archate of Rome. On his return to Germany in 723 Boniface took with him a code of regulations for the church, which was supplied by Gregog, and above all a letter of introduction to harles Martel, in which the pope invoked his assistance in favour of the missionary bishop. Charles is said by some to have received Boniface with coldness (Robertson, Hist. Christian Church), but he gave him permission to preach beyond the Rhine and granted him letters of protection. The value of the prince’s countenance is frilly acknowledged by Boniface in a letter which he wrote at a later period to his friend Bishop Daniel of Winchester ‘ Without the protection of the prince of the Franks I could neither rule the people of the church nor defend the priests or clerks, the monks or handruaidens of God; nor have I the power to restrain pagan rites and idolatry in Germany without his mandate and the awe of his name’ (Jaffé, Mon. Mogunt, 157).
Hessia and Thuringia, the countries to which Boniface now directed his steps, had received the teaching of christian missionaries, but without a regular system; their preachers being chiefly drawn from the Irish church, ‘in which diocesan episcopacy was as yet unknown, and the jurisdiction was separate from the order of a bishop; they had brought with them its peculiar ideas as to the limitation of the episcopal rights; they were unrestrained by any discipline or by any regard for unity; they owned no subjection to Rome, and were under no episcopal authority’ (Robertson, iv. 5). They also held the doctrine of lawfulness of marriage for the clergy. Trained in totally different ideas of discipline, Boniface, on his anivalin the country, found himself at once in opposition to these teachers, and was henceforth involved in never-ending disputes with them. He also discovered that the Hessians were practising a strange mixture of the creed of the Gospel with pagan rites; while professing christianity, they still worshipped in their sacred groves, and some even offered sacrifice. It was with the view of correcting such abuses in a way which was palpable and could not he mistaken, that Boniface determined with his own hands to fell one of the chief objects of superstitious reverence -the great oak tree of Geismar near Fritzlar, sacred to the god of thunder. Scsrcely, we are told, had he struck the first blows, when a gust of wind seemed to shake the branches and the aged tree fell, breaking into four piecrs. The awe-stricken pagans gave up their gods, and with the wood of the tree Boniface built a chapel to St. Peter. Churches and monasteries now arose on all sides; the work of conversion made rapid progress; and the bishop was joined by many of his countrymen and countrywomen from England to assist in the good work. The success of English missionaries among the Frisians and Germans is no doubt largely to be attributed to similarity of language and the facility with which they would learn kindred tongues. On the accession of Gregory III to the papal chair in 732 Boniface received the pall of an archbishop, and in 738 he again visited Rome, where he was received with the distinction merited by his great success. Returning northwards in 739 he was prevailed upon by Odilo, duke of Bavaria, to remain awhile in that country and organise the Bavarian church. Only one bishop existed, and there was no system of ecclesiastical government. Boniface effected an organisation by dividing the country into four bishoprics-Salzburg, Passau, Regensburg, and Freising-and then again turned his face northwards.
But it was not only with the evangelisation of heathen Germany that Boniface had now to do. His powers of organisation and reform were to be utilised in favour of the Frankish church. While, however, his successes beyond the Rhine were undisputed, at the Frankish court he found himself thwarted by the nobles who were in possession of church property, and by the easy-living bishops, more given to fighting and hunting than to the cure of souls. In 741 both Gregory III and Charles Martel died. Charles's sons, Carloman in Anstrasia and Pepin in Neustria, were ready to support Boniface, and the new pope Zacharias extended his powers, appointing him his legate and imposing upon him the reformation of the whole Frankish church. Boniface forthwith erected four bishoprics for Hessia and Thuringia, viz. Würzburg, Eichstädt, Buraburgb or Bierberg (afterwards removed to Paderborn), and Erfurt, to which he appointed four of his followers, Bruchard, Willibald (the future writer of his ‘Life’), Albinus, and Adehar. In 742, at the request of Carloman, was held a council, which in the course of the next few years was followed by others, for the reformation of the church. These councils, moreover, partook of the nature of national assemblies, the members not being confined to ecclesiastics; and while Boniface’s office of papal commissioner was recognised, the decrees were issued by the Frarrkish princes in their own name. The canons were directed towards the establishment of order and the reform of lax abuses, the celibacy of the clergy, and the restoration of church property which had
