Near the close of the century, in the year 690, Willibrord, by birth an Anglo-Saxon, accompanied with eleven of his countrymen, namely, Suidbert, Wigbert, Acca, Wilibald, Unibald, Lebwin, the two Hewalds, Werenfrid, Marcellin, and Adalbert, crossed over to Batavia, lying opposite to Britain, with a view to convert the Frieslanders to Christianity. Then they went, in the year 692, to Fostelandia, which most writers suppose to be the island of Heligoland: being driven thence by Radbod, king of the Frieslanders, who put Wigbert, one of the company, to death, they wandered over Cimbria and the adjacent parts of Denmark. Returning to Friesland, in the year 693, they attacked the superstition of the country with better success. Willibrord was now created by the Roman pontiff, archbishop of Wilteburg, and died, at an advanced age, among the Batavians: while his associates spread a knowledge of Christianity among the Westphalians, and other neighbouring nations.2

1

§ 4. Upon these and other expeditions, undertaken for extending Christianity, a man strictly guided by the truth cannot speak in one unvarying tone of commendation. That some of the missionaries were men of honest simplicity and piety, no one can doubt. But most of them show manifest proofs of various sinful passions, as

him Coloman, Gallon, and Arneval, presbyters, Donatus, a deacon, and seven others, he penetrated into Franconia, which was wholly pagan, and took residence at Herbipolis, or Würtzburg. Finding their prospects good, Kilian, Coloman, and Totuan, went to Italy, to obtain the papal sanction to their enterprise; which having readily obtained from Conon (who was pope eleven months, ending Sept. 687), they returned to Würtzburg, converted and baptized Gosbert, the duke, and a large number of his subjects. But afterwards, persuading the duke that it was unlawful for him to have his brother's wife, Geilana, she seized an occasional absence of her husband, and murdered all the missionaries. This cruel act is placed in 696. But the massacre did not prevent the progress of Christianity; for the duchess became deranged, the assassins repented; and St. Kilian became the tutelar saint of Würtzburg. Tr.]

1

[Since called Utrecht. Tr.]

2 Alcuin, Vita Willebrordi, in Jo. Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Bened. sæc. iii. p. 604, &c. [559, &c. ed. Venice.] Jo. Mölleri, Cimbria Litterata, ii. 980, &c. [Beda, H. E. v. 11, 12. This famous missionary was born in Northumbria, about 659, of pious parents. Educated in the monastery of Ripon, at the age of twenty, he went to Ireland, where he studied twelve years. At the age of thirtythree he commenced his mission, and sailed up the Rhine to Utrecht, in the dominions of Radbod, the pagan king of the Frisians. Soon after he went to France, and by advice of king Pipin, visited Italy, and obtained

the sanction of pope Sergius to his enter prise. Returning to Utrecht, he in vain attempted the conversion of Radbod and his subjects. Therefore, proceeding northwards, he landed at an island called Fositeland, which was on the confines of Denmark and Friesland, and so sacred, that its frait, its animals, and even its waters, were holy, and whoever profaned them was to be punished with death. Willibrord and his company wholly disregarded the sacredness of the place, violated the laws, were arraigned before Radbod, who cast lots on their des tiny, by which one was doomed to death, and the others dismissed. They now pene trated into Denmark. On their return to the confines of France, Pipin, who in 695 had vanquished Radbod, sent Willibrord again to Italy, to be consecrated archbishop of Utrecht. Pope Sergius now gave him the name of Clement. Returning clothed with dignity, his friend Pipin aided him in his work; and for about fifty years from his leaving England he laboured, and with much success, as the apostle of the Fries landers. He died about 740, at the age of 81. Thus far Alcuin's narrative goes. Of his followers, it is said that the two Hewalds (the white and the Unk Hewald), were put to death by a Saxon king, and their bodies cast into the Rhine; that Suidbert preached to the Bructeri near Cologne, and at last at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, where he died A.D. 713; that Willbald became bishop of Eichstadt in Bavaria; and Marcellinus, bishop of the country along the Issel. Tr.]

arrogance, avarice, and cruelty; and having received authority from the Roman pontiff to exercise their sacred functions among the barbarians, they did not so much collect holy congregations of devout Christians, as procure for themselves a people, among whom they might act the part of sovereigns and lords. I cannot, therefore, strongly censure those who suspect that some of these monks, being desirous of ruling, concealed for a time their vicious propensities under the veil of religion, and imposed upon themselves various hardships, that they might acquire the rank and honours of bishops and archbishops.

§ 5. Of the Jews, very few, if any, voluntarily embraced Christianity. But the Christians compelled many of them, in different places, by means of penalties, to make an outward profession of belief in Christ. The emperor Heraclius, being incensed against them, as is reported, by the influence of Christian doctors, male havoc of the miserable nation; and ordered vast numbers of them to be dragged reluctantly to baptism. The kings of Spain and Gaul had no hesitation to do the same, although even the Roman pontiffs were indignant.2 Such were the evils that resulted from ignorance of true Christian principles, and from the age's barbarism.

CHAPTER II.

THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND.*

§ 1. Augustine despatched on a mission into England-§ 2. Its partial failure§3. Christianity established in Kent -§ 4. Conversion of Northumbria, and eventual triumph of the Roman party-§ 5. Conversion of Mercia§ 6. Conversion of Essex-§ 7. Conversion of East Anglia§ 8. Conversion of Wessex - § 9. Con

version of Sussex.

§ 1. THE importance of England, from political power, extension of language, literary eminence, and primitive ecclesiastical polity, demands a particular account of her conversion, by way of supplement to notices of the prosperous events of the seventh century. The known history of her Christian profession begins, indeed, at the close of the preceding age, when Augustine, the Roman monk, obtained a permanent footing in Kent. This devoted and indefatigable missionary had been prior of the monastery of St. Andrew, at Rome. Gregory I., or the Great, then pope, had meditated a mission into England, during several years, and being unable to undertake it in person, he selected

Eutychius, Annales Ecclesiæ Alexandr. t. ii. 212, &c.

[See some authorities on this subject, quoted by Baronius, Annales Eccles, ad. ann. 614, sub fin. t. viii. 239, &c. Tr.]

* SOAMES.

3 Augustine's commission from the pope is dated 596, his arrival in Kent, 597. Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i. 89.

Augustine for the honourable enterprise. There were several reasons obviously encouraging expectation of success. Britain had been converted early, though the precise period is unascertainable, and a flourishing church had been found there by the pagan Saxons. Under the weight of their long hostilities, and heathen zeal, it had necessarily fallen; but still the Christian Britons were not extinct. They remained unsubdued in Wales, and in the furthest portions of Western England. Probably they remained also intermingled with their Saxon conquerors, through every district of South Britain. But Gregory chiefly calculated upon success, from a favourable opening at the Kentish court. Ethelbert, king of Kent, the Bretwalda, or admitted chief among the Anglo-Saxon monarchs of his day, had espoused Bertha, daughter of Cherebert, king of Paris, on condition of allowing her to continue in the profession of Christianity. She, probably, soon undermined the pagan prejudices of her husband.' Augustine, accordingly, seems to have found little difficulty in converting Ethelbert, and in giving a Christian face to the petty kingdom of Kent.

§ 2. But his views took a much wider range, though not entirely from missionary zeal. His employer, Gregory, was anxious to organise a British church, strictly conformable to that of Rome. He did not, indeed, wish to force the Roman ritual upon the insular Christians. Augustine had his express permission to use any other that might seem more eligible.2 The missionary was, however, meant for primate of Britain,3 and all the island was to be rendered conformable with Roman usages. Now these objects were obviously of no easy attainment. The Welsh and West of England Britons had bishops of their own, [retained the ancient method of computing Easter, in ignorance of the newer one now in use,] and varied in some other particulars from the religious habits of Rome. Augustine had sufficient influence to obtain two conferences with their prelacy, and some others, to represent their opinions, upon the borders of Worcestershire. But disappointment closed both interviews. Exception was taken to his haughty manners; and the Britons had evidently no thought of surrendering their independence or peculiarities. At his death, which appears to have happened shortly after, Augustine had

Gregory writes to her that she ought to have done so. (Ep. ix. 59.) He probably knew that she had done so.

2 Bed. H. E. i. 27.

3 Whether this was formally proposed to the British Christians, does not appear. They were, however, aware of Augustine's claim, and peremptorily repelled it: Neque illum pro archiepiscopo habituros esse respondebant. Bede, H. E. ii. 2.

"There are many traces of a connexion having existed between the Christians in that part of the world" (the south of France) "and those of Asia Minor. It has been supposed that Polycarp sent missionaries

into Gaul." Burton's Hist. of the Christ. Ch. Lond. 1838, p. 237. [The arguments that have been used to prove the independent Oriental origin of the British church frem the Paschal computation and semicircular tonsure, vanish before careful criticism. The usage on both these points differed as much from that of the Eastern as from that of the Western churches. For the former, they followed the ancient use of Rome, and the latter practice may have been indigenous, though it was ascribed to Simon Magus by its opponents, and to St. John by the Britons themselves. Ed.]

effected little more than the organisation of a church in Kent, in communion with that of Rome.1

§ 3. Even this contracted establishment soon appeared on the very verge of extinction. Ethelbert, in declining age, lost Bertha, his Christian wife, and then espoused a younger female. When he died himself, his own son, Eadbald, married the widow, and eluded Christian objections to such indecency, by relapsing into paganism. Laurentius, who succeeded Augustine in the see of Canterbury, not only found expostulation hopeless, but also saw very little prospect of retaining any hold upon the Kentish population. He therefore made preparations for a withdrawal to the continent. When all was ready, he tried a last experiment upon the semi-savage prince, by submitting to such a flagellation, as left marks upon his shoulders. These he exhibited to the king of Kent, assuring him that the chastisement had come from no meaner hand than that of St. Peter himself, who had, last night, thus added pungency to severe animadversions upon his proposed dereliction of duty. His hearer was no match for this. He relinquished his incestuous connexion, became a Christian again, and saved the Kentish church.2

§ 4. A sister of his, named Ethelburga, or Tate, was married to Edwin, king of Northumbria, and went into the north, as her mother, Bertha, did into Kent, under an express stipulation of allowance in the profession of Christianity. By her influence, aided by the dexterity of Paulinus, her principal chaplain, the prince and court of Northumbria became Christian; an example which was imitated extensively by the population. A successful pagan invasion, however, drove Ethelburga with Paulinus back into Kent, and gave to the country its former heathen appearance. Its final adoption of Christianity flowed from the exertions of Oswald, one of the old royal family, who had been educated in Scotland, among members of the ancient British church. He sent into that country for some one to conduct a mission, and Aidan, a distinguished monk of Iona, answered the summons. For him an episcopal see was founded at Lindisfarne, and his high character was fully maintained in Northumbria. It was under this bishop and his two admirable successors, Finan and Colman, that the north of England was converted to Christianity. All the three were not only unconnected with Rome, but also at variance with her about Easter and other matters. Her influence in that portion of the island was finally established at the council or conference. of Whitby, in 664. This was convened by means of Oswy, king of Northumbria, who had married Eanfleda, daughter of Edwin and Ethelburga, but educated in Kent, and immoveably attached to the Roman usages. Oswy's education had been among the adherents of

1

[Augustine's death may be fixed in 604 or 605. Wharton argues convincingly for 604. Ed.]

Bed. ii. 6. [The story has an air of fable. See Hook, Archbishops of Cant. vol. i. c. ii. Ed.]

3 Bede, ii. 9.

4 Paulinus was said to have once spent thirty-six days in catechizing and baptizing upon one of the royal domains. The king and queen were with him. Bede, ii. 14. 5 Ib. ii. 20. Ib. iii. 3.

the ancient British church, in his native Northumbria, and he long withstood his wife's example; probably, also, her importunities. At length he seems to have been wearied out with opposition, and anxious only for an opening through which he could decently give way. On hearing, accordingly, at Whitby, that St. Peter, who keeps the keys of heaven, commanded the Roman Easter, Oswy said that he must not disobey him, for fear of having the door shut when he should require admittance.1

§ 5. Still more free than even Northumbria from obligations to Roman missionary zeal, was the great kingdom of Mercia, or all the centre of England. Its king, Peada, sought a wife from the court of his northern neighbour. But the Northumbrian family would only receive such a proposal, on condition of the suitor's conversion to Christianity. These terms being accepted, Peada renounced paganism, and admitted a prelate from Northumbria, as the religious head of his people. The next three bishops of Mercia were all members of the ancient British church, and the whole middle of England was thus planted with a Christian population, by means of missionaries in actual opposition to Rome.

§ 6. To the ancient British church also did the kingdom of Essex really owe its conversion. This district had nominally become Christian by means of Ethelbert, the Kentish sovereign, whose name has become so famous from its connexion with Augustine. But the prospect of an escape from paganism then proved no more than a deceitful gleam. Ethelbert's influence having ceased at his death, Essex immediately relapsed into its former heathenism. It was not until Sigebert, a subsequent sovereign of the country, had been converted at the Northumbrian court, that this portion of England, eventually distinguished as the site of London, was rendered permanently Christian.3 Thus Northumbria, the religious pupil of anti-Roman Scotland [and Ireland], again stepped forward as the successful enemy of Anglo-Saxon paganism. Rome had tried in vain. The Gospel's triumph was reserved for native zeal.

§ 7. The counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, then forming the kingdom of East Anglia, found their most zealous and effective missionary in Fursey, an Irish monk. Ireland long remained free from papal influence; and records illustrative of her ancient religion, prove its general coincidence with the Protestantism of later times. Fursey's evangelical labours in East Anglia, therefore, connect the conversion of that country rather with a native mission, than with that which Gregory planned.

§ 8. To the south of the Thames, Anglo-Saxon Christianity chiefly came from Rome. Not only was it entirely so with Kent, but in

1 Bede, iii. 25.

2 Ib. iii. 21.

3 Ib. iii. 22. Fursey appears to have arrived in England about 633, to have gone over into France in 648, and to have died at Mazières, in Ponthieu, in 650. Note to Smith's Bede, iii.

19.

See Abp. Ussher's Discourse of the Religion anciently professed by the Irish and British; republished, with the archbishop's Answer to a Jesuit, and other tracts unl popery, by the University of Cambridge, in 8vo. in 1835.