monasteries. A legend told of Boniface is that he tested the
power of a pagan god by felling an oak dedicated to the deity;
when a wind blew down the tree as he began cutting and no
punishment came to the missionary, the crowd viewing the
scene converted to the Christian God.o Boniface worked under the protection of Charles Martel, and
in 732, Gregory III appointed him archbishop of all Germany.
Martel divided Germany into four dioceses and made
Boniface metropolitan (primate) over Germany east of the
Rhine (Mainz).o At the Concilium Germanicum
in 743, Boniface worked for
the reform of the clergy—a
constant preoccupation in an
age when lack of learning and
training often led to less-than-
adequate ministers. Boniface
then went to work again in
Frisia, where he was killed
in 754. His life was written
by Willibald shortly after
his death.Scholar Monks
• The monasteries founded by such
missionaries as Willibrord and
Boniface served as centers of
worship, as well as of civilization.
Two monk-scholars of the era give
evidence for impressive levels
of knowledge and scholarship,
illustrating the role of monasteries
as centers of cultural diffusion.
The Venerable Bede, a
classic scholar-monk, wrote
biblical commentaries; texts
on computation, grammar,
and natural science; lives of
saints; and the monumental
Ecclesiastical History of the
English People.© Photos.com/Thinkstock.