jealousy was provoked afresh by the measures which pope John IX. took for providing Moravia with a localised hierarchy instead of its former missionary establishment. Hatto, archbishop of Mentz, and Theotmar of Salzburg, with their suffragans, loudly remonstrated against the change; but the strife was ended by the fall of the Moravian kingdom in 908.

IV. The conquests of Charlemagne had brought the Franks into close neighbourhood with the northern nations, which were now so formidable to the more civilised inhabitants of other countries. Charlemagne, it is said, refrained from placing his territory beyond the Elbe under any of the bishopricks which he erected, because he intended to establish in those parts an archiepiscopal see which should serve as a centre for the evangelisation of the north. He built a church at Hamburg, and committed it to a priest who was exempt from episcopal jurisdiction; but the prosecution of the scheme was broken off by the emperor's death." The attention of his son, however, was soon drawn by other circumstances towards Nordalbingia. Policy, as well as religion, recommended the conversion of the Northmen; for, so long as the Saxons were only separated by the Elbe from those who adhered to the religion of their forefathers, there was a continual temptation for them to renounce the Christianity which had been forced on them, and with it the subjection of which it was the token.h

Disputes as to the throne of Denmark between Harold and Godfrid led both parties to seek the countenance of Louis the Pious. The emperor was struck with the importance of using this circumstance as an opening for the introduction of Christianity among the Danes; and Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims, was willing to withdraw for a time from the enjoyment of his dignity, that he might extend the faith among these barbarians. With the consent of Louis, the archbishop went to Rome, where he obtained a commission from Paschal, authorising himself and Halitgar, afterwards bishop of Cambray, to preach the Gospel to the northern nations, and directing them to refer all difficult questions to the apostolic see. The mission was resolved on by the diet of Attigny (the

e Hard. vi. 482-6; Ginzel, 99.

f Schröckh, xxi. 421; Giesel. II. i. 357.

Ludov. Pius, in Patrol. cxviii. 1033; Rimbert, Vita S. Anskarii, 12, ap. Pertz, ii.; Adam. Bremens. i. 15, 17, ib. vii.

h Münter, i. 239.

i Ermold. Nigell. ap. Pertz, ii. 5023; Flodoard. ii. 19 (Patrol. cxxxv. 131). k Rimbert, 13. The letter, which is neither in Hardouin nor in the Patrologia,' is given in the original by Münter, i. 244.

same diet which witnessed the penance of Louis)TM in 822; and in that year Ebbo and his companions set out in company with some ambassadors of Harold," Welanao (now Münschdorf, near Itzehoe) being assigned by the emperor for their head-quarters. Little is known of their proceedings, but it appears that they preached with much success, and that Ebbo represented the spiritual and the temporal benefits of Christianity to Harold so effectually as to induce him to appear in 826 at Ingelheim, with his queen and a large train of attendants, and to express a desire for baptism, which they received in the church of St. Alban at Mentz. Louis was sponsor for Harold, Judith for the queen, Lothair for their son, and the members of their train found sponsors of suitable rank among the Franks. The emperor now resolved to send a fresh mission to the Danes; but the barbarism of the Northmen, their strong hostility to Christianity, and the savage character of their paganism, with its sacrifices of human victims, deterred all from venturing on the hazards of such an expedition, until Wala of Corbie named Anskar, one of his monks, as a person suited for the work."

Anskar, "the Apostle of the North," was born about the year 801, and at an early age entered the monastery of Corbie, where he studied under Adelhard and Paschasius Radbert. He became himself a teacher in the monastery, and, after having for a time held a like office in the German Corbey, resumed his position in the parent society." From childhood he had been remarkable for a devout and enthusiastic character. He saw visions, and it is said by his biographer that all the important events of his life were foreshown to him either in this manner or by an inward illumination, so that he even waited for such direction as to the course which he should take. The death of his mother, when he

X

was five years old, affected him deeply, and he was weaned from the love of childish sports by a vision in which she appeared in company with some bright female forms. He felt himself entangled in mire, and unable to reach them, when the chief of the band, whom he knew to be the Blessed Virgin, asked him whether he wished to rejoin his mother, and told him that, if so, he must forsake such vanities as are offensive to the saints." His worldly affections were afterwards further subdued by the tidings of Charlemagne's death, which deeply impressed on him the instability of all earthly greatness. In another vision, he fancied that his spirit was led out of the body by two venerable persons, whom he recognised as St. Peter and St. John. They first plunged him into purgatory, where he remained for three days in misery which seemed to last a thousand years. He was then conducted into a region where the Divine glory, displayed in the east, streamed forth on multitudes of adoring saints in transcendant brightness, which was yet not dazzling but delightful to the eye; and from the source of inaccessible majesty, in which he could discern no shape, he heard a voice of blended power and sweetness "Go, and thou shalt return to Me with the crown of martyrdom." 99 y At a later time, the Saviour appeared to him, exhorted him to a full confession of his sins, and assured him that they were forgiven." The assurance was afterwards repeated to him, and in answer to his inquiry, "Lord, what wouldest thou have me to do?" he was told, "Go, and preach to the Gentiles the word of God."a

When the northern mission was proposed to Anskar, he at once declared his readiness to undertake it. He adhered to his resolution, although many endeavoured to dissuade him, while Wala disclaimed the intention of enforcing the task on him by his monastic obligation to obedience; and his behaviour while preparing himself for the work by retirement and devotion had such an effect on Autbert, a monk of noble birth and steward of the monastery, that he offered himself as a companion.b

C

The missionaries could not prevail on any servant to attend them. On joining Harold they were treated with neglect by him and his companions, who, as Anskar's biographer says, did not yet know how the ministers of God ought to be honoured. But when they had sailed down the Rhine as far as Cologne, the bishop of that city, Hadebold, out of compassion, bestowed on them

vessel with two cabins, and as Harold found it convenient to take possession of one of these, he was brought into closer intercourse with the missionaries, who soon succeeded in inspiring him with a new interest in their undertaking. They fixed the centre of their operations at Hadeby, on the opposite bank of the Schley to Sleswick, and laboured among both the Christians and the heathens of the Danish border. Anskar established a school for boys-the pupils being partly given to him, and partly bought for the purpose of training them up in the Christian faith. But Harold had offended many of his adherents by doing homage to Louis and by his change of religion; they were further alienated when, in his zeal for the advancement of his new faith, he destroyed temples and even resorted to persecution; and the opposite party took advantage of the feeling. Harold was expelled, and retired to a county in Frisia which the emperor had bestowed on him; and Anskar was obliged to leave Hadeby. Autbert had already been compelled by severe illness to relinquish the mission, and died at Corbie in 829.

A.D. 828-9.

A new opening soon presented itself to Anskar. It would appear that some knowledge of the Gospel had already reached Sweden— partly, it is said, by means of intercourse which the inhabitants of that remote country had carried on with the Byzantine empire. In 829 the court of Louis was visited by ambassadors from Sweden, who, in addition to their secular business, stated that their countrymen were favourably disposed towards Christianity, and requested the emperor to supply them with teachers. Louis bethought himself of Anskar, who agreed to undertake the work-regarding it as a fulfilment of his visions. His place with Harold was supplied by another; and Wala assigned him a monk named Witmar as a companion. The vessel in which the missionaries embarked was attacked by pirates, who plundered them of almost everything, including the presents designed by Louis for the Swedish king. But they were determined to persevere, and, after many hardships, made their way to the northern capital, Birka or Sigtuna, on the lake Mälar. The king, Biorn, received them graciously, and, with the consent of the national assembly, gave them permission to preach freely. Their ministrations were welcomed with delight by a number of Christian captives, who had

d See Bosworth, note in Alfred's Works, ii. 47-8.

e Rimb. 8; Münter, i. 261. Harold afterwards apostatised. Dahlmann, i.

44.

f Schröckh, xxi. 320. Kruse, St. Anschar,' Anh. E., Altona, 1823.

Rimb. 10; Münter, i. 279. See Kruse, Anh. NN. Birka seems to mean a landing-place.

A.D. 831.

long been deprived of the offices of religion; and among their converts was Herigar, governor of the district, who built a church on his estate. After having laboured for a year and a half, Anskar and his companion returned with a letter from Biorn to Louis, who was greatly pleased with their success, and resolved to place the northern mission on a new footing, agreeably to his father's intentions. An archiepiscopal see was to be established at Hamburg, and Anskar was consecrated for it at Ingelheim by Drogo of Metz, with the assistance of Ebbo and many other bishops. He then repaired to Rome, where Gregory IV. bestowed on him the pall, with a bull authorising him to labour for the conversion of the northern nations, in conjunction with Ebbo, whose commission from Paschal was still in force. Louis conferred on him the monastery of Turholt (Thouroult, between Bruges and Ypres), to serve at once as a source of maintenance and as a resting-place more secure than the northern archbishoprick.m

Ebbo, although diverted from missionary work by his other (and in part far less creditable) occupations, had continued to take an interest in the conversion of the north, and appears at this time to have made a second expedition to the scene of his old labours." But as neither he nor Anskar could give undivided attention to the Swedish mission, it was now agreed that this should be committed to a relation of Ebbo named Gauzbert, who was consecrated to the episcopate and assumed the name of Simon. To him Ebbo transferred the settlement at Welanao, with the intention that it should serve the same purposes for which Turholt had been given to Anskar.o

Anskar entered with his usual zeal on the new sphere which had been assigned to him. He built at Hamburg a church, a monastery, and a college. According to the system which he had followed at Hadeby, he bought a number of boys with a view to educating them as Christians; some of them were sent to Turholt, while others remained with him.

But after a time Hamburg

do not appear in the Patrologia,' cxviii. 1035, or in the renewal of the grant by Sergius II., A.D. 846 (ib. cxxix. 997).

Ludov. Praeceptum, Patrol. cxviii. 1033; Rimb. 12.

n Schröckh, xxi. 324-5. • Rimb. 14. P Ib. 15; Münter, i. 290.

Dahlmann (n. on Rimb. c. 17) places this in 837; Gfrörer (Karol. i. 125-6), in 842; Schröckh (xxi. 325), Münter (i. 293), and Neander (v. 382), in 845.