Character of Mediaeval Missions

6-10th century is the period when savage races were converted 

• 2nd and 3rd century saw Gauls, Britons, and Germans were being exposed to the faith

Christian missionaries were the founders of the alphabet, literature, agriculture, laws, and arts of N and W Europe 

Med. Christianization was a wholesale conversion (often superficial) - entire nations being brought to faith by various means: marriage to Christian wives, military force (as with Charlemagne)

• This was conversion to the ecclesiastical tradition laid down by the church discussed in the previous chapter

  • Conversion by water, not fire or the Spirit

Missionaries of middle ages were nearly all monks

• Limited education and narrow views, devoted to zeal and heroic self-denial