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Charlemagne (Charles the Great) was the son of Pepin III, King of the Franks
© Mary Evans Picture Library
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Warwickshire and the Eighth Century missions to Germany |
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Early years in Mercia
The roots of the Mercian missions to Germany lay in the new monasteries established in the West of England in the Seventh Century. It was in these foundations that young noblemen learnt about the papacy in Rome and the pagan Saxons to the east of the Rhine. In the Midlands, King Peada and his brother Wulfhere, sons of the great Saxon pagan king, Penda, led the conversion of their people to Christianity in c. 653. Religious affiliation was a political matter, so many noble families converted with them to show their loyalty. Monasteries and churches began to appear and flourish under royal and noble patronage.
Reconstructed Anglo-Saxon dwelling
© St Edmundsbury Borough Council / West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village Trust |
Around 50 years later, from this noble Christian milieu, three boys from Warwickshire named Lull, Burchard and Denehard met at the monastery of Inkberrow. Like many noble children they were committed to monastic foundations by their families as “child oblates”, so that they could receive a literate education and create a spiritual bond between their families and God. Family ties became as much a part of the Church as they were part of the political world.
The three friends were inspired by what they heard of the faith and the past of their people, and in the coming years were to settle in the distant lands of their purported ancestors. But first Lull left his friends for the great monastery of Malmesbury. Malmesbury, and particularly its abbot Aldhelm (d. 709), had promoted Roman Christian practices over the Celtic practices rife in the North. Through Aldhelm’s network of friends the monastery also had strong connections with Northumbria and Wessex. Whilst in Malmesbury, Lull learnt more about Roman orthodoxy and developed a love of convoluted Aldhelmian Latin poetry.
Words: James Palmer
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