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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS

XII. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST TO 1054 A.D.

Em. Macron, Rediscovering the Path to Europe

» Contents of this Chapter

Development of the Christian Church   * Eastern Christianity   * Western Christianity: Rise of the Papacy   * Growth of the Papacy   * Monasticism   * Life and Work of the Monks   * Spread of Christianity over Europe   * Separation of Eastern and Western Christianity   * The Greek Church   * The Roman Church

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FRANKS AND ANGLO-SAXONS CONVERTED TO ROMAN CATHOLICISM

The Franks and the Anglo-Saxons, whose kingdoms were to develop into the chief states of medieval Europe, adopted from the outset the Catholic form of Christianity. The conversion of the Franks provided the Roman Church with its strongest and most faithful adherents among the Germanic tribes. The conversion of Anglo-Saxon Britain by Augustine and his monks, followed later by the spread of Roman Catholicism in Ireland and Scotland, firmly united the British Isles to the Papacy. Thus Rome during the Middle Ages came to be the one center of church life for the peoples of western Europe.

ST. BONIFACE AND THE CONVERSION OF THE GERMANS

An Anglo-Saxon monk, St. Boniface, did more than any other missionary to carry Christianity to the remote tribes of Germany. Like Augustine in England, St. Boniface was sent by the pope, who created him missionary bishop and ordered him to "carry the word of God to unbelievers." St. Boniface also enjoyed the support of the Frankish rulers, Charles Martel and Pepin the Short. Thanks to their assistance this intrepid monk was able to penetrate into the heart of Germany. Here he labored for nearly forty years, preaching, baptizing, and founding numerous churches, monasteries, and schools. His boldness in attacking heathenism is illustrated by the story of how he cut down with his own hands a certain oak tree, much reverenced by the natives of Hesse as sacred to the god Woden, and out of its wood built a chapel dedicated to St. Peter. St. Boniface crowned a lifetime of missionary labor with a martyr's death, probably in 754 A.D. His work was continued by Charlemagne, who forced the Saxons to accept Christianity at the point of the sword. All Germany at length became a Christian land, devoted to the Papacy.

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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents

url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp

IN PRINT

Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy