Germanic Sources
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Waltharius: see Ekkehard of St Gall
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The Wanderer - (+) early English poem
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Wessobrunner Gebet: a fragment of an early poem from southern Germany; it is significant to find that the creation of the world is described in language very like that of the Norse poem: HRED (!)
see: http://thrudheim.org/sahsginotas under 'Articles'.
That inquire I among the people - wonder master,
that earth not was - nor upper heaven,
nor tree nowhere - nor mountain not was,
nor single star nowhere - nor sun not shone
nor moon not lit - nor the shining sea.
When there nothing not was - end to other end,
then there was ... (Christian text)
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Widsith: 7th-century Anglo-Saxon poem found in the Exeter Book. It is an account of the wanderings of a Germanic minstrel and of the legends he relates. The poem gives an excellent description of minstrel life in the Germanic heroic age.
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Widukind of Corvey, Res gestae Saxonicae - the history of the Saxons (available in German and Danish)
WIDUICIND, wid'n-kind: Monk of Corvey, historian of the Saxons; d. after 973. Of his life it is known only that he was of Saxon origin, that about 940 he entered the famous Saxon Benedictine monastery of Corvey, and that he wrote there his Saxon history. Before he undertook this work, he worked over existing lives of saints, partly in rime, partly in prose, among them Passio Theclce virginis and Vita Pauli primi eremitce, but these compilations are lost. Widukind began his Rerum gestarum Saxonicarum libri tres after 962, and dedicated it to the abbess of (auedlinburg Machthild (Matilda), the youthful daughter of Emperor Otto I. The first book begins with the origin of the Saxons, tells of their landing in the country called after them " Saxon-land," their battles with the Thuringians as allies of the Franks, and the conquest of the country. Although the author used some sources as, for instance, Bede's " Church History," he followed almost entirely the popular accounts which he learned from epic songs. His account is fragmentary rather than continuous and detailed. The first book closes with the death of Henry L, king of the Franks and Saxons (936). The second and third book treat the history of the reign of King Otto I. (936-973). For the earlier period, including the history of Henry L, the work has only secondary value; for the time of Otto I. it is of the greatest importance, but the author knows only the events that happened in Saxony and in the immediate neighborhood of the Saxons. Though a monk, he was little interested in the church and ecclesiastical affairs, which he hardly mentions. Perhaps the chief value of the book is that it portrays vividly the views of a sound and sturdy Low Saxon of the middle of the tenth century.
also:
Historian who lived in the tenth century in the Benedictine Abbey of Corvey, Germany. He was a Saxon, he began in 967 his Res gestae saxonicae sive annalium libri tres, devoted particularly to Henry I and Otto I, as stated in the dedication to Mathilde, Abbess of Quedlinburg. Unlike the earlier chroniclers, he did not connect the beginning of his account with the time of the Roman Empire, but commenced with the primitive history of his nation. He relates with much enthusiasm the tribal sagas, tells of his heathen ancestors in their battles with the Franks, and describes the introduction of Christianity. After this, he shows how, after they became Christian, the Saxons conquered all other nations, including the Franks, in the reign of Henry I, maintained the supremacy victoriously, in spite of the revolt of various tribes, during the reign of Otto, and finally ruled all Christendom. His work has become a very popular one; but in his efforts to be brief and to imitate the classic writers, especially Sallust, he is frequently impossible to understand. The work is of great value, because it is often the sole authority for the events mentioned, and because it describes persons truthfully and reliably, although only so far as they come within his range of vision; whatever was outside of Saxony was incomprehensible to him. His opinion of the Emperor Otto is incorrect, neither has he any conception of Otto s labours for the benefit of the Church Widukind is silent respecting the founding of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg, and he does not speak of the pope at all. When he mentions France and Italy his statements are meagre and incorrect. The work was edited by G. Waitz in Mon. Germ. Hist. Scriptores", III, 416-67, and was also published in the "Scriptores rerum germanicarum" (Hanover, 1882).
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Wilfrid: The Life of Wilfrid
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Willibald: Life of St Boniface, (written between 754 and 768)
Now many of the Hessians who at that time [the year 723] had acknowledged the Catholic faith were confirmed by the grace of the Holy Spirit and received the laying-on of hands. But others, not yet strong in the spirit, refused to accept the pure teachings of the Church in their entirety.
Moreover, some continued secretly, others openly, to offer sacrifices to trees and springs, to inspect the entrails of victims; some practiced divination, legerdemain and incantations; some turned their attention to auguries, auspices and other sacrificial rites; whilst others, of a more reasonable character, forsook all the profane practices of heathenism and committed none of these crimes.
With the counsel and advice of the latter persons, Boniface in their presence attempted to cut down, at a place called Gaesmere, a certain oak of extraordinary size called by the pagans of olden times the Oak of Donar. Taking his courage in his hands (for a great crowd of pagans stood by watching and bitterly cursing in their hearts the enemy of the gods), he cut the first notch.
But when he had made a superficial cut, suddenly the oak's vast bulk, shaken by a mighty blast of wind from above, crashed to the ground shivering its topmost branches into fragments in its fall. As if by the express will of God (for the brethren present had done nothing to cause it) the oak burst asunder into four parts, each part having a trunk of equal length. At the sight of this extraordinary spectacle the heathens who had been cursing ceased to revile and began, on the contrary, to believe and bless the Lord.
Thereupon the holy bishop took counsel with the brethren, built an oratory from the timber of the oak and dedicated it to St. Peter the Apostle.
Source: C. H. Talbot, The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany (London: Sheed and Ward, 1954), pp. 45-46.
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Willibrord, Life of St, by Alucin (735-804), c.796
[Talbot Introduction]
The earliest Life of Willibrord, written, as Theofrid, Abbot of Echternach (10831100), tells us, by an unlearned Scot (i.e. an Irishman) in a rough and unpolished style, has disappeared, though its contents may be reconstructed from the biography composed by Alcuin, who probably used it as his source.
Alcuin, the author of the present Life, was born in York in 735 and became the master of the school there in 778. Four years later he was appointed head of Charlemagne's school at Aixla Chapelle [Aachen] and became a leading member of that select circle who supported the emperor in his efforts to reeducate Europe. In 796 he was removed to Tours and died in 804.
His Life of Willibrord was written at the request of Beornrade, Abbot of Echternach and Archbishop of Sens. As a relative of Willibrord and legal possessor of the Monastery of St. Andrew, founded by Willibrord s father, Wilgils, on a headland overlooking the mouth of the Humber, Alcuin must have undertaken the work as a kind of tribute to his family connections. It is not a particularly impressive piece of writing, sometimes ungrammatical and at all times turgid and rhetorical, but as it was meant to be read at public worship its lack of historical detail and its insistence on Willibrord's miracles may perhaps be excused. He wrote another version in hexameter verse for students at the monastic schools, without, however, adding anything to the material offered here.
Theofrid, mentioned above, also wrote a prose and metrical Life of Willibrord, basing it on Alcuin's material with additions from Bede, the lives of other saints and the Echternach charters. A third Life, written by a presbyter called Echebert, repeats Alcuin's Life, with certain modifications at the beginning and the end.
Sources: The Life of Willibrord, written by Alcuin, was first published by Surius in his collection De Probatis Sanctorum Histords (Cologne, 1575), Vol. Vi, pp. 127-37. The critical edition was prepared by W. Wattenbach, Monumenta Alcuiniana, in the series Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum, edited by Ph. Jaff6. It appeared in Berlin in 1873 as the sixth volume of the collection (pp. 39-61), but was superseded by W. Levison's text in Scriptores Rerum Merovingimcarum, vii, pp. 81-141. An English translation was made by A. Grieve, Willibrord, Missionary in the Netherlands (London, 1923), in the collection Lives of Early and Medieval Missionaries, published by the S.P.C.K.
Excerpts of interest:
1. There was in the island of Britain, in the province of Northurnbria, a certain householder of Saxon descent, whose name was Wilgils, living a devout Christian life together with his wife and family.
2. Willibrord, begotten for the salvation of many, was born of devout parents.[1] Wilgils, the venerable man of whom we have already spoken, entered upon the state of matrimony for the sole purpose of bringing into the world a child who should benefit many peoples.
[1] Willibrord was born, probably, 6 November 658.
3. When her time was come the woman bore a son, and at his baptism his father gave him the name of Willibrord. As soon as the child had reached the age of reason[l] his father gave him to the church at Ripon to be instructed by the brethren there in religious pursuits and sacred learning, so that living in a place where he could see nothing but what was virtuous and hear nothing but what was holy his tender age should be strengthened by sound attaining and discipline.
[1] This is probably the correct interpretation of the phrase "when he was weaned ". The abbot at this time was most probably St. Wilfrid, the leader of the Roman party which triumphed at the Synod of Whitby, A.D. 664. Willibrord must have served under Wilfrid until 669 when Wilfrid left to take possession of the see of York.
4. …bishop Ecgbert,[1] to whom was given the title of Saint, and by Wichtberct, [2] the venerable servant and priest of God, both of whom, for love of Christ, forsook home, fatherland and family and retired to Ireland, where, cut off from the world though close to God, they lived as solitaries enjoying the blessings of heavenly contemplation. The blessed youth wished to imitate the godly life of these men…
[1] Ecgbert was Abbot of Rathmelsigi, probably Mellifont in Co. Louth. In 664 he had gone into voluntary exile after the Synod of Whitby, but returned to Iona m 7I6. He died in 729 at the age of ninety. He had long wanted to evangelize the Saxon peoples on the Continent, but was prevented from doing so
[2] Wichtberct was a companion of Ecgbert and had spent many years in Ireland. He went on a mission to Frisia, but, having preached for two years without success, returned to Ireland.
5. So the man of God, accompanied by his brethren, as we have already said, set sail, and after a successful crossing they moored their ships at the mouth of the Rhine. Then, after they had taken some refreshment, they set out for the Castle of Utrecht, which lies on the bank of the river, where some years afterwards, when by divine favour the faith had increased, Willibrord placed the seat of his bishopric.[l] But as the Frisian people, among whom the fort was situated, and Radbod, their king,[2] still defiled themselves by pagan practices, the man of God thought it wiser to set out for Francia and visit Pippin,[3] the king of that country, a man of immense energy, successful in war and of high moral character. The duke received him with every mark of respect; and as he was unwilling that he and his people should lose the services of so eminent a scholar, he made over to him certain localities within the boundaries of his own realm, where he could uproot idolatrous practices, teach the newly converted people
[1] Willibrord's church was built from the rums of the old Roman camp at Fectio (Vecht).
[2] From the beginning of his reign in 697 Radbod had been antagonistic to anything that savoured of Frankish domination and had ruthlessly destroyed churches and other buildings erected by the Franks.
[3] Pippin II, mayor of the palace of Clovis II. He it was who gave the church at Antwerp, previously the scene of the labours of St. Amand and St. Eloi, to the missionaries for their shelter and support.
9. The man of God tried also to propagate the Gospel teaching outside the boundaries of the Frankish kingdom. He had the boldness to present himself at the court of Radbod, at that time King of the Frisians and like his subjects, a pagan. Wherever he travelled he proclaimed the Word of God without fear; but though the Frisian king received the man of God in a kind and humble spirit, his heart was hardened against the Word of Life. So when the man of God saw that his efforts were of no avail he turned his missionary course towards the fierce tribes of the Danes. At that time, so we are told, the Danish ruler was Ongendus,[l] a man more savage than any wild beast and harder than stone, who nevertheless, through divine intervention, received the herald of truth with every mark of honour. But when the latter found that the people were steeped in evil practices, abandoned to idolatry and indifferent to any hope of a better life, he chose thirty boys from among them and hastily returned with them to the chosen people of the Franks. On the journey he instructed the youths in the faith and baptized them, so that if they perished from the long sea voyage or through the ambushes of the savage dwellers of those parts he should suffer no loss in their regard.
[l] Ongendus has been identified with Ongentheow of Beowulf.
10. Now whilst this energetic preacher of the Word was pursuing his journey he came to a certain island on the boundary between the Frisians and the Danes, which the people of those parts call Fositeland,[l] after a god named Fosite, whom they worship and whose temples stood there. This place was held by the pagans in such great awe that none of the natives would venture to meddle with any of the cattle that fed there nor with anything else, nor dare they draw water from the spring that bubbled up there except in complete silence. On this island the man of God was driven ashore by a storm and waited for some days until the gale died down and fair weather made it possible to set sail again. He set little store by the superstitious sacredness ascribed to the spot, or by the savage cruelty of the king, who was accustomed to condemn violators of the sacred objects to the most cruel death. Willibrord baptized three persons in the fountain in the name of the Blessed Trinity and gave orders that some of the cattle should be slaughtered as food for his company. When the pagans saw this they expected that the strangers would become mad or be struck with sudden death. Noticing, however, that they suffered no harm, the pagans, terror stricken and astounded, reported to the king what they had witnessed.
[1] Fositeland or Heligoland.
11. The king was roused to intense fury and had a mind to avenge on the priest of the living God the insults which had been offered to his deities. For three whole days he cast lots three times every day to find out who should die; but as the true God protected his own servants, the lots of death never fell upon Willibrord nor upon any of his company, except in the case of one of the party, who thus won the martyr's crown. The holy man was then summoned before the king and severely upbraided for having violated the king's sanctuary and offered insult to his god. With unruffled calmness the preacher of the Gospel replied: "The object of your worship, O King, is not a god but a devil, and he holds you ensnared in rank falsehood in order that he may deliver your soul to eternal fire. For there is no God but one, who created heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them; and those who worship Him in true faith will possess eternal life. As His servant I call upon you this day to renounce the empty and inveterate errors to which your forebears have given their assent and to believe in the one almighty God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Be baptized in the fountain of life and wash away all your sins, so that, forsaking all wickedness and unrighteousness, you may henceforth live as a new man in temperance, justice and holiness. If you do this you will enjoy everlasting glory with God and His saints; but if you spurn me, who set before you the way of life, be assured that with the devil whom you obey you will suffer unending punishment and the flames of hell." At this the king was astonished and replied: "It is clear to me that my threats leave you unmoved and that your words are as uncompromising as your deeds." But although he would not believe the preaching of the truth, he sent back Willibrord with all honour to Pippin, King of the Franks.
12. The latter was delighted at his return and begged him to persevere in his divinely appointed task of preaching the Word of God and to root out idolatrous practices and sow the good seed in one place after another. This the devoted preacher strove to carry out with characteristic energy. He traversed every part of the country, exhorting the people in cities, villages and forts where he had previously preached the Gospel to remain loyal to the faith and to their good resolutions.
13. It came about, however, that Pippin, King of the Franks, died,[l] and his son Charles became head of the realm. [2] Charles brought many nations under the power of the Franks, and among these were the Frisians, whose lands were added to his dominions after the defeat of Radbod. At that time St. Willibrord was officially appointed to preach to the Frisian people, and his episcopal see was fixed at the fortress of Utrecht. Being given greater scope for the preaching of the Gospel, he now attempted to bring into the Church by baptism the people that had recently been won by the sword. He allowed no error or past ignorance to pass unnoticed and lost no time in shedding upon them the light of the Gospel, …
[1] Pippin died 14 December 714. At this juncture Radbod revolted, and during the disturbances that followed Willibrord retired to his monastery at Echternach.
[2] Charles Martel, the natural son of Pippin. He obliged Radbod to raise the siege of Cologne. It was during this time that St. Boniface arrived with his companions in Utrecht, but, finding the conditions unpropitious for preaching, he returned home.
14. Thus, when the venerable man, according to his custom, was on one of his missionary journeys he came to a village called Walichrum, [3] where an idol of the ancient superstition remained. When the man of God, moved by zeal, smashed it to pieces before the eyes of the custodian, the latter, seething with anger, in a sudden fit of passion struck the priest of Christ on the head with a sword, as if to avenge the insult paid to his god. But, as God was protecting His servant, the murderous blow did him no harm. On seeing this, Willibrord's companions rushed forward to kill the wicked man for his audacity. The man of God good-naturedly delivered the culprit from their hands and allowed him to go free. The same day, however, he was seized and possessed by the devil and three days later he ended his wretched life in misery.
[3] Walichrum, where during the Roman occupation the goddess Nehelannia, protectress of navigation, had been worshipped. A later tradition at Echternach placed the scene of this story at Westcapelle and said that traces of Willibrord's blood could still be discovered. At this place a votive stone of Hercules Magusanus has been found.
20. (This is one of many 'miracles' written about. RR)
Once, when this holy preacher was going in haste towards Frisia in order, as usual, to preach the Gospel, he wanted to pasture his horses, worn out by the fatigue of the journey, in the meadows of a certain wealthy landowner. The man, seeing horses feeding in his meadows, began to beat them and drive them out of his pastures with great arrogance. The man of God accosted him with peaceable words and said: " Brother, do us no harm. Our purpose in wishing to rest in these meadows is not to do you harm but to meet our own needs. We are under obligation to pursue the work of God, and you also might share in its rewards if, as far as lies in your power, you help us in a friendly spirit, mindful of the sweet promise of Christ: ' He that receiveth you, receiveth me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.' Be at peace, and rather as a friend take a drink with us by way of refreshment. Then when we have gone on our way, return to your house with the blessing of God." The man, however, persisted in his ill will and would not listen to the reasonable words of the man of God, but, on the contrary, repeated his abuse and continued to insult him. " You ask me to drink with you," he said, "and make peace: be assured that I set no store whatever upon drinking with you." The man of God took the words out of his mouth and said: "If you will not drink with me, then do not drink at all." Thereupon, as soon as his companions were ready, he went on his way. The obstinate man also hurriedly went home, but was seized almost at once with a burning thirst which he tried in vain to assuage with wine, for the mouth that had cast reproaches upon the man of God was unable to swallow a single draught. Thus the man who would not of his own accord make peace with the servant of God was now compelled to bear within himself the penalty of his fault. Doctors were called to relieve his thirst and to restore to the sufferer his power of drinking. His whole being cried out for relief, but no one could get a drop of wine to reach his parched throat. At last, struck with remorse, he came to his senses, and, discovering that the saintly man he had reviled was Willibrord, he began to yearn intensely for his return. In the following year, Willibrord came back by the same way, and on hearing of his approach the sick man hurried out to meet him. Confessing his sin and telling him of the suffering he had endured, he besought him for the love of Christ to release him from it. The man of God was moved with pity, released him from his punishment and allowed him to drink from his own cup. Thereupon the man who was released drank and returned to his own house cured.
(Note: Willibrord certainly was a saintly man: Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord. A whole year without drinking? RR)
23. The same holy man, who was pleasing to God, also prophesied certain things that were subsequently verified by the course of events. He baptized Pippin the Short, son of the valiant Charles Martel, King of the Franks and father of the present illustrious Charles, who governs the Franks at the present day in triumph, dignity and glory.
Source: C. H. Talbot, The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany, Being the Lives of SS. Willibrord, Boniface, Leoba and Lebuin together with the Hodoepericon of St. Willibald and a selection from the correspondence of St. Boniface, (London and New York: Sheed and Ward, 1954)
The copyright status of this text has been checked carefully. The situation is complicated, but in sum is as follows. The book was published in 1954 by Sheed & Ward, apparently simultaneously, in both London and New York. The American-printed edition simply gave 'New York' as place of publication, the British-printed edition gave 'London and New York'. Copyright was not renewed in 1982 or 1983, as required by US Law. The recent GATT treaty (1995?) restored copyright to foreign publications which had entered US public domain simply because copyright had not be renewed in accordance with US law. This GATT provision does not seem to apply to this text because it was published simultaneously in the US and Britain by a publisher operating in both countries (a situation specifically addressed in the GATT regulations). Thus, while still under copyright protection in much of the world, the text remains in the US public domain.
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