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Warwickshire and the Eighth Century missions to Germany |
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The End of the Mercian missions
Charlemagne (Charles the Great) was the son of Pepin III, King of the Franks
© Mary Evans Picture Library |
The missionary efforts of the Anglo-Saxons in Germany only began to bear fruit under Lull in the 770s and ‘80s. He had befriended Charlemagne (king 769-800, emperor 800-814) when the future emperor had been but a prince. When Charlemagne invaded pagan Saxony in 772, he entrusted part of the subsequent missionary work to Lull. Lull capitalised on this by building a monastery at Bad Hersfeld, to which Charlemagne donated vast tracts of land along the Saxon border. The conversion of the Mercians’ distant relatives seemed at last possible.
But the Mercian interest in Germany was waning. No new people came from England to replace the likes of Burchard, who was succeeded at Würzburg by Megingoz, a Frank. Lull, shortly before his death in 786, wrote to Charlemagne to complain about the standards of the young Frankish clergy in comparison to his old contemporaries. 
Three crosses, symbolic of the three missionaries, Lull, Burchard and Denehard
© Freefoto / Ian Britton |
Political links between Germany and Mercia, initiated by Lull and Burchard, were also strained by a series of arguments between Charlemagne and King Offa the Great. In 796 Frankish ports were closed to Anglo-Saxon pilgrims and traders when Offa asked to marry one of Charlemagne’s daughters. Offa died shortly afterwards and Mercia’s power declined.
The Anglo-Saxon missions to the continent had had great significance for Mercia. They brought changes to social structures and culture. Individual missionaries had played pivotal roles in the politics and religious life of Germany. Most importantly the missions had, for a time, brought Mercia into the wider European world.
Words: James Palmer
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