of France in 1253, see Neander, on History of the Eastern Churches, Ch. Hist. vii. 65-75, RUSSIA 611 Russia and specially amongst the Finnish tribes which inhabited the greater part of Northern Russia. SettUng amongst these nomad peoples, sometimes only two or three at a time, they lived at first in huts or cabins, and, having won the confidence of those with whom they came in contact, and whilst endeavouring to impart Christian teaching, they taught them also how to clear the forest, to cultivate the ground, to build houses and to fish. In course of time the huts inhabited by the missionaries developed into monasteries and the settlements became towns. It was to the labours of the missionary monks that the incorporation of these Finnish tribes as an integral part of the Russian state was chiefly due. These monasteries received a large access of numbers in the thirteenth century, when the incursions of the Mongols and the wholesale destruction of churches and monasteries in the south caused many to seek refuge in the north. In 1S15 was born a man whose life and work have Sergms. left a lasting impression upon the development of ^^^^"^^' religion in Russia. Sergius, who was born at Rostoff, left his home when still a young man and lived, first of all with his brother and afterwards alone, amongst the wild beasts in the thick forest about forty -three miles north-east of Moscow. His holy life soon attracted to him disciples, and with their aid he built a little wooden church dedicated to the Holy Trinity (Troitskaia). The monastery which arose on the same site became the largest and most influential in Russia and from it went forth thousands of monks and ascetics to labour both in the central and southern 512 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. parts of Russia and amongst the tribes of the north. Before his death in 1392 the name of Sergius was known and revered all over Russia, and princes and bishops sought from him advice and help.^ Northern Amougst the list of monasteries which deserve special terSs! mention in view of the missionary work which they accompHshed are the monastery of the Assumption on the shores of Lake Onega, founded for the prosecu- tion of missionary work amongst the Lopars (Lap- landers) : one on an island in the Kubensky Lake, the monks of which strove to evangelize the savage tribes of Tchudes (Finns) : the Solovetsky monastery on an island in the White Sea, the monks of which laboured amongst the inhabitants along the coast,^ and one on Lake Ladoga which was a centre of mis- sionary work amongst the Carelians.^ Stephen Another great missionary, who was a younger contemporary of Sergius, was Stephen, by whose labours the Ziranes who inhabited the district of Great Perm in the south-east of Russia were won to the Christian faith. As a youth he entered a monastery at Rostoff and for thirteen years he occupied himself ^ This monastery continues to be R. W. Blackmore in his translation the richest and most celebrated of all of Mouravieff's History, p. 377. the religious houses in Russia. It ^ In the Travels of Macarius, is said to have possessed at one time written in the middle of the fifteenth 106,000 male peasants or serfs with century, an account is given of a the land to which they were attached. cannibal tribe of dog-faced people It withstood the attacks of a Polish who lived 150 versts north of Arch- army of 30,000 men for sixteen angel, 1700 of whom are said to have months. It is surrounded by a wall paid a visit to Moscow (vol. i. pp. 1500 yards in length and flanked by 417-21). eight towers. All the moveable ^ In 1227 Yaroslav sent mission- treasures of Moscow were placed aries to Carelia, with the result that here for security during the invasion the majority of the inhabitants were of the French in 1812. Note by baptized. See below, p. 523. of Perm. BUSSIA 613 with the study of the Greek language and Hterature. He then went alone to live and preach in the woods of Perm, and having been ordained priest in 1378 he built a church on the river Viuma which served as a centre of his missionary work. The language of the Ziranes which he had known from his boyhood was reduced by him to writing after he had himself com- posed an alphabet for the purpose. He then trans- lated parts of the Bible and of the liturgy into the Zirane language and the services in his church were conducted by him in the language of the people. After his consecration as a bishop in 1383 he established many churches and schools throughout the province of Perm and ordained some of the students who had been educated in his schools as priests. He died at Moscow in 1401. Livonia, the country inhabited by the Lieflanders, Livonia. who were a Slavonic race, stretched along the eastern coasts of the Baltic as far as the Gulf of Finland. The earlier attempts which had been made by Danish kings to compel the inhabitants of these districts to accept Christianity had done little more than embitter them against all who bore the name of Christians, but in 1158 traders from Bremen began to form friendly relations with the Lieflanders and to establish trading settlements amongst them, and were thus the means of preparing the way for the advent of Christian mis- sionaries. In, or about, 1184 an aged monk named The monk Meinhard, who had been trained in one of ViceHn's n84^^'^^' monasteries at Segeberg in Holstein, moved by the reports of this almost unknown people which he had received from traders, resolved to go as a missionary 2 K 514 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. to their country. He accordingly sailed with some traders to the River Duna, where he preached for two or three years, and in 1186, having obtained the consent of the Russian prince Vladimir of Plozk, he built a church at Ukskull, a little beyond Riga, where the traders had already established a settlement. Here he won the confidence of the inhabitants by helping them to repel an attack made by pagan tribes in Lithuania and by instructing them in the art of build- ing fortifications. Induced very largely by the material benefits which they had received, many of the people accepted baptism, and in 1186 Meinhard went to Bremen, where he was consecrated by Archbishop Hartwig as a bishop. One of those who had helped Bishop him to start the work in Livonia was Theodoric a doric' Cistercian monk who had begun to cultivate some land at Thoreida not far from Ukskull. His success in agriculture, however, aroused the hostility of the heathen and they began to debate the question of offering him up as a sacrifice to their gods.^ Before deciding upon their action they brought out their sacred horse, and the omens which they obtained from the thrice-repeated stepping of the horse over rows of spears having proved favourable, Theodoric was left unmolested. Later on his life was imperilled in consequence of an eclipse of the sun which occurred in 1191. On this occasion he was accused of having devoured the sun, but its reappearance, or some other fortunate occurrence, saved his life for the time being. Owing however to his increasing unpopularity ^ Cf. Chronicon. Livonice, i. 10, ipsius sit in agris, eorumque segetes " quern Livones diis suis immolare inundatione pluvise perirent." proponunt, eo quod fertilior seges RUSSIA 515 he was forced to abandon his work. On his return to UkskuU Meinhard found that some who had been baptized had relapsed into heathenism and that the task of real conversion had hardly yet begun. The hostility of the people proved so great that at length he appealed to Pope Celestine for assistance, but the Pope could do nothing more than send him letters of encouragement. Before his death in 1196 he obtained the consent of Bishop the people to receive another bishop, and after hisiTge.^ ' death Berthold, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Lockhum, was consecrated as his successor. On his arrival at UkskuU Berthold distributed presents amongst both Christians and pagans and supplied them with food and drink, but as soon as his supply of gifts was exhausted he was forced to flee the country. Returning at the head of an armed force, which he His resort had collected with the help of the Pope, he sum- moned the Liefianders to submit and to permit missionary work to be carried on in their midst. They refused his demand, but invited him to preach to them by words instead of by deeds, whereupon a battle ensued in which the bishop was killed (July 24, 1198), His death although his army was victorious. The Liefianders ^^ now sued for peace and, as a pledge of their goodwill, 150 of them agreed to receive baptism, but as soon as the army was withdrawn a reaction occurred and, whilst the missionaries saved their lives by flight, two hundred of the Christians were put to death by the heathen Liefianders. The next bishop, Albert von Bishop Apeldern of Bremen, who was appointed in 1198, ' sailed up the R. Duna early in 1200 with twenty- 516 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. three ships and accompanied by a considerable army.^ subju- He reduced the Lieflanders to subjection and in 1201 gates the f^^j^^j^^j ^j^^ towu of Riga to which place the bishopric landers. q£ Ukskull was transferred. His efforts however to evangelize the people met with scant success, and he retained a considerable armed force partly in order to overawe the Lieflanders and partly in order to resist the incursions of pagan tribes. In order to provide for the maintenance of such a force he obtained the consent of the Emperor Otto IV and the approval of the Pope to the establishment of the knightly The "Order of the Sword " ^ in 1202. The order was of the^^ placed under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin Sword." ]\|g^py g^nd its members were pledged to hear mass frequently, to abstain from marriage, to lead a chaste and sober life, and to fight against the heathen. In return for their services they were authorized to hold and enjoy whatever lands they succeeded in wresting from their heathen inhabitants. For over twenty years this Order waged ruthless war against the in- habitants of Livonia. In each case in which they granted terms of peace to a section of its people one of the terms was that the inhabitants of the district ^ With a view to the raising of apostolic patronage." The letter is this force Pope Innocent III ad- dated Oct. 5, 1199, See Migne, P. L. dressed a letter to all Christians ccxvii. col. 54. In this and in two in Saxony and Westphalia urging other letters the Pope commands them to join this army. In it he those who had vowed to make wrote, " We take under our protec- pilgrimages to Rome to substitute tion and that of Saint Peter all who, for them a crusade against the inflamed with divine zeal, shall con- Livonians. duct an expedition for the defence * The original name of the Order of the Livonian Church and of the was Ordo fratrum mihtise Christi. Christians in those parts and we The first members of the Order were impart to them the benefits of the apparently Cistercians. BUSSIA 517 should be baptized.^ From Riga Bishop Albert carried his arms into Esthonia and the neighbouring territories of Semgallen and Courland, and founded the sees of Revel, Dorpat and Pernau, which became ecclesiastical fortresses in the midst of a hostile popu- lation. So rapidly did the Christianization of the Baptisms country proceed that in Esthonia one priest is said to iho^la. have baptized from 300 to 500 persons a day for some time. An interesting experiment by way of missionary BibUcai propaganda was the institution of dramatic plays re- ^fg^^. ^^ presenting scenes from the Bible. Thus in Riga in 1204 plays were exhibited illustrating the exploits of Gideon, David and Herod, the meaning of which was explained to the spectators by interpreters. The play, which represented Gideon's soldiers making a surprise attack upon their foes, not having been suffi- ciently explained to the spectators, they fled in terror from the spot, fearing that they themselves were about to be attacked. The priest Heinrich (der Lette) who acts as historian was an eye-witness of the play. A monk named Sigf rid who was in charge of the Work of Christian Church at Holm, and who died in 1202, ^^^^ ' appealed to the Liefianders by more peaceful methods than those adopted by his bishop, and his earnest- ness and piety made a considerable impression upon the people, many of whom he baptized. In the winter of 1205 Archbishop Andreas of Lund, Archbp. who had come with the Danish contingent of Bishop at Riga. ^ In one case the terms of the tion and keep the rites observed by treaty of peace provided that "all other Christians." Origines Livonice, men, women and children receive i, 135. without delay baptismal regenera- 518 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. Albert's army, gave a course of instruction on the Psalms to the clergy at Riga.^ In the course of a fight between Christian Letti and the heathen of Esthland a Lettian priest mounted a redoubt and sang a hymn of praise to God, accompanying his hymn with a musical instrument. The heathen, captivated by the song, ceased fighting and asked what was the occasion for such a manifestation of joy, whereupon the missionary repHed, " We rejoice and praise God, because but a short time ago we received baptism and now we see that God defends us." ^ Martyr- In 1213 Frederic of Celle, the missionary priest in Frederic charge of Fricdlaud, was put to death with torture by pagans and died thanking God who had counted him worthy to suffer martyrdom.^ In 1224, by which time the opposition of the Lief- landers had been finally broken down. Pope Honorius III, on the request of the bishop of Riga, sent William bishop of Modena as a legate to Livonia. He urged the Germans to treat those whom they had conquered with kindness and not to lay upon their shoulders an " intolerable yoke " lest they should abandon the Christian faith and lapse again into idolatry. The The need of clergy to maintain the work of the Church in ^i , . t • • • t i i -r» Livonia. Church in Livonia was m part supplied by Pope Innocent III, who (in 1213) directed every monastery in Saxony to send one or two of its members to act as missionaries. A similar order was issued by Pope Honorius III in 1220. Money was also collected for this purpose by papal authority. Bishop Albert ^ See Livonice Chronicon, 43, " et ^ Liv. Chron. 57. legendo in Psalterio totam hiemem in ^ Liv, Chron. 26. divina contemplatione deducuntur." EUSSIA 519 died on January 17, 1229, and by the time of his death the great majority of the inhabitants of Livonia had become Christians. Esthonia (in German, Esthland), which now con- introduc- stitutes one of the Baltic provinces of Russia,^ re- chSsti- ceived its first impressions of Christianity from Canute E^^jfifonk^ IV (Knud Valdemarson) king of Denmark (d. 1086), who attacked it with a fleet of 760 ships and, after forcibly baptizing a number of its inhabitants, erected Christian churches in their midst. His ships, however, had hardly disappeared when the churches were destroyed and all traces of Christianity were ob- literated. In 1219 Valdemar II, after obtaining the a crusade papal benediction, undertook another crusade against the Es- the Esthonians. The Danish soldiers vowed that in 1219!^''^' the event of their proving victorious every Dane above twelve years of age would henceforth keep a fast on St. Laurence's eve. After gaining an initial success he was hard pressed by the Esthonians and was in danger of suffering a complete defeat. The Danish archbishop, Anders Suneson, thereupon ascended a hill, and, imitating the action of Moses in the fight against the Amalekites, he held up his hands in prayer, and assisted to encourage the Danish forces to renewed efforts, which proved at length completely victo;:*ious. Christianity was then forcibly reintroduced and was christi- gradually accepted throughout the province. Esthonia spread by was sold by the Danes to the Knights of the Sword in *°^°®- 1347, and after becoming incorporated with Sweden in 1521 was ceded to Peter the Great in 1721. 1 It is bounded on the north by which it is separated by the R. the Gulf of Finland, on the east by Narowa, on the south by Livonia and the Government of Petrograd, from on the west by the Baltic. 620 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. The Lithuania was inhabited in the tenth century by ilians. the Lithuanians, who were subdivided into Litva, Borussians and Letts, and occupied the south- eastern coast of the Baltic from the Vistula to the Duna. Later on the Borussians, whose name is per- petuated in the country of Prussia, were conquered by Germans. The Letts were driven northwards and fell under the dominion of the Livonians. In the thirteenth century the Lithuanians, to- gether with the Samoghitians, constituted an in- Baptism dependent people. In 1250 their ruler Mendowg dowg,'^ (Mindove), having been attacked by the Livonian 1250. Order, agreed to be baptized and was crowned by Innocent IV as king of the Lithuanians. Vitus, a Dominican friar, was at the same time sent as a mis- sionary to the Lithuanians, but his efforts met with Heathen little succcss. In 1260 the king relapsed into heathen- 1260. ism, and a general uprising of the Lithuanians against the Livonian Order resulted in the re-estabhshment of their independence. Mendowg himself was killed in 1263. Gedymin, who was the ruler of Lithuania from 1316 to 1341, and who greatly extended his dominions, long remained a heathen, but his seven sons were baptized into the Greek Church and before his death he himself was baptized. In 1325 the Lithu- anians concluded a treaty with Poland against the Livonian Order, which proved the first step towards the union of Lithuania and Poland that took place in 1569. In 1345 the principality of Lithuania, with Vilna as its capital, was re-established under Olgerd, who had married a Christian wife and had himself been baptized. But although he called himself a RUSSIA 621 Christian he continued to offer sacrifices to the national gods and to adore the sacred flanie which was kept burning in one of the temples at Vilna. When he died his body was burned with pagan ceremonies. His son Yagello (Vladislav) who succeeded him married Yageiio. in 1386 the Polish queen Yadviga, who was a Christian, and at the same time agreed to introduce Christianity into Lithuania. By virtue of his marriage with Yadviga he became king of Poland as well as king of Lithuania. Having been baptized at Cracow in the Latin Church by the name of Vladislav, he proceeded to Vilna, where the diet passed a resolution formally christi- accepting Christianity as the national religion. Polish accepted clergy under the superintendence of the archbishop ^at^nai of Gnesen were subsequently introduced as missionaries, religion. together with a Franciscan friar named Vasillo, who became the first bishop of Vilna. The Lithuanians up to this time had worshipped the stars and the god of thunder, and had venerated serpents and lizards.^ Adam of Bremen attributes to them also the custom of offering human sacrifices. Thus he writes, " They venerate serpents and birds, to whom they pagan even offer living men bought from the merchants, I'n lS- after they have been carefully examined to see that ^^^^• they have no spot on their bodies." ^ In the fourteenth century their chief priest Krive-Kriveyto (judge of judges) superintended seventeen classes of priests ^ Pope Pius II (iEneas Sylvius) cui cibum dedit ac sacrificium fecit writing about 1460 says, " primi in feno jacenti." De Statu Europce. quos adiit ex Lituanis serpente cap. xxvi. colebant, paterfamilias suum quisque ^ Adam Brem., de situ Danim. in angulo domus serpentem habuit. 622 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. and elders who worshipped in the forests, and long after the introduction of Christianity veneration was paid to oak trees both by the Lithuanians and the Letts. These also maintained a perpetual fire, the priests in charge of which were specially consulted by the friends of those who were sick.^ On the intro- duction of Christianity by the Polish missionaries the sacred fire was extinguished, the groves were cut down YageUo and the serpents and Hzards were killed. Yagello gave Christian^ cvcry assistancc to the missionaries and himself trans- M-S°^ lated into the language of his people the Lord's Prayer, the Creed and other Christian formularies. Moved by the example and exhortations of their ruler, many of the people were either conducted to the banks of rivers and baptized by immersion, or were sprinkled with the water of baptism, large numbers at a time, many receiving at the same time the same Christian name. The Earl In 1390, fouT ycars after the nominal conversion of inLithu- the pcoplc of Lithuania, the Earl of Derby, who after- 1390. wards became Henry IV of England, took part in a crusade organized by the Knights of Prussia, the object of which was stated to be the conversion of Lithuania. He fought under the walls of Vilna against the Lithuanians and Poles, and is alleged to have killed in single combat Czartoryski a brother of Yagello .^ Mission- In 1413 a Lithuanian priest named Withold went boursof as a missionary to the Samaites or Samoieds in the 1413.^ ' ^^^y f^r north. Missionaries from Prussia had already visited them but without producing visible results. ^ Adam Brem., de situ Danice. Religious History of the Slavonic 2 See Krasinski, Lectures on the Nations, p. 307 n. RUSSIA 623 Withold met with a considerable amount of success and became the first bishop of Miedniki (Wornie). In 1420 the last sacred grove was cut down and the national worship of idols was finally abolished. Finland up to the beginning of the twelfth introduc- century was practically untouched by the preaching christi- of Christian missionaries. Early in this century p^^^^^^^^*^ Vassievolodovich sent Russian missionaries to the Carelians who lived on Lake Ladoga in East Finland, and in 1157 Erik, king of Sweden undertook a crusade against Finland and established himself on the south- western coast. Henrik, bishop of Upsala, who accom- panied Erik, preached the gospel to the Finns and suffered a martyr's death in 1158. His successor Rodulfus also died as a martyr about 1178. An in- dependent Church of Finland was established under Bishop Thomas (d. 1248). Missionary work was carried on with a considerable st. Juri in amount of success by St. Juri (Gurius), the first bishop of Kazan (1555-64), which lies about half-way between Moscow and the Ural mountains.^ One of his fellow- workers, Varsonophius, had been a captive with the Tartars in the Crimea, and having learnt their language and their customs was able to appeal to the Tartars of The Tar- Kazan. As the result of their labours and of those of Kazan. Bishop Germanus (d. 1569) Christian communities were established in the towns, but the inhabitants of the villages remained as heathen or Mohammedans until the nineteenth century, and many are still Mohammedans . ^ Kazan was conquered and incorporated with Russia in 1552 by Ivan the Terrible. 624 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries great pressure was brought to bear upon the heathen Tartars by the Russian government and 100,000 of them were practically forced to accept baptism, but although churches were built and clergy were stationed amongst them, they and their descendants remained as baptized heathen. The Mohammedan Tartars, however, continued to constitute the majority of the population. About the middle of the nineteenth century public attention was drawn to Kazan by the news that tens of thousands of the descendants of those who had been forcibly baptized were abandoning the profession of Christianity and were embracing Islam. At this time there was living in Kazan a man iiminsky. named Nicholai Ivanovitch Ilminsky, who in 1846 became lecturer in Tartar and Arabic in the ecclesi- astical academy of Kazan which had been founded in 1842. In 1847 he undertook the task of translating the Bible and the service-books into a language which the Tartars could understand,^ and in order to prepare His work himself for the work of a translator he went and lived the Tar- amougst the Tartars in the villages, sharing their life and endeavouring to understand their language and their thoughts. In one village full of baptized Tartars, in answer to his inquiry addressed to a chance companion, " Who is living here ? " he received the answer, " Tartars, only they are baptized." " What kind are they ? " he asked. " Are they Orthodox ? " " No," was the reply, " simply Tartars who have no religion at all." Travelling from village ^ Early in the nineteenth century the language employed failed to be the British and Foreign Bible Society understood by the Tartars, had issued the Bible in Tartar, but RUSSIA 525 to village he gained the hearts of the Tartars " by his mildness, cheerful affability and quickness of per- ception," and came back to report that " to have any chance of influencing the baptized Tartars to become Christians in reality and not only in name, one must offer them in their vernacular language the Holy Scripture, the service and the preaching." ^ In 1851 he started for the East with the intention of studying Arabic and Arabic literature in order that he might better understand and appeal to the Tartar Moslems, and with this object in view he lived for more than two years in Egypt and Palestine, returning in 1854 to Kazan. He spent several years in endeavouring to produce translations into what might be called literary Tartar, but became at length convinced that the only language in which translations would appeal to the inhabitants of the villages was the colloquial which they themselves spoke. In 1858 a misunderstanding arose with the new archbishop of Kazan, who failed to appreciate Ilminsky's work, and the latter, having been accused of showing too much sympathy for the Moslems, was forced to leave Kazan. After spending three years in studying the language of the Kirghises, many of whom were still idolaters, he returned to Kazan in 1862 as professor of Arabic and of Tartar in the Kazan University, and remained there till his death in 1891. At Kazan he succeeded in establishing a mis- a central missionary school, the Tartar scholars trained schoo7at in which went out throughout the province of Kazan ^^^^■ and established a series of schools that did much for ^ See article by Alexey Yakovlev, Moscow University. The East and professor of Russian History in The West, vol. xi. pp. 260 £F. THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. XIX. Vassili Timo- feiev. the evangelization of the districts in which they were situated. One of his chief helpers was a man named Vassili Timofeiev, whom Ilminsky found employed as a water-carrier, but who, under his influence and teaching, eventually became " a veritable apostle among the baptized Tartars." Professor Yakovlev writes : " In the summer of 1864 Timofeiev went to the villages of the baptized Tartars and preached to them the Gospel and read to them the newly prepared trans- lations of the Old Testament, and behold ! people who ten years before avoided all religious conversations and turned aside with the utmost mistrust at every attempt to approach them, now gathered in crowds to listen to the reading in their vernacular language. . . . Timofeiev banded them in choirs to sing Christian hymns, and this improvised singing made a wonderful impression on them. The movement took on like fire in drought." ^ The Kazan Translation Committee, of which Ilminsky Transia- was for loug the leading member, has published trans- mittee."^ latious in at least twenty languages which are spoken either in Eiu*opean Russia or in Siberia .^ Large numbers of clergy who have been trained at Kazan are now working as missionaries far beyond the limits The Kazan 1 The East and The West, vol. xi. p. 267. ^ " The Holy Scriptures and other books have been translated by Ilminsky and his followers into Tartar (about 70 works printed) ; Tshuvash (about 260 works) ; Tshere- miss (about 80 works) ; lesser figures for Kirghis, Bashkir, Mordva, Votiak, Kalmuk and some ten other lan- guages." See 2'he East and The West, vol. xi. p. 268 n. Since 1885 the Holy Synod has authorized the use of languages other than the old Slavic in the Church Services. The Great Liturgy is now celebrated in the following languages, Tartar, Tshuvash, Tsheremiss, Mordva, Votiak, Buriat, Yakut, Tunguz and Samoyed. See L. BeauUeu, iii 518. RUSSIA 527 of this province.^ The principle which underHes the " Ilminsky system " is to appeal to the people whom The it is desired to evangehze by books written in their ^yXm^"^ own dialects, and the adoption of this principle for which he did so much to gain acceptance has rendered the work done by Ilminsky of lasting importance. He died (1891) mourned by many thousands in two continents, and to-day " in many a humble priest's or schoolmaster's house one may find a lithograph representing the beautiful features of the grand old man, an emblem of his soul and name, being a bond between millions of his followers, as his heart and mind were a connecting link of the cause during his life." ^ Moslems are to be found to-day in almost every Moslems part of the Russian Empire. In European Russia ^^ they constitute a majority of the population of seven provinces, viz. Ufa, Kars, Tersk, Elisavetpol, Uralsk, Daghestan and Baku. The chief centres of Moslem life in Russia are Kazan, Orenburg, Ufa and Troizk. " Here most of them use the Russian language, and they are among the most civilized Moslems not only 1 By 1895 the ex-scholars of this " A few years ago, except about 40 school included 65 Tartar priests and Russians, there was not a Christian 150 teachers in charge of schools, of in the village, but a rich merchant in which 60 were in the government of Kazan had built a church and schools, Kazan. and when I was there, there were 2 Id. p. 269. For a description of 92 pupils in the school and 350 adult the missionary work which is now Tartars had made their Easter Com- being carried on in Kazan see a munion. ... I never saw, even in pamphlet entitled The Russian and Russia, a more devout congregation, English Churches, by W. J. Birk- and it is quite difficult to realize that beck, pp. 27 ff. Mr Birkbeck, in 30 years ago there was not a Christian company with Father Vassili Timo- in the village " (Address to a Meeting feiev, visited a number of Tartar of the Eastern Church Association, villages in the province of Kazan. 1895). Referring to one of these he writes : 528 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE [chap. xix. of Russia but of the world." ^ Prior to the war the Russian Empire contained 20,000,000 Moslems, of whom 3,500,000 are found in European Russia. They form nearly twelve per cent, of the entire popula- tion of the Russian Empire, and were represented in Mission- the Duma.^ During the last decade about 50,000 amongst mcmbcrs of the Orthodox Church have reverted to Moslems, igj^m.^ There is an Orthodox Missionary Society for the promotion of work amongst Moslems with its headquarters in Moscow, the annual expenditure of which is about £32,000. It supports missions to Moslems at Orenburg in European Russia, also at Altai, Omsk and Tobolsk. In comparing the story of the introduction of Christianity into Russia with that of its introduction into other European countries it is pleasing to note The treat- that, although a measure of compulsion was used by unbe- Vladimir to compel his people to be baptized and after- heretTcs^in wards to rcccivc Christian instruction, no one was put Russia. Iq death for refusing to abandon paganism, and that, since Russia as a whole became nominally a Christian country, there has been an entire absence of the more violent forms of persecution directed against heretics and unbelievers. The tortures of the In- quisition and the cruelties practised on those accused of sorcery, which disgraced a large portion of the rest of Christendom, have been unknown in Russia. It is true that Karamsin, the Russian historian, refers to the burning of four sorcerers at Novgorod in 1227, ^ Mohammed or Christ, by S. M. the only exception is in the Caucasus, Zwemer, p. 77. where there are a considerable number * The great majority of Russian of Shiahs. Td. Moslems belong to the Sunnite sect ; ^ j^j. p. 83. RUSSIA 629 but he describes this as a lamentable error of super- stition and says that it was done without the know- ledge or approval of bishop or clergy .^ The non- Christian population of European and The mis- Asiatic Russia exceeds thirty million. We hope and outlook. believe that the Orthodox Church, freed at last by the recent Revolution from its long subservience to political influences, will become a great missionary Church and will help to interpret and to commend the Christian faith to the Slavs, the Moslems and the Mongols who are included within the limits of Russia. ^ Karamsin, iii. p. 298. 2 L CHAPTER XX the islands in the mediterranean Cyprus Paul and Paul and Bamabas, who was himself a native of Cyprus, atsSia-^ preached the Gospel at Salamis,^ and Barnabas and ^^' Mark returned to the island later on as missionaries .^ Christian Jews from Cyprus, moreover, had been amongst the number of those who first preached the Gospel at Antioch.^ The Byzantine Synaxaria men- tions many saints, bishops and martyrs, amongst whom are included St. Lazarus, St. Heraclides and St. Nicanor, one of the first seven deacons.^ During one of the great persecutions Christians from the mainland were banished to the mines of Cypriot Cyprus. Cypriot bishops from Salamis, Paphos and Nicsea, Triuiithus were present at Nicaea. The fact that one of them, Spiridion, who was a shepherd, re- mained as a shepherd after his consecration as bishop of Trimithus ^ suggests that Christianity had by this time made way amongst the country people outside the town. A little later mention is made of a bishop of Ledrae.^ Sozomen speaks of Cypriot bishops in ^ Acts xiii. Socrates, i. 12 and Sozomen, H. E. ^ Acts XV. 29. i. 11. 5iA dTVe obligation of Christians to Wke part in, 264. -- -^ Warnford, Inscription at, 145 n. Warpoda, Prussian chief, 428. Wars, Charlemagne's religious, 386 S. Welanao, in Holstein, 4.37. Welsh bpp. and St. Augustine, 109 n. " Wencelsas, Good King," see Wen- zeslav. Wendland, Conversion of, 391-8. Wends, Massacre of the, 397. Wenzeslav, of Bohemia, 298 f. ; Life of, 597. Werden, Gothic MS. found at, 253. Werenfrid, missionary in Frisia, 338. Wessex, Conversion of, 136-9. Westcott, Bp., re character of Columba, 81 ; re character and work of Constantine, 225, 225 n. ; The Two Empires, 579. Westphalia, 342, 344, 347. WestphaUans, 380. Wexio, in Sweden, 480. Whitby, 148 ; Monastery of, 17 ; Conference at, 130. White, N. J. D., Libri S. Patricii, ed. by, 581. White House, see Candida Casa. White Sea, Monastery on, 512. Wichin, bp. of Neutra, 296. Wigbert, missionary in Frisia, 333. Wigbert, abbot of Fritzlar, 364. Wight, L of, 139. Wigmodia, Willehad in, 346, 437. Wigtownshire, Monumental stones in, 68. Wilfrid, 132; at Whitby, 134; in Sussex, 142-5 ; in the I. of Wight, 139; in Friesland, 332; Wilfridi Vitce 599. Willehad, in Frisia, 344 ff. ; in Wig- modia, 437 ; Willehadi Vita, 599. Willerich, bp. of Bremen, 437. William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum, 585. William Rufus, Treatment of Jews by, 557. William, bp. of Modena, legate to Livonia, 518. William, St., of Norwich, 557. Wilhams, H., Christianity in Early Britain, 587. Willibald, companion of Boniface, bp. of Eichstadt, 354, 364; Life of Boniface by, 356 f., 600. Willibrord, 346, 358, 360 ; in Frisia, 333 £f., 333 n. ; his visit to Den- mark, 336 ; Willihrordi Vitce, 599. WilUs-Bund, Celtic Church in Wales, 587. Willson, Church and State in Norway, 604. Wiltaburg, see Utrecht. Winberct, abbot of Nutescelle, 358. Winchester, 138. Winfrid, see Boniface. Wini, bp., 138, 150. Wintancestir, see Winchester. Winwolus, of Landeveneck, 150. Wiro, Anglo-Saxon missionary in Frisia, 338. Wirzaburg, see Wiirzburg. Witches, King Coloman's decree re- lating to, 310. 640 THE CONVERSION OF EUROPE Witherne, see Candida Casa, 154. Withold, Bp., missionary to the Samaites, 522, Witmar, missionary to Sweden, 473. Witstack, Pomeranian chief, 420. Witta, helper of Boniface, 364 ; EngUsh bp. of Buraburg, 369. Wittekind, duke of Westphalia, 342, 346. Wolgast (Hologasta), in Pomerania, 414 £E. WolUn, Is. of, 399 f., 405, 411. Women, Aidan and ministry of, 132 ; converts in the early church, 42 ff. Wordsworth, Bp. J., re character of Constantine, 224 ; re character of Anskar, 441 ; re heathen baptisms in Norway, 450 n. ; re delay in evangeUzation of Scandinavia, 472 ; National Church of Sweden, 604. Worms, Burgundians at, 186 ; Croto- wald, bp. of, 187 ; Rupert, bp. of, 353 ; Massacre of Jews at, 560. Wornie, see Miedniki. Wratislav, of Bohemia, 298. Wratislav (Frocislaus), duke of Pomerania, 402, 404 fif., 412 ff. Wulfgang, bp. of Regensburg, 306. Wulfhere, king of the Mercians, 138, 141, 143, 149. Wulflaich, a hermit, 202. WuKram, archbp. of Sens, 338 ; and Radbod, 265 ; Wulframmi Vita, 599. Wunnibald, companion of Boniface, 364. Wursing, grandfather of Liudger, 342. Wurtemberg, 350. Wurzburg, 347 ; KiUan at, 352 ; See of, 369. Xavier, Results of methods of, 573. Ximenes, Cardinal, persecution of Moslems by, 280. Yadriga, Polish queen, 521. Yagello, see Vladislav. Yakovlev, A., re missionary work amongst Tartars, 525. Yakut, Liturgy in, 526 n. Yaropolk, 492 ; Baptism of bones of, 504. Yaroslav, Russian king, 435, 468, 503, 506. Yatvagers, a Finnish tribe, 493 n. Yeverin, see Adgefrin. York, 108 ; Thadioc, bp. of, 96. Ypres, Monastery of, 475. Ythancestir, Cedd at, 147. Yule, festival in Norway, its con- nection with Christmas, 451, 453. Zacharias, Pope, Letters of Boniface to, re condition of Frankish church, 194, 367, 368 f. Zaragoza, Martyrs at, 271 ; Vincent of, 272. Zealand, See of, and Faroe Islands, 445. Zedekiah, a Jewish physician, 546. Zeitz, See of, 392. Zeus and Athena, compared with Krishna and KaH, 217. Zoerad, Polish missionary in Hungary, 307 n. Zosimus, Historia nova, 591. Zozimus, Russian convert to Judaism, 564. Zurich, Lake, Columbanus on, 314. Printed in Great Britain bj Turnbull&> Spears, Edinburgh 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. 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