Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

traveling, even if it is not recorded in narrative sources. 107 The existence of pilgrim
hostels in Rome for Franks, among other groups, is a general indicator of considerable
Frankish pilgrimage. There is also limited evidence for ninth-century women going to
Rome with their husbands in search of relics. In 846, for instance, Oda, the countess of
Saxony accompanied her husband Liudolf to Rome to obtain relics for their new
foundation at Gandersheim. 108 In their different ways, then, these letters demonstrate the
maintenance of relationships between religious women and their families and friends
despite their dedicated status.
Perhaps most importantly, Boniface’s letters demonstrate the ways in which
dedicated women and their communities were regarded as centres of spiritual strength.
This, of course, cannot but remind us of Caesarius’ attitude to the nuns at St John. The
abbess Cuniburg (the identity of her monastery is unknown) received a letter from
Denehard, Lull and Burchard, Boniface’s followers, who requested her community's
prayers for their endeavour. 109 At the same time the three men sent packages of
frankincense, pepper and cinnamon to Cuniburg, suggesting the international scope of a
community such as hers. In a similar manner, Boniface himself asked for the prayers of
Eadburg of Thanet, describing his situation: ‘On every hand is struggle and grief, fighting
without and fear within. Worst of all, the treachery of false brethren surpasses the malice
of unbelieving pagans.’ 110 It is to these, Boniface’s own struggles to reform the Frankish
church that we now turn.
ii) Boniface’s reforming activities
As Peter Brown underlines, Boniface ‘had come to the Continent as a man already
gripped by passionate loyalty to principles of order.’ 111 When he reached a position
107 Conc. Foroiul., cap. XII. MGH Conc. II:I, 194.
108 J.M.H. Smith, ‘Old saints, new cults: Roman relics in Carolingian Francia’ in J.M.H. Smith and T.S.
Brown (eds.), Early Medieval Rome and the Christian West (Leiden, 2000) 317-340, at 330.
109 Epist. 49, MGH Epp. III, 297-8; tr. Emerton, The Letters of Saint Boniface, 77-8.
110 Epist. 65, MGH Epp. III, 333-4; tr. Emerton, The Letters of Saint Boniface, 121-2.
111 P. Brown The Rise of Western Christendom 2 nd ed. (Oxford, 2003) 418.
200