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HARVARD TRANSLATIONS 
 
HARVARD TRANSLATIONS 
 
 Eugdppitjs: The Life of Saint Severinus. 
 Translated into English for the first 
 time, with Notes, by George W. 
 Robinson, A.B., Secretary of the 
 Harvard Graduate School of Arts and 
 Sciences. 8vo. $1.50 net 
 
 Willibald: The Life of Saint Boniface. 
 Translated into English for the first 
 time, with Introduction and Notes, 
 by George W. Robinson. 
 
 8vo. $1.15 net 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE OF SAINT BONIFACE 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIBALD 
 
 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME 
 WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE W. ROBINSON 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF 
 ARTS AND SCIENCES 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 IQl6 
 
6 X HI 00 
 /3 lode*" 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1916 
 HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 SiNRY MORSE STEPHEW 
 
1/? 
 
 MANIBUS 
 
 SAMUEL COLCORD BARTLETT 
 HENRICI ELIAE PARKER 
 EDUARDI RUSH RUGGLES 
 
 LUDOVICI POLLENS 
 
 RUFI BYAM RICHARDSON 
 
 MARVINI DAVIS BISBEE 
 
 CAROLI FRANCISCI RICHARDSON 
 
 PROFESSORUM DARTMUTHENSIUM 
 
 INTER ANNOS MDGCCXC ET MDCCCXCIII 
 
 SACRUM 
 
 SEDEM SEPULCRI SERVET IMMOTUS CINIS 
 MEMORIA VIVAT NOMINUM 
 
 510225 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This first English translation of Willibald's Life of 
 Saint Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, is based on 
 Wilhelm Levison's edition of the text: Vitae Sancti 
 Bonijatii Archiepiscopi Moguntini (Hannoverae et 
 Lipsiae, 1905), pp. 1-57. 
 
 I am glad to express my obligations to Professors 
 Ephraim Emerton and Edward Kennard Rand of Har- 
 vard University for helpful suggestions; and to Mr. 
 Frederick C. Dietz, who has kindly examined for me a 
 number of editions and translations in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 For some of the references in the notes I am indebted 
 to earlier commentators. Where these references 
 seem to have become common property, I have con- 
 sidered specific acknowledgment unnecessary. 
 
 For the sake of convenience, I have employed cer- 
 tain abbreviations in the footnotes, as follows : 
 
 E Ernst Durnmler, S. Bonijatii et Lulli Epistolae. 
 
 In M . G. H., Epistolae Merowingici et Karolini 
 
 Aevi, torn, i (Berolini, 1892). 
 M.G.E.. .Monumenta Germaniae Historica. 
 P.L Jacques Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina. 
 
 George W. Robinson. 
 
 Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
 June, 1915. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION n 
 
 THE LIFE OF SAINT BONIFACE 21 
 
 A LIST OF EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS OF 
 THE LIFE 95 
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS CITED IN THE NOTES . . 105 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 109 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The chief sources from which our knowledge of Saint 
 Boniface is drawn are, first, the writings of Boniface 
 himself, particularly his Letters, with the letters ad- 
 dressed to him which have been preserved with his 
 own; secondly, the Life by Willibald. The Life of 
 Gregory, 1 the saint's beloved disciple, by Liudger, 2 
 also presents a number of valuable notices; and the 
 Life of Abbot Sturmi 3 of Fulda. by Eigil, 4 gives the 
 best and fullest account of the beginnings of the great 
 abbey of Fulda, 8 the special delight of the declining 
 years of Boniface, 6 and the spot which he chose as the 
 final resting place for his body. 7 Other contemporary 
 material includes a few passages in the chroniclers, and 
 in the Lives of Willibald, bishop of Eichstatt, 8 and 
 Wynnebald, abbot of Heidenheim, 9 brothers, and rela- 
 tives of Boniface, 10 by the Nun of Heidenheim. 11 
 
 1 Abbot of Saint Martin at Utrecht; died about 775. 
 
 2 ' Apostle of the Frisians and Saxons '; bishop of Minister c. 804- 
 809; died 809. 
 
 8 Died 779. 4 Died 822. 
 
 6 Founded 12 March 744. Eigil, Vita Sturmi, 13. 
 
 6 E., 86; Albert Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, i (2d ed., 
 Leipsic, 1898), p. 566. 
 
 7 .,86; pages 79, 90, below. 
 
 8 Page 77, below. Bishop Willibald died not before 786. 
 
 9 Died 19 December 761. 
 
 10 Vita Wynnebaldi, 4: "qui carnale propinquitatis et sanguini 
 copulatione illo fuerat sociatus atque glutinatus." 
 u The Nun appears to have written the Life of Willibald, from his 
 
12 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The extant works of Boniface comprise a grammar, 
 some fragments on metres, poems, letters, and fifteen 
 sermons. 1 The Life of Saint Livinus, 2 formerly 
 wrongly ascribed to him, was probably composed 
 about the middle of the eleventh century. 3 
 
 The grammar (Ars Domni Bonifacii Archiepiscopi et 
 Martyris) was edited by Angelo Mai in 183 5. 4 It may 
 
 dictation and notes, not long after 23 June 778, and the Life of Wynne- 
 bald a little later, from the relation of his sister Waldburga, abbess of 
 Heidenheim, and of his friends and disciples. Both Lives are printed 
 in M . G. H., Scriptores, xv, 1. 
 
 1 The authenticity of the sermons has been doubted; but without 
 sufficient cause. See the remarks of F. W. Rettberg, Kirchenge- 
 schichte Deutschlands (Gottingen, 1846-48), i, pp. 408 f.; and Adolf 
 Ebert, Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Literatur bis zum Zeitalter 
 Karls des Grossen (Leipsic, 1874), p. 614. 
 
 The so-called Poenitentiale S. Bonifacii, printed by Anton Joseph 
 Binterim in his Denkwiirdigkeiten der christ-katholischen Kirche, v, 3 
 (Mayence, 1829), pp. 430-436, cannot in its present form be earlier 
 than the ninth century. Whether its substance may be in part de- 
 rived from the teachings of Boniface has been a matter of discussion. 
 F. W. H. Wasserschleben, Die Bussordnungen der abendlandischen 
 Kirche (Halle, 1851), p. 89, n. 2; P. H. Kulb, Sammtliche Schriften des 
 heiligen Bonifacius (Ratisbon, 1859), % PP- 439 *; H. J. Schmitz, Die 
 Bussbiicher und die Bussdisciplin der Kirche, i (Mayence, 1883), p. 745. 
 
 August Niirnberger publishes from Vatican manuscripts some doc- 
 trinal fragments ascribed to Boniface. Programm des konigl. kathol- 
 ischen Gymnasiums zu Neisse, 178 (Neisse, 1883), pp. xvii ff. One of 
 these fragments is highly interesting to students of the tradition of the 
 Roman exempla virtutis. 
 
 2 First published by Nicolaus Serarius, Epistolae S. Bonifacii 
 (Moguntiae, 1605), pp. 233-252. 
 
 8 Wilhelm Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittel- 
 alter (7th ed., Berlin, 1904-), i, pp. 147, 433. 
 
 4 Classicorum Auctorum e Vaticanis Codicibus editor um Tomus VII 
 (Romae, 1835), pp. 475"548. 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 be assigned without hesitation to the period of the 
 author's teaching activity at Nhutscelle. 1 The work is 
 wholly based on earlier writers, above all Donatus; 2 
 but the material is revised with a view to the practical 
 needs of teacher and scholar. 3 
 
 The fragments on metres 4 probably date from the 
 same period. 5 They appear to be based largely on Isi- 
 dore of Seville. 6 
 
 Of the poems the most important is a series of 
 twenty riddles on the virtues and vices, in 388 hexa- 
 meters. John Allen Giles published the first 161 verses 
 in 1 844/ from a manuscript in the British Museum; 
 and the whole poem, from a Cambridge manuscript, in 
 1851. 8 The best edition is by Ernst Dummler 9 (Bero- 
 lini, 1881). The riddles cannot be said to possess 
 
 1 Page 33, below: " imbued . . . with the eloquence of the art of 
 grammar." 
 
 2 Max Manitius, Geschichie der lateinischen Literatur des Mittel- 
 alters, i (Munich, 191 1), p. 149. 
 
 3 Ibid. 
 
 4 Printed in Thomas Gaisford's Scriptores Latini Rei Metricae 
 (Oxonii, 1837), pp. 577-585; and (in part) by August Wilmanns, in 
 the Rheinisches Museum, Neue Folge, xxiii (1868), pp. 403 f. 
 
 6 Page 33, below: " imbued . . . with the pithy modulation of the 
 eloquence of metres "; E., 98. 
 
 6 Wilmanns notes a comical misunderstanding on the part of Boni- 
 face. Isidore (Etymologiae, i, 37 Wilmanns's reference is wrong) 
 says prosae autem studium sero viguit; Boniface renders this Orationis 
 autem studium primum egit Seron. 
 
 7 Bonifacii Opera, ii, pp. 109-115. Not the complete poem, as 
 Manitius wrongly says (op. cit., i, p. 151) : erring through a misunder- 
 standing of a passage in Dummler's preface. 
 
 8 Anecdota Bedae, Lanfranci, et aliorum, pp. 18-24, 38-45. 
 
 9 M. G. H., Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini, i, pp. 3-15. 
 
14 INTRODUCTION 
 
 much merit as poetry; nevertheless they are import- 
 ant because of the light which they shed upon the ideas 
 and character of Boniface. We have a brief introduc- 
 tion, and then addresses of the ten principal virtues and 
 as many vices: Love, Orthodoxy, Hope, Justice, Truth, 
 Mercy, Patience, Christian Peace, Christian Humility, 
 Virginity; Greed, Haughtiness, Gluttony, Drunken- 
 ness, Luxury, Envy, Ignorance, Vainglory, Negligence, 
 Wrath. That the riddles were composed after Boni- 
 face entered upon his work in Germany has been in- 
 ferred from verses 323 f., in the address of Ignorance: 
 
 " Ob quod semper amavit me Germanica tellus, 
 Rustica gens hominum Sclafonim et Scythia dura." 
 
 In addition to the riddles, there remain verses ad- 
 dressed to Dudd, 1 which may have served as a dedica- 
 tion of the grammar; 2 and lines attached to letters to 
 Nithard 3 and Pope Zacharias. 4 
 
 The letters were first edited by Nicolaus Serarius in 
 1605; 6 the best editions are those of Philipp Jaffe 8 
 
 1 Diimmler, op. cit., pp. 16 f. 
 
 2 Manitius, op. cit., i, p. 149. 
 
 * E., g. 
 
 4 E., 50. Diimmler, op. cit., pp. 1-19, publishes all these as Boni- 
 fatii Carmina, with a preface. He also assigns Carmina, iv (p. 18), to 
 Boniface, but withdraws the ascription in his edition of the Letters 
 printed eleven years later. E., 140. 
 
 6 Epistolae S. Bonifacii Martyris, Primi Moguntini Archiepiscopi, 
 Germanorum Apostoli, pluriumque Pontificum, Regum, & aliorum. 
 Moguntiae, 1605. 
 
 In his Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum, torn, iii (Monumenta 
 Moguntina), pp. 24-315. 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 (1866) and Ernst Dummler l (1892). The collection in 
 which they are preserved includes not only letters of 
 Boniface and his successor Lul, but many written to 
 them, and a number of others of the same time; besides 
 a few earlier ones by Aldhelm 2 and others, 3 apparently 
 included as models of composition. The letters of 
 Boniface, which cover the period from about 716 
 nearly to the time of his death, are of great interest and 
 value. Some are to the popes, 4 concerning questions 
 of doctrine and administration; 5 one is a striking mes- 
 sage of admonition to King Aethelbald of Mercia; 
 others are to the Frankish rulers; 7 but a peculiar 
 charm attaches to those which the saint wrote to his 
 devoted Anglo-Saxon friends, male 8 and female, 9 as- 
 suring them of his warm and constant love, thanking 
 them for gifts, 10 and asking, now for advice, 11 now for 
 their prayers in his behalf 12 and in that of the pagan 
 Germans 13 whose conversion he sought, but perhaps 
 
 1 In M . G. H., Epistolae Merowingici et Karolini Aevi, i, pp. 231- 
 
 43i. 
 
 2 E., 1, 2, 3; 6V (inverse). 
 
 3 Ibid., 4, s, 7, 8; 6I-6IV (in verse). 
 
 4 To Zacharias, ibid., 50, 86; to Stephen III, ibid., 108, 109. 
 
 6 Ibid., 50, 86, 109. Ibid., 73. 
 
 7 Ibid., 48, 93, 107. 
 
 8 Ibid., 9, 32, 33, 34, 38, 63, 69, 74, 75, 76, 78, 9** 
 
 9 Ibid., 10, 27, 30, 35, 65, 66, 67, 94, 96. 
 
 10 Ibid., 27, 30, 75, 78, 91. 
 
 11 Ibid., 32, 33, 34, 63, 91. 
 
 12 Ibid., 27, 30, 33, 34, 38, 65, 66, 67, 74, 76, 91, 94- 
 
 u Ibid., 38, 65. 46 is a general request " to all God-fearing Catho- 
 lics of English race and stock " to pray for the conversion of the 
 heathen Saxons. 
 
1 6 INTRODUCTION 
 
 most eagerly of all for books. 1 " I beseech that thou 
 copy for me in gold the epistles of my lord, Saint Peter 
 the Apostle, unto the honor and reverence of the Holy 
 Scriptures before the eyes of fleshly folk when I 
 preach." 2 
 
 Dr. Giles has given English translations of letters of 
 Boniface to Bishop Daniel of Winchester, the Abbess 
 Bugga, and the youth Nithard. 3 Dr. Isaac Gregory 
 Smith translates the letter to Bugga; others to the 
 Abbess Eadburga and to Abbot Dudd; and part of one 
 to Pope Zacharias. 4 Edward Kylie has translated the 
 correspondence of Boniface and his English friends. 5 
 
 The sermons, first printed in 1733, 6 are most easily 
 accessible in Giles's 7 or Migne's 8 edition of the works 
 of Boniface. Dr. Giles, in the preface to the second 
 volume of his edition, turns into English Remy Ceil- 
 lier's summary of their contents; and a translation of 
 part of one may be found in Dr. Smith's Boniface. 9 In 
 the sixth sermon is an especially vigorous denunciation 
 of heathen practices, and a lively description of the 
 place of torment that awaits those who are guilty of 
 them or of other capital sins. 
 
 1 E-> 33, 34, 35, 63, 75, 7, 91- 2 Ih M; 35- 
 
 3 Bonifacii Opera (1844), h PP- 12-20. E., 63, 94, 9. 
 
 4 Boniface (1896), pp. 81-93. E-, 65, 94, 34, 5- 
 
 6 The English Correspondence of Saint Boniface (London, 191 1): 
 in the series called The King's Classics. 
 
 6 At Paris, in Edmond Martene and Ursin Durand's Veterum Scrip- 
 torum Amplissima Collectio, torn, ix, coll. 185-218. 
 
 7 London, 1844: vol. ii, pp. 57-107. 
 
 8 P. L., vol. lxxxix (Parisiis, 1850), coll. 843-872. 
 
 9 Pp. 99 ff. 
 
INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 The Life of Boniface by Willibald, the translation of 
 which we give, was written within a few years of the 
 saint's death, almost certainly not later than 768 ,* at 
 the request of Boniface's successor, Lul, and of Bishop 
 Megingoz of Wtirzburg. Willibald, a priest of Anglo- 
 Saxon origin, 2 is an author worthy of all respect as 
 regards industry and veracity. The chief defects of 
 his work are two: a style inflated and obscure, sup- 
 ported by no sufficient foundation of grammatical 
 knowledge; and the comparative scantiness of the in- 
 formation which he supplies concerning much of the 
 later life of Boniface. 3 Fortunately the omissions can 
 be supplied in part from the other sources. 
 
 Later lives of Boniface are printed, in full or in part, 
 and discussed by Levison in his Vitae Bonifatii. These 
 add little or nothing to our knowledge; indeed, they 
 have rather served to confuse the history of the saint. 
 This is particularly true, in different ways, of the 
 worthless Mayence legends collected in the work which 
 Levison calls the ' Fourth Life,' and of the attempts to 
 simplify and popularize made by the monk Otloh of 
 St. Emmeram, the most distinguished writer of his 
 
 1 Levison, Vitae Bonifatii, p. x. 
 
 2 Ibid., pp. viii f. He was long confused with Saint Willibald, 
 bishop of Eichstatt. Ibid., pp. vii f. To this confusion may be traced 
 Manitius's amazing reference to him as a relative of Boniface. Ge- 
 schichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters , i, p. 146. 
 
 8 E. g., he does not mention Pope Zacharias (741-52), with whom 
 Boniface had a copious correspondence. Wattenbach discusses the 
 general question of the omissions. DeutscMands Geschichtsquellen, 
 i, pp. 151 f. 
 
i8 INTRODUCTION 
 
 time, whose work was written during his stay at Fulda 
 in the years 1062 to 1066. 1 
 
 The modern literature relative to Boniface is impos- 
 ing in quantity, particularly in Germany; of its aver- 
 age quality not so much can be said. One may begin 
 with the notices annexed to the editions which I have 
 named, and with the sections in the Ecclesiastical His- 
 tories of Rettberg and Hauck, in Ebert's Geschichte der 
 christlich-lateinischen Literatur, and in Max Mani- 
 tius's Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelal- 
 ters: these, with Potthast's Wegweiser, will point the 
 way to further study. In English there is little of 
 scholarly worth, save for the booklet Boniface, by 
 Isaac Gregory Smith, in the series The Fathers for Eng- 
 lish Readers. 
 
 We are indebted to England, on the other hand, for 
 William Selwyn's fine poem Winfrid, afterwards called 
 Boniface (Cambridge and London, 1865), in blank 
 verse. 2 In German poetry Johann Baptist Rousseau's 
 Das Bonifazius-Lied 3 (Mayence, 1855) is not without 
 merit. Dr. Wiss's Latin poem Bonifacius, affixed to 
 
 1 " Petitionibus vestris, fratres Fuldenses, prout scientiae meae 
 parvitas permisit, parere studui. Petistis enim, ut sancti patris nostri 
 Bonifacii vitam precipuo quidem elegantique, utpote sancti Willi- 
 baldi, stilo antiquitus editam, sed in locis quibusdam ita infirmo intel- 
 lectui velatam, ut difficile pateat quo oratio tendat, hanc ego sententia 
 apertiori reserarem." Otloh, Vita Bonifacii, Prologus. 
 
 2 915 lines. 
 
 8 Zur Erinnerung an die Verherrlichung des heil. Winfried-Boni- 
 fazius, des Apostels von Deutschland und Erzbischofs von Mainz, bei der 
 eilfhundertjcthrigen Jubelfeier von dessen Martyrium im Juni 1855. 
 Fifty-six pages. There is a curious Politische Apostrophe (pp. 50-5 2 ) 
 
INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 his translation of the Letters (Fulda, 1842), also should 
 not be overlooked. Trithemius's story of a poem on 
 Boniface in heroic verse, by Ruthard, a monk of 
 Hirschau, is a pure invention. 1 
 
 The importance of the work of Boniface in the ec- 
 clesiastical, and, indeed, in the general history of 
 Europe cannot easily be exaggerated. His activities 
 may, however, be viewed under several aspects, ac- 
 cording as we consider him as one of the foremost 
 scholars of his time, introducer of learning and litera- 
 ture and to a large extent of the arts of civilized life 
 into the German lands; or as the great champion of 
 Rome and of ecclesiastical uniformity in Central Eu- 
 rope; or as a missionary of God, a soldier and leader in 
 the great Christian warfare against the heathen of the 
 North. The relative value which should be assigned 
 
 in denunciation of the English for their aid to Turkey in the Crimean 
 War: 
 
 " Vor eilfhundert Jahren und noch frtiher 
 
 Sandte England Manner uber's Meer, 
 
 Deutsche Heiden, die im Pferdgewieher 
 
 Gottes Nahe wahnten, als Erzieher 
 
 Zu gewinnen fur die Christuslehr'. 
 
 Nach eilfhundert Jahren ziehn die Briten 
 . . . Hort! . . . mit einer Riesenflotte aus, 
 Um fur Die, wodurch wir nur gelitten, 
 Heiden, Haremshelden, Sodomiten, 
 Christen zu bereiten blut'gen Strauss." 
 
 1 Joannes Trithemius, Chronicon Monasterii Hirsaugiensis (Basil- 
 eae, 1559), p. 21: " Ruthardus quoque . . . hujus coenobii Hirsau- 
 giensis . . . scripsit . . . passionem sancti Bonifacii archiepiscopi 
 heroico carmine pulcherrime in duobus libris." See Levison, Vitoe 
 Bonifatii, p. xlvii, n. 2. 
 
20 INTRODUCTION 
 
 to his labors in enforcing uniformity within the church, 
 and in seeking the conversion of the pagan folk with- 
 out, must always remain an open question. No doubt 
 certamJfin.d.enries, poiiik^USSSo^J^^J^^^^i^ 
 
 the German historical writing of the last half-century 
 have tended to exalt iJie proportionate importance oi n 
 his work as an ecclesiastical organizer. I think the 
 man himself saw more truly, as the witness oi Jus 
 martyr's death attesjs. 
 
 #W<fr- 
 
 < ^/' 
 
THE LIFE OF SAINT BONIFACE 
 
THE LIFE OF SAINT BONIFACE 
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 To the lords venerable and truly in Christ most dear, 
 Lul and Megingoz colleagues in the episcopacy, Willi- 
 bald, priest in the Lord, though unworthy. 
 
 Paying due complaisance of obedience to your holi- 
 ness, but with no confident reliance upon my own liter- 
 ary training, I have cheerfully obeyed in will and act 
 your pious fatherly command. With my feeble 
 strength I have begun and carried through unto the 
 end the difficult task which ye imposed upon me. But 
 I beseech that if the result shall be otherwise than as 
 your wish desires, ye weigh justly the weakness of my 
 infirmity and the loftiness of the task laid upon me, 
 since it is the strongest proof of my regard that I do 
 not refuse obedience to your sublime command. If, on 
 the other hand, I shall accomplish anything worthy 
 and that shall profit our times, assuredly it must be as- 
 cribed to the divine gift, 1 and to your command and 
 earnest desire; since sometimes the pious wish of one 
 who earnestly desires may be likened unto the hand of 
 
 1 For the words and ideas of the Prologue to this point, Willibald is 
 largely indebted to the prefatory letter prefixed by Victorius Aqui- 
 tanus to the Easter Table which he sent to Archdeacon Hilary of 
 Rome in 457. M. G. H. t Auctores Antiquissimi, ix (Berolini, 1892), 
 pp. 677 f. 
 
 3 
 
24 WILLIBALD 
 
 a man who presses the oilpress, and by the strength of 
 its pressing obtains at least a little of the sweet fruit of 
 the longed for knowledge, and, bestowing it, revives 
 the famishing. For your holiness has determined to 
 make equal, even to prefer, the foolish to the wise, 
 and the less capable to the prudent, and to commit to 
 me in my ignorance that which surely without effort ye 
 could have presented in the language of the wise. But 
 I entreat that the supplication of continual prayer may 
 bedew him whom the oilpress of your command hath 
 pressed. I entreat that his mind, dulled by- the fog of 
 sloth, may be awakened by the wish of your sponta- 
 neous love: in order that for the task, to which it has 
 been summoned through your compulsion, it may be 
 strengthened by a vigorous literary style. 
 
 For at the request of religious and Catholic men, to 
 whom, whether in the parts of Tuscany or the confines 
 of Gaul or the approaches of Germany or even within 
 the bounds of Britain, great report had come of the 
 fame and of the dazzling miracles of Saint Boniface the 
 martyr, ye have constrained me to write, after the pat- 
 tern of those whose pure lives and virtuous characters 
 the most holy fathers have put on paper in elegantly 
 circumlocutory language 1 and handed down, the be- 
 ginning, course, and end of his life, as I should ascer- 
 tain it, making the most careful investigation in my 
 power, from the narration of his disciples who had long 
 tarried with him, or of yourselves. And as, when the 
 
 1 Eleganti verborum ambage. An excellent description of Willi- 
 bald's own ideal of style. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 25 
 
 covenant of the first transgression was cancelled 1 and 
 the rays of the true light began to dawn, Hegesippus, 
 who is reported to have come to Rome in the time of 
 Anacletus, 2 published, it is said, five books of church 
 history for the profit of readers; 3 and as Eusebius of 
 Caesarea, the most famous among the writers of his- 
 tory, and his assistant, the martyr Pamphilus, com- 
 posing the histories of their own and preceding times 
 with wondrous eloquence of language, published in- 
 numerable volumes; 4 and, further, as Gregory 8 of 
 blessed memory, a man most learned in literary studies 
 and occuping the glorious height of the apostolic chair, 
 wrote the life of the sainted confessors, exhibiting a 
 marvellously managed dialectic style, and published 
 the work in four books in syllogistic form, 6 which to 
 this day, placed in the libraries of the churches, bring 
 to posterity the laborious grandeur of knowledge: so 
 ye bid me to reveal to this age and to the ages to come 
 the life of the saint, and his lofty virtues, his practice of 
 piety, and the strength of his abstinence. 7 But al- 
 though I know that I am a slight and insignificant 
 
 1 Hebrews, ix, 15. 
 
 2 Anicetus, bishop of Rome 157 ?-i68: sometimes known as Ana- 
 cletus I. 
 
 3 Saint Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, 22. 
 * Ibid., 81. 
 
 6 Gregory the Great, pope 590-604. 
 
 6 Dialogorum Libri IV de Vita et Miraculis Patrum Italicorum el de 
 Aeternitate Animarum. 
 
 7 Here and in the following sentence Willibald borrows words and 
 phrases freely from the prologue of Rufinus's Eistoria Monachorum. 
 P. L., xxi, coll. 387 f. 
 
26 WILLIBALD 
 
 writer to tell so great a story, yet, since the wish of 
 your benevolence demands, I will attempt, with your 
 aid, this task which ye have given me in charge: not 
 relying on the pride of my own presumption, but trust- 
 ing confidently in the assistance of Catholics; nor 
 seeking from my weak pen the spreading abroad of my 
 own glory; but furnishing by the relation of so great a 
 story an example that shall profit readers, as each, 
 learning from this pattern, is led to better things by the 
 perfection of his own progress. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 How in Childhood he began to serve God 
 
 The illustrious and truly blessed life of Saint Boniface 
 the archbishop, and his character, consecrated partic- 
 ularly by imitation of the saints, as I have learned 
 them from the narratives of pious men, who, having 
 zealously attended upon his daily conversation and the 
 way of his piety, handed down to posterity as an ex- 
 ample those things which they heard or saw: this life 
 and character I seek, hindered as I am by the darkness 
 of knowledge, to interweave in the meagre warp of this 
 work and to present concisely in the plain garb of his- 
 tory; and from the beginning even unto the end, with 
 the most thorough investigation in my power, to reveal 
 the sanctity of his divine contemplation. 
 
 When, in the first bloom of boyhood, 1 his mother had 
 weaned and reared him with a mother's wonted great 
 and anxious care, his father took exceeding great de- 
 light in his companionship, and loved him above his 
 brothers. But when he was about four or five years 
 old, it was his passion to enter God's service and to 
 study and toil over the monastic life continually, 
 
 1 We may reasonably suppose that the childhood of Boniface was 
 passed in southwestern England, not far from Exeter. However, the 
 statement that he was born at Crediton, in Devonshire, cannot be 
 traced further back than John de Grandisson, bishop of Exeter 1327- 
 60. Levison, Vitae Bonifatii, pp. xxix, 5, n. 2. 
 
28 WILLIBALD 
 
 and his soul panted after that life every day; for 
 already he had subdued unto his spirit all that is tran- 
 sitory and determined to meditate upon the things of 
 eternity rather than those of the present. Indeed, 
 when certain priests, or clerks, had gone out to the lay 
 folk to preach unto them, as is the custom in those 
 countries, 1 and had come to the town and house of the 
 saint's father, presently, so far as the weakness of his 
 tender years permitted, the child began to talk with 
 them of heavenly things, and to ask what would help 
 him and his infirmity 2 for the future. 
 
 When thus in protracted meditation he had thought 
 long of heavenly things, and his whole being was strain- 
 ing forward to the future and upward to the things 
 which are on high, at last he laid bare his heart to his 
 father, and asked him to take his desire in good part. 
 His father, astounded at the tidings, rebuked him most 
 vehemently; and, on the one hand, forbade him with 
 threats to abandon him; on the other, incited him 
 with blandishments to the care of worldly business; 
 that he might subdue him to the temporal gain of a 
 transitory inheritance, and, when his own death came, 
 
 1 Bede, Vita S. Cuthberti, q, and Historia Ecclesiastica, iv, 27 
 (Giles's translation) : " It was then the custom of the English people, 
 that when a clerk or priest came into the town, they all, at his com- 
 mand, flocked together to hear the word, willingly heard what was 
 said, and more willingly practised those things that they could hear 
 and understand." The practice of itinerant preaching appears to 
 have fallen into disuse early in the eighth century upon the general 
 institution of parish churches. 
 
 2 In the sense of human frailty, as in Hebrews, iv, 15; v, 2; vii, 
 28. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 29 
 
 leave him guardian, or rather heir, of his earthly goods. 
 Using the deceitful subtlety of human cunning, he 
 strove in long talks to turn aside the young heart from 
 the fulfilment of the purpose it had formed, and prom- 
 ised, with many a flattering word, that this active 
 life would be more tolerable to the child's tender years 
 than the contemplative life of the monastic warfare: ' 
 that so he might restrain the boy from the attempt to 
 carry out this purpose; and incite him to the vo- 
 luptuousness of mundane luxury. But the saint was 
 already in his boyhood filled with God's spirit; and 
 the more his father held him back, the more he took 
 stout heart, and anxiously panted to provide himself 
 a treasure in heaven, 2 and to join himself to the 
 sacred study of letters. And it happened in wondrous 
 wise, as ever the divine compassion is wont to act, that 
 God in his foresight bestowed upon his young soldier 
 consolation in his undertaking and an increase of 
 anxious desire, and a hasty change of mind in the ob- 
 stinate father: so that at one and the same instant of 
 time sudden sickness crept upon the father, whom the 
 unexpected moment of death already threatened; and 
 the boy's pious desire, long balked, increased most 
 swiftly, and, with the aid of the Lord God, was fulfilled 
 and perfected in its increase. 
 
 For the saint's father according to the flesh, when 
 by the wonderful judgment of the dispensation of 
 
 1 See Eugippius, The Life of Saint Severinm, English translation 
 (Cambridge, 1914), p. 45, n. 1. 
 * Matthew, vi, 20; Luke, xii, 3$. 
 
30 WILLIBALD 
 
 God great sickness had seized upon him, quickly put 
 away his former obstinacy of heart, made an assembly 
 of the kindred, and of his own free will, but moved 
 by the Lord, directed the boy to the monastery which 
 is called by a name of the ancients Ad-Escancastre, 1 
 and committed him to an embassy of trusty messen- 
 gers to deliver to the faithful Wulfhard, who was 
 abbot of that monastery. The little boy, his friends 
 standing beside him, addressed Wulfhard discreetly, 
 and, making his request intelligently, as his parents 2 
 had taught him aforetime, declared that he had long 
 desired to submit himself to the monastic rule. 
 Forthwith the father of the monastery, after taking 
 counsel with the brethren and receiving their bene- 
 diction, as the order of the regular life demanded, 3 
 granted his consent and the fulfilment of the boy's 
 wish. And so the man of God, bereaved of his father 
 according to the flesh, followed the adoptive father of 
 our redemption, 4 and, renouncing the earthly gains of 
 the world, strove to acquire the merchandise of an 
 eternal inheritance: that, according to the veridical 
 voice of truth, by forsaking father, or mother, or lands, 
 or the other things which are of this world, he should 
 receive a hundredfold, and should inherit everlasting 
 life. 5 
 
 1 Exeter. 
 
 2 Perhaps rather ' relatives.' 
 
 3 Saint Benedict of Nursia, Regula, 3. 
 
 4 Romans, viii, 14, 15, 23. 
 
 5 Matthew, xix, 29. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 How in the Beginning he overcame the Passions 
 or Youth and clave to all that was Good 
 
 The first section of our narrative is now completed, 
 though in outline. 1 Next we shall briefly make known 
 the virtuousness to which the saint trained himself in 
 the beginning of his studious life : in order that after we 
 have laid the foundation of the fabric of our work, the 
 loftiness of the structure may little by little be raised 
 higher to the summit. 
 
 For after he waxed in age and in admirable strength 
 of knowledge, and the seven years of infancy 2 glided 
 away, and the glory of boyhood came, by the inspira- 
 tion of heavenly grace he was enriched with great and 
 unutterable dignity of mind, as is shown by the ex- 
 amples given later in this work; and, living according 
 to the model afforded by the earlier saints, and in 
 obedience to the ordinances of the venerable fathers, 
 he was manifested and adorned by the purity of many 
 virtues. Moreover he was so kindled by divine genius, 
 and so applied himself especially to the exercise of 
 reading, that in all the moments and hours and revolv- 
 ing years that were added to his life, the helps and the 
 
 1 An imitation of Aldhelm, De Laude Virginitatis, 40. Levison 
 points out other verbal borrowings from Aldhelm in the notes to his 
 edition, pp. 3, 11, 12, 14, 18, 27, 42, 50. 
 
 2 Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae, xi, 2; Bede, VitaS. Cuthberti, 1. 
 
 31 , 
 
32 WILLIBALD 
 
 divinely augmented gifts of the Protector on high were 
 also increased within him. And the more he progressed 
 in the school of the priesthood, the more, as trusty men 
 who were his intimate associates have borne certain 
 witness, did his daily studies, in continual meditation 
 day and night upon literary training, incite him to the 
 increase of eternal blessedness, and protect him mar- 
 vellously against the inimical persecutions of diabolical 
 suggestion, which among men are wont often to cover 
 the tender flower of youth as it were with a kind of fog 
 of cloudy darkness; so that also, because of his cease- 
 less care and long solicitude and his perpetual exami- 
 nation of the sacred laws, and by the help of the Lord 
 God, the seductive passions of youth within him, and 
 the assaults with which fleshly lusts at first assailed 
 him, for the most part subsided. And more and more 
 his studies carried him forward to the general instruc- 
 tion of the people, 1 which, after the passage of no great 
 interval of time, he began, enlarged, and perfected, in 
 accordance with the episcopal ordinance of ecclesiasti- 
 cal prescription. For he despised the perishable adorn- 
 ments of this world, and in his childhood, under the 
 moderate government of Father Wulfhard, kept the 
 pattern of the monastic life well and duly for many 
 years; until, when sportive boyhood was over and 
 manly youth began, 2 the more glowing desire of his 
 
 1 As described later in this chapter and in the following. The con- 
 jecture of Jaffe* and Levison, that the reference is to Boniface's later 
 activities among the pagans, cannot be accepted. 
 
 2 At fourteen. Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae, xi, 2. Willibald 
 appears to have in mind this passage of Isidore, or the similar one 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 33 
 
 spirit fired him to go, with the consent and advice of 
 his trusty fellow servants and of the father of the mon- 
 astery, to neighboring monasteries also, whither he was 
 summoned by the want of teachers of reading. 1 
 
 And when in wish and spirit he asked constantly and 
 with great perseverance in prayer that the approbation 
 of the Almighty should be present unto him, at length, 
 inspired by divine grace from heaven, he came to the 
 monastery which even to this day is called Nhutscelle; 2 
 and, incited by the spiritual love of letters, chose the 
 mastership of Abbot Winbert of blessed memory, 3 who 
 was venerably governing the monastery under the dis- 
 cipline of the rule, and the companionship of the breth- 
 ren who there dwelt with him in the Lord. And so, 
 joined to the fellowship of the servants of God, he 
 exhibited with great zeal of meditation devoted service 
 to the Lord God, and laborious perseverance in vigils, 
 and the work of reading the divine word; so that he 
 was imbued not only with the eloquence of the art of 
 grammar and with the pithy modulation of the elo- 
 quence of metres, 4 but also with the straightforward 
 
 of Bede, mentioned above, in the references to the periods of human 
 life which he makes here and elsewhere. 
 
 1 The language is ambiguous. But the connection shows that the 
 lack of teachers was at Exeter. 
 
 2 Nursling, or Nutshalling, between Winchester and Southampton; 
 as Selwyn has it, 
 
 " Nutescelle, sheltering under Winton's see, 
 Where woodland Hants o'er narrow channel looks, 
 To the fair Isle." 
 
 3 Mentioned by Boniface, E., 63. 
 
 4 It is to this period that we may best assign the grammatical 
 and metrical writings of Boniface, mentioned in the Introduction. 
 
34 WILLIBALD 
 
 exposition of history and with the triple interpretation 
 of spiritual knowledge, 1 and at last shone so praise- 
 worthily in immense knowledge of the Scriptures and 
 in skill of teaching, that he was even a teacher to others 
 of the traditions of the fathers, and a model master, 
 who before did not refuse to be the pupil of inferiors. 
 For it is the manner of holy conversation, that he dare 
 not prefer himself to others, who has refused to be sub- 
 ject to others: because he will not be able rightly to 
 apply to inferiors the service of obedience which he 
 does not duly render to those that are set over him by 
 the direction of heaven. 2 
 
 This service the saint in such wise gave, under a 
 monk's obedience, to all the members of the com- 
 munity, and above all, as the discipline of the rule 
 demanded, to his abbot, that in accordance with the 
 prescribed pattern of the noble constitution of the 
 blessed father Benedict 3 he applied himself without 
 ceasing to daily labor of his hands and to the regular 
 performance of his duties: being an example for all 
 of right living, in word, in conversation, in faith, in 
 
 1 Joannes Cassianus, Conlationes, xiv, 8, i : " Spiritalis autem 
 scientiae genera sunt tria, tropologia, allegoria, anagoge " ; ibid., 
 xiv, 8, 7: " Doctrina vero simplicem historicae expositionis ordinem 
 pandit." Cassianus gives as an illustration Jerusalem: which in 
 history is a city of the Jews; by tropology, the soul of man; by 
 allegory, the church of Christ; and by anagoge, the heavenly city 
 of God. 
 
 2 Gregory the Great, Dialogi, i, 1, in P. L., lxxvii, col. 156 c. 
 
 8 Saint Benedict, Regula, 48: " Idleness is the enemy of the soul," 
 etc. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 35 
 
 purity; 1 that all might receive of his fruit, and that he 
 might receive from all a portion of the wages of eter- 
 nity. 2 But God alone, who knoweth what is in the 
 darkness, 3 looked into the depths of his heart and knew 
 the excellency of his humility and charity: by which 
 with sagacious solicitude he had won the leadership 
 over all his fellow soldiers; 4 so that they held him 
 equally in fear and love, and whom they had as fellow 
 in the divine love, him they preferred as father in the 
 mutual honor of the apostolic admonition. 6 And the 
 greatness of his kindness towards the brethren and 
 of his heavenly learning so increased, that the report 
 of his holy exhortation spread abroad, and his fame 
 shone very brightly among the monasteries, those of 
 men and also those of the virgins of Christ. Of their 
 inmates, indeed, great numbers, who were of the 
 stronger sex, flocked together unto him, impelled by 
 thirst for reading, and drank of the most healthful 
 spring of knowledge, and surveyed and read numerous 
 volumes of the Scriptures. But they of the weaker 
 sex, who could not come continually, kept before their 
 minds this man whose vast wisdom was filled with the 
 spirit of divine love; and, running over page after 
 page, applied themselves earnestly to the investigation 
 of heavenly things, and meditated perpetually upon 
 the secrets of the sacraments and the hidden things of 
 
 1 I Timothy, iv, 12. 
 
 2 Compare Mark, xii, 2; John, iv, 36. 
 8 Daniel, ii, 22. 
 
 4 Commilitones. Compare Philippians, ii, 25; Philemon, 2. 
 
 5 Romans, xii, 10. 
 
36 WILLIBALD 
 
 the mysteries. And supernal grace so sustained him, 
 that, according to the example of the distinguished 
 preacher and the words of the teacher of the Gentiles, 
 he held fast the form of sound words, in the faith and 
 love of Jesus Christ; 1 " studying to show himself ap- 
 proved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be 
 ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." 2 
 
 1 II Timothy, i, 13. 2 Ibid., ii, 15. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 That he proffered the Word of Instruction to all, and 
 that he dh) not assume the office of instruction of 
 his own Will, or before he attained the Proper Age 
 
 We will turn for a time to the general manner of the 
 saint's daily contemplation and the long continued 
 abstemiousness of his frugality: that, mounting higher 
 and higher, we may more readily relate concisely and 
 briefly his lofty works, and follow to the end the study 
 of his venerable life, and explore it more precisely; and 
 that by a just moderation of the balance Boniface may 
 become an example for us of eternity and a manifest 
 pattern of apostolic learning. Through the examples 
 of the saints, he happily ascended the steep path of 
 heavenly knowledge, and, going on before the people 
 as a leader, he went into and opened the gate of the 
 Lord our God, into which the righteous shall enter. 1 
 And from his childhood even to decrepit old age, he 
 particularly imitated the wisdom of the departed 
 fathers, inasmuch as he daily and continually commit- 
 ted to memory the words of the prophets and apostles, 
 written with holy pen, and the glorious passion of the 
 martyrs, put in writing, and also the gospel teaching 
 of the Lord our God; and, in the words of the apostle, 
 whether he ate or drank, or whatsoever he did, 2 he 
 
 1 Psalms, cxviii, 19, 20. 2 I Corinthians, x, 31. 
 
 37 
 
38 WILLIBALD 
 
 always rendered unto God with heart and voice the 
 commendation of praise and the highest degree of de- 
 voted jubilation, according to the word of the psalm- 
 ist: "I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise 
 shall continually be in my mouth.' ' x For to such an 
 extent was he inflamed with ardent desire for the 
 Scriptures, that often he applied himself with every 
 effort to imitating them and listening to them; and 
 the matters which were written for the instruction of 
 the people, he paraphrased and preached to the people 
 with wonderful eloquence of speech and very shrewdly 
 added parables. He had such a right proportion of dis- 
 cretion, that neither was the energy of his rebuke lack- 
 ing in gentleness, nor the gentleness of his preaching in 
 energy; but as the zeal of energy kindled him, so the 
 gentleness of love made him mild. Accordingly, to the 
 rich and the powerful and to yeomen and slaves he em- 
 ployed an equal discipline of holy exhortation, so that 
 neither did he fawn upon the rich and flatter them, nor 
 did he oppress slaves or yeomen by severity; but, in 
 the words of the apostle, he was made all things to all 
 men, that he might gain all. 2 And he did not seize the 
 certificate of heavenly instruction of his own will, or 
 before the time; nor did he usurp it by stubbornness 
 and robbery; but in the progress of his holy humility, 
 being thirty years or more of age, and supported by the 
 choice of his master and friends, he received the certif- 
 icate 3 in accordance with the rule of the canonical 
 
 1 Psalms, xxxiv, i. 2 I Corinthians, ix, 22. 
 
 3 The ordination as priest, with the tonsure. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 39 
 
 constitution, 1 and, enriched by divers gifts and pres- 
 ents, entered upon the rank of the priestly office in 
 such wise that he was wholly devoted in will and act to 
 the works of almsgiving and compassion, so far as he 
 had power under the severity of the rule and of the 
 monastic life, and that he always anticipated the hours 
 of the nightly vigils, and occupied himself diligently in 
 the toilsome service of prayer. Anger did not steal 
 away his patience, nor rage shake his forbearance; lust 
 subdued not his continence, nor did gluttony dishonor 
 his abstinence; but he so subdued himself to every 
 frugality of fasting, that, drinking neither wine nor 
 strong drink, 2 he imitated the fathers of the two testa- 
 ments, and might say, with the distinguished teacher 
 of the Gentiles, " I keep under my body and bring it 
 into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have 
 preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 3 
 
 1 Forbidding elevation to the priesthood before the age of thirty. 
 
 2 Deuteronomy, xxix, 6; Judges, xiii, 4, 7, 14 j Luke, i, 15. 
 
 3 I Corinthians, ix, 27. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 That he was sent to Kent by all the Nobles, 
 and that afterwards he went to frisia 
 
 Having brought together above some scattered ex- 
 amples of the lofty virtues of Saint Boniface, we con- 
 sider that the matters which follow, relating to the 
 persevering strength with which he both held fast to 
 the good things that he had begun and also urged on 
 and quickly hastened his soul to all other good things, 
 certainly ought not to be passed by in silence. We 
 have learned them from the report of trusty men, and 
 are solicitous to set them down in the clear disclosure 
 of writing. 
 
 For a long time he tempered his mind with the vir- 
 tues enumerated above, and advanced from day to day 
 in the aforesaid rank of the priesthood to loftier proofs 
 of good things. Then, in the reign of Ine, king of the 
 West Saxons, 1 a sudden emergency impended upon the 
 rise of a new dissension; and immediately the chief 
 men of the churches, with the advice of King Ine, sum- 
 moned a council of the servants of God. And presently, 
 when all were assembled, a most healthful discussion 
 concerning this recent dissension wisely arose among 
 the priestly ranks of the ecclesiastical order. And, 
 
 1 688-725. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 41 
 
 adopting the more prudent measure, they decided to 
 send trusty legates in the Lord to the archbishop of the 
 city of Canterbury, Bertwald by name: 1 lest it should 
 be ascribed to their presumption or temerity, if they 
 did anything without the advice of the archbishop. 
 And when the entire senate and the whole order of the 
 clergy agreed upon and adopted this prudent measure, 
 immediately the king addressed all the servants of 
 Christ, asking whom they would charge with the mes- 
 sage of this embassy. Then unexpectedly the supreme 
 abbot in Christ, Winbert by name, who ruled over the 
 monastery of Nhutscelle; and Wintra, who directed 
 the monastery which is called Tyssesburg; 2 and Beor- 
 wald, who ruled with divine governance the cloister 
 which is called by a name of *the ancients 3 Glestinga- 
 burg; 4 and also many other fathers of this holy way of 
 life summoned the saint and led him before the king. 
 And the king charged him with the message and with 
 knowledge of the embassy, gave him companions, and 
 sent him on his way with his grace. Charged with this 
 message, the saint after a prosperous journey came to 
 Kent in accordance with the commands of the elders, 
 and discreetly declared to the archbishop, possessed of 
 the fillet 5 of the highest priesthood, everything in due 
 sequence, just as he had been instructed by the king. 
 
 1 Archbishop 692-731. 3 The old Saxons. 
 
 2 Tisbury. 4 Glastonbury. 
 
 6 Infida: a classical reminiscence coming down to Willibald 
 through Aldhelm (De Laudibus Virginitatis, 33, and Epistola ad 
 Acircium: pp. 40, 219 Giles) and Boniface (E., 33, 50, 91). See also 
 Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae, xix, 30. 
 
42 WILLIBALD 
 
 And so, having received a willing answer, after not 
 many days he returned to his own country, and wisely 
 delivered the willing answer, of the venerable arch- 
 bishop to King Ine, and to the aforementioned serv- 
 ants of God in the king's presence, and brought great 
 joy to all. And so thenceforth, by the wonderful benev- 
 olence of the dispensation of God, his name was so 
 spread abroad, and was held in such honor, not only 
 among all lay authorities but also among all ranks of 
 the ecclesiastical service, that from that time he ad- 
 vanced more and more, and very often took part in 
 their synodal assembly. 
 
 But because a mind consecrated to God is not lifted 
 up by the favor of men or sustained by praise, he 
 began, with great care and solicitude, to hasten more 
 intently to other things, and to shun the society of his 
 relatives and connexions, and to desire foreign places 
 more than those of the lands of his paternal inheritance. 
 But when thus for a long space of time he had most 
 sagaciously weighed wSJl the plan of leaving country 
 and relatives, at length he took occasion to consult 
 Abbot Winbert of blessed memory, and openly dis- 
 closed to him all the secrets of his soul, hitherto care- 
 fully concealed within his conscience, and with most 
 urgent prayers appealed to the soul of the sainted 
 Winbert to consent to his desire. Winbert, astounded 
 at first with great wonder, for the time being denied 
 the longed for journey to the entreaties and prayers of 
 his disciple, that he might stay the execution of the 
 proposed plan; but at last, through the prevailing 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 43 
 
 providence of almighty God, the prayer of the suppliant 
 prevailed also. And the saint began the chosen journey, 
 and, by the ordinance of the Lord God, completed it, 
 with such devoted support on the part of the abbot and 
 of his brethren who lived with him under the discipline 
 of the rule, that they willingly provided for the ex- 
 penses and comforts that are necessary to human life, 
 and, greatly moved in heart, long poured out in his 
 behalf tears and prayers and supplications to the 
 Lord. 
 
 Much strengthened by the armor of the spirit, and 
 liberally supplied * with the goods of this world, the 
 saint was well provided with the pay 2 of either life. 
 Then, accompanied by two or three of the brethren, 
 whose bodily and spiritual support he required, he set 
 forth. And so, having traversed immense portions of 
 the earth, and rejoicing in the fortunate companion- 
 ship of the brethren, he came to a place where there 
 was a market of merchandise, and which is called even 
 unto this day by an ancient name of the Angles and 
 Saxons, Lundenwich. 3 And when after no great delay 
 the sailors were about to depart on their return home, 
 the new passenger, with the consent of the shipmaster, 
 diligently went on board ship, and, paying the fare, 
 came with favorable winds to Dorstet; 4 and, tarrying 
 
 1 Sublimatus: literally, ' raised high.' 
 
 2 Stipendiis: as a military term, in continuance of the metaphor 
 introduced by ' armor ' (armatura). 
 
 3 London. In the Latin of the period, Londonia, or Lundonia. 
 Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, ii, 3. 
 
 4 Now Wijk bij Duurstede, on the river Lek, about twelve miles 
 
44 WILLIBALD 
 
 there a while, paid due praise to the Lord God day and 
 night. 
 
 But a hostile quarrel which arose, on the occasion of 
 a severe attack of the pagans, between Charles, prince 
 and glorious duke of the Franks, and Radbod, king of 
 the Frisians, threw the folk of either side into confu- 
 sion; * and now the greatest part of the churches of 
 Christ, which formerly in Frisia were subject to the 
 empire of the Franks, were wasted and overthrown, 
 while Radbod conducted an oppressive persecution 
 and the servants of God were driven out. Moreover, 
 heathen shrines were reajed, and, sad to say, the wor- 
 ship of idols was restored^ Then the man of God, per- 
 ceiving the wickedness of perverseness, came to Trecht, 2 
 and waiting there some days, addressed King Radbod, 
 who came thither: that by compassing and viewing 
 many parts of those lands, he might diligently inquire 
 whether in the future an opportunity of preaching 
 would be anywhere opened to him; and purposing in 
 his soul that if in any portion of this folk a way of ap- 
 proach for the gospel should ever become visible, he 
 would minister the seed 3 of the word of God. And 
 this, after the passage of many years, the glorious evi- 
 dence of his martyrdom attested. 
 
 southeast of Utrecht: the chief emporium of the surrounding region 
 until it fell into the hands of the Danes in the ninth century. 
 
 Adolf Soetbeer gives some valuable notes on Dorstet in Forschungen 
 zur deutschen Geschichte, iv (1864), pp. 300-303. 
 
 1 In 716. 
 
 2 Utrecht (the Roman Ultratrajectum or Trajedum ad Rhenum). 
 
 3 II Corinthians, ix, 10. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 45 
 
 But it is the singular property of the holiness of 
 saints, that when for the time being they perceive that 
 their labor avails nothing because there is no greenness 
 of life in the spiritual sprout, they remove to wholly 
 different places that are prolific 1 of fruitful labor: 2 
 since one dwells in a place to no purpose, if the fruit of 
 holiness is lacking. Therefore the saint, when he had 
 dwelt for a moderately long time in the barren land of 
 the Frisians, and the summer and some small part of 
 the autumn had passed, now left the regions that were 
 withered by the lack of the dew of celestial fruitfulness, 
 and, taking with him his travelling companions, de- 
 parted to his native country. Seeking the retirement 
 of his monastery, he there, received by the love of the 
 exulting brethren, spent also the winter of the second 
 year, 3 that he might imitate the apostolic voice of the 
 teacher of the Gentiles, saying: "for I have deter- 
 mined there to winter." 4 
 
 1 Reading foecunda with the best manuscript, Monacensis 1086. 
 The vulgate reading foecundo, which Levison follows, makes no sense. 
 
 2 Gregory the Great, Dialogi, ii, 3, in P. L., lxvi, col. 140. 
 
 3 That is, two winters and one summer: from the autumn of 716 to 
 the spring of 718. 
 
 4 Titus, iii, 12. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 how after his abbot died he tarried a little tlme with 
 
 the Brethren, and afterward came to Rome with 
 
 Letters of Introduction from his Bishop 
 
 Having now touched briefly and in part upon the vir- 
 tues of the saint, we shall make clearly known his en- 
 suing history, just as we have ascertained the facts 
 from the reports of newsmongers: that the path of his 
 life and character may be forever more plainly mani- 
 fest to those who direct themselves toward the pattern 
 of his holy conversation. 
 
 When he had passed the great peril of the journey 
 and escaped unharmed from the abysses of the sea, and 
 on his return had betaken himself to the fellowship of 
 his brethren and then joined their company for many 
 days, at length heavy sorrow took possession of his 
 mind, and a fresh grief oppressed his soul. For now he 
 saw the aged limbs of his teacher grow weaker; and at 
 last, while the congregation of the monks stood by, 
 Winbert's sickness waxed exceedingly, and amid shak- 
 ing and trembling the day of his death was at hand; 
 and finally the saint saw Winbert lay aside the prison 
 of the body and breathe his last breath, while the 
 mourning monks looked on sadly. Often in the hearts 
 of saints the sympathetic piety of compassion shines 
 with special brightness: since for the moment they are 
 
 46 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 47 
 
 wont to be greatly saddened, but, cleaving to the pre- 
 cept of the apostle, they receive everlasting consola- 
 tion in the Lord. 1 
 
 The saint now kindly addressed the brethren, and, 
 mindful of the tradition of the fathers, urged them with 
 spiritual discourses to preserve perpetually and in all 
 things the model of the constitution of the rule, and the 
 pattern of ecclesiastical prescription; and taught that 
 they should submit themselves to the government of 
 some spiritual father. 2 Then all with one mind and one 
 voice earnestly demanded that all should implore our 
 saint, who at that time was called Winfrid, to assume 
 the pastoral office of abbot over them. But anon the 
 saint contemned his country's riches and abandoned 
 the primacy of government; and, being now ready and 
 prepared to fulfil his predetermined purpose, excused 
 himself with sagacious care, and declined and refused 
 the whole inheritance. 
 
 When now the winter time had passed and the 
 warmth of summer began to glow, and the pristine pur- 
 pose of the gliding year was renewed, he strove with 
 the utmost solicitude to renew and repeat the journey 
 which he had laid aside. Then, taking letters of in- 
 troduction from Daniel of blessed memory, 3 watchman 
 of the people 4 of God, he essayed to come to Rome, to 
 
 1 II Corinthians, i, 5; II Thessalonians, ii, 16. 
 
 2 Saint Benedict, Regula, 64. 
 
 3 Bishop of Winchester (705-745). As to the letters, see note 
 below. 
 
 4 Plebis. See DuCange, Glossarium Mediae el Infimae Latinitatis, 
 s. v. It will be noted that the word had a wide ecclesiastical mean- 
 
48 WILLIBALD , 
 
 the threshold of the apostles. Yet for a while he was 
 detained by the need of the remaining brethren, now 
 fatherless; and in such wise did his love of the wailing 
 monks and compassion for their double sorrow oppose 
 his plan for the moment, that he was oppressed with 
 great mental anguish, and knew not which way to turn. 
 For he feared, on the one hand, lest, if he departed, the 
 flock which had been committed to his master, and 
 which was now without a shepherd's watchful care, 
 should be exposed to biting wolves; on the other, that 
 the autumn season of going abroad might fail him. And 
 when, not unmindful of his piety, almighty God with 
 his wonted clemency wished to deliver from anxious 
 grief his servant, who was perturbed by such great op- 
 pression of soul, and to provide a pleasant directorship 
 for the flock, presently Bishop Daniel took thought for 
 the brethren, and set over this church a man of good 
 quality, Stephen by name, and sent our saint, who 
 wished to go upon his long pilgrim journey, safe to his 
 destination. 
 
 Forthwith the saint bade farewell to the breth- 
 ren and departed; and in fulfilment of his wish went 
 through a great extent of country to the place which 
 now, as we have said above, is called by the name Lun- 
 denwich. And swiftly mounting the side of a swift 
 ship, he began to try the unknown paths of the seas; 
 the sailors danced; the huge sails rose to the breath of 
 the northwest wind, and with a stiff breeze and a 
 
 ing. Possibly some might here prefer the rendering ' diocese ' or 
 'parish.' 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 49 
 
 lucky voyage they quickly sighted the mouth of the 
 river which is called Cuent, 1 and were now safe from 
 all danger of shipwreck. They came safe to dry land; 
 but they pitched camp in Cuentawich, 2 until the re- 
 maining multitude of the company should have 
 gathered together. 
 
 When all were collected, while each day the cold of 
 winter threatened, they set forth; and they went to 
 many churches of the saints, and prayed that by the 
 help of God's throne they might surmount the snowy 
 Alpine heights more safely, and experience greater 
 kindness at the hands of the Lombards, and escape 
 more easily from the malicious ferocity of the haughty 
 soldiers. 3 And when by the suffrage of the patronage 
 of the saints and the ordinance of the Lord God the 
 whole band of companions that clave to the retinue of 
 our saint prosperously approached the threshold of 
 Saint Peter the apostle, immediately they returned un- 
 measured thanks to Christ for their safety. And 
 having entered with great joy the church of Saint Peter 
 chief of the apostles, most of them brought divers 
 gifts, asking the annulment of their sins. 
 
 Now when not many days had passed, the saint 
 spoke to the venerable pope of the apostolic see, Greg- 
 ory of blessed memory, second from the first and 
 prior to the latest of that name, who in the common 
 
 1 The Canche, a small stream a few miles south of Boulogne. 
 
 2 Probably not far from Staples. 
 
 3 The milites or Byzantine troops that garrisoned the Exarchate of 
 Ravenna. Paul Roth, Geschichte des Beneficialwesens (Erlangen, 
 1850), pp. 294 f. So also below, p. 58. 
 
50 WILLIBALD 
 
 speech of the Romans is also called the Younger, 1 and 
 discovered to him in order the whole occasion of his 
 journey and visit, and explained the nature of the 
 ardent desire for which he had labored long and hard 
 and anxiously. The holy pope, suddenly looking to- 
 ward him with cheerful countenance and laughing eyes, 
 inquired whether he had brought letters of introduc- 
 tion from his bishop. 2 The saint, aroused, threw off 
 his cloak, and produced a note folded conformably to 
 custom 3 and a letter, and gave them to the admirable 
 man of holy memory: who took the letter, and at 
 once signed to the saint to withdraw. The apostolic 
 pope perused the letter and examined the note of intro- 
 duction, and thereafter had busy daily conference and 
 debate with the saint, until the summer season for set- 
 ting forth on the return was at hand. But when the 
 
 1 Gregory II (715-731)- 
 
 2 The importance attached to such letters is well indicated by a 
 passage in a letter of Pope Symmachus to Bishop Caesarius of Aries, 
 dated n June 514: " Et in hac parte magnopere te volumus esse sol- 
 licitum, ut, si quern de Gallicana vel de Hispania regionibus ecclesi- 
 astici ordinis adque officii [necessitas] ad nos venire conpulerit, cum 
 fraternitatis tuae notitiam iter peregrinationis arripiat, ut nee honor 
 ejus per ignorantiam aliquam contumiliam patiatur, et, ambiguitate 
 depulsa, a nobis animo securo in communionis gratiam possit admitti." 
 M.G.H., Epistolae Merowingici et Karolini Aevi, i (Berolini, 1892), 
 pp. 41 f 
 
 1 Carta ex more involuta. Presumably a formal ecclesiastical note 
 of introduction {epistola formata), authenticated by a numerical key 
 known only to the initiated. There are good examples of the epistola 
 formata in M. G. H., Leges, sect, v, pp. 557-568, and a brief discussion 
 in Arthur Giry's Manuel de Diplomatique (Paris, 1894), p. 811. In 
 addition to this, as is indicated, the saint carried an open letter of 
 introduction, presumably the one preserved and printed, E., n. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 51 
 
 month Nisan, which is April, went by, and already the 
 gates of Iar, or May, 1 were opened, then, having asked 
 and received the benediction of the apostolic see and a 
 letter, 2 the saint was sent by the most blessed pope to 
 inspect the savage peoples of Germany: that he 
 might consider whether the uncultivated fields of their 
 hearts, if tilled by the gospel ploughshare, would be 
 disposed to receive the seed of preaching. 
 
 And so, having collected a great multitude of relics, 
 he retraced his journey in company with his fellow 
 servants, and approached the bounds of Italy; 3 and 
 waited upon Liutprand, most excellent king of the 
 Lombards, 4 with pacific gifts, and addressed him. 
 Being honorably received by Liutprand, he reposed 
 his limbs, wearied from the journey; and thus recom- 
 pensed, he traversed hills and plains, and passed over 
 the precipitous ridges of the Alps. 
 
 Approaching the unknown boundaries of the Ba- 
 varians and the contiguous limits of Germany, 5 he pro- 
 ceeded into Thuringia on his journey of inspection, in 
 accordance with the command of the apostolic see: 
 manifestly after the fashion of the most prudent bee, 
 which flies around the fields and meadows in its pecu- 
 liar way, and, gently whirring its feathery wings, goes 
 among the vast numbers of odorous herbs; and proves 
 
 1 Bede, De Tetnporum Ratione, 11. 
 
 2 E., 12. Dated 15 May 719. 
 
 3 In the sense of Upper Italy or Langobardia. 
 
 4 712-744. 
 
 6 In the narrower sense of the territory east of the Rhine and north 
 of the Danube. So E., 45. 
 
52 WILLIE ALD 
 
 with its gathering mouth where the honey-flowing 
 sweetness of nectar is hidden, and, utterly disdaining 
 all bitter and deadly sap, bears the sweetness to the 
 hives; and, to illustrate by the words of the apostle, 
 proves all things, and holds fast that which is good. 1 
 So in Thuringia the saint, in accordance with the com- 
 mand laid upon him by the apostolic bishop, addressed 
 with spiritual words the elders of the church and the 
 chiefs of the whole people, and summoned them to the 
 true way of knowledge and the light of understanding, 
 which before, seduced by perverse teachers, they had 
 for the most part lost. But the priests and elders 
 of whom some devoted themselves to the pious wor- 
 ship of almighty God, while others, 2 contaminated and 
 polluted by unchastity, had lost the chaste continence 
 which those who serve the sacred altars ought to keep 
 he corrected, warned, and taught to the best of his 
 ability by the preaching of the gospel, turning them 
 from the perverseness of malice to the rectitude of the 
 canonical constitution. 
 
 Next he entered Francia in company with the 
 brethren. Being informed of the death of Radbod, 3 
 king of the Frisians, he rejoiced with great joy, 4 and, 
 desiring that Frisia also might receive the word of God, 
 
 1 I Thessalonians, v, 21. 
 
 2 Married priests. 
 
 3 In 719. 
 
 4 So Bugga wrote to Boniface with reference to Radbod's death, 
 " I return thanks without ceasing to almighty God, because ... he 
 hath cast down before thee Radbod, the enemy of the Catholic 
 church." E.j 15. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 53 
 
 immediately went up the river x by ship, and reached 
 lands uncultivated by the heavenly preaching. And 
 now that fierce King Radbod's persecution was at an 
 end, the saint provided the seed of the celestial doc- 
 trine, and, satisfying the hunger for the word of God, 
 refreshed the multitude, famished by pagan supersti- 
 tion, with the food of the preaching of eternity. And 
 when speedily the spontaneous accomplishment of the 
 work followed his heart's desire, and the longed for 
 light of the predestined doctrine began to shine by the 
 ordinance of the Lord God, and the sovereignty of 
 glorious Duke Charles over the Frisians was strength- 
 ened, now the war trumpet of the heavenly word 
 sounded, and the voice of the preachers thundered 
 with the coming of heaven's fertilizing dew, while the 
 word of God was propagated by the venerable Willi- 
 brord 2 and his fellow workers. But because he saw 
 that the harvest truly was plenteous, but the laborers 
 were few, 3 our holy servant of God also became a fel- 
 low worker of Archbishop Willibrord for three years 
 uninterruptedly, 4 and, laboring much in Christ, 5 de- 
 stroyed temples and sanctuaries and built churches 
 and oratories; and, helped by Willibrord, brought no 
 small people unto the Lord. 
 
 But when Archbishop Willibrord had grown old and 
 was burdened with the weight of many years, he deter- 
 mined, partly at the suggestion of the company of dis- 
 
 1 The Rhine. The voyage must have been rather down the river. 
 
 2 Born in 657-58. 4 719-22. 
 
 3 Matthew, ix, 37. 5 Romans, xvi, 12. 
 
54 WILLIBALD 
 
 ciples, to provide for his decrepit old age a relief in his 
 great ministry, and to choose a faithful man from the 
 small congregation who would be able to rule so great 
 a folk. Having summoned our servant of God, he 
 urged him, with wholesome instruction, to undertake 
 the episcopal command and rank, and to assist him to 
 rule God's people. The saint in his humility hastily 
 refused, answering that he was not worthy of the rank 
 of bishop; and prayed that so great and high a dignity 
 might not be imposed upon him while he was still 
 reckoned a youth in years; and averred that he had 
 not yet attained the age of fifty years required by the 
 standard of the canon law: x in order that by every 
 denial and excuse he might utterly avoid this exalted 
 rank. Therefore Archbishop Willibrord of holy fame 
 reproved him with mild words, diligently urging him 
 to accept the proffered rank, and particularly premis- 
 ing the extreme indigence of the subject folk. But 
 when not even Willibrord's reproof moved the saint to 
 consent to undertake this exalted rank, then through 
 long delays and evasions a spiritual strife arose be- 
 tween them, and there was a harmonious discord of 
 glorious dispute. The saint, on the one hand, pre- 
 vented from accepting by his sublime humility, refused 
 the highly honorable rank; Willibrord, on the other, 
 ensnared by his passionate longing for most pious gain, 
 coveted the salvation of souls. After they had thus 
 alternately advanced opposing arguments, our holy 
 
 1 Gregory the Great, Dialogi, ii, 2; and other passages cited by 
 Levison in his note. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 55 
 
 servant of God, as if set in a kind of spiritual race, 1 
 brought forward a wholly acceptable excuse, saying: 
 
 " Most holy bishop! Pilot of the struggle of the 
 spirit! 2 I brought to the nations of Germany the 
 charge of blessed Pope Gregory of holy memory. 3 I, 
 ambassador of the apostolic see to the western lands of 
 the barbarians, voluntarily attached myself to thy 
 lordship and governance; and I did this from the 
 choice of my own free will, without the knowledge of 
 my sublime masters, to whose service I am bound and 
 subject by my vow even unto this day. Wherefore 
 without the decree of the apostolic see, and without its 
 commission and authentic command, I dare not under- 
 take a rank so distinguished and sublime." 
 
 Moreover, he added a reasonable prayer and request, 
 saying: " I beseech therefore, that thou elect to send 
 me, who am bound by the fetters of my own solemn 
 promise, back to these lands to which at first I was 
 sent by the apostolic see." 
 
 Willibrord, the man of God, when he learned the 
 occasion of the saint's great promise, bestowed upon 
 him a benediction, and immediately gave him liberty 
 to go away. The saint, departing straightway, 4 
 
 1 I Corinthians, ix, 24. 
 
 2 I Corinthians, ix, 25; II Timothy, ii, 5; iv, 7, 8; Saint Augus- 
 tine, De A gone Christiano. 
 
 3 The mediaeval practice permitted the use of this phrase as a term 
 of honor for the living as well as for the dead. G. D. Hofmann, Ver- 
 mischte Beobachtungen aus der deutschen Staatsgeschichte und Rechten 
 (Ulm, 1760-64), ii, p. 67. 
 
 4 Probably to this journey may be assigned the beginning of the 
 discipleship of the noble Frankish youth Gregory. Liudger, Vita 
 
56 WILLIBALD 
 
 reached a place named Amanaburch: 1 in the language 
 of the apostle, " nourished up in the words of faith and 
 of good doctrine, whereunto " he " attained." 2 
 
 Gregorii Abbatis, 2, in M. G. H., Scriptores, xv, 1, pp. 67 f. The story- 
 is finely paraphrased by Selwyn in his poem, pp. 13-15. 
 
 1 Amoneburg in Hesse-Nassau, on the river Ohm (Amona) : about 
 seven miles east of Marburg. 
 
 2 I Timothy, iv, 6. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 We have narrated briefly, proceeding from the be- 
 ginning step by step, the proofs of our saint's virtue, 
 and the perseverance of his labor in the Lord: that we 
 may recall to memory more minutely and in mass the 
 succeeding examples of his excellence. 
 
 When he had brought unto the Lord a vast people 
 among the Frisians, and many, educated by him in 
 spiritual learning, had come to knowledge of the truth 
 in the beaming rays of the true light; then indeed, pro- 
 tected by the Lord, he went to other parts of Germany 
 for the sake of preaching, and, with the Lord's help, 
 came to Amanaburch. There twin brothers ruled, 
 Dettic namely and Deorulf. The saint summoned 
 them from the sacrilegious worship of idols, which they 
 wrongfully practised under a kind of name of Chris- 
 tianity; and withdrew a very great multitude of 
 people from the malevolent superstition of heathenism, 
 having disclosed to them the way of right understand- 
 ing, and caused them to put aside their horrible errors; 
 and, having gathered a congregation of God's servants, 
 built a cell for a monastery. And in like wise, near to 
 the borders of the Saxons, by preaching the gospel in- 
 junctions he set free from the captivity of devils the 
 people of the Hessians, who yet wandered in pagan 
 rites. 
 
58 WILLIBALD 
 
 When he had cleansed many thousand people from 
 their inveterate paganism and given them baptism, he 
 directed to Rome a fit messenger, a faithful bearer of 
 his letter, Bynna by name; and by the service of the 
 voiceless word disclosed in order to the venerable 
 father, the bishop of the apostolic see, all the things 
 which by God's gift had been brought to pass in him; 
 and showed how a great multitude of people, illumi- 
 nated by the divine spirit, had received the sacrament 
 of regeneration. But also, writing further, he asked 
 concerning things which pertained to the daily need of 
 the church of God and the progress of the people: that 
 he might obtain the counsel of the apostolic see. When 
 Bynna the messenger had remained at Rome for some 
 days, and the time of his return was already at hand, 
 he received in exchange from the bishop of the apos- 
 tolic see an answer to his embassy. And imme- 
 diately returning, he now brought to his master, after 
 the passage of no long time, a letter written by the 
 apostolic see. 
 
 When the saint had read the letter that was brought, 
 he gathered that he was invited to Rome, and sought 
 in haste to fulfil the highest degree of obedience. With- 
 out delay, attended by a throng of clients and sur- 
 rounded by a train of the brethren, he traversed the 
 lands of the Franks and the Burgundians, and, having 
 surmounted the ridges of the Alps, the territories of the 
 marches of Italy 1 and the boundaries of the soldiers. 2 
 And when he beheld the walls of the Roman city, 
 1 See above, p. 51, n. 3. 2 See p. 49, n. 3. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 59 
 
 quickly he returned deserved praise and thanks to 
 God on high; and presently, reaching the church of 
 Saint Peter, he fortified himself by diligent prayer. 
 But when he had rested his wearied limbs for a little 
 time, it was announced to the blessed Gregory, bishop 
 of the apostolic see, that our servant of God had 
 arrived. And he was received kindly and conducted 
 to the pilgrims' lodge. 
 
 When a suitable day for their conference arrived, 
 and the glorious bishop of the apostolic see came to 
 the church of Saint Peter the apostle, immediately our 
 servant of God was summoned. After they had ex- 
 changed a few peaceful words of salutation, the apos- 
 tolic bishop questioned him concerning the creed and 
 the tradition of the faith of the church. Anon our man 
 of God answered him humbly, saying: "Apostolic 
 lord ! I, stranger as I am, know that I have no skill in 
 your familiar language; but I beg that thou grant me 
 leisure and time to write down my confession of faith, 
 and that only the voiceless word may make a reason- 
 able presentation of my faith. " The bishop at once 
 consented, and commanded him to bring this writing 
 speedily. And after some space of time had glided 
 away, the saint brought his confession of faith in the 
 Holy Trinity, written down in polished, eloquent, and 
 learned language, and rendered it to the aforesaid 
 bishop. Nevertheless he waited yet some days. 
 
 At last he was summoned again. Having been con- 
 ducted within the Lateran, immediately he cast him- 
 self humbly prostrate on his face at the feet of the 
 
60 WELLIBALD 
 
 apostolic bishop, beseeching his benediction: who 
 quickly raised him from the ground, and returned to 
 our servant of God the writing in which the sound and 
 incorrupt truth of faith was manifest, and made him 
 sit by his side. And he instructed him, with whole- 
 some teaching and admonition, to preserve ceaselessly 
 inviolate this bulwark of faith, and to preach it 
 earnestly unto others to the limit of his strength. And 
 he brought forward many other matters relating to the 
 holy religion and the true faith and questioned the 
 saint concerning them, so that they spent almost the 
 whole day in mutual conversation. And at last the 
 pope inquired how the peoples who before had wan- 
 dered in error and crime received the lessons of the 
 faith through his teaching. And when he had learned 
 for a certainty that the saint had admitted an exceed- 
 ing great multitude of the commonalty from the 
 sacrilegious worship of devils to the fellowship of the 
 holy church, he intimated to him that he had purposed 
 to impose upon him the office of bishop, and to set him 
 over the peoples that before had lacked a shepherd's 
 care, and in the words of the Lord our God, fainted, 
 as sheep having no shepherd. 1 But the saint, because 
 he dared not contradict this great bishop set over the 
 apostolic see, consented and obeyed. And so the 
 most high bishop of holy authority appointed a day 
 of ordination, namely the thirtieth of November. 2 
 
 After the sacred day of the holy solemnity had 
 dawned, being the natal day of Saint Andrew and the 
 1 Matthew, ix, 36. 2 722. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 61 
 
 day set for the ordination, the holy bishop of the apos- 
 tolic see imposed upon the saint the dignity of the 
 episcopacy and of the name Boniface; * and brought 
 him the book in which the most sacred laws of the 
 constitution of the church have been compiled at the 
 assemblies of the bishops; 2 commanding, that thence- 
 forth this order of episcopal discipline and customs 
 should remain unshaken in his hands, 3 and that the 
 
 1 An error, as is shown by the occurrence of the name in several 
 letters written between 719 and 722. E., 12, 14, 15. Probably Greg- 
 ory conferred the Latin name upon Winfrid on the occasion of his 
 first visit to Rome in 719. 
 
 2 That is, a manual of the canon law: very probably that of Diony- 
 sius. Rettberg, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands , i, p. 406. 
 
 3 The ordination oath of Boniface is preserved. E., 16. " I, Boni- 
 face, bishop by the grace of God, promise thee, Saint Peter prince of 
 the apostles, and thy vicar, blessed Pope Gregory, and his successors, 
 by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Trinity inseparable, 
 and by this thy most sacred body, to exhibit all faith and purity of the 
 holy Catholic faith, and, with God's aid, to abide in the unity of the 
 same faith, in which assuredly all the salvation of Christians is at- 
 tested; in no wise at any one's persuasion to enter into agreement 
 against the unity of the common and universal church; but, as I have 
 said, to exhibit in all matters my faith and purity and union to thee 
 and to the profit of thy church, to which the Lord God hath given 
 power to bind and loose, and to thy vicar aforesaid and his successors; 
 and also I promise that if I shall have knowledge of bishops living 
 contrary to the ancient institutions of the holy fathers, I will have no 
 Communion or intercourse with them. Nay more, if I shall have 
 power to forbid them, I will forbid; if not, I will straightway make 
 faithful report to my apostolic lord. But if, as I pray may not be the 
 case, I shall attempt in any wise or spirit or on any occasion to do any- 
 thing contrary to the tenor of this my promise, may I be condemned 
 at the eternal judgment, and incur the punishment of Ananias and 
 Sapphira, who presumed to practise deceit and to lie unto thee even 
 concerning their own property." 
 
62 WILLIBALD 
 
 subject peoples should be instructed by these examples. 
 But also he gave to him and to all subject to him the 
 friendship of the holy apostolic see thenceforth for- 
 ever. 1 And by his most sacred letter he placed our 
 saint, now a bishop, under the protection and pious 
 care of the sovereignty of glorious Duke Charles. 2 
 
 After Boniface by long and devious ways had visited 
 the territories of great peoples, he came to the aforesaid 
 prince of the Franks, and was received by him with 
 veneration. He delivered to Duke Charles the letters 
 of the abovementioned Roman bishop and of the apos- 
 tolic see, and, subject to his lordship and patronage, 3 
 returned, with the consent of Duke Charles, to the 
 land of the Hessians where before he had tarried. 
 
 Now at that time many of the Hessians, brought 
 under the Catholic faith and confirmed by the grace 
 of the sevenfold spirit, 4 received the laying on of hands; 
 
 This is in substance the oath taken by the Italian bishops of the 
 time who were immediately subject to the see of Rome (episcopi 
 suburbicarii), except for the omission of the promise of allegiance to 
 the Empire and Emperor. 
 
 1 This special relationship of friendship or brotherhood between the 
 Roman see on the one hand, and Boniface and his household on the 
 other, was renewed at the accession of Gregory III in 731. See p. 67, 
 below. Mention of it is also made of it by Boniface, E., 86, 108, in 
 letters to Zacharias and Stephen III. 
 
 2 ., 20. There also remain general letters of commendation given 
 by Gregory to Boniface under date of 1 December 722, addressed 
 Universis Christianis and Clero, ordini, et plebi; another Thuringis 
 Christianis which doubtless pertains to this time, and another Universo 
 populo provinciae AUsaxonum which may so belong. Ibid., 17-19, 21. 
 
 3 The letter of protection issued by Charles is ., 22. 
 
 4 Isaiah, xi, 2; Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae, vii, 3; Saint 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 63 
 
 others indeed, not yet strengthened in soul, refused to 
 accept in their entirety the lessons of the inviolate faith. 
 Moreover some were wont secretly, some openly to 
 sacrifice to trees and springs; some in secret, others 
 openly practised inspections of victims and divina- 
 tions, legerdemain and incantations; some turned 
 their attention to auguries and auspices and various 
 sacrificial rites; x while others, with sounder minds, 
 abandoned all the profanations of heathenism, and 
 committed none of these things. With the advice and 
 counsel of these last, the saint attempted, in the place 
 called Gaesmere, 2 while the servants of God stood by 
 his side, to fell 3 a certain oak of extraordinary size, 
 which is called, by an old name of the pagans, the Oak 
 of Jupiter. 4 And when in the strength of his steadfast 
 heart he had cut the lower notch, 5 there was present a 
 great multitude of pagans, 6 who in their souls were 
 most earnestly cursing the enemy of their gods. But 
 
 Augustine, De Sermone Domini, i, 4; J. F. Bohmer, Regesta Imperii, 
 i, 1 (3d ed., by Engelbert Muhlbacher, Innsbruck, 1899), p. 38, 
 no. 76a. 
 
 1 E., 43. 
 
 2 The location is uncertain. There are in Hesse several places 
 named Geismar. 
 
 3 Succidere. 
 
 4 The Latin rendering of the Teutonic Thor. 
 
 6 Cum arborem succidisset. Of the first or lower notch, cut to the 
 centre of the tree from the side toward which it was intended that the 
 tree should fall. 
 
 6 As Otloh puts it, " Ad . . . arboris incisionem magna pagano- 
 rum multitudo concurrit ": assembled no doubt from the farms and 
 villages for miles around, while the axe was making its slow progress 
 through the tough wood. 
 
64 WILLIBALD 
 
 when the fore side of the tree was, notched only a little, 1 
 suddenly the oak's vast bulk, driven by a divine blast 
 from above, crashed to the ground, shivering its crown 
 of branches as it fell; and, as if by the gracious dis- 
 pensation of the Most High, it was also burst into four 
 parts, and four trunks of huge size, equal in length, 
 were seen, unwrought by the brethren who stood by. 
 ^At this sight the pagans who before had cursed now, 
 on the contrary, believed, and blessed the Lord, and 
 put away their former reviling. Then moreover the 
 most holy bishop, after taking counsel with the breth- 
 ren, built from the timber of the tree a wooden oratory, 
 and dedicated it in honor of Saint Peter the apostle. 
 
 When by the favor of God's will all that we have 
 told was fulfilled and accomplished, the saint went on 
 to Thuringia. And he addressed the elders of the 
 
 1 Ad modicum quidem arbore praeciso. Of the second, upper, or 
 fore notch, on the side which axeman and spectators faced as the tree 
 fell in the opposite direction. 
 
 This passage has been an inveterate stumbling-block to interpret- 
 ers. From Otloh to Arndt, all have given renderings equally unsatis- 
 factory, perhaps because they lacked the practical acquaintance with 
 the woodman's craft which we may assume in Boniface and Willibald 
 as Saxons of the eighth century. If we take succidisset and praeciso as 
 technical terms of woodcraft, as I have done, and if we suppose that 
 the oak was to some extent hollow, Willibald's account becomes in all 
 important respects consistent and credible. 
 
 It may be objected to this interpretation, that it requires us to take 
 succidisset as used in a different sense from succidere in the preceding 
 sentence. This does not seem a serious objection: Otloh, Bonnell, 
 Kiilb, and Arndt, to name no others, have recognized the existence of 
 the difference, though none of them has chanced to hit upon the same 
 rendering for succidisset. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 65 
 
 church and the chiefs of the people, and summoned 
 them to forsake their blind ignorance and to return to 
 the Christian religion which they had before accepted. 
 For the sovereignty of their kings l came to an end; 
 and under the perilous leadership of Theotbald and 
 Heden, whose disastrous and dangerous sway over 
 them rested rather on tyranny and devastation than 
 on loyalty, a great number of their counts were visited 
 with bodily death by the two tyrants, or captured and 
 carried off by the enemy, and were so greatly strait- 
 ened by evils of various sorts that the remaining rem- 
 nant of the people had submitted to the dominion of 
 the Saxons. And when the sovereignty of the religious 
 dukes ceased, there ceased also in the land attention to 
 Christianity and religion, and false brethren, seducing 
 the people, were brought in: who under the name of 
 religion introduced a large and perverse heretical sect. 
 Of whom are Torchtwine and Berehthere, Eanbercht 
 and Hunraed, whoremongers and adulterers, 2 whom, 
 in the words of the apostle, God hath judged: 3 who 
 stirred up a most vehement conflict against the man of 
 God; but, opposed and confuted by the words of 
 truth, they received a just judgment of recompense. 
 
 When the renewed splendor of faith had dawned 
 among the people, and the church was snatched from 
 the great snare of error; while the friends of the pro- 
 fane enemy and the abovementioned dangerous se- 
 ducers of the people were now banished: the saint 
 
 1 More properly dukes, as they are called in the following sentence. 
 
 2 Married clergy. 3 Hebrews, xiii, 4. 
 
66 WILLIBALD 
 
 entered upon a harvest truly plenteous, yet with few 
 reapers. 1 And at first he endured great want of this 
 world's goods, and frugal living; and, though strait- 
 ened and distressed by great indigence, scattered the 
 seed of the word of God. 2 But when little by little the 
 multitude of the believers increased, and the roll of the 
 preachers too was multiplied, then also churches were 
 quickly restored, and the preaching of his doctrines 
 was diffused in many ways; and the united servants 
 of God and the most holy monks were gathered to- 
 gether, and a monastery was built in the place which is 
 called Orthorpf . 3 These procured food and raiment for 
 themselves by laboring assiduously with their own 
 hands after the manner of the apostle. 4 
 
 The report of his holy preaching was so spread 
 abroad, and increased to such a degree, that already 
 his fame resounded through the greatest part of 
 Europe. And from the parts of Britain an exceed- 
 ingly great multitude of the congregation of the serv- 
 ants of God had come unto him: readers, and writers 
 also, and men learned in other arts. Of these a very 
 great number put themselves under the instruction of 
 his rule, and in very many places summoned the people 
 
 1 Matthew, ix, 37. 
 
 2 Liudger (Vita Gregorii, 2) refers to this period: " they were 
 obliged to live by the work of their hands, and sometimes in fear of 
 death to flee with their people to the city from the persecution of the 
 pagans; and there to dwell straitened by hunger for many days, until 
 the citizens gathered their forces and again drove back the pagans 
 with the strong hand." 
 
 3 Ohrdruf, near Gotha. 4 I Corinthians, iv, 12. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 67 
 
 from the profane error of heathenism. And some in 
 the province of the Hessians, and others in Thuringia, 
 widely dispersed among the people, preached the word 
 of God to the country districts and villages. 
 
 A prodigious multitude both of the Hessians and of 
 the Thuringians received the sacraments of the faith, 
 and many thousand people were baptized. And when 
 now Gregory the Second of blessed memory, pope of 
 the apostolic see, was deceased, 1 and glorious Gregory 
 the Younger 2 ruled the chair of the apostolic summit 
 of the aforesaid see, again the saint's messengers came 
 to Rome and addressed the holy bishop of the apostolic 
 see, and showed to him the former alliance of friend- 
 ship which his predecessor mercifully conferred upon 
 Saint Boniface and his household. But also they 
 assured him of the saint's devoted and humble sub- 
 mission to the apostolic see for the future; and, in 
 accordance with their instructions, they prayed that 
 thenceforth he might in devout submission share in the 
 brotherhood and communion of the sacred bishop and 
 of the whole apostolic see. Then straightway the holy 
 pope of the apostolic see offered a conciliatory reply, 
 and granted communion of brotherhood and friend- 
 ship with himself and the apostolic see to Saint Boni- 
 face and to those subject to him. And he gave the 
 ambassadors an archbishop's pall, 3 and sent them home 
 honorably with gifts and divers relics of saints. 
 
 The messengers on their arrival recited to Boniface 
 the voluntary replies of the man apostolic. He now 
 
 1 11 February 731. 2 Gregory III (731-741). E., 28. 
 
68 WILLIBALD 
 
 rejoiced greatly, and, being exceedingly strengthened 
 by the devoted support of the apostolic see, and in- 
 spired by the aid of the divine mercy, built two 
 churches to the Lord. One was in Frideslare, 1 which 
 he consecrated in honor of Saint Peter chief of the 
 apostles. The second was in Hamanaburch; 2 this he 
 dedicated in honor of Saint Michael the archangel. 
 Moreover he attached two small monasteries to the 
 churches, and added to these no small company of the 
 servants of God, so that unto this day glory and bless- 
 ing and thanksgivings are devoutly offered to the Lord 
 God. 
 
 When all this was duly accomplished, he went to the 
 lands of the Bavarians, where then Duke Hugobert 3 
 reigned, and employed among them most assiduously 
 his ardor for preaching, and went around to many 
 churches and inspected them. And he was armed with 
 so great zeal of divine fortitude, that truly he con- 
 demned and cast out, in accordance with the decrees 
 of the canons, a certain schismatic beguiled by hereti- 
 cal depravity, Eremvulf by name, and amended the 
 people from the perverse idolatry of his sect. And he 
 departed, and returned to the brethren who were es- 
 tablished under the diocese of his governance: having, 
 according to the word of the apostle, a desire to come 
 unto the brethren. 4 
 
 1 Fritzlar. 
 
 2 The same as Amanaburch, above. 
 
 3 Died not later than the beginning of 736. 
 
 4 Romans, xv, 23. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 how he expelled the heretics from the province of the 
 Bavarians, and divided it into Four Parishes 
 
 We have occupied some time with selected examples 
 of the merits of Saint Boniface, in order that we may 
 set forth, briefly indeed, the strong direction of religion 
 by which he guided himself unceasingly through all 
 periods of his life. For in truth among saints it is a 
 practice of long standing, that they improve them- 
 selves daily through the examples of others, and that 
 the strength of love in their hearts increases with the 
 decrease of the reckoning of their days. 
 
 When no small number of churches had been built 
 among the Hessians and in Thuringia, and a warden 
 had been provided for each church, then, accompanied 
 by a band of the disciples, he came for the third time 
 to Rome, on account of the brotherly communion of 
 the sacred apostolic bishop and of the whole clergy: 
 that he might enjoy the salutary conversation of the 
 apostolic father, and, being now advanced in age, com- 
 mend himself to the prayers of the saints. But when 
 after the immensely long journey he was presented to 
 the lord apostolic, Gregory the Younger the Second, he 
 was kindly received by the pope, and was held in such 
 great veneration by everyone, as well Romans as 
 
 6Q 
 
70 WILLIBALD 
 
 strangers, that many flocked together unto his whole- 
 some teaching. For of Franks and Bavarians, and also 
 of Saxons arriving from Britain, and of other provinces, 
 a prodigious multitude clave sedulously unto his ad- 
 monition. And when he had tarried in these regions 
 for a great part of a year, 1 and had made the round of 
 the relics of the saints, praying as he went; then in- 
 deed, having again saluted the venerable bishop of the 
 apostolic see, he returned home, honored and enriched 
 with gifts and saints' relics. Coming to Italy, he en- 
 tered the walls of the city Ticena, 2 and, as his limbs 
 were already weary from old age, rested with Liut- 
 prand, the honorable king of the Lombards. 
 
 Departing from Italy, he visited the Bavarians, 3 not 
 only because of the invitation of Odilo their duke, but 
 also of his own desire, and remained among them 
 many days, preaching the gospel of the word of God. 
 He renewed the sacraments of the true faith and of 
 religion, and drove away the destroyers of churches 
 and perverters of the people. Of these some formerly 
 falsely preferred themselves to the rank of the episco- 
 pacy; some assigned themselves to the priestly office; 
 some by these inventions and innumerable others mis- 
 led a great part of the people. But the saint, already 
 dedicated to God from infancy, and not enduring the 
 insult to his Lord, restrained Duke Odilo and the 
 whole multitude from the unjust heretical false sect 
 and from the lewd deception of the priests. 4 And with 
 
 1 About 738. 2 Pavia. 3 In 739. 
 
 4 The relation of Boniface to the work of the earlier Celtic mis- 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 71 
 
 the consent of Duke Odilo he divided the province of 
 the Bavarians into four parishes, and to rule them 
 made four bishops, whom he ordained and raised to 
 the episcopal rank. Of these the first, John by name, 
 assumed the episcopal chair of the church in the town 
 which is called Salzburch. 1 The second was Erembert, 
 who ruled as chief watchman the church at Freising. 
 The third, Gaibald, was shepherd and guard of the 
 church in the city of Regina. 2 And when all things 
 were duly performed, and the Christian order was 
 established, and the canon laws were restored among 
 the Bavarians, then he returned home to his own 
 churches. And he governed the people committed to 
 his care, and watched the folds of the flocks, and pro- 
 vided sentinels for the church; and so delivered the 
 sheep from the jaws of impious wolves. 3 
 
 When the temporal kingdom of glorious Duke 
 Charles was finished, 4 and the sovereignty of his sons 
 Carloman and Pippin waxed strong, then indeed, by 
 the help of the Lord God and at the suggestion of Saint 
 
 sionaries in Germany is discussed in detail by August Ebrard in his 
 essays, Die iroschottische Missionskirche des sechsten, siebenten, und 
 achten Jahrhunderts, und ihre Verbreitung und Bedeutung auf dent 
 Festland (Giitersloh, 1873), an< l Bonifatius, der Zerstorer des colum- 
 banischen Kirchentums auf dem Festlande (Giitersloh, 1882). 
 
 1 Salzburg. 
 
 2 Ratisbon (Regensburg) . The three complete the tale of bishops 
 ordained by Boniface at this time. The fourth bishop, Vivilo of 
 Passau, had been already ordained by Gregory III, as is expressly 
 stated in Gregory's letter of 29 October 739, confirming the establish- 
 ment of the bishoprics. ., 45. 
 
 3 John, x, 12. 4 Charles Martel died in October, 741. 
 
72 WILLIBALD 
 
 Boniface the archbishop, the testament of the Chris- 
 tian religion was confirmed, and the synodal institu- 
 tions of the orthodox fathers were established in proper 
 form among the Franks, and all was amended and 
 cleansed by the authority of the canons. The wrongful 
 connection of laymen with concubines was in part 
 severed at the exhortation of the saint; x while the 
 impious union of clergymen with wives was disjoined 
 and put away. 2 And through the teaching of Saint 
 Boniface such great ardor of divine love was kindled in 
 Carloman and Pippin, that to a large extent they freed 
 the church from the perverse worship to which it had 
 been long accustomed: wherein it had lost the right of 
 eternal inheritance, 3 being involved of its own will, and 
 deceived by the suggestion of heretics. For to such a 
 degree had the sect of heretics choked the light of 
 spiritual doctrine among the people, that the dark fog 
 of heretical deception had covered a very great part 
 of the church. Two of the heretics, for example, Alde- 
 bert and Clemens, 4 led astray by profane greed of 
 
 1 Capitular e Suessionense, 2 March 744, 4: in M.G.H., Capitularia, 
 i, p. 29. 
 
 2 Levison quotes Capitular e Suessionense, 3, 8; also Karlmanni 
 Capitular e, 21 April 742, 1, 6, 7, on pp. 25 f., or in the Epistolae, 56. 
 In all these cases, however, the wording is ambiguous perhaps 
 purposely so. 
 
 8 Hebrews, ix, 15. 
 
 4 Aldebert, a Gallic pseudo-saint, is an interesting figure, of whom 
 one would like to know more than is contained in the scanty and 
 partial notices that have survived. He would appear to have been a 
 prophet and visionary somewhat of the type of the late Joseph Smith. 
 Clemens, a stubborn Bible Scot, or Irishman, professed a supreme dis- 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 73 
 
 money, 1 assiduously turned the people from the way of 
 truth. But when Saint Boniface the archbishop, with 
 the consent of Carloman and Pippin, glorious dukes, 
 expelled them from the unity of the church, they were, 
 in the words of the apostle, delivered unto Satan for 
 the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be 
 saved in the day of the Lord. 2 
 
 regard for the views of the holy fathers Jerome, Augustine, and Greg- 
 ory, and sought rather to shape his conduct by the precepts of the 
 Book of Deuteronomy. E., 57, 59, 60, 62, 77; Capitidare Suessio- 
 nense, 2 March 744, 2, 7. 
 
 1 " Quod crimen iisdem ab ipso Bonifatio minime obiectum est." 
 Levison. 
 
 2 I Corinthians, v, 5; E., 59. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HOW THROUGH HIS WHOLE LlFE HE PREACHED ZEALOUSLY; 
 AND WITH WHAT END HE LEFT THIS WORLD 
 
 Four synodal councils were held, 1 where there gath- 
 ered together bishops and priests, deacons and clerics, 
 and all ecclesiastical ranks, whom Duke Carloman of 
 illustrious memory caused to be summoned under the 
 sovereignty of his kingdom. At these, Boniface, arch- 
 bishop; ruler of the bishopric of the city of Magontia 
 by the consent and gift of Carloman himself; legate of 
 the Roman church and of the apostolic see, sent first by 
 the holy and venerable bishop of that see, Gregory the 
 Younger, or the Second, to count from the First; then 
 by the honorable Gregory who was the Younger, count- 
 ing from the Second, or the Third, to count from the 
 First; Boniface, I say, urged that numerous canons 
 and ordinances of the four principal early councils be 
 preserved for the wholesome increase of the heavenly 
 doctrine: in order 2 that, as in the Nicene council, 3 when 
 Constantine Augustus administered the empire of the 
 world, the falsehood of the Arian blasphemy was over- 
 thrown; as the assembly of a hundred and fifty fathers, 
 
 1 742-747. 
 
 2 Willibald condenses the succeeding summary of the four principal 
 councils from Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae, vi, 16. 
 
 1 In 325. 
 
 74 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 75 
 
 when Theodosius the Elder ruled Constantinople, 1 
 condemned one Macedonius, who denied that the Holy 
 Spirit is God; as the union of two hundred bishops, 
 assembled at the city of Ephesus 2 under Theodosius 
 the Younger, separated from the Catholic church, 
 with a righteous curse of excommunication, Nestorius, 
 who declared that there are two persons in Christ; and 
 as the council of Chalcedon, 3 an assembly of six hun- 
 dred and thirty priests, in accordance with the prede- 
 termined decision of the fathers bestowed the curse of 
 excommunication upon Eutyches, abbot of the city of 
 Constantinople, and Dioscurus his champion, rebels 
 against the citadel of the Catholic faith: so indeed in 
 Francia, when all the falsehood of the heretics was 
 utterly rooted out and the conspiracy of the wicked 
 destroyed, the power of the divine law might be in- 
 creased; the synodal canons of the general councils 
 might be received; while at the same time a synodal 
 assembly of bishops of spiritual understanding might 
 meet in accordance with the predetermined prescrip- 
 tion of the authentic constitution. 
 
 The constant expectation of war, and the hostility 
 and insurrections of the surrounding barbarian tribes, 
 with the attendant attempts of alien robber nations 
 without to destroy the Frankish realm by violence, had 
 prevented the holding of synodal assemblies, or even 
 had caused them to be so wholly forgotten that they 
 were utterly obliterated from present memory and un- 
 
 1 In 381. 3 In 451. 
 
 2 In 431. v 
 
76 WILLIBALD 
 
 known. 1 For it is the nature of the world, that even 
 if it be recruited, it daily suffers damage and decrease 
 within itself; while if it is not thoroughly renewed, it 
 expends itself and vanishes away, and hurries breath- 
 lessly to its predestined end. Wherefore in the pilgrim- 
 age of this mortal life, if for healing spiritual leaders 
 have ascertained any matters for the common profit of 
 the weak in this world, even if at times these matters 
 have been introduced into the minds of men, they 
 ought to be preserved and most strongly defended by 
 Catholics, and held with minds determined and im- 
 movable: lest human oblivion steal upon them, or the 
 enticing delight of worldly enjoyment impede at the 
 instigation of the devil. For this reason our holy 
 bishop of the Lord, moved by sharpest anxiety in this 
 regard, sought to deliver the folk from the baleful 
 beguiling of the crooked serpent, 2 and very often urged 
 Duke Carloman to assemble the synodal meeting: that 
 both to men then living and to later generations the 
 wisdom of spiritual learning might be disclosed and the 
 knowledge of Christianity come, while the snaring of 
 souls was averted. 
 
 After he placed a mirror (as it were) of canonical 
 rectitude before all ranks for a pattern of right living, 
 and the way of truth became clearly visible to all, 
 Boniface, being old, weak, and decrepit, presented a 
 
 1 Boniface wrote to Pope Zacharias, early in 742 : " The old men 
 say that the Franks have held no synod for more than eighty years, 
 nor had an archbishop, nor established or renewed in any place the 
 canon laws of the church." ., 50. 
 
 2 Isaiah, xxvii, 1. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 77 
 
 plan wholesome for himself and his feebleness, and in 
 accordance with the rule of ecclesiastical management 
 provided a pastoral magistracy for the peoples: that, 
 whether he lived or died, the folk might not lack pas- 
 tors and their healing care. He promoted to the epis- 
 copal order x two men of good diligence, Willibald and 
 Burchard, and divided unto them the churches com- 
 mitted to his charge in the innermost parts of the East 
 Franks and the confines of the Bavarians. To Willibald 
 he entrusted the government of his diocese 2 in the 
 place named Haegsted. 3 To Burchard he delegated 
 rank and office 4 in the place called Wirzaburch, 5 and 
 allotted to his province the churches in the borders of 
 the Franks and Saxons and Slavs. And even unto the 
 glorious day of his death he opened without ceasing the 
 narrow way 6 of the heavenly kingdom unto the multi- 
 tudes. 
 
 Pippin, fortunate successor of his brother Carlo- 
 man, 7 by the grace of God received the royal kingdom 
 of the Franks, and there being now a slight lull in the 
 disorder of the peoples, 8 was raised to the rank of king. 9 
 
 1 In 741. 
 
 2 Vita Willibaldi, 5, in M.G.H., Scriptores, xv, 1, p. 105. 
 
 3 Eichstatt. 6 Wurzburg. 
 
 4 E., 50, 51, 53. 6 Matthew, vii, 14. 
 
 7 Carloman abdicated in 747 and became a monk. 
 
 8 749-751- 
 
 9 In November, 751. Annates Regni Francorum (Hannoverae, 
 1895: in Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum),pp. 8, 10: " Pippin was 
 chosen king according to the custom of the Franks, and anointed by 
 the hand of Archbishop Boniface of holy memory, and was proclaimed 
 king by the Franks in the city of Soissons." Rettberg rejects the 
 
78 WILLIBALD 
 
 Then he began solicitously to fulfil the vows he had 
 sworn unto the Lord, and to restore without delay the 
 synodal ordinances, and to renew the canonical mys- 
 teries which his brother in accordance with the exhor- 
 tation of Saint Boniface the archbishop had faithfully 
 commenced, and to prefer Boniface in friendship and 
 honor, and to obey his precepts in the Lord. But 
 because the saint, oppressed by bodily weakness, 1 was 
 not altogether able to attend the synodal assemblies, 
 he now determined, with the approval and advice of 
 the glorious king, to set a proper minister over his 
 flock. He appointed Lul, his able disciple, 2 to teach 
 the multitude of the great church, and advanced and 
 ordained him to the episcopal rank, and committed to 
 him the inheritance which he had won in Christ by 
 earnest labor. Lul was the trusty comrade in the Lord 
 of his pilgrimage, and was witness both of the suffering 
 and of the consolation. 3 
 
 Now when the Lord wished to deliver his servant 
 from the temptation of this world and to raise him up 
 from the tribulations of the temporal life, then it was 
 determined by the ordinance of the Lord, that, ac- 
 companied by the servants of God, he should come to 
 Frisia, which aforetime he had left in body, not in 
 mind: in order that where first he entered upon his 
 active preaching and his profits and rewards began, 
 
 anointing of Pippin by Boniface, and supports his position by a 
 careful analysis of the Frankish chronicles. Kirchengeschichte 
 Deutschlands, i, pp. 383-391. Hauck, on the other hand, accepts the 
 story. Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, i (2d ed.) p. 561. 
 
 1 E., 93. 2 Ibid. z II Corinthians, i, 7. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 79 
 
 there also, leaving the world, he might receive the 
 charge of recompense. 
 
 He foretold the coming day of his death to Bishop 
 Lul by a marvellous and in a way prophetic forecast, 
 and made known to him with what end he was at last 
 to leave the world, and set before him in order his plans 
 for the building of churches and the teaching of the 
 people. " I desire,'' said he, " to fulfil the journey set 
 before me. I shall not be able to call myself back from 
 the welcome departing journey. For now the day of 
 my departure is at hand, 1 and the time of my death 
 approaches; now I shall put aside the prison of the 
 body, and return to the prize of the eternal recom- 
 pense. But do thou, dearest son, conduct to comple- 
 tion the building of churches which I have commenced 
 in Thuringia. Do thou most earnestly recall the 
 people from the trackless waste of error. And do thou 
 complete the construction of the basilica already 
 begun at Fulda, 2 and bring thither my body aged by 
 many hastening years." 3 And having made an end of 
 this discourse, he added to it more words of the follow- 
 ing sort, saying: " Son, provide by thy most prudent 
 counsel everything which must be joined to our use in 
 this our journey; but also lay in the chest of my books 
 a linen cloth, wherein my decrepit body may be 
 wrapped." 
 
 1 II Timothy, iv, 6. 
 
 2 See Gregor Richter, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Grabeskirche des 
 hi. Bonifatius in Fulda in Festgabe zum Bonifatius-Jubildum IQ05 
 (Fulda, 1905). 
 
 3 ., 86. 
 
80 WILLIBALD 
 
 At this sad speech Bishop Lul could not restrain his 
 sobs, but forthwith wept unrestrainedly. Then Saint 
 Boniface made an end of the conversation and turned 
 to other matters. He did not draw back from the 
 journey which he had undertaken, but, 1 after a few 
 days' interval, took travelling companions and went 
 on board ship, and pushed down the Rhine, 2 seeking 
 haven at night time, until he entered the moist fields 
 of the Frisians, and passed in safety across the lake 
 which in their tongue is called Aelmere, 3 and made a 
 round of inspection along shores barren of the divine 
 seed. 4 And after escaping peril and hazard of rivers 
 and the sea and of the great waters, he went safely into 
 danger, and visited the pagan nation of the Frisians, 
 whose land is divided by the intervening waters into 
 many territories and districts, yet in such wise that the 
 different names indicate the property of a single 
 nation. But since it would be tedious to repeat the 
 districts in order, we desire to mention by name only 
 those which are veraciously cited to afford connection 
 to our narrative: that place and language may equally 
 transmit our story of the saint's piety, and disclose the 
 end with which he left this world. 
 
 So he traversed all Frisia, and removed the pagan 
 worship and overthrew the erroneous way of heathen- 
 
 1 At this point the punctuation of the older texts is preferable to 
 that of Jaff6 and Levison, who begin their new paragraph in the mid- 
 dle of a sentence. 
 
 2 This voyage must be placed in the summer probably the early 
 summer either of 753 or of 754. 
 
 Aelmere, ' the Noble Sea '; now the Zuyder Zee. 
 4 Matthew, xiii; Luke, viii, II. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 81 
 
 ism, and earnestly preached the word of God; and, 
 having destroyed the divinity of the heathen temples, 
 he built churches with great zeal. And now he bap- 
 tized many thousand persons, men and women and 
 little ones, being aided by his fellow soldier and suf- 
 fragan bishop Eoba, whom he summoned to Frisia to 
 aid the feebleness of his old age, charging him with the 
 bishopric in the city which is called Trecht; and by 
 priests and deacons, of whom these are the names: 
 Wintrung and Walthere and Ethelhere, endowed with 
 the sacerdotal office of the priesthood; Hamund, 
 Scirbald, and Bosa, assigned to the service of Levites; 
 Wacchar and Gundaecer, Illehere and Hathovulf, 
 raised to the conventual order of monks. These with 
 Saint Boniface published widely through the people 
 the seed of eternal life, 1 and, supported by the Lord 
 God, made it known to such an extent, that even as in 
 accordance with the pattern of the apostolic custom 
 they were of one heart and one soul, 2 so they had one 
 and the same martyr's crown, one and the same reward 
 of victory. 
 
 After the splendor of faith of which we have spoken 
 dawned through Frisia, and the happy end of our 
 saint's life approached, 3 then, accompanied only by a 
 
 1 Luke, viii, n: " The seed is the word of God." 
 
 2 Acts, iv, 32. 
 
 3 According to Eigil, Vita Sturmi, 15a (in M.G.H., Scriptores, ii, 
 p. 372), this was in the second summer of the Frisian ministry, after an 
 intervening winter in Germany. " In the tenth year after he removed 
 to the holy place [Fulda], the holy Archbishop Boniface, having taken 
 counsel with the king and other Christians, went to the farther places 
 
82 WILLIBALD 
 
 number of his personal followers, he pitched his tents 
 by the bank of the river which is called Bordne, 1 which 
 is upon the limits of the districts which in the country 
 tongue are called Ostor- and Westeraeche. But be- 
 cause he had appointed unto the people, already scat- 
 tered far and wide, a holiday of confirmation of the 
 neophytes, and of the laying on of hands by the bishop 
 upon the newly baptized and of their confirmation, 
 every man went unto his own house, 2 that in accord- 
 ance with the precise command of the holy bishop all 
 might be presented together on the day set for their 
 confirmation. 
 
 Wholly opposite was the event. When the appointed 
 day had dawned, and the morning light was breaking 
 after the rising of the sun, then came enemies instead 
 of friends, new lictors instead of new worshippers of 
 the faith; and a vast multitude of foes, armed with 
 spears and shields, rushed with glittering 3 weapons 
 
 of the Frisians, which were addicted to the pagan worship, and there 
 by teaching and baptizing brought a vast multitude of people unto the 
 Lord. Thence after a long time departing, he came in safety to his 
 own churches in Germany. But in the following year he came again 
 to the moist fields of the Frisians; for he desired to complete the work 
 of preaching which he had begun." 
 
 1 The Boom, in the Dutch province of Friesland. 
 
 2 John, vii, 53. 
 
 3 Bibrantibus: wrongly rendered as passive (mil geschwungenen 
 Waff en) by Bonnell, Kiilb, and Arndt; as indicating sound (mit 
 Waffengeton) by Simson, who is led astray by the will-o'-the-wisp 
 authority of Otloh's paraphrase. I take it that the idea meant to be 
 conveyed is that of the play of light upon swiftly moving steel, as in 
 Scott's story of the attack on the smugglers in Guy Mannering: " The 
 press became furiously agitated, while some endeavored to defend 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 83 
 
 into the camp. Then hastily the attendants sprang 
 forth against them from the camp, and betook them- 
 selves to arms on either side, and were eager to defend 
 against the crazy host of the mad folk the sainted 
 martyrs that were to be. But when the man of God 
 heard the onset of the tumultuous throng, imme- 
 diately he called to his side the band of clerics, 1 and, 
 taking the saints' relics which he was wont to have 
 always with him, came out of the tent. And at once, 
 rebuking the attendants, he forbade combat and 
 battle, saying: " Stop fighting, lads! Give up the 
 battle! For we are taught by the trusty witness of 
 Scripture, that we render not evil for evil, 2 but con- 
 trariwise good for evil. 3 Already the long desired day 
 is at hand, and the voluntary time of our departure is 
 near. 4 Therefore be ye comforted in the Lord, and 
 suffer with joy the grace of his permission. Trust on 
 
 themselves, others to escape; shots were fired, and the glittering 
 broadswords began to appear flashing above the heads of the rioters." 
 Unequivocal instances of the reference of vibrare to the play of light 
 are Cicero, Academica Priora, 33 (in a discussion of the colors of the 
 sea): "Mare . . . nunc, qua a sole collucet, albescit et vibrat "; 
 Silius Italicus, Punica, iv, v. 156: 
 
 " Colla viri fulvo radiabant lactea torque, 
 
 Auro virgatae vestes; manicaeque rigebant 
 
 Ex auro; et simili vibrabat crista metallo." 
 
 1 " Moreover there suffered with him fifty religious men of his 
 clergy, priests, deacons, and monks; but the better known among 
 them were Eobanus the bishop and Adalharius the priest." Martyro- 
 logium Fuldense, in Levison, Vitae, p. 60. 
 
 2 I Thessalonians, v, 15; Romans, xii, 17. 
 
 3 I Peter, iii, 9; Matthew, v, 39-44. 
 
 4 II Timothy, iv, 6. 
 
84 WILLIBALD 
 
 him, and he will release your souls." But also with 
 fatherly speech he incited those standing near, priests 
 and deacons and men of lower rank, trained to God's 
 service, saying: " Men and brethren, be of stout heart, 
 and fear not them who kill the body, since they are not 
 able to slay the soul, 1 which continues without end; 
 but rejoice in the Lord, and fasten to God the anchor 
 of your hope. For straightway he shall render you the 
 reward of perpetual recompense, and shall give you an 
 abode in his heavenly palace with the angels who 
 dwell on high. Do not enslave yourselves to the empty 
 pleasures of this world; be not seduced by the vain 
 flatteries of the Gentiles; but endure firmly here the 
 sudden moment of death, that ye may be able to reign 
 with Christ for all time." While with such exhorta- 
 tion of doctrine he was kindly inciting the disciples to 
 the crown of martyrdom, quickly the mad tumult of 
 pagans rushed in upon them with swords and all the 
 equipment of war, and stained the saints' bodies with 
 propitious gore. 
 
 Having worked their will on the mortal flesh of the 
 just, the exultant throng of heathens at once seized the 
 spoils of victory, the fruit of their damnation, and, 
 wasting the camp, shared and plundered the booty. 
 But also they stole the chests, in which were many 
 volumes of books, and the boxes of relics; and, be- 
 lieving themselves enriched by a great abundance of 
 gold and silver, carried away the cases, locked as they 
 were, to the ships. Now in the ships was the daily 
 1 Matthew, x, 28. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 85 
 
 sustenance of the clerics and attendants, and some 
 wine still left of the same supply. And when they 
 found the beloved drink, the heathens hastily com- 
 menced to sate their thirsty maws and to make their 
 stomachs drunken with wine; and at length, through 
 the wonderful direction of almighty God, they took 
 counsel, and began to discuss concerning the booty 
 and spoils that they had taken, and to deliberate how 
 they might mutually share the gold or silver which 
 they had not even seen. While they held wordy dis- 
 cussion over the riches they reckoned so great, again 
 and again dispute and quarrels sprang up; and finally 
 there began such enmity and discord, that insane 
 frenzy divided the raging throng into two factions, 
 and at last they turned the weapons, with which earlier 
 they had murdered the holy martyrs, against each 
 other in merciless strife. 
 
 After the most part of the raging throng had been 
 laid low, the survivors ran rejoicing to the wealth 
 gained by the loss of souls and life, while the rivals 
 who opposed them respecting the passionately coveted 
 treasure lay dead. Having broken open the boxes of 
 books, they found volumes instead of gold, and for 
 silver, leaves of divine learning. Thus deprived of the 
 precious reward of gold and silver, they scattered over 
 the meadow some of the books which they found; 
 others they threw away, casting some into the reed 
 thickets of the marshes, hiding the rest each in a dif- 
 ferent place. But by the grace of almighty God and 
 through the prayers of Saint Boniface the archbishop 
 
86 WILLIBALD 
 
 and martyr, the books were found a long time after, 
 sound and unharmed, and returned by the several dis- 
 coverers to the house 1 in which even unto this day 
 they are of use for the salvation of souls. 2 
 
 Sad at the loss of the wealth on which they had reck- 
 oned, the murderers returned home. After three days' 
 respite, they experienced in their own possessions a 
 greater loss, and also paid life for life in retribution. 
 For the omnipotent Author and Reformer of the world 
 wished to avenge himself on his enemies, and with the 
 zeal of his wonted compassion to take revenge for the 
 blood of saints shed for his sake. 3 Deeply moved by 
 the recent act of mad wickedness, he wished to show 
 openly his wrath, too long deferred, against the idola- 
 
 1 Presumably the cathedral at Fulda. 
 
 2 Three books, the so-called codices Bonifatiani, ascribed by tradi- 
 tion to this collection, are preserved in the Landesbibliothek at Fulda. 
 Carl Scherer, Die Codices Bonifatiani in der Landesbibliothek zu Fulda, 
 in Festgabe zum Bonifatius-Jubilaum (Fulda, 1905); W. M. Lindsay, 
 Early Irish Minuscule Script (Oxford, 1910), pp. 4-12. One of these, 
 cut almost through by some sharp instrument, is traditionally identi- 
 fied with the book mentioned in the Life of Boniface attributed to 
 Bishop Radbod of Utrecht (Levison, Vitae, p. 73) : " As I was making 
 inquiries concerning Boniface in the same region, on the chance that I 
 might find some material for my work, I was told that a certain woman 
 was yet living, though greatly enfeebled by age, who was wont to 
 assert with an oath, that she was present when the soldier of Christ 
 was beheaded, and to say, that when he was smitten/by the sword he 
 covered his head with a copy of the holy gospels: that beneath it he 
 might receive the stroke of the assassin, and that he might have its 
 defence in death, as he had loved its words in life." 
 
 8 Revelation, xvi, 6; Psalms, lxxix, 10. Adam of Bremen uses the 
 second of these references in a very similar connection. Gesta Ham- 
 maburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, i, 49. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 87 
 
 ters. And as the unexpected tidings of the temporal 
 slaughter of the sainted martyrs flew through the dis- 
 tricts and villages and the whole province, and the 
 Christians learned of the corporeal death of the mar- 
 tyrs, they at once collected a very large expeditionary- 
 force, and, being warriors prepared to take speedy 
 vengeance, hurried to the boundary. After the lapse 
 of the three days' period mentioned above, they en- 
 tered the land of the infidels as unharmed but un- 
 friendly guests, and overthrew with prodigious carnage 
 the pagans who came up against them. The pagans 
 were unable to withstand the first onset of the Chris- 
 tian folk, and consequently betook themselves to flight 
 and were slaughtered in great numbers. Fleeing, they 
 lost their lives and household goods and children. But 
 the Christians took as spoil the wives and little ones * 
 of the superstitious folk, their menservants also and 
 maidservants, and returned to their own land. And it 
 came to pass in wondrous wise, that the neighboring 
 heathen that survived, shattered by present mis- 
 fortune, were enlightened by the glory of faith and 
 preferred to shun eternal torment; and, thoroughly 
 terrified by the administration of the divine rebuke, 
 accepted, upon the death of Bishop Boniface, the 
 proof of his doctrine which they rejected while he 
 lived. 
 
 With swelling sails and favorable breezes, the body 
 of the sainted bishop, and also those of the other 
 martyrs, were brought after not many days across 
 1 Genesis, xxxiv, 29; Numbers, xxxi, 9. 
 
88 WILLIBALD 
 
 the sea which is called Aelmere to the abovenamed 
 city of Trecht. There they were deposited and in- 
 terred, 1 until religious and faithful brethren in the 
 Lord arrived from Magontia, sent by ship by Bishop 
 Lul, the successor of our holy bishop and martyr of 
 Christ, to bring the corpse of the saint to the monas- 
 tery which he had built during his life, and which is 
 situate on the banks of the river Fulda. Of these 
 brethren there was one, Hadda by name, the promoter 
 of the journey and organizer of the party, who led a 
 life of singular sanctity and peculiar chastity and con- 
 tinence. To him especially, with the brethren who 
 went with him, Bishop Lul entrusted the performance 
 of this embassy and the bringing of the sacred body: 
 that greater honor of devotion might be paid to the 
 venerable saint, and that the witness of many might 
 prevail more in those matters which they heard or saw. 
 When the honorable brethren of this holy company 
 came to the city of Trecht, a small crowd of the people 
 gathered to oppose them. When the crowd heard how 
 an edict had been issued by glorious King Pippin, the 
 count of the city proclaimed an interdict, and forbade 
 that the body of Bishop Boniface should be removed 
 thence. But the strength of the Almighty is stronger 
 than men's strength. Wherefore immediately, in the 
 presence of all, a marvellous and memorable miracle 
 was heard, wrought through angelic rather than human 
 understanding. The bell of the church, untouched by 
 human hands, was rung, as a token of the admonition 
 1 Eigil, Vita Sturmi, 15a. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 89 
 
 of the sacred body; so that all, smitten by sudden fear 
 and terror, were stupefied, and trembled exceedingly, 
 and cried out that the body of this righteous man must 
 be given up. And so at once the body was yielded, 
 and was honorably removed by the aforesaid brethren 
 of sacred memory, and without labor of towers 1 was 
 brought on the thirtieth day after the saint's decease 
 to the abovementioned city of Magontia. 
 
 The wonderful providence of almighty God brought 
 it to pass, that on one and the same day, though the 
 time had not been beforehand set and appointed, there 
 assembled unto the funeral of this great man, as if the 
 day had been set and predetermined, not only the 
 ambassadors who brought the sacred body, but also 
 many faithful men and women from distant and widely 
 scattered countries. Moreover the saint's successor in 
 his venerable office, Lul, bishop of the Lord, who at 
 that time was present in the king's palace, came to the 
 city of Magontia as it were at the same hour and mo- 
 ment, though he was altogether ignorant of the occa- 
 sion, and knew not of the arrival of the sacred body. 2 
 
 1 " Per Rheni alveum navim trahere, et superiora petere coepe- 
 runt." Vita Sturmi, 15b. 
 
 2 This passage is discussed at length by Michael Tangl in his essay 
 "Das Todesjahr des Bonifatius," in Zeitschrift des Vereins fur hess- 
 ische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Neue Folge, xxvii (Cassel, 1903), 
 pp. 243 f . It appears to me, however, to weigh somewhat heavily 
 against Tangl's contention (see below) that Boniface died in 754, not 
 755 as stated by Willibald. In the latter year Lul's presence at the 
 palace at Vernenil near the end of June is probable, since King 
 Pippin had assembled there a synod of " almost all the bishops of the 
 Gauls." M.G.H., Capitularia, i, pp. 32-37; Bohmer-Miihlbacher, 
 
90 W1LLIBALD 
 
 And all, strangers and citizens, were oppressed by 
 sorrow and grief, yet rejoiced abundantly and were 
 glad. For in viewing the temporal and bodily death 
 of this great bishop, they grieved, on the one hand, for 
 the loss of his corporeal presence, while on the other 
 hand they believed that he would be protector to 
 them and theirs for all time to come. Wherefore, 
 their hearts torn by these conflicting emotions, the 
 people, with the priests and deacons and every ec- 
 clesiastical rank, carried the dead saint to that place 
 which he had determined upon while alive. 1 They 
 prepared a new sarcophagus in the church, and placed 
 the body there with the customary rites of sepulture. 
 And when all was duly performed, they returned to 
 their homes, comforted by the power of faith. 
 
 But in the place where they interred the sacred body 
 there was an abundant succession of divine blessings. 
 Through the prayers of the saint, those who came 
 thither possessed by divers infirmities obtained healing 
 remedy of body and mind. Some already moribund in 
 the whole body and almost completely lifeless, at the 
 
 Regesta, i, i, pp. 40 f. In the summer of 754 also Pippin was near 
 Paris, at Verberie and (28 July) at St. Denis. Regesta, i, 1, pp. 38 f. 
 But TangPs confident assertion, " Wahrend derselben Zeit hatte Lull 
 in hdchster Eile eine Reise an den Hof unternommen, um sich rasch 
 die Nachfolge in Mainz bei Pippin und dem am Konigshof weilenden 
 Papst zu sichern," is in truth the merest conjecture, and, in view 
 of the care with which Boniface had provided for the succession before 
 his departure to Frisia (p. 78, above; and E. } 93), a most unlikely- 
 one on the face. 
 
 1 The cathedral at Fulda. Eigil says that Lul wished to retain the 
 body at Mayence. Vita Sturmi, 15b. 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 91 
 
 last breath, were restored to their pristine health. 
 Others, whose eyes were veiled by blindness, received 
 their sight. Yet others, bound fast in the snares of the 
 devil, out of their senses and mad, afterward regained 
 soundness of mind, and, restored to pristine health, 
 gave praise and glorified God: who deigned to adorn 
 and enrich and honor his servant with this great gift, 
 and to glorify him by dazzling miracles made manifest 
 to present and future times and ages, when the fortieth 
 year of his pilgrimage had passed: which year also is 
 reckoned of the incarnation of the Lord the seven hun- 
 dred and fifty-fifth, and the eighth indiction. 1 More- 
 over he sat in the episcopacy thirty-six years six 
 months and six days. 2 And so in the manner described 
 above, on the fifth of June, rewarded with the triumph 
 of martyrdom, he departed to the Lord: to whom is 
 honor and glory unto ages of ages. Amen. 
 
 1 The Fulda tradition, supported by Tangl in his essay mentioned 
 above, gives the year as 754. TangFs arguments, though they have 
 won a very general acceptance, seem to me far from conclusive. 
 
 2 An error. See p. 60, n. 2. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 How in the Place where the Blood of Martyrs was 
 
 shed, a Living Fountain appeared to those who were 
 
 inspecting the preparations for a church 
 
 Having recounted the saint's distinguished deeds in 
 childhood, boyhood, youth, and the prime of life, and 
 even in old age, let us return to those wonders that by 
 the help of the Lord were wrought to declare to mortals 
 the sanctity of the saint's life, after this world's race 
 was run and that life was happily ended; and recall to 
 memory a miracle for folk to remember and repeat. 
 Venerable Bishop Lul told us the story of the miracle 
 even as he learned it from glorious King Pippin, who 
 in turn heard it from eyewitnesses. As Lul related it 
 to us, it was as follows. 
 
 In the place where of yore the precious blood of the 
 holy martyr was shed, the church and a great part of 
 the Frisian folk planned to rear high upon a deep foun- 
 dation an earthen mound. This was because of the 
 vast irruptions of the neap and spring tides, 1 which in 
 alternation disturb the tides of sea and ocean, the less- 
 ening of the waters and the floods. 2 On the mound they 
 proposed to raise a church as was done later 3 
 
 1 Ledonis ac malinae inruptiones. 
 
 2 Bede, De Temporum Ratione, 29. 
 
 8 Dedicated to Saint Paul and Boniface. Versus Alchuini de Ec- 
 clesia Sancti Liudgeri, in M.G.H., Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini, i (1881), 
 p. 304: 
 
 " Adjuvat hinc Paulus, doctor Bonifatius inde, 
 Haec illis quoniam constat simul aula dicata." 
 
 0ft 
 
THE LIFE OF BONIFACE 93 
 
 and to erect a habitation of the servants of God in the 
 same place. But when now the mound was wholly 
 finished and the entire work of its erection was com- 
 pleted, the residents and inhabitants of that place, 
 having returned home, had some discussion among 
 themselves in regard to the want of fresh water, which 
 throughout almost all Frisia occasions the greatest 
 difficulty both to men and to beasts. Then at length, 
 through the Lord's compassion, a certain man, Abba 
 by name, who in accordance with the edict of glorious 
 King Pippin administered the office of count over that 
 district and place and was director of the work in 
 question, taking comrades with him, mounted, and 
 rode round the hill, and inspected the mound. Sud- 
 denly and unexpectedly the steed of an attendant, 
 while merely stamping on the ground, felt it sinking 
 and giving way altogether, and wallowed, its fore 
 legs held fast in the soil, until those who were more 
 active and skilful jumped down very hurriedly from 
 their steeds, and pulled out the horse that was stuck 
 fast in the earth. But at once a miracle stupendous 
 and worthy to behold was made manifest to those who 
 were present. A fountain, exceeding clear beyond the 
 manner of that country, and wondrous sweet and pleas- 
 ant to the taste, came bursting out, and, penetrating 
 through unknown channels, flowed forth, so that it 
 seemed already a very large brook. Astounded by 
 this miracle, they returned home with rejoicing and 
 gladness, and made known to the churches those 
 matters which they had seen. 
 
A LIST OF 
 
 EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 
 
 OF THE LIFE 
 
A LIST OF EDITIONS AND 
 TRANSLATIONS OF THE LIFE 
 
 (a) Editions 
 
 Henricus Canisius. Sancti Willibaldi Episcopi Eichstadiani 
 Liber de vita S. Bonifacii Martyris, Germanorum Apos- 
 toli, Archiepiscopi Moguntini. Nunc primum editus 
 ex manuscriptis codicibus Monasterii Rebdorjfensis, 
 prope Eichstadium, et Magnifici et CI. D. Alberti Hungeri 
 Procancellarii Academiae Ingolstadiensis, &c. In his 
 Antiqua Lectio, torn, iv, pars secunda (Ingolstadii, 
 1603), pp. 337-391, 742-745- 1 
 
 This is repeated, with a new preface and additional 
 notes, in the second edition of Canisius, by Jacques 
 Basnage (Thesaurus Monumentorum, etc., Amstelae- 
 dami or Antverpiae, 1725), in vol. ii, pp. 227-24Q. 2 
 
 Nicolaus Serarius, in Epistolae S. Bonifacii Martyris (Mo- 
 guntiae, 1605; with new title-page, 1629), pp. 253-284. 
 From a manuscript furnished to Serarius by Andreas 
 Weber of Frankfort, supplemented from the edition of 
 Canisius. Begins: " Prologus in Vitam, vel Passionem 
 Beatissimi Martyris Christi, & Archiepiscopi Boni- 
 facii." 
 
 1 Title, p. 337; De Willibaldo, Bonifacio, Lullo, Megingozo, pp. 
 338-40; text, pp. 341-386; Notae et variae lectiones, pp. 387-391; 
 Variae lectiones in Vitam S. Bonifacii, scriptam a S. Willibaldo, ex 
 membranis m. s. Monasterii Windbergensis in Bavaria, pp. 742-745. 
 
 2 Text, pp. 232-249. 
 
 07 
 
98 EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 
 
 Laurentius Surius. Vita S. Bonifacii A rchiepiscopi Mogun- 
 tini, Germanorum Apostoli et Martyris, author e S. Wili- 
 baldo primo Eistatense Episcopo. In the fourth edition 
 of his De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis or Vitae Sanctorum 
 (Coloniae Agrippinae, 1617), Junius, pp. 49-57. Lacks 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 In the latest edition of Surius (Augustae Taurinorum, 
 1875-80) Willibald's work is omitted. 
 
 Jean Mabillon. Vita Sancti Bonifacii Episcopi Maguntini, 
 et Martyris, Auctore Willibaldo ipsius discipulo. Ex 
 tomo 4. Henrici Canisii, et Nicolao Serario. In Acta 
 Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, saeculum tertium, pars 
 secunda (Lutetiae Parisiorum, 1672), pp. 4-27. 
 
 In the second edition of the same (Venetiis, 1734), 
 pp. 1-25 (text, pp. 3-25). 
 
 Godfried Henschen and Daniel van Papenbroeck. Vita I, 
 auctore Willibaldo Presbytero. Ex Ms. Trevirensi et 
 editionibus tribus, Canisii, Serarii, ac Mabilionis. In 
 Acta Sanctorum, Junius, torn, i (Antverpiae, 1695), pp. 
 460-473; ibid. (Venetiis, 1741), pp. 460-473; editio 
 novissima, curante Joanne Carnandet, Junius, torn, i 
 (Parisiis et Romae, 1867), pp. 453-465. 
 
 Georg Heinrich Pertz. Vita S. Bonifacii Archiepiscopi, 
 auctore Willibaldo Presbytero. In Monumenta Ger- 
 maniae Historica, Scriptores, ii (Hannoverae, 1829), 
 PP- 331-353 (text, pp. 333-353)- 
 
 John Allen Giles. De Vita vel Passione Beatissimi Mar- 
 tyris Bonifacii, auctore Willibaldo. In his Sancti Boni- 
 facii Opera quae extant Omnia (Londini, 1844), vol. ii, 
 pp. 143-182. From Serarius, with some emendations 
 from Pertz. 
 
EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 99 
 
 Giles reprints this in his Vita [!] quorundum [!] 
 Anglo-Saxonum: Original Lives of Anglo-Saxons and 
 others, who lived before the Conquest (London, 1854), 
 pp. 157-197. This volume is the sixteenth and last of 
 the Publications of the Caxton Society. 
 
 Jacques Paul Migne. Vita S. Bonifacii, Auctore Willibaldo, 
 ipsius discipulo. In Patrologia Latina (title page, Pa- 
 trologiae Cursus Completus), vol. lxxxix (Parisiis, 1850), 
 coll. 603-634. Repeated from Mabillon. 
 
 Philipp Jaffe. Willibaldi Vita S. Bonifatii. In his Biblio- 
 theca Rerum Germanicarum, torn, iii (Monumenta Mo- 
 gun tina), Berolini, 1866, pp. 429-471. Also in Vitae 
 Sancti Bonifatii Archiepiscopi Moguntini, reprinted 
 for school use from the above work in the same place 
 and year, pp. 10-52. 
 
 Vita Sancti Bonifacii Episcopi Moguntini et Martyris, 
 auctore Willibaldo, secundum priorem, ut videtur, con- 
 scriptionem nunc primum edita. In Analecta Bollan- 
 diana, i (Paris and Brussels, 1882), pp. 51-72. 
 
 Not the original text of Willibald's Life, as the editors 
 supposed, but a condensation made in the twelfth cen- 
 tury or earlier. 1 
 
 August Nurnberger. Vita S. Bonifatii, auctore Willibaldo. 
 Aus der Miinchener Handschrift neu herausgegeben und 
 mit textkritischem Apparat versehen. In Siebenund- 
 zwanzigster Bericht der wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft 
 Philomathie in Neisse (Neisse, 1895), pp. 1 13-180 (text, 
 pp. 123-179). Reprinted in separate form, Breslau, 
 1895. ' 
 
 The reprint adds at the end a page of " Erganzungen 
 und Berichtigungen. ,, 
 
 1 Analecta Bollandiana, xv, pp. 268-270; Levison, Vitae Bonifatii, 
 pp. xxvii f . 
 
ioo EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 
 
 Wilhelm Levison. Vita Bonijatii auctore Willibaldo. In 
 his Vitae Sancti Bonijatii Archiepiscopi Moguntini 
 (Hannoverae et Lipsiae, 1905), pp. 1-57. With a full 
 and excellent introduction and good notes. Levison's 
 work is included in the series Scriptores Rerum Ger- 
 manicarum in usum Scholarum ex Monumentis Ger- 
 maniae Historicis separatist editi; but it is in no sense a 
 repetition of Pertz's edition. 
 
 (b) Selections 
 
 Martin Bouquet prints extracts in his Recueil des His- 
 toriens des Gaules et de la France, torn, iii (Paris, 1741), 
 pp. 664-666 (nouvelle ed., 1869), and torn, v (1744), 
 pp. 424-425 (nouvelle ed., 1869). From Mabillon. 
 
 Arthur West Haddan and William Stubbs, Councils and 
 Ecclesiastical Documents relating to Great Britain and 
 Ireland, vol. iii (Oxford, 187 1), pp. 295-296, give so 
 much of Chapter IV as in this translation is comprised 
 in the second paragraph, lacking the last sentence. 
 From Jaffe. 
 
 Ernst Dummler, in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epis- 
 tolae Karolini Aevi, ii (Berolini, 1895), pp. 500-501, 
 gives a recension of the Prologue from manuscripts. 
 
 (c) German Translations 
 
 Dat leven des Erwerdighen hilligen Bisschops und mertelers 
 sunte Bonifacy. A fifteenth century Low German trans- 
 lation of the Life by Willibald, with some abridgment 
 and the omission of the Prologue, the beginning of 
 Chapter VIII, and Chapter IX, and with some addi- 
 tions from the Life attributed to Bishop Radbod of 
 
EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 101 
 
 Utrecht. The translation was made at Freckenhorst in 
 Westphalia. It has been edited by W. Dorow (Denk- 
 mdler alter Sprache und Kunst, i, i, Bonn, 1823, pp. 53- 
 86) and by J. H. Schulte (Das Leben des h. Bonifacius, 
 des Apostels der Deutschen, in niederdeutscher Sprache, 
 Warendorf and Munster, 1852). 
 
 Heinrich Eduard Bonnell. Leben des heiligen Bonifacius 
 von Willibald. Aus der Lateinischen Urschrift des achten 
 Jahrhunderts zum ersten Male ubertragen. Berlin, 1856. 
 
 Philipp Hedwig Ktilb. Willibalds Leben des heiligen Boni- 
 facius. In his Sammtliche Schriften des heiligen Boni- 
 facius (Ratisbon, 1859), vol. ii, pp. 213-270. 
 
 Bernhard Eduard Simson. Willibald 's Leben des heiligen 
 Bonifazius, nach der Ausgabe der Monumenta Ger- 
 maniae ubersetzt und erklart. Berlin, 1863. A spirited 
 and scholarly translation, with good notes. 
 
 Wilhelm Arndt. Willibalds Leben des heiligen Bonifazius. 
 In Die Geschichtschreiber der deutschen Vorzeit, VIII. 
 Jahrhundert, 2. Band (Berlin, 1863), pp. 1-47; second 
 edition (Leipsic, 1888), pp. 1-52. Arndt anticipated 
 the editors of the text in using though only to a 
 limited extent the best manuscript, Monacensis 
 1086. 
 
 M. M. Wilden. Willibald 's Leben des heiligen Bonifacius, 
 aus den Monumenta Germaniae ubersetzt. An appendix 
 (pp. 315-360) to his Beda des Ehrwiirdigen Kirchenge- 
 schichte der Angelsachsen (Schaffhausen, 1866). 
 
 Heinrich Joseph Mertens. Leben oder Leiden des seligsten 
 Martyrers Bonifazius, verfasst von Willibald. In his 
 Eine heilige Konigsfamilie (Ratisbon, etc., 1875), pp. 
 1 24-1 75. Of inferior value. 
 
102 EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 
 
 (d) French Translation 
 
 Charles Barthelemy. Vie de Saint Boniface, Archevtque 
 de Mayence et Martyr, tcrite au Huitieme Stick par Wil- 
 libalde, PrUre du Diocese de Mayence, et compUtte au 
 Neuvieme Siecle par Saint Ludger, Premier vque de 
 Mimigerneford. In his Les Vies de tous les Saints de 
 France depuis le Premier Siecle, neuvieme annee (Ver- 
 sailles, 1868): the Life by Willibald in coll. 705-745; 
 extracts from Liudger's Life of Gregory, coll. 745-759. 
 
INDICES 
 
INDEX OF AUTHORS CITED 
 
 IN THE NOTES 
 
 Adam of Bremen, 86. 
 Alcuin, 92. 
 Aldhelm, 31, 41. 
 Analecta Bollandiana, 99. 
 Annates Regni Francorum, 77. 
 Arndt, Wilhelm, 64, 82. 
 Augustine, Saint, 55, 62. 
 
 Bede, 28, 31, 33, 43, 51, 92. 
 Benedict of Nursia, Saint, 30, 
 
 34, 47- 
 Bible, The: 
 Acts, 81. 
 
 I Corinthians, 37, 38, 39, 55, 
 66, 73. 
 
 II Corinthians, 44, 47, 78* 
 Daniel, 35. 
 Deuteronomy, 39. 
 Genesis, 87. 
 
 Hebrews, 25, 65, 72. 
 
 Isaiah, 62, 76. 
 
 John, 35, 71, 82. 
 
 Judges, 39. 
 
 Luke, 29, 39, 80, 81. 
 
 Mark, 35. 
 
 Matthew, 29, 30, 53, 60, 66, 
 
 77, 80, 83, 84. 
 Numbers, 87. 
 I Peter, 83. 
 Philemon, 35. 
 
 Philippians, 35. 
 Psalms, 37, 38, 86. 
 Revelation, 86. 
 Romans, 30, 35, 53, 68, S3. 
 
 I Thessalonians, 52, 83. 
 
 II Thessalonians, 47. 
 
 I Timothy, 35, 56. 
 
 II Timothy, 36, 55, 79, 83. 
 Titus, 45. 
 
 Binterim, A. J., 12. 
 Bdhmer, J. F., 63, 89, 90. 
 Bonnell, H. E., 64, 82. 
 
 Capitular e Suessionense, 72, 73. 
 Cassianus, Joannes, 34. 
 Cicero, 83. 
 
 DuCange, 47. 
 Durand, Ursin, 16. 
 
 Ebert, Adolf, 12. 
 Ebrard, August, 71. 
 Eigil, n, 81, 88, 89, 90. 
 Eugippius, 29. 
 
 Festgabe zum Bonifatius-Jubi- 
 
 I'dum 1905, 79, 86. 
 Forschungen zur deutschen Ge- 
 
 schichte, 44. 
 
 105 
 
io6 
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS 
 
 Gaisford, Thomas, 13. 
 Giles, J. A., 13, 16. 
 Giry, Arthur, 50. 
 Gregory the Great, 25, 34, 45, 
 54- 
 
 Hauck, Albert, 11, 78. 
 Hofmann, G. D., 55. 
 
 Isidorus Hispalensis, 13, 31, 32, 
 41, 62, 74. 
 
 Jaffe, Philipp, 14, 32, 80. 
 Jerome, Saint, 25. 
 
 Karlmanni Capitular e, 72. 
 Kiilb, P. H., 12, 64, 82. 
 Kylie, Edward, 16. 
 
 Levison, Wilhelm, 17, 27, 32, 
 45, 54, 72, 73, 80, 83, 86, 99. 
 Lindsay, W. M., 86. 
 Liudger, 55, 66. 
 
 Mai, Angelo, 12. 
 Manitius, Max, 13, 14, 17. 
 Martene, Edmond, 16. 
 Martyr ologium Fuldense, 83. 
 Migne, J. P., see Patrologia 
 
 Latina. 
 Monumenta Germaniae His- 
 torica : 
 Auctores Antiquissimi,ix, 23. 
 Capitularia, i, 72, 73, 89. 
 Epistolae Merowingici et 
 Karolini Aevi, ii, 15, 50. 
 See S. Bonifatii et Lulli 
 Epistolae. 
 Leges, sect, v, 50. 
 
 Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini, 
 i, 13, 14, 92. 
 
 Scriptores, ii, 81. See Eigil. 
 
 Scriptores, xv, 1, 12, 56, 77. 
 See Liudger, Vita Willi- 
 baldi, Vita Wynnebaldi. 
 Muhlbacher, Engelbert, 63, 89, 
 
 90. 
 
 Nurnberger, August, 12. 
 Nun of Heidenheim, the, see 
 
 Vita Willibaldi, Vita Wynne- 
 baldi. 
 
 Otloh, 18, 63, 64, 82. 
 
 Patrologia Latina, 16, 25, 34, 
 
 45- 
 Poenitentiale S. Bonifacii, 12. 
 Programm des konigl. kathol- 
 
 ischen Gymnasiums zuNeisse, 
 
 12. 
 
 Rettberg, F. W., 12, 61, 78. 
 Rheinisches Museum, 13. 
 Richter, Gregor, 79. 
 Roth, Paul, 49. 
 Rousseau, J. B., 18. 
 Rufinus, 25. 
 
 S. Bonifatii et Lulli Epistolae, 
 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 33, 41, 50, 
 51, 52, 61, 62, 63, 67, 71, 72, 
 
 73, 76, 77, 78, 79, 00. 
 Scherer, Carl, 86. 
 Schmitz, H. J., 12. 
 Scott, 82. 
 Scriptores Rerum Germani- 
 
 carum, 77. 
 
INDEX OF AUTHORS 
 
 107 
 
 Selwyn, William, 33, 56. 
 Serarius, Nicolaus, 12, 14. 
 Silius Italicus, 83. 
 Simson, B. E., 82. 
 Smith, I. G., 16. 
 Soetbeer, Adolf, 44. 
 Symmachus, Pope, 50. 
 
 Tangl, Michael, 89, 90, 91. 
 Trithemius, Joannes, 19. 
 
 Victorius Aquitanus, 2$. 
 Vita Willibaldi, 77. 
 Vita Wynnebaldi, 11. 
 
 Wasserschleben, F. W. H., 12. 
 Wattenbach, Wilhelm, 12, 17. 
 Wilmanns, August, 13. 
 
 Zeitschrift des Vereins fur hess- 
 ische Geschichte und Landes- 
 kunde, 89. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Abba, Frankish count, 93. 
 Adalharius (Ethelhere) , 83, n. 1 . 
 Ad-Escancastre (Exeter), 30. 
 Aelmere (the Zuyder Zee), 80, 
 
 88. 
 Aethelbald, king of Mercia, 15. 
 Aldebert, Gallic pseudo-saint, 
 
 72 f. 
 Aldhelm, 15. 
 Alps, the, 49, 51, 58. 
 Altsaxones, 62, n. 2. 
 Amanaburch (Amoneburg), 56, 
 
 57, 68. 
 Anacletus (Anicetus), 25. 
 Ananias, 61, n. 3. 
 Ancients, the (the old Saxons), 
 
 30, 41. 
 Angles, 43. 
 Anointing of Pippin, the, 77, 
 
 n. 9. 
 Arianism, 74. 
 Auguries, 63. 
 
 Augustine, Saint, 72, n. 4. 
 Auspices, 63. 
 
 Barbarians, 55. 
 
 Bavarians, the, 51, 68, 70, 71, 
 
 77- 
 
 Bee, simile of the, 51 f. 
 
 Bell, miracle of the, 88 f . 
 
 Benedict, Saint, of Nursia, 34. 
 
 Beorwald, abbot of Glaston- 
 bury, 41. 
 
 Berehthere, opponent of Boni- 
 face, 65. 
 
 Bertwald, archbishop of Can- 
 terbury (692-731), 41 f. 
 
 Bibrantibus, 82, n. 3. 
 
 Boniface, Saint, 11, 24, 25. 
 name of, 47, 61. 
 writings of, 12-16. 
 Life of, by Willibald, 17, 23- 
 
 93- 
 later lives, 17 f. 
 modern literature relative 
 
 to, 18 f. 
 importance and character of 
 
 his work, 19 f. 
 his mother, 27. 
 his father, 27-30. 
 early desire for the monastic 
 
 life, 27-30. 
 enters the monastery at 
 
 Exeter, 30. 
 early studies, 31 f. 
 overcomes the passions of 
 
 youth, 32. 
 removes to Nhutscelle, $s> 
 great learning of, 33 f . 
 gains fame as teacher and 
 
 preacher, 34-38. 
 ordained priest, 38 f. 
 abstinence of, 39. 
 embassy to Canterbury, 40 ff. 
 first missionary journey to 
 
 Frisia, 42-45. 
 
 109 
 
no 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Boniface, again at Nhutscelle, 
 46 f. 
 first journey to Rome, 47-51. 
 labors in Thuringia, 52, 64 ff ., 
 
 69, 77. 
 
 aids Willibrord in Frisia, 52- 
 56. 
 
 converts many Hessians, 
 57f->62ff. 
 
 second journey to Rome, 58- 
 62. 
 
 ordination as bishop, 60 ff. 
 
 under the protection of 
 Charles Martel, 62. 
 
 fells the sacred oak, 63 f . 
 
 receives reinforcements from 
 England, 66 f . 
 
 made archbishop, 67. 
 
 builds churches, 68. 
 
 inspects the Bavarian 
 churches, 68. 
 
 third journey to Rome, 69 f . 
 
 attacks schismatics in Ba- 
 varia, 68, 70 f. 
 
 ordains bishops, 71, 77, 78. 
 
 at the Frankish church coun- 
 cils, 71-76. 
 
 conflict with Aldebert and 
 Clemens, 72 f. 
 
 appoints Lul his successor 
 in the see of Mayence, 78. 
 
 his final missionary work in 
 Frisia, 78-82. 
 
 the martyrdom, 82 ff. 
 
 the sepulture, 87-90. 
 
 miracles following his death, 
 
 90-93. 
 Bordne (Boorn), river, 82. 
 Bosa, deacon, 81. 
 
 Britain, 24, 66, 70. 
 Bugga, abbess, 16. 
 Burchard, bishop of Wurzburg, 
 
 77- 
 Burgundians, the, 58. 
 Bynna, messenger, 58. 
 
 Caesarius, bishop of Aries, 50, 
 n. 2. 
 
 Canterbury, 41. 
 
 Carloman, duke of Austrasia 
 (741-47), 7i, 72, 73, 74, 76, 
 77 : 
 
 Ceillier, Remy, 16. 
 
 Celtic missionaries in Ger- 
 many, 70, n. 4. 
 
 Chalcedon, Council of (451), 
 
 75- 
 
 Charles Martel, Frankish may- 
 or of the palace and duke of 
 Austrasia, 44, 53, 62, 71. 
 
 Clemens, expelled from the 
 church by Boniface, 72 f. 
 
 Codices Bonifatiani, 86, n. 2. 
 
 Confession of faith, 59. 
 
 Constantine the Great, Roman 
 emperor, 74. 
 
 Constantinople, Council of 
 
 (381), 74 f. 
 Councils, ecclesiastical, 40 f., 
 
 71 f., 74 ff., 77 f-, 89, n. 2. 
 Crimean War, the, 18, n. 1. 
 Crooked serpent, the, 76. 
 Cuent (Canche) river, 49. 
 Cuentawich, 49. 
 
 Danes, the, 43, n. 4. 
 Daniel, bishop of Winchester 
 (705-45), 16, 47, 48. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 ill 
 
 Deorulf, German chief, 57. 
 Dettic, German chief, 57. 
 Deuteronomy, Book of, 72, n. 4. 
 Dionysius Exiguus, 61, n. 2. 
 Dioscurus, excommunicated, 
 
 75- 
 Divinations, 63. 
 Donatus, 13. 
 Dorstet, city, 43. 
 Dudd, abbot, 14, 16. 
 Dummler, Ernst, 13, 15. 
 
 Eadburga, abbess, 16. 
 
 Eanbercht, opponent of Boni- 
 face, 65. 
 
 East Franks, the, 77. 
 
 Ebert, Adolf, 18. 
 
 Eigil, 11. 
 
 England, 18. 
 
 Eoba (Eobanus), assistant to 
 Boniface, 81, 83, n. 1. 
 
 Ephesus, Council of (431), 75. 
 
 Episcopi suburbicarii, 61, n. 3. 
 
 Epistola formata, 50, n. 3. 
 
 Erembert, bishop of Freising, 
 
 7i- 
 
 Eremvulf, schismatic, 68. 
 
 Ethelhere, priest, 81, 83, n. 1. 
 
 Eusebius of Caesarea, 25. 
 
 Eutyches, abbot of Constanti- 
 nople, excommunicated, 75. 
 
 Exempla virtutis, 12, n. 1. 
 
 Exeter, see Ad-Escancastre. 
 
 Fountain, miracle of the, 92 f . 
 
 Francia, 52, 75. 
 
 Franks, the, 44, 58, 62, 70, 72, 
 
 77- 
 Freising, 71. 
 
 Frideslare (Fritzlar), church 
 
 and monastery at, 68. 
 Frisia, 44, 52, 8o ; 81, 93. 
 Frisians, the, 44, 45, 52, 53, 57, 
 
 80, 81, n. 3, 92. 
 
 Fulda, abbey, 11, 18, 81, n. 3. 
 cathedral of, 79, 86, n. 1, 
 90, n. 1. 
 Fulda, river, 88. 
 
 Gaesmere (Geismar), felling of 
 
 the sacred oak at, 6$ f. 
 Gaibald, bishop of Ratisbon, 
 
 7i. 
 Gaul, 24. 
 Germany, 14, 18, 24, 51, 55, 57, 
 
 81, n. 3. 
 
 Giles, John Allen, 13, 16. 
 Glestingaburg (Glastonbury), 
 
 monastery, 41. 
 Gregory I, the Great, pope 
 
 (590-604), 25, 72, n. 4. 
 Gregory II, pope (715-31), 
 
 49 ff-, 55, 58, 59-62, 67, 74. 
 Gregory III, pope (731-41), 
 
 67 f., 69 f., 71, n. 2, 74. 
 Gregory, disciple of Boniface, 
 
 11, 55, n. 4. 
 Gundaecer, monk, 81. 
 
 Hadda, monk, 88. 
 Haegsted (Eichstatt), 77. 
 Hamanaburch, 68. See Aman- 
 
 aburch. 
 Hamund, deacon, 81. 
 Hathovulf, monk, 81. 
 Hauck, Albert, 18. 
 Heathen, Heathens, see Pagans. 
 Heden, Thuringian chief, 65. 
 
112 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Hegesippus, 25. 
 
 Heretics, 74 f . 
 in Thuringia, 52, 65. 
 in Bavaria, 68, 70. 
 among the Franks, 72 f. 
 early Celtic missionaries in 
 Germany, 70, n. 4. 
 
 Hessians, the, 57, 62 ff., 67, 69. 
 
 Hilary, Roman archdeacon, 23, 
 n. 1. 
 
 Hugobert, duke of the Ba- 
 varians, 68. 
 
 Hunraed, opponent of Boni- 
 face, 65. 
 
 Iar, month, 51. 
 
 Illehere, monk, 81. 
 
 Incantations, 63. 
 
 Ine, king of the West Saxons 
 
 (688-725), 40 ff. 
 Infula, 41, n. 5. 
 Isidore of Seville, 13. 
 Italy, 51, 58, 70. 
 Itinerant preaching, practice 
 
 of, 28. 
 
 Jaffe, Philipp, 14. 
 Jerome, Saint, 72, n. 4. 
 John, bishop of Salzburg, 71. 
 
 Kent, 41. 
 
 Kylie, Edward, 16. 
 
 Lateran, the, 59. 
 Legerdemain, 63. 
 Levison, Wilhehn, 17. 
 Liutprand, king of the Lom- 
 bards (712-44), $h 70. 
 Lombards, the, 49, 51, 70. 
 
 Lul, successor of Boniface in 
 the bishopric of Mayence, 
 15, 17, 23, 78, 79 f., 88, 89, 
 92. 
 
 Lundenwich (London), 43, 48. 
 
 Macedonius, condemned, 75. 
 Magontia (Mayence), city, 74, 
 
 88, 89. 
 Mai, Angelo, 12. 
 Manitius, Max, 18. 
 Megingoz, bishop of Wiirz- 
 
 burg, 17, 23. 
 Migne, J. A., 16. 
 Milites, 49, n. 3. 
 Miracles, 88 f., 90 f., 92 f. 
 
 Nestorius, excommunicated, 
 
 75- 
 Nhutscelle (Nursling, Nut- 
 
 shalling), monastery, 13, 33, 
 
 41. 
 Nice, Council of (325), 74. 
 Nisan, month, 51. 
 Nithard, 14, 16. 
 Nun of Heidenheim, the, 11. 
 
 Oak of Jupiter, the, 63 f . 
 Odilo, duke of the Bavarians, 
 
 70 f. 
 Oilpress, simile of the, 23 f. 
 Orthorpf (Ohrdruf), monastery 
 
 at, 66. 
 Ostoraeche, district in Frisia, 
 
 82. 
 Otloh, monk of St. Emmeram, 
 
 17 f. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 113 
 
 Pagans, 19 f., 32, n. 1, 57, 66, 
 n. 2. 
 
 in Frisia, 44, 52 f., 80-87. 
 
 Hessians, 57 f., 63 f., 67. 
 
 Thuringians, 65, 67. 
 
 slaughter Boniface and his 
 companions, 82 ff. 
 
 quarrel over the booty, 84 ff. 
 
 chastised, 86 f . 
 
 heathen practices, 16, 63. 
 Pamphilus, 25. 
 Pilgrims' lodge, the, at Rome, 
 
 59- 
 
 Pippin, duke of Neustria (from 
 741) , of Austrasia (from 747) , 
 king of the Franks (751-68), 
 7*, 72, 73, 77 t>, 88, 89, n. 2, 
 92, 93- 
 
 Plebis, 47, n. 4, 62, n. 2. 
 
 Potthast, August, 18. 
 
 Radbod, king of the Frisians, 
 
 44, 52, 53- 
 Regina (Ratisbon), 71. 
 Rettberg, F. W., 18. 
 Rhine, the, 53, n. 1, 80, 89, n. 1. 
 Romans, 69. 
 
 Rome, 19, 25, 47, 58,67,69. 
 Rousseau, Johann Baptist, 18. 
 Ruthard, fictitious monk of 
 
 Hirschau, 19. 
 
 Sacrificial rites, 63. 
 
 Saint Michael, church of, at 
 
 Hamanaburch, 68. 
 Saint Peter, church of, at 
 
 Frideslare, 68. 
 Saint Peter, church of, at 
 
 Rome, 49, 59. 
 
 Saint Peter, oratory of, at 
 
 Gaesmere, 64. 
 Salzburch (Salzburg), 71. 
 Sapphira, 61, n. 3. 
 Saxons, of England, 43, 70. 
 Saxons, people of Germany, 57, 
 
 65, 77- 
 Schismatics, see Heretics. 
 Scirbald, deacon, 81. 
 Scythia, 14. 
 Selwyn, William, 18. 
 Serarius, Nicolaus, 14. 
 ' Seron,' 13, n. 6. 
 Sevenfold spirit, the, 62. 
 Slaves, 38. 
 Slavs, 14, 77. 
 
 Smith, Isaac Gregory, 16, 18. 
 Soissons, 77, n. 9. 
 Soldiers, the, 49, 58. 
 Springs, sacrifices to, 63. 
 Stephen II, pope (752-57), 62, 
 
 n. 1, 89, n. 2. 
 Stephen, successor of Winbert, 
 
 48. 
 Sturmi, abbot of Fulda, 11. 
 
 Theodosius I, the Great, Ro- 
 man emperor, 75. 
 
 Theodosius II, emperor of the 
 East (408-50), 75. 
 
 Theotbald, Thuringian chief, 
 
 65. 
 Thuringia, 51, 52, 64 f., 67, 69, 
 
 79. 
 
 Thuringi Christiani, 62, n. 2. 
 
 Ticena (Pavia), 70. 
 
 Tides, the, 92. 
 
 Torchtwine, opponent of Boni- 
 face, 65. 
 
H4 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Trecht (Utrecht), city, 44, 81, 
 88 f. 
 
 Trees, sacrifices to, 63. 
 
 Trithemius, Joannes, 19. 
 
 Turkey, 18, n. 1. 
 
 Tuscany, 24. 
 
 Tyssesburg (Tisbury), monas- 
 tery, 41. 
 
 Uncultivated fields, metaphor 
 
 of the, 51. 
 Utrecht, see Trecht. 
 
 Victims, inspection of, 63. 
 Vivilo, bishop of Passau, 71, 
 
 n. 2. 
 Voyages, 43, 46, 48 f. 
 
 on the Rhine, 53, 80, 88, 89. 
 
 on Aelmere, 80, 87 f. 
 
 Wacchar, monk, 81. 
 Waldburga, abbess of Heiden- 
 
 heim, 11, n. 1. 
 Walthere, priest, 81. 
 
 Westeraeche, district in Frisia, 
 
 82. 
 Willibald, author of the Life of 
 
 Boniface, n, 17. 
 Willibald, bishop of Eichstatt, 
 
 "1 77- 
 
 Willibrord, English missionary, 
 * apostle of the Frisians/ 
 
 53 n\ 
 Winbert, abbot of Nhutscelle, 
 
 33, 41, 42 f., 46. 
 Wintra, abbot of Tisbury, 41. 
 Wintrung, priest, 81. 
 Wirzaburch (Wiirzburg), 77. 
 World, nature of the, 76. 
 Wulfhard, abbot of Ad-Escan- 
 
 castre, 30, 32. 
 Wynnebald, abbot of Heiden- 
 
 heim, n. 
 
 Yeomen, 38. 
 
 Zacharias, pope (741-52), 14, 
 16, 62, n. 1, 76, n. 1. 
 

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