and paganism. His exhortations were read with congenial sentiments by the more fervent of the monks and clergy: the merit of converting the infidels, and the hope of obtaining the crown of martyrdom, taught them to despise the dangers and difficulties of the enterprize; and many zealous missionaries successively crossed the sea, and placed themselves at the disposal of the new apostle. No motives but those of the purest zeal could have supported them under the numerous privations and dangers, to which they were continually exposed. Bread, indeed, they were able to obtain from the gratitude of their proselytes, and the menaces of the Franks protected them from the insults of the vanquished barbarians, who refused to listen to their doctrine: but for clothing and almost every other necessary, they were compelled to depend on the casual benevolence of their distant friends, and the fruits of their labours were frequently destroyed, and their lives endangered, by the hostilities of the tribes, that still retained the religion and independence of their fathers. By one incursion no less than thirty churches were levelled with the ground (16).

The next object of the archbishop was to ensure a permanent supply of missionaries. With this view he erected several monasteries, and exhorted his associates to copy his example in their different districts. His first foundation was the small cell at Ordof; this was followed by the larger monasteries of Fritzlar, and Amelburg: and to them succeeded the rich and magnificent abbey of Fulda. An extensive forest, known by the name of Buchow, lay in the midst of Franconia, Hesse, Wettera

(16) St Bonif. ep. 91, 92.

via, and Thuringia. Through it ran the river Fuld, on the banks of which Boniface discovered a spot, adapted in his opinion to the purposes of a monastic life. A grant of the place was readily obtained from the piety of Carloman, the son of Pepin: Sturm, his beloved disciple, with seven associates, cleared the wood, and erected the necessary buildings; and Boniface himself taught them the strict observance of the rule of St Benedict. The abbey continued to flourish after the death of its founder, and within the space of a few years contained four hundred monks. Till its late secularization its superior was a prince of the empire, and stiled himself primate of all the abbots of Gaul and Germany (17).

For the education of the female sex, Boniface solicited the assistance of Tetta, the abbess of Winburn; and Lioba, with several of the sisters, readily devoted themselves to so meritorious an attempt. To these he afterwards joined several other English ladies, who were animated with similar views, and equally desirous to partake in the merit of the missionaries. Lioba was placed in the convent of Bischofesheim, on the Tuber; Tecla, at Chitzingen, in Franconia; Walpurge, at Heidenheim, near the Brentz; and Chunihild and Chunitrude were sent, the former into Thuringia, the latter into Bavaria (18).

As Boniface advanced in age, he found himself unequal to the administration of so extensive a diocese. With the permission of the pontiff, and the consent of Carloman, he established four episcopal sees at Erford, Buraburg, Aichstad, and Wurtzburg; and instrusted

(17) Vit. Bonif. p. 271, 272, 277. Ep. 142.

(18) Othloni. Vit. St Bonif. apud Canis. ant. Lect. tom. iii. Annal. Bened. tom. ii. p. 72.

them to the care of four of the most zealous among his associates, Adelhard, Wintan, Willibald, and Burchard (19).

2. But the Anglo-Saxon did not confine his pastoral solicitude to the nations, whom by his preaching he had converted to the christian faith. In quality of apostolic legate, he visited Bavaria, and was received by the Duke. Odilo with respect and kindness. The Bavarian church was then governed by Vivilo, a prelate ordained for that mission by the sovereign pontiff. Boniface judged that a greater number of pastors was necessary to accelerate the progress of the gospel, and divided the country into four smaller dioceses. Vivilo was obliged to content himself with the bishopric of Passau; John, an Anglo-Saxon, was ordained for that of Saltzburg; and Goibald and Erembert were placed in the churches of Ratisbon and Fresingen (20).

During the preceding century, the ambition of the mayors of the palace had dissolved the bands of civil subordination, and ecclesiastical polity, in the empire of the Franks. The regulations of the canons were openly infringed; the highest dignities of the church were usurped by powerful and rapacious laymen; and the clerical and monastic bodies were ignorant of the duties of their profession. To recal the severity of the ancient discipline was the great ambition of Boniface and Carloman, whose piety readily listened to his suggestions, ordered the bishops of Austrasia to obey the summons of the legate. They met him successively in council, and respect

(19) St Bonif. ep. 131, 132.

(20) Vit. St Bonif. auct. Willibal. p. 274.

fully subscribed to the canons, which he dictated (21). Pepin imitated the zeal of his brother; a synod of three and twenty bishops assembled at Soissons; and by the care of Boniface, an uniformity of discipline was introduced throughout all the churches of the Franks.

An important revolution marks the history of this period. The sceptre had long since slipt from the feeble grasp of the Merovingian kings into the hands of Charles Martel and his sons. These princes at first contented themselves with the power, without the title of royalty: and, on the calends of May, the hereditary monarch of the Franks was annually exhibited to the veneration of his subjects. But Pepin soon dismissed the dangerous pageant: Childeric, the last king of the race of Clovis, was shorn in the monastery of Sithiu; and Boniface, if we may believe a host of ancient writers, crowned the mayor of the palace, according to the wish or the advice of pope Zachary. No point of history is, perhaps better attested than the share, which the pontiff and his legate bore in this transaction (22:) yet several French critics have ventured to call it in question; and their rational scepticism may be excused or justified by the silence of Zachary and Boniface, and of Anastasius and Willibald, their ancient biographers.

Towards the close of his life the archbishop fixed his residence in the city of Mentz; and with the consent of Pepin and the pontiff ordained to succeed him his disciple Lullus, formerly a monk of Malmesbury. It was his wish to resume the labours of his youth, and spend his last

(21) Int. epist. St Bonif. p. 110, 112.

(22) See Eginhard, Annales Laureshamenses, Loiselani, Euldenses, Bertiniani, &c. apud Le Cointe, Annal. tom. iv.

breath in the conversion of the pagans. Attended by one bishop, three priests, three deacons, four monks, and forty-one laymen, he descended the Rhine, and penetrated to the centre of East-Friesland. By his exhortation some thousands of the idolaters were induced to abandon the altars of the gods, and to submit to the rite of baptism. After a short delay a general assembly of the neophytes was summoned to receive the sacrament of confirmation on the vigil of Pentecost; and in a tent in the plain of Dockum the archbishop waited the arrival of his converts. At the break of day he was informed that a body of Frisians, completely armed, and of hostile aspect, were rapidly approaching. The laymen prepared to defend their lives: but Boniface, going out of his tent, bade them sheathe their swords, and receive with patience the crown of martyrdom. He had scarcely spoken, when the barbarians rushed upon them, and immolated the whole company to their fury. But their avarice was disappointed: and instead of the treasures which they expected, they obtained only a few books, with the use of which they were unacquainted. At the news, the christian Frisians were fired with indignation they assembled in great numbers; and within three days revenged the death of their teacher in the blood of his murderers (23).

(23) Vit. S. Bonif. p. 279. The benefits, which Germany received from the ministry of Boniface, have not screened him from the severity of criticism; and the gratitude of Mosheim has induced him to draw a disadvantageous portrait of the apostle of his country. If we may believe him, Boniface often employed fraud and violence to multiply the number of his converts; and his own letters prove him to have been a man of an arrogant and