Anglo-Saxon mission

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Anglo-Saxon missionaries were instrumental in the spread of Germanic Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century, continuing the work of Hiberno-Scottish missionaries which had been spreading Celtic Christianity across the Frankish Empire as well as in Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England itself during the 6th century.

The Anglo-Saxon mission began in Frisia, and spread south and east from there. The earliest monastery founded by Anglo-Saxons on the continent is Echternach (698).

Anglo-Saxon missionaries to the continent include Saints Wilfried, Willibrord, Willehad, Lebuin, Liudger, Ewald and Suidbert.

Notable among these missionaries is Saint Boniface who was active in the area of Fulda (modern Hessen), establishing or re-establishing the bishoprics of Erfurt, Würzburg, Büraburg, as well as Eichstätt, Regensburg, Augsburg, Freising, Passau and Salzburg (739) further to the south-east.

Saint Walpurga and her brothers Saint Willibald and Saint Winibald assisted Boniface, Willibald founding the Heidenheim monastery.

Anglo-Saxon missionary activities continued into the 770s and the reign of Charlemagne, the Anglo-Saxon Alcuin playing a major part in the Carolingian Renaissance. By 800, the Carolingian Empire was essentially Christianized, and further missionary activity, such as the Chritianization of Scandinavia and the Baltic was coordinated directly from the Holy Roman Empire rather than from England.

In the judgement of J. R. R. Tolkien (as cited in Finn and Hengest, p. 14) the Anglo-Saxon mission is "one of the chief glories of England", and "among our chief contributions to Europe, considering all our history".