Women in Saint Boniface's Mission: Letters as Historical Evidence

Introduction: Saint Boniface and His Female Correspondents

Scholars place Saint Boniface's birth at approximately 675 AD. Born as either Wynfriyh, Winfrid, or Wynfrith in the kingdom of Wessex in what is known as Anglo-Saxon England, Boniface became a leading figure during the 8th century in the Anglo-Saxon mission that led to mass conversion in the German areas of Frankish territory. Regarded as the first archbishop of Mainz and the patron saint of Germania, he established the first organized Christianity throughout the region. Killed in 754 in Frisia, his remains were sent back to Fulda, where they quickly became a site of pilgrimage. Because he is a well-known saint, much of his life, death, and work is widely documented. His letters provide access not only to his own thoughts and experiences, but also to the thoughts and experiences of others — in particular, women.

As an apostle of Germania, Saint Boniface helped shape Western Christianity with the assistance of women who were, at the time, just as involved as men in the church. His regular correspondence with churchmen throughout Western Europe included three popes as well as kinsmen in England. While the majority of these letters addressed questions about the church, reform, doctrinal concerns, or liturgical matters, it is the intimate relationship he maintained with female correspondents that provides a new way to understand both the man behind the saint and his view of women's role in the church.

There are 150 letters in total, categorized as Bonifatian correspondence, even though some were not written by Boniface and some are not addressed to him. Assembled by his successor in Mainz at the order of Archbishop Lullus, the letters were first organized into two sections: the first containing papal correspondence, and the second containing private letters. Although they were reorganized later in that century, an eleventh-century reorganization produced the version available today. Otloh of St. Emmeram is credited with completing the full correspondence.

The letters were edited and published in the seventeenth century by Nicolaus Serarius, with several additions and translations appearing in the nineteenth century. Among all the surviving material, ten letters discussing women form the basis for this essay (Fletcher 156). The following sections explain why these letters were chosen and what they contribute to understanding the historical context in which they were written, as well as the character of Saint Boniface himself.

Reasons for Choosing the Letters of Saint Boniface

There are several reasons for focusing on the Letters of Saint Boniface. First, Saint Boniface is a well-known historical figure who exerted tremendous influence on Western Christianity. Second, the women associated with Boniface — and the information the letters reveal about those associations — offer a deeper understanding of women's roles during this period. Otloh's Vita Bonifatii states that the women who accompanied Saint Boniface during his time as a missionary, traveling from England to Germany, were genuinely devout and well educated in the liberal arts. This was not typical of women in general at that time (Rowe).

In fact, women had played a major role in the formation of Christian life in England, sharing equally with men in learning and in the conversion process. Women created manuscripts, as shown through excavations at the monastery of Whitby (Fletcher 16). Monastics were not exclusively men; women were full participants in monastic life, and they were literate, carrying their learning throughout the Continent. Because women played such a significant role and were granted opportunities for education, the letters offer a rare glimpse into how learned these women were and what they accomplished.

In essence, the letters represent the best direct evidence for the piety and learning of the women who accompanied Boniface from England to Germany. "The letters to named women include one from Aldhelm to an otherwise unknown, nine from Boniface himself, and probably six from Lull" (Damico and Olsen 31). Although some scholars have suggested that the original correspondence included more letters addressed to and written by women than what survives today, those that remain provide sufficient reason to investigate further the role of women during Boniface's missionary journey. "As well as letters to women, named or anonymous, there is one important letter in which a woman of distinction is used as introduction and referee" (Damico and Olsen 31).

Otloh reveals that one of the women was Cynehild, the maternal aunt of Saint Lull. This detail illustrates Anglo-Saxon family relationships and the importance of the female line — a line often considered insignificant compared to the male line in most cultures. Beyond Cynehild, the most well-known woman to have accompanied Saint Boniface was Saint Leoba. Through the Boniface collection, readers can observe Leoba incorporating poetry and alliteration into her letters, including four lines she addressed to Boniface that she called versiculi, or unpretentious verses. "She calls her lines versiculi 'unpretentious verses' and is suitably diffident about their merit, but they scarcely deserve the severity with which they have been treated. Leoba says herself she was taught the art by her magistra 'female teacher' and the textbook from which she would have learned is Aldhelm's De Metris" (Damico and Olsen 38). These four lines alone reveal not only the style in which Saint Leoba wrote, but also that she learned from a woman — and from a specific literary work. Such details deserve emphasis, especially given how little text survived the passage of time.

What did women do during this period? What did they give up? History has been rewritten to suggest it was men — Boniface alone — who changed everything. Yet he clearly could not have accomplished his mission alone. He had to rely on a community of supporters, and those supporters included women. These women deserve recognition because they mattered — not only to the mission, but to Boniface himself.

Argument: Women as Essential Partners in the Mission

Why are the letters important in relation to women? Because women played an essential part in Boniface's mission to the Germans. As with Leoba's involvement, several women provided the means by which Saint Boniface could carry out his duties during his missionary journey. "Grounded in traditional Anglo-Saxon values and culture, his overall strategy depended as much on women as on men. Initially equal partners in the venture, only later did Roman orthodoxy overcome traditional practices to create a hierarchy among them" (Rowe 1–7). While subsequent retellings were adjusted to satisfy the demands of Roman orthodoxy — with Leoba's story being substantially altered to conform — the letters offer an unaltered perspective on women's contributions, contributions that have unfortunately been partially erased from history.

Is it not important to recognize what women achieved in the past and their influence on Christianity? With so few surviving resources, primary sources are invaluable for understanding what these women did and why their deeds were significant. Even though deliberate efforts were made to destroy or minimize women's contributions during this pivotal period, the letters and some surviving narratives allow the work of Christian women to be acknowledged. "The thread they set in motion would continue to spin out long after their deaths, however, despite the best efforts of misogynistic churchmen to minimize their contributions, restrict their autonomy and authority, and even to erase them from the historical record" (Rowe 1–7).

The Frankish imperialist expansion provides much of the backdrop for the history of the German missions, with missionary effort focused across the Rhine. Boniface, having witnessed the failures of earlier, unproductive efforts, quickly recognized that he could not achieve his aims alone. He needed the active support of both ecclesiastical and secular authorities, as well as a well-organized, sizeable body of clergy — and that meant including women. Boniface was the first Christian clergyman to include women so consistently in his missionary work. "Boniface seems to have been the first Christian clergyman to recruit women systematically for overseas missionary work, and to include them as a key element in the overall structure of his organization" (Rowe 1–7).

The letters that make up the Bonifatian correspondence are the surviving proof of that inclusion — evidence of his need for women to help him achieve his objectives. In essence, Boniface would not have achieved the success he did without bringing women with him. This examination of the surviving letters therefore provides concrete evidence of women's worth within missionary work and the recognition bestowed upon them for their contributions.

History has a habit of excluding most of a story, and most historical accounts include only fragments of the full picture. These letters restore some of those missing pieces and offer a clearer view of what actually happened, even if that view is partial and brief. This is why focusing on these letters from the collection is worthwhile. They demonstrate that men like Boniface were not the only ones who shaped Christianity during this era.

Works Cited

Boniface, and Ephraim Emerton. The Letters of Saint Boniface. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. Print.

Damico, Helen, and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen. New Readings on Women in Old English Literature. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. Print.

Fletcher, R. A. The Barbarian Conversion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Print.

Rowe, Mary Ellen. "Leoba's Purple Thread: The Women of the Boniface Mission." Magistra 17.2 (2011): 1–7. Print.

Sims-Williams, Patrick. Religion and Literature in Western England, 600–800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.