Early efforts Ecgberht of Ripon, who had studied at
Rath Melsigi in Ireland, began to organize monks to proselytize in
Frisia; many other high-born notables were associated with his work:
Adalbert of Egmond, and
Chad of Mercia. He, however, was dissuaded from accompanying them himself by a vision related to him by a monk who had been a disciple of
Boisil (Prior of
Melrose Abbey under Abbot
Eata). also living at Rath Melsigi, to
Frisia, but owing to the opposition of the ruler
Redbad, King of the Frisians, Wihtberht was unsuccessful and returned to England. Ecgberht then arranged the mission of
Willibrord, and others to the heathens.
Pepin II, who wished to extend his influence in the
Low Countries, granted free passage to
Rome to Willibrord, to be consecrated Bishop of
Frisia;
Norman F. Cantor singles this out as the first joint project between
Carolingians and the
Papacy: "It set the pattern for their increasing association in the first half of the 8th century as a result of their joint support of the efforts of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries."
Boniface Notable among these missionaries is
Saint Boniface who was active in the area of
Fulda (modern
Hesse), 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. Boniface, who had taught at the abbey school of the Benedictine monastery at
Nhutscelle, first left for the continent in 716. He joined Willibrord in Utrecht, who had been working since the 690s among the Frisians. Their efforts were frustrated by the war between
Charles Martel and
Redbad, King of the Frisians. Willibrord fled to the abbey he had founded in Echternach, while Boniface returned to Nursling. The following year he traveled to Rome, where he was commissioned by
Pope Gregory II as a traveling missionary bishop for Germania. He urged monks to come to the continental missions, from which their forebears had come: "Take pity upon them, for they themselves are saying, 'We are of one blood and one bone with you.'" The missions, which drew from the energy and initiative of the English church, spread south and east from there. Almost immediately the Anglo-Saxon missionaries came in contact with the
Pippinids, the new dominant family in Frankish territories.
Other missionaries Other Anglo-Saxon missionaries to the continent include
Ewald,
Lebuin,
Leoba, and
Suidbert.
Saint Walpurga (Walburga) and her brothers
Saint Willibald and
Saint Winibald assisted Boniface, Willibald founding the
Heidenheim monastery. ==Monasteries==