was attacked by a great force of Northmen, under Eric, king of Jutland. The archbishop exerted himself in encouraging the inhabitants to hold out until relief should arrive; but the assailants were too strong to be long resisted; the city was sacked and burnt, and Anskar was obliged to flee. He had lost his church, his monastery, and his library, among the treasures of which was a magnificent bible," the gift of the emperor; some relics bestowed on the church by Ebbo were all that he was able to rescue. Yet, reduced as he was to necessity, he repeated Job's words of resignation-"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" Leutbert bishop of Bremen, who had before looked on the new archbishoprick with jealousy, refused to entertain him, and he was indebted for a refuge to the charity of a widow named Ikia, of Ramsloh, where he gradually collected some of his scattered followers. About the same time Gauzbert was expelled from Sweden by a popular rising, in which his nephew Notbert was killed.t A D. 842. X To add to Anskar's distress, his monastery of Turholt, being within that portion of the empire which fell to Charles the Bald on the death of Louis, was bestowed by the new sovereign on a layman." His monks, finding no means of subsistence, were obliged to leave him; but he found a patron in Louis of Germany, who founded a monastic establishment for him at Ramsloh, and resolved to bestow on him the bishoprick of Bremen, which fell vacant by the death of Leutbert. Anskar was himself unwilling to take any active part in the matter, lest he should be exposed to charges of rapacity, and some canonical objections arose; but these were overcome with the consent of the bishops who were interested. The union of the dioceses was sanctioned by the council of Mentz (the same at which Gottschalk was condemned) in 848; and, sixteen years after it had virtually taken effect, it was confirmed by Nicolas I., who renewed the gift of the pall to Anskar, and appointed him legate for the evangelisation of the Swedes, the Danes, the Slavons, and other nations of the north.a A.D. 864. A.D. 848 853. In the mean time Anskar had been actively employed. Repeated political missions from Louis of Germany had made him known to the Danish king Horic or Eric, who had long been one of the most formidable chiefs of the northern devastators, and had led the force which burnt and plundered Hamburg. Anskar gained a powerful influence over the king, who, although it does not appear that he was himself baptised, granted the missionaries leave to preach throughout his dominions, and to build a church at Sleswick. The work of conversion went on rapidly. Danish traders who had received baptism at Hamburg or Dorstadt now openly professed Christianity, and Christian merchants from other countries ventured more freely into Denmark, so that Eric found the wealth of his kingdom increased by the toleration which he had granted. Many of the converts, however, put off their baptism until they felt the approach of death; while it is said that some heathens, after their life had been despaired of, and after they had invoked their own gods in vain, on entreating the aid of Christ were restored to perfect health. After the withdrawal of Gauzbert, Sweden remained for seven years without any Christian teacher, until Anskar sent into the country a priest and hermit named Ardgar, who preached with great effect-his efforts, it is said, being powerfully seconded by judgments which befell all who had been concerned in the expulsion of Gauzbert. Herigar had throughout remained faithful, notwithstanding all that he had to endure from his unbelieving countrymen; and on his deathbed he was comforted by the ministrations of Ardgar. But Ardgar longed to return to his hermitage, and after a time relinquished the mission. Gauzbert, now bishop of Osnaburg, whom Anskar requested to resume his labours in Sweden, declined, on the ground that another preacher would be more likely to make a favourable impression on the people, than one whom they had already ejected from their country. Anskar himself, therefore, resolved to undertake the work-being encouraged by a vision in which his old superior Adelhard appeared to him. He was accompanied by envoys from Eric to king Olof, of Sweden, and bore a letter of warm recommendation from the Danish king. But on landing in Sweden he found the state of things very unpromising. A short time before this a Swede had arisen in the national assembly, declaring that he was charged with a communication from the gods, who b Rimb. 24; Schröckh, xxi. 328-333. e Ib. 19. g Ib. 25. f Ib. 20. had bidden him tell his countrymen that, if they wished to enjoy a continuance of prosperity, they must revive with increased zeal the ancient worship, and must exclude all other religions. "If," the celestial message graciously concluded, "you are not content with us, and wish to have more gods, we all agree to admit your late king Eric into our number." A great effect had followed on this a temple had been built to Eric, and was crowded with worshippers; and such was the excitement of the people that Anskar's friends advised him to desist from his enterprise, as it could not but be fruitless and might probably cost him his life. He was, however, resolved to persevere. He invited the king to dine with him, and, having propitiated him by gifts, requested permission to preach. Olof replied that, as some former preachers of Christianity had been forcibly driven out of the country, he could not give the required licence without consulting the gods and obtaining the sanction of the popular assembly; "for," says Anskar's biographer, "in that nation public affairs are determined less by the king's power than by the general consent of the people.”h A lot was cast in an open field, and was favourable to the admission of the Christian teachers. The assembly was swayed by the speech of an aged member, who said that the power of the Christians' God had often been experienced, especially in dangers at sea; thatmany of his countrymen had formerly been baptised at Dorstadt; why then, he asked, should they refuse, now that it was brought to their own doors, that which they had before sought from a distance? The assembly of another district also decided for the admission of Christianity; and the feeling in favour of the new religion was strengthened by miracles performed on an expedition which Olof undertook to Courland. Converts flocked in, churches were built, and Anskar found himself at liberty to return to Denmark, leaving Gumbert, a nephew of Gauzbert, at the head of the Swedish mission.k During the archbishop's absence, Eric had fallen in a bloody battle with a pagan faction, which had used his encouragement of Christianity as a pretext for attacking him. The most powerful of Anskar's other friends had shared the fate of their king; the greater part of Denmark was now in the hands of the enemy; and Eric II., who had succeeded to a part of his father's territory, was under the influence of Hovi, earl of Jutland, who persuaded him. that all the late misfortunes were due to the abandonment of the h Rimb. 26. Cf. Ad. Brem. Descr. Insul. Aquil. c. 22, ap. Pertz, vii. i Rimb. 27. k Ib. 28, 30. old national religion. The church at Sleswick was shut up, its priest was expelled, and the Christians were cruelly persecuted.m Anskar could only betake himself to prayer for a change from this unhappy state of things, when he unexpectedly received a letter from the young king, professing as warm an interest in the Gospel as that which his father had felt, and inviting the missionaries to resume their labours. Hovi had fallen into disgrace, and was banished. The progress of Christianity was now more rapid than ever. The church at Sleswick was for the first time allowed to have a bell; another church was founded at Ripe, the second city of Denmark, on the coast opposite to Britain, and Rimbert, a native of the neighbourhood of Turholt, who had grown up under Anskar's tuition, was appointed its pastor." Anskar's labours were continued until the sixty-fourth year of his age, and the thirty-fourth of his episcopate. Although the progress of the Swedish mission was retarded by the death or the withdrawal of some who were employed in it, he was able to provide for its continuance, chiefly by means of clergy of Danish birth, whom he had trained up in the seminary at Ramsloh. Amidst his trials and disappointments he frequently consoled himself by remembering the assurance which Ebbo, when bishop of Hildesheim, had expressed to him, that God would not fail in His own time to crown the work with success. The biographer Rimbert dwells with delight on his master's strict adherence to the monastic customs, which he maintained to the last; on his mortifications, which he carried to an extreme in youth, until he became aware that such excesses were a temptation to vainglory, and how, when no longer able to bear them, he endeavoured to supply the defect by alms and prayers; on his frequent and fervent devotion; on his charitable labours, his building of hospitals, redemption of captives, and other works of mercy. Among the results of his exertions, it deserves to be remembered that in 856 he persuaded the leading men of Nordalbingia to give up the trade which they had carried on in slaves. In addition to works of a devotional kind, he wrote a Life of Willehad, the first bishop of Bremen,s and a journal of his own missions, which is known to have been sent to Rome in the thirteenth century, and, although often sought for in vain, may possibly still exist there. He is said to have performed some miraculous cures, but to have shunned the publication of them, except among his most intimate friends; and when they were once spoken of in his hearing, he exclaimed, "If I were worthy in the sight of my Lord, I would ask Him to grant me one miracle—that He would make me a good man!" In his last illness Anskar was greatly distressed by the apprehension that his sins had frustrated the promise which had been made to him of the martyr's crown. Rimbert endeavoured to comfort him by saying that violent death is not the only kind of martyrdom; by reminding him of his long and severe labours for the Gospel, and of the patience with which he had endured much sickness-especially the protracted sufferings of his deathbed. length, as he was at mass, the archbishop, although fully awake, had a vision in which he was reproved for having doubted, and was assured that all that had been promised should be fulfilled. His death took place on the festival of the Purification, in the year 865.* At When asked to name a successor, Anskar declined to do so, on the ground that he was unwilling by preferring one before others to add to the offence which he might probably have given to many during his lifetime. But on being questioned as to his opinion of Rimbert, he answered-" I am assured that he is more worthy to be an archbishop than I to be a subdeacon." To Rimbert, therefore, the see of Hamburg was committed on Anskar's death; and for nearly a quarter of a century he carried on the work in the spirit of his master, for the knowledge of whose life we are chiefly indebted to his reverential and affectionate biography. Rimbert died in 888." u Vita, 39. * Ib. 40-1. y Vita S. Rimberti, c. 10, ap. Pertz, ii. Münter, i. 341. |