829 king Harald was again expelled and retired to Riustri, a possession on the mouth of the Weser,
which the emperor had given to him as a fief. Ansgar was compelled to follow him and the prospects
of the Danish mission became very dark, the more so as Autbert had to give up any further
participation in the work on account of ill health, and return to New Corwey. At this time an
invitation from the Swedish king, Björn, gave Ansgar an opportunity to visit Sweden, and he stayed
there till 831, when the establishment of an episcopal see at Hamburg, determined upon by the diet
of Aix-le-chapelle in 831, promised to give the Danish mission a new impulse. All Scandinavia
was laid under the new see, and Ansgar was consecrated its first bishop by bishop Drago of Metz,
a brother of the emperor, with the solemn assistance of three archbishops, Ebo of Rheims, Hetti of
Treves and Obgar of Mentz. A bull of Gregory IV.^129 confirmed the whole arrangement, and Ansgar
received personally the pallium from the hands of the Pope. In 834 the emperor endowed the see
with the rich monastery of Thorout, in West Flanders, south of Bruges, and the work of the Danish
mission could now be pushed with vigor. Enabled to treat with the petty kings of Denmark on terms
of equality, and possessed of means to impress them with the importance of the cause, Ansgar made
rapid progress, but, as was to be expected, the progress soon awakened opposition. In 834 a swarm
of heathen Danes penetrated with a fleet of six hundred small vessels into the Elb under the command
of king Horich I., and laid siege to Hamburg. The city was taken, sacked and burnt; the church
which Ansgar had built, the monastery in which he lived, his library containing a copy of the Bible
which the emperor had presented to him, etc., were destroyed and the Christians were driven away
from the place. For many days Ansgar fled from hiding-place to hiding-place in imminent danger
of his life. He sought refuge with the bishop of Bremen, but the bishop of Bremen was jealous,
because Scandinavia had not been laid under his see, and refused to give any assistance. The
revenues of Thorout he lost, as the emperor, Charles the Bald, gave the fief to one of his favorites.
Even his own pupils deserted him.
In this great emergency his character shone forth in all its strength and splendor; he bore
what God laid upon him in silence and made no complaint. Meanwhile Lewis the German came
to his support. In 846 the see of Bremen became vacant. The see of Hamburg was then united to
that of Bremen, and to this new see, which Ansgar was called to fill, a papal bull of May 31, 864,
gave archiepiscopal rank. Installed in Bremen, Ansgar immediately took up again the Danish
mission and again with success. He won even king Horich himself for the Christian cause, and
obtained permission from him to build a church in Hedeby, the first Christian church in Denmark,
dedicated to Our Lady. Under king Horich’s son this church was allowed to have bells, a particular
horror to the heathens, and a new and larger church was commenced in Ribe. By Ansgar’s activity
Christianity became an established and acknowledged institution in Denmark, and not only in
Denmark but also in Sweden, which he visited once more, 848–850.
The principal feature of his spiritual character was ascetic severity; he wore a coarse hair-shirt
close to the skin, fasted much and spent most of his time in prayer. But with this asceticism he
connected a great deal of practical energy; he rebuked the idleness of the monks, demanded of his
pupils that they should have some actual work at hand, and was often occupied in knitting, while
praying. His enthusiasm and holy raptures were also singularly well-tempered by good common
sense. To those who wished to extol his greatness and goodness by ascribing miracles to him, he
(^129) Mabillon: Act. Sanct. Bened. Ord. IV. 2, p. 124.