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107-669: The best-known event in Dokkum's history is the martyrdom of the Anglo-Saxon missionary Saint Boniface in 754. Oliver of Cologne preached the Fifth Crusade in Dokkum in 1214 and Dokkum sent a contingent; the crescent in the coat of arms of Dokkum refers to this event. Dokkum acquired city rights in 1298. In 1572 Dokkum was sacked by the Spaniards after it had joined the Dutch Revolt . In 1597,

214-706: A BBC -Devon website, in an account which places Geismar in Bavaria , and in a number of educational books, including St. Boniface and the Little Fir Tree , The Brightest Star of All: Christmas Stories for the Family , The American normal readers , and a short story by Henry van Dyke , "The First Christmas Tree". The earliest "Life" of Boniface was written by a certain Willibald, an Anglo-Saxon priest who came to Mainz after Boniface's death, around 765. Willibald's biography

321-501: A Hellenistic civilization ) by their Seleucid overlords, being executed for such crimes as observing the Sabbath , circumcising their boys or refusing to eat pork or meat sacrificed to foreign gods . However, the notion of martyrdom in the Jewish and Christian traditions differ considerably. In Christianity , a martyr, in accordance with the meaning of the original Greek term martys in

428-577: A church with an attached monastery built in Fritzlar, on the site of the previously built chapel, according to tradition. The support of the Frankish mayors of the palace , and later the early Pippinids and the Carolingian dynasty, was essential for Boniface's work. Boniface had been under the protection of Charles Martel from 723 onwards. The Christian Frankish leaders desired to defeat their rival power,

535-514: A form of memoralizing the dead within some narrative, such as how the victims of the 2020 Beirut explosion were called ‘martyrs of corruption’ as a form of protest against the government. The wide usage of ‘martyr’ is not restricted to Arabic. Armenian culture likewise uses the term for the victims of the Armenian genocide , who are called Holy Martyrs . April 24 is Armenian Genocide Memorial Day , and also called "Armenian Martyrs Day". Martyrdom

642-656: A great amount of academic and popular interest. The event occasioned a number of scholarly studies, esp. biographies (for instance, by Auke Jelsma in Dutch, Lutz von Padberg in German, and Klaas Bruinsma in Frisian), and a fictional completion of the Boniface correspondence (Lutterbach, Mit Axt und Evangelium ). A German musical proved a great commercial success, and in the Netherlands an opera

749-563: A group of Italian pro-independence fighters condemned to death by hanging in 1853 during the Italian Risorgimento . They included Tito Speri and the priest Enrico Tazzoli and are named after the site where the sentence was carried out, in the valley of Belfiore at the south entrance to Mantua . The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of 19th century agricultural labourers in Dorset , England, who were arrested for and convicted of swearing

856-648: A hagiography of Sturm by Eigil of Fulda , Lullus attempted to block the move and keep the body in Mainz. His remains were eventually buried in the abbey church of Fulda after resting for some time in Utrecht , and they are entombed within a shrine beneath the high altar of Fulda Cathedral , previously the abbey church. There is good reason to believe that the Gospel he held up was the Codex Sangallensis 56, which shows damage to

963-582: A humantiarian activist, he is called a martyr by Al-Jazeera . Martyrdom is also tied with nationalism, because a martyr can be a person who died in the context of national struggle. For example, in Beirut, Martyrs' Square is a public square that's dedicated to Lebanese nationalists who were executed by the Ottomans. In Palestine, the word ‘martyr’ is traditionally used to mean a person killed by Israeli forces, regardless of religion. For example, Shireen Abu Akleh

1070-553: A monastery ruled by Abbot Wulfhard in escancastre , or Examchester , which seems to denote Exeter , and may have been one of many monasteriola built by local landowners and churchmen; nothing else is known of it outside the Bonifacian vitae . This monastery is believed to have occupied the site of the Church of St Mary Major in the City of Exeter , demolished in 1971, next to which

1177-640: A national figure. In 2019 Devon County Council , with the support of the Anglican Diocese of Exeter , the Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth , and local Devon leaders of the Orthodox, Methodist, and Congregational churches, officially recognised St Boniface as the Patron Saint of Devon . The earliest Bonifacian vita does not indicate his place of birth but says that at an early age he attended

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1284-519: A new vita of Boniface in the eleventh century, is credited with compiling the complete correspondence as we have it. Much of this correspondence comprises the first part of the Vienna Boniface Codex , also known as Codex Vindobonensis 751 . The correspondence was edited and published already in the seventeenth century, by Nicolaus Serarius. Stephan Alexander Würdtwein's 1789 edition, Epistolae S. Bonifacii Archiepiscopi Magontini ,

1391-418: A number of towns in 1855; both of these were predominantly Catholic affairs emphasizing the role of Boniface in German history. But if the celebrations were mostly Catholic, in the first part of the 19th century the respect for Boniface in general was an ecumenical affair, with both Protestants and Catholics praising Boniface as a founder of the German nation, in response to the German nationalism that arose after

1498-509: A political belief or cause. The Manchester Martyrs were three Irishmen executed after being condemned for association with the killing of a policeman in Manchester , England in 1867. The day after the executions, Frederick Engels wrote to Karl Marx : "Yesterday morning the Tories, by the hand of Mr Calcraft, accomplished the final act of separation between England and Ireland. The only thing that

1605-473: A publication for the occasion on historical aspects of Boniface and his work, the 1905 Festgabe by Gregor Richter and Carl Scherer. In all, the content of these early celebrations showed evidence of the continuing question about the meaning of Boniface for Germany, though the importance of Boniface in cities associated with him was without question. In 1954, celebrations were widespread in England, Germany, and

1712-407: A religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloquial usage, the term can also refer to any person who suffers a significant consequence in protest or support of a cause. In the martyrdom narrative of the remembering community, this refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of an individual by an oppressor. Accordingly, the status of

1819-465: A secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. The rules of the society showed it was clearly structured as a friendly society , that is, a mutual association for the purposes of insurance, pensions, savings or cooperative banking; and it operated as a trade-specific benefit society . But at the time, friendly societies had strong elements of what are now considered to be

1926-479: A site of Christian pilgrimage . Boniface's life and death as well as his work became widely known, there being a wealth of material available — a number of vitae , especially the near-contemporary Vita Bonifatii auctore Willibaldi , legal documents, possibly some sermons, and above all his correspondence. He is venerated as a saint in the Christian church and became the patron saint of Germania , known as

2033-613: A supporter of Boniface's reform efforts in the Frankish church. Boniface himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without the protection of Charles Martel he could "neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry". According to German historian Gunther Wolf, the high point of Boniface's career was the Concilium Germanicum , organized by Carloman in an unknown location in April 743. Although Boniface

2140-439: A violently ill monk is freed from his body and guided by angels to a place of judgment, where angels and devils fight over his soul as his sins and virtues come alive to accuse and defend him. He sees a hell of purgation full of pits vomiting flames. There is a bridge over a pitch-black boiling river. Souls either fall from it or safely reach the other side cleansed of their sins. This monk even sees some of his contemporary monks and

2247-515: Is also a series of paintings there by Timothy Moore. There are quite a few churches dedicated to St. Boniface in the United Kingdom: Bunbury, Cheshire ; Chandler's Ford and Southampton Hampshire; Adler Street, London; Papa Westray , Orkney; St Budeaux , Plymouth (now demolished); Bonchurch , Isle of Wight; Cullompton , Devon. St Boniface Down , the highest point in the Isle of Wight ,

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2354-527: Is an Arabic term in Islam meaning "witness", and is also used to denote a martyr; a female martyr is named shahida . The term Shahid occurs frequently in the Quran in the generic sense "witness", but only once in the sense "martyr, one who dies for his faith"; this latter sense acquires wider use in the ḥadīth literature . Islam views a martyr as a man or woman who dies while conducting jihad , whether on or off

2461-491: Is generally called the Bonifatian correspondence, though not all them are by Boniface or addressed to him. They were assembled by order of archbishop Lullus , Boniface's successor in Mainz, and were initially organized into two parts, a section containing the papal correspondence and another with his private letters. They were reorganized in the eighth century, in a roughly chronological ordering. Otloh of St. Emmeram, who worked on

2568-423: Is killed because of their religion, it is more generally used to mean a person who died a violent death. Thus it can arguably mean a general ‘victim’. A person is a martyr if they were killed because of their identity, because of natural disasters like earthquakes, or while performing relief or health care work. For example, İbrahim Bilgen was killed by Israel in the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid . Because he died as

2675-478: Is named after him. Bishop George Errington founded St Boniface's Catholic College , Plymouth in 1856. The school celebrates Saint Boniface on 5 June each year. In 1818, Father Norbert Provencher founded a mission on the east bank of the Red River in what was then Rupert's Land , building a log church and naming it after St. Boniface. The log church was consecrated as Saint Boniface Cathedral after Provencher

2782-580: Is now generally discredited. Boniface balanced this support and attempted to maintain some independence, however, by attaining the support of the papacy and of the Agilolfings of Bavaria . In Frankish, Hessian, and Thuringian territory, he established the diocese of Würzburg (741). . By appointing his own followers as bishops, he was able to retain some independence from the Carolingians, who most likely were content to give him leeway as long as Christianity

2889-405: Is one of the main examples of Kiddush Hashem , meaning "sanctification of God's name" through public dedication to Jewish practice. Religious martyrdom is considered one of the more significant contributions of Hellenistic Judaism to Western Civilization . 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees recount numerous martyrdoms suffered by Jews resisting Hellenizing (adoption of Greek ideas or customs of

2996-497: Is recorded as being Winfrid or Winfred. According to the vitae , Winfrid was of a respected and prosperous family. Against his father's wishes he devoted himself at an early age to the monastic life. He received further theological training in the Benedictine monastery and minster of Nhutscelle (Nursling) , not far from Winchester , which under the direction of abbot Winbert had grown into an industrious centre of learning in

3103-618: Is regarded as Winnipeg's main French-speaking district and the centre of the Franco-Manitobain community, and St. Boniface Hospital is the second-largest hospital in Manitoba. Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 5 June . Some traditions credit Saint Boniface with the invention of the Christmas tree . It is mentioned on

3210-668: Is still a bus station in Dokkum. The latest neighbourhood is called the 'Trije Terpen'. At the Trije Terpen is also the newest shopping area of Dokkum called, Zuiderschans. Other construction works in other parts of the city are also taking place, such as the Lyceumpark, the Fonteinslanden, the Veiling and the Hogedijken. In the future the industrial park, Betterwird, will expand even more to

3317-608: Is the basis of Ephraim Emerton 's selection and translation in English, The Letters of Saint Boniface , first published in New York in 1940; it was republished most recently with a new introduction by Thomas F.X. Noble in 2000. Included among his letters and dated to 716 is one to Abbess Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet containing the Vision of the Monk of Wenlock . This otherworld vision describes how

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3424-568: Is the belief of righteous duty ( dharma ), where violence is used as a last resort to resolution after all other means have failed. Examples of this are found in the Mahabharata . Upon completion of their exile, the Pandavas were refused the return of their portion of the kingdom by their cousin Duruyodhana; and following which all means of peace talks by Krishna , Vidura and Sanjaya failed. During

3531-566: Is told to warn them to repent before they die. This vision bears signs of influence by the Apocalypse of Paul , the visions from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great , and the visions recorded by Bede . Some fifteen preserved sermons are traditionally associated with Boniface, but that they were actually his is not generally accepted. Early in his career, before he left for the continent, Boniface wrote

3638-867: The Ars Bonifacii , a grammatical treatise presumably for his students in Nursling. Helmut Gneuss reports that one manuscript copy of the treatise originates from (the south of) England, mid-eighth century; it is now held in Marburg , in the Hessisches Staatsarchiv . He also wrote a treatise on verse, the Caesurae uersuum , and a collection of twenty acrostic riddles , the Enigmata , influenced greatly by Aldhelm and containing many references to works of Vergil (the Aeneid ,

3745-701: The Georgics , and the Eclogues ). The riddles fall into two sequences of ten poems. The first, De virtutibus ('on the virtues'), comprises: 1. de ueritate /truth; 2. de fide catholica /the Catholic faith; 3. de spe /hope; 4. de misericordia /compassion; 5. de caritate /love; 6. de iustitia /justice; 7. de patientia /patience; 8. de pace uera, cristiana /true, Christian peace; 9. de humilitate cristiania /Christian humility; 10. de uirginitate /virginity. The second sequence, De vitiis ('on

3852-460: The Admiralty of Friesland was established in Dokkum. However, it was moved to Harlingen in 1645. In 1971 the city was included in the list of Dutch 'Urban and village conservation areas'. In 1923, when Catholics in the Netherlands were not allowed to engage in public expressions of faith such as processions , a processional park was built south-east of the city center, the Boniface park. Central in

3959-558: The Baháʼí Faith , martyrs are those who sacrifice their lives serving humanity in the name of God. However, Bahá'u'lláh , the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, discouraged the literal meaning of sacrificing one's life. Instead, he explained that martyrdom is devoting oneself to service to humanity. In politics, a martyr is someone who suffers persecution and/or death for advocating, renouncing, refusing to renounce, and/or refusing to advocate

4066-624: The Eastern Orthodox Church . A famous statue of Saint Boniface stands on the grounds of Mainz Cathedral , seat of the archbishop of Mainz . A more modern rendition stands facing St. Peter's Church of Fritzlar. The UK National Shrine is located at the Catholic church at Crediton , Devon, which has a bas-relief of the felling of Thor's Oak, by sculptor Kenneth Carter. The sculpture was unveiled by Princess Margaret in his native Crediton , located in Newcombes Meadow Park. There

4173-608: The Elfstedentocht , Dokkum is known as the keerpunt (turning-point in Dutch ), because it is where the speedskaters turn and head back to Leeuwarden . There are two different soccer clubs in Dokkum, VV Dokkum and Be Quick Dokkum . In 1652, Dokkum had five windmills, these were all post mills . Dokkum has two windmills, cap mills, that are preserved and both of them are open to the public by appointment. They are named Zeldenrust and De Hoop . A third mill, De Marmeerin stood by

4280-520: The Fenians still lacked were martyrs. ... To my knowledge, the only time that anybody has been executed for a similar matter in a civilised country was the case of John Brown at Harpers Ferry. The Fenians could not have wished for a better precedent." Ten Irish Republican Army members died during a 1981 hunger strike , including Bobby Sands . The Belfiore martyrs (in Italian , Martiri di Belfiore ) were

4387-713: The Latin Church in Europe, and many of the dioceses he proposed remain today. After his martyrdom, he was quickly hailed as a saint in Fulda and other areas in Germania and in England. He is still venerated strongly today by Catholics in Germany and throughout the German diaspora . Boniface is celebrated as a missionary; he is regarded as a unifier of Europe, and he is regarded by German Roman Catholics as

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4494-647: The Longhua Martyrs' Memorial . Many communist activists have died as martyrs in India, due to their allegiance to various communist parties, such as the CPI(M) and the CPI . Most of them hail from mainly leftist states such as Kerala , and Tripura . In Kerala, many are killed in protests by the police, and some are assassinated by activists in other political parties, such as the INC and

4601-531: The New Testament , is one who brings a testimony, usually written or verbal. In particular, the testimony is that of the Christian Gospel , or more generally, the Word of God . A Christian witness is a biblical witness whether or not death follows. The concept of Jesus as a martyr has recently received greater attention. Analyses of the Passion narratives in the Gospels have led many scholars to conclude that they are martyrdom accounts in terms of genre and style. Several scholars have also concluded that Paul

4708-410: The RSS . The district of Kannur has reported to have had the most political murders. Here, the RSS are known to have used brutal violence to eliminate CPI(M) workers. In the United States , the assassinations of Malcolm X in 1965 and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 have been linked to their leadership in movements to improve the rights and quality of life of black citizens, black nationalism and

4815-401: The archetypal martyr. The word martyr is used in English to describe a wide variety of people. However, the following table presents a general outline of common features present in stereotypical martyrdoms. In contemporary Middle Eastern cultures, the term for 'martyr’ (Arabic shahid ) has more uses than the English word ‘martyr’. While the term can be narrowly used for a person who

4922-451: The civil rights movement respectively. A political martyr is someone who suffers persecution or death for advocating, renouncing, refusing to renounce, or refusing to advocate a political belief or cause. The term "revolutionary martyr" usually relates to those dying in revolutionary struggle. During the 20th century, the concept was developed in particular in the culture and propaganda of communist or socialist revolutions, although it

5029-419: The state religion , which greatly diminished persecution (although not for non-Nicene Christians). As some wondered how then they could most closely follow Christ there was a development of desert spirituality characterized by a eremitic lifestyle , renunciation , self-mortification , and separation from the world, practiced by several desert monks and Christian ascetics in late antiquity (such as Paul

5136-449: The vita is stylised to portray Boniface as a singular character who alone acts to root out paganism. Lutz von Padberg and others claim that what the vitae leave out is that the action was most likely well-prepared and widely publicized in advance for maximum effect, and that Boniface had little reason to fear for his personal safety since the Frankish fortified settlement of Büraburg was nearby. According to Willibald, Boniface later had

5243-407: The " Apostle to the Germans ". Norman Cantor notes the three roles Boniface played that made him "one of the truly outstanding creators of the first Europe, as the apostle of Germania, the reformer of the Frankish church, and the chief fomentor of the alliance between the papacy and the Carolingian family ." Through his efforts to reorganize and regulate the church of the Franks, he helped shape

5350-399: The "Mainz tradition"; in Mainz, Michael Tangl 's dating of the martyrdom in 754 was not accepted until after 1955. Celebrations in Germany centered on Fulda and Mainz, in the Netherlands on Dokkum and Utrecht, and in England on Crediton and Exeter. The first German celebration on a fairly large scale was held in 1805 (the 1,050th anniversary of his death), followed by a similar celebration in

5457-426: The 'martyr' can be considered a posthumous title as a reward for those who are considered worthy of the concept of martyrdom by the living, regardless of any attempts by the deceased to control how they will be remembered in advance. Insofar, the martyr is a relational figure of a society's boundary work that is produced by collective memory . Originally applied only to those who suffered for their religious beliefs,

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5564-428: The (legendary) fourth-century martyr Boniface of Tarsus , and appointed him missionary bishop for Germania —he became a bishop without a diocese for an area that lacked any church organization. He would never return to England, though he remained in correspondence with his countrymen and kinfolk throughout his life. According to the vitae Boniface felled the Donar Oak , Latinized by Willibald as "Jupiter's oak", near

5671-458: The 690s. He spent a year with Willibrord, preaching in the countryside, but their efforts were frustrated by the war then being carried on between Charles Martel and Radbod, King of the Frisians . Willibrord fled to the abbey he had founded in Echternach (in modern-day Luxembourg ) while Boniface returned to Nursling. Boniface returned to the continent the next year and went straight to Rome, where Pope Gregory II renamed him "Boniface", after

5778-481: The 740s before he could try to address this situation, in which Frankish church officials were essentially sinecures , and the church itself paid little heed to Rome. During his third visit to Rome in 737–38, he was made papal legate for Germany. After Boniface's third trip to Rome, Charles Martel established four dioceses in Bavaria ( Salzburg , Regensburg , Freising , and Passau ) and gave them to Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of

5885-406: The Apostle understood Jesus' death as a martyrdom. In light of such conclusions, some have argued that the early Christians of the first three centuries would have interpreted the crucifixion of Jesus as a martyrdom. In the context of church history , from the time of the persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire under the Julio-Claudian dynasty , it developed that a martyr

5992-426: The Baptist , Jesus's possible cousin and his prophet and forerunner. The first Christian witness, after the establishment of the Christian faith at Pentecost , to be killed for his testimony was Saint Stephen (whose name means "crown"), and those who suffer martyrdom are said to have been "crowned". From the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine , Christianity was decriminalized, and then, under Theodosius I , became

6099-417: The Canadian physician Tillson Harrison —are honored and commemorated as martyrs. The red scarf worn by the 100+ million Young Pioneers honors their spilt blood. Jiang Zhuyun and Liu Hulan are notable female martyrs who have been commemorated in various media. Notable monuments include the Monument to the People's Heroes at the confluence of Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River in central Shanghai and

6206-409: The Christians who inspected it afterward. Of those three books, the Ragyndrudis Codex shows incisions that could have been made by sword or axe; its story appears confirmed in the Utrecht hagiography, the Vita altera , which reports that an eye-witness saw that the saint at the moment of death held up a gospel as spiritual protection. The story was later repeated by Otloh's vita ; at that time,

6313-442: The Church authorities in England in the 16th and 17th centuries. Even more modern day accounts of martyrdom for Christ exist, depicted in books such as Jesus Freaks , though the numbers are disputed. The claim that 100,000 Christians are killed for their faith annually is greatly exaggerated according to the BBC , with many of those deaths due to war, but the fact of ongoing Christian martyrdoms remains undisputed. Shahid

6420-445: The Church of England after 1534. Two hundred and eighty-eight Christians were martyred for their faith by public burning between 1553 and 1558 by the Roman Catholic Queen Mary I in England leading to the reversion to the Church of England under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559. "From hundreds to thousands" of Waldensians were martyred in the Massacre of Mérindol in 1545. Three-hundred Roman Catholics were said to have been martyred by

6527-597: The German lands and continued his mission, but also used his authority to work on the relations between the papacy and the Frankish church. Rome wanted more control over that church, which it felt was much too independent and which, in the eyes of Boniface, was subject to worldly corruption. Charles Martel , after having defeated the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate during the Battle of Tours (732), had rewarded many churches and monasteries with lands, but typically his supporters who held church offices were allowed to benefit from those possessions. Boniface would have to wait until

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6634-411: The Hermit and Anthony the Great ). This was a kind of white martyrdom , dying to oneself every day, as opposed to a red martyrdom , the giving of one's life in a violent death. In the history of Christianity, death due to sectarian persecutions by other Christians has been regarded as martyrdom as well. There were martyrs recognized on both sides of the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and

6741-513: The Napoleonic era came to an end. The second part of the 19th century saw increased tension between Catholics and Protestants; for the latter, Martin Luther had become the model German, the founder of the modern nation, and he and Boniface were in direct competition for the honor. In 1905, when strife between Catholic and Protestant factions had eased (one Protestant church published a celebratory pamphlet, Gerhard Ficker's Bonifatius, der "Apostel der Deutschen" ), there were modest celebrations and

6848-506: The Netherlands, and a number of these celebrations were international affairs. Especially in Germany, these celebrations had a distinctly political note to them and often stressed Boniface as a kind of founder of Europe, such as when Konrad Adenauer , the (Catholic) German chancellor, addressed a crowd of 60,000 in Fulda, celebrating the feast day of the saint in a European context: Das, was wir in Europa gemeinsam haben, [ist] gemeinsamen Ursprungs ("What we have in common in Europe comes from

6955-402: The Ragyndrudis Codex seems to have been firmly connected to the martyrdom. Boniface's remains were moved from the Frisian countryside to Utrecht, and then to Mainz, where sources contradict each other regarding the behavior of Lullus , Boniface's successor as archbishop of Mainz. According to Willibald's vita Lullus allowed the body to be moved to Fulda, while the (later) Vita Sturmi ,

7062-414: The Rhine. In 745, he was granted Mainz as metropolitan see. In 742, one of his disciples, Sturm (also known as Sturmi, or Sturmius), founded the abbey of Fulda not far from Boniface's earlier missionary outpost at Fritzlar. Although Sturm was the founding abbot of Fulda, Boniface was very involved in the foundation. The initial grant for the abbey was signed by Carloman , the son of Charles Martel , and

7169-414: The Woudvaart outside the town. Since 2014 the mill was moved to be restored to working order. After restoration it is to be rebuilt at De sûkerei open-air museum in Damwâld . Dokkum was the residence of the pioneering midwife Catharina Geertruida Schrader (1656–1746) for much of her career. Other famous Dokkumers include: Saint Boniface Boniface (born Wynfreth ; c. 675 – 5 June 754)

7276-429: The aged archbishop. The vitae mention that Boniface persuaded his (armed) comrades to lay down their arms: "Cease fighting. Lay down your arms, for we are told in Scripture not to render evil for evil but to overcome evil by good." Having killed Boniface and his company, the Frisian bandits ransacked their possessions but found that the company's luggage did not contain the riches they had hoped for: "they broke open

7383-399: The battlefield (see greater jihad and lesser jihad ). The concept of martyrdom in Islam became prominent during the Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979) and the subsequent Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), so that the cult of the martyr had a lasting impact on the course of revolution and war. Since the early 2000s, it has been primarily associated with Islamic extremism and jihadism . In

7490-400: The chests containing the books and found, to their dismay, that they held manuscripts instead of gold vessels, pages of sacred texts instead of silver plates." They attempted to destroy these books, the earliest vita already says, and this account underlies the status of the Ragyndrudis Codex , now held as a Bonifacian relic in Fulda, and supposedly one of three books found on the field by

7597-420: The continent. A letter by Boniface charging Aldebert and Clement with heresy is preserved in the records of the Roman Council of 745 that condemned the two. Boniface had an interest in the Irish canon law collection known as Collectio canonum Hibernensis , and a late eighth/early ninth-century manuscript in Würzburg contains, besides a selection from the Hibernensis , a list of rubrics that mention

7704-636: The date (1 November) of his translation in 819, when the Fulda Cathedral had been rebuilt. A Vita Bonifacii was written in Fulda in the ninth century, possibly by Candidus of Fulda , but is now lost. The next vita , chronologically, is the Vita altera Bonifatii auctore Radbodo , which originates in the Bishopric of Utrecht , and was probably revised by Radboud of Utrecht (899–917). Mainly agreeing with Willibald, it adds an eye-witness who presumably saw

7811-562: The extended meaning of believers who are called to witness for their religious belief, and on account of this witness, endure suffering or death. The term, in this later sense, entered the English language as a loanword . The death of a martyr or the value attributed to it is called martyrdom . The early Christians who first began to use the term martyr in its new sense saw Jesus as the first and greatest martyr, on account of his crucifixion . The early Christians appear to have seen Jesus as

7918-666: The great war which commenced, even Arjuna was brought down with doubts, e.g., attachment, sorrow, fear. This is where Krishna instructs Arjuna how to carry out his duty as a righteous warrior and fight. Martyrdom (called shahadat in Punjabi) is a fundamental concept in Sikhism and represents an important institution of the faith. Sikhs believe in Ibaadat se Shahadat (from love to martyrdom). Some famous Sikh martyrs include: Martyrdom in Judaism

8025-574: The heresies of Clemens and Aldebert. The relevant folios containing these rubrics were most likely copied in Mainz, Würzburg, or Fulda—all places associated with Boniface. Michael Glatthaar suggested that the rubrics should be seen as Boniface's contribution to the agenda for a synod. Boniface's death (and birth) has given rise to a number of noteworthy celebrations. The dates for some of these celebrations have undergone some changes: in 1805, 1855, and 1905 (and in England in 1955) anniversaries were calculated with Boniface's death dated in 755, according to

8132-586: The importance of Boniface for German Christianity: Der heilige Bonifatius, Bischof und Märtyrer, 'bedeutet' den 'Anfang' des Evangeliums und der Kirche in Eurem Land ("The holy Boniface, bishop and martyr, 'signifies' the beginning of the gospel and the church in your country"). A photograph of the pope praying at Boniface's grave became the centerpiece of a prayer card distributed from the cathedral. In 2004, anniversary celebrations were held throughout Northwestern Germany and Utrecht, and Fulda and Mainz—generating

8239-621: The martyrdom at Dokkum. The Vita tertia Bonifatii likewise originates in Utrecht. It is dated between 917 (Radboud's death) and 1075, the year Adam of Bremen wrote his Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum , which used the Vita tertia . A later vita , written by Otloh of St. Emmeram (1062–1066), is based on Willibald's and a number of other vitae as well as the correspondence, and also includes information from local traditions. Boniface engaged in regular correspondence with fellow churchmen all over Western Europe, including

8346-414: The mire. When it was pulled loose, a well sprang up. By the time of the Vita altera Bonifatii (9th century), there was a church on the site, and the well had become a "fountain of sweet water" used to sanctify people. The Vita Liudgeri , a hagiographical account of the work of Ludger , describes how Ludger himself had built the church, sharing duties with two other priests. According to James Palmer,

8453-492: The modern era, Lutz von Padberg published a number of biographies and articles on the saint focusing on his missionary praxis and his relics. The most authoritative biography remains Theodor Schieffer 's Winfrid-Bonifatius und die Christliche Grundlegung Europas (1954). Martyr A martyr ( Greek : μάρτυς , mártys , 'witness' stem μαρτυρ- , martyr- ) is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate,

8560-428: The monks and legal owner of the abbey and its possessions, and all donations to the abbey were done in his name. He was honored on the date of his martyrdom, 5 June (with a mass written by Alcuin ), and (around the year 1000) with a mass dedicated to his appointment as bishop, on 1 December. Willibald's vita describes how a visitor on horseback came to the site of the martyrdom, and a hoof of his horse got stuck in

8667-487: The monks prostrating themselves and reciting Psalm 50 . After the abbey church was rebuilt to become the Ratgar Basilica (dedicated 791), Boniface's remains were translated to a new grave: since the church had been enlarged, his grave, originally in the west, was now in the middle; his relics were moved to a new apse in 819. From then on Boniface, as patron of the abbey, was regarded as both spiritual intercessor for

8774-563: The pagan Saxons, and to incorporate the Saxon lands into their own growing empire. Boniface's campaign of destruction of indigenous Germanic pagan sites may have benefited the Franks in their campaign against the Saxons. In 732, Boniface traveled again to Rome to report, and Pope Gregory III conferred upon him the pallium as archbishop with jurisdiction over what is now Germany. Boniface again set out for

8881-549: The park is the so-called Brouwersbron, the brewers' well, which Titus Brandsma and others (incorrectly) identified as the well that sprang up after the saint's martyrdom. A chapel dedicated to Boniface was built in 1934. Brandsma, a Carmelite priest who was murdered by the Nazis in Dachau in 1942, also designed the park's Stations of the Cross , which were finished in 1949. Before 2019, the city

8988-421: The present-day town of Fritzlar in northern Hesse . According to his early biographer Willibald, Boniface started to chop the oak down, when suddenly a great wind, by miracle, blew the ancient oak over. When the gods did not strike him down, the people were amazed and converted to Christianity. He built a church from its wood at the site —the church was the beginning of the monastery in Fritzlar. This account from

9095-580: The principal role of trade unions , and wages were at issue. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were sentenced not to death but to transportation to Australia , a harsh form of exile. In the People's Republic of China , people who died in the cause of the Communist Party —most particularly the many victims of the 1927 Shanghai massacre but also including devoted humanitarians during the Chinese Civil War such as

9202-576: The same source"). When Pope John Paul II visited Germany in November 1980, he spent two days in Fulda (17 and 18 November). He celebrated Mass in Fulda Cathedral with 30,000 gathered on the square in front of the building, and met with the German Bishops' Conference (held in Fulda since 1867). The pope next celebrated mass outside the cathedral, in front of an estimated crowd of 100,000, and hailed

9309-467: The term has come to be used in connection with people killed for a political cause. Most martyrs are considered holy or are respected by their followers, becoming symbols of exceptional leadership and heroism in the face of difficult circumstances. Martyrs play significant roles in religions. Similarly, martyrs have had notable effects in secular life, including such figures as Socrates , among other political and cultural examples. In its original meaning,

9416-481: The three popes he worked with, and with some of his kinsmen back in England. Many of these letters contain questions about church reform and liturgical or doctrinal matters. In most cases, what remains is one half of the conversation, either the question or the answer. The correspondence as a whole gives evidence of Boniface's widespread connections; some of the letters also prove an intimate relationship especially with female correspondents. There are 150 letters in what

9523-600: The tradition of Aldhelm . Winfrid taught in the abbey school and at the age of 30 became a priest; in this time, he wrote a Latin grammar, the Ars Grammatica , besides a treatise on verse and some Aldhelm -inspired riddles. While little is known about Nursling outside Boniface's vitae , it seems clear that the library there was significant. To supply Boniface with the materials he needed, it would have contained works by Donatus , Priscian , Isidore , and many others. Around 716, when his abbot Wynberth of Nursling died, he

9630-407: The upper margin, which has been cut back as a form of repair. Veneration of Boniface in Fulda began immediately after his death; his grave was equipped with a decorative tomb around ten years after his burial, and the grave and relics became the center of the abbey. Fulda monks prayed for newly elected abbots at the grave site before greeting them, and every Monday the saint was remembered in prayer,

9737-506: The vices'), comprises: 1. de neglegentia /carelessness; 2. de iracundia /hot temper; 3. de cupiditate /greed; 4. de superbia /pride; 5. de crapula /intemperance; 6. de ebrietate /drunkenness; 7. de luxoria /fornication; 8. de inuidia /envy; 9. de ignorantia /ignorance; 10. de uana gloria /vainglory. Three octosyllabic poems written in clearly Aldhelmian fashion (according to Andy Orchard ) are preserved in his correspondence, all composed before he left for

9844-590: The well was of great importance since the saint's body was hundreds of miles away; the physicality of the well allowed for an ongoing connection with the saint. In addition, Boniface signified Dokkum's and Frisia's "connect[ion] to the rest of (Frankish) Christendom". Saint Boniface's feast day is celebrated on 5 June in the Roman Catholic Church , the Lutheran Church , the Anglican Communion and

9951-488: The west. It's an industrial park with more than 70 companies. In 2013, the construction of the Central Axis began. This is a road with a fast connection and few obstacles between Dokkum and Drachten. The road was delivered in 2016. The population of Dokkum increased by 5,378 people between 1960 and 2013. In recent years, the population has fluctuated around 12,500 inhabitants. In the 200 km ice skating marathon known as

10058-559: The word martyr, meaning witness , was used in the secular sphere as well as in the New Testament of the Bible . The process of bearing witness was not intended to lead to the death of the witness, although it is known from ancient writers (e.g., Josephus ) and from the New Testament that witnesses often died for their testimonies. During the early Christian centuries, the term acquired

10165-401: Was a Palestinian Christian journalist who was killed by Israeli forces, and Arabic media calls her a ‘martyr’. This reflects a communal belief that every Palestinian death is part of a resistance against Israeli occupation. Children are likewise called martyrs, such as the late children of journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh who were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The label of martyrdom is used as

10272-564: Was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of the church in Germany and was made bishop of Mainz by Pope Gregory III . He was martyred in Frisia in 754, along with 52 others, and his remains were returned to Fulda , where they rest in a sarcophagus which remains

10379-765: Was extensively promoted by the Tongmenghui and the Kuomintang party in modern China. Revolutionaries who died fighting against the Qing dynasty in the Xinhai Revolution and throughout the Republic of China period, furthering the cause of the revolution, were recognized as martyrs. According to Stephen Knapp, despite the promotion of ahimsa (non-violence) within Sanatana Dharma , and there being no concept of martyrdom, there

10486-458: Was himself consecrated as a bishop and the diocese was formed. The community that grew around the cathedral eventually became the city of Saint Boniface , which merged into the city of Winnipeg in 1971. In 1844, four Grey Nuns arrived by canoe in Manitoba, and in 1871, built Western Canada's first hospital: St. Boniface Hospital , where the Assiniboine and Red Rivers meet. Today, St. Boniface

10593-475: Was imposed on the Saxons and other Germanic tribes. According to the vitae , Boniface had never relinquished his hope of converting the Frisians , and in 754 he set out with a retinue for Frisia. He baptized a great number and summoned a general meeting for confirmation at a place not far from Dokkum , between Franeker and Groningen . However, instead of his converts, a group of armed robbers appeared and slew

10700-473: Was invited (or expected) to assume his position—it is possible that they were related, and the practice of hereditary right among the early Anglo-Saxons would affirm this. Winfrid, however, declined the position and in 716 set out on a missionary expedition to Frisia . Boniface first left for the continent in 716. He traveled to Utrecht , where Willibrord , the "Apostle to the Frisians", had been working since

10807-514: Was later built Exeter Cathedral . Later tradition places his birth at Crediton , but the earliest mention of Crediton in connection to Boniface is from the early fourteenth century, in John Grandisson 's Legenda Sanctorum: The Proper Lessons for Saints' Days according to the use of Exeter . In one of his letters Boniface mentions he was "born and reared...[in] the synod of London", but he may have been speaking metaphorically. His English name

10914-459: Was not able to safeguard the church from property seizures by the local nobility, he did achieve one goal, the adoption of stricter guidelines for the Frankish clergy, who often hailed directly from the nobility. After Carloman's resignation in 747 he maintained a sometimes turbulent relationship with the king of the Franks, Pepin the Short ; the claim that he would have crowned Pepin at Soissons in 751

11021-545: Was one who was killed for maintaining a religious belief , knowing that this will almost certainly result in imminent death (though without intentionally seeking death). This definition of martyr is not specifically restricted to the Christian faith. Christianity recognizes certain Old Testament Jewish figures, like Abel and the Maccabees , as holy, and the New Testament mentions the imprisonment and beheading of John

11128-618: Was part of the Dongeradeel municipality. The city hall in Dokkum was built in 1610. Dokkum had a station ( Dokkum-Aalsum ) on the North Friesland Railway , which opened in 1901. It became the terminus for passenger services in May 1935 and closed to passengers in July 1936. The station reopened to passengers in May 1940 and closed to passengers in July 1942. Freight services ceased in 1975. There

11235-421: Was staged. There is an extensive body of literature on the saint and his work. At the time of the various anniversaries, edited collections were published containing essays by some of the best-known scholars of the time, such as the 1954 collection Sankt Bonifatius: Gedenkgabe zum Zwölfhundertsten Todestag and the 2004 collection Bonifatius — Vom Angelsächsischen Missionar zum Apostel der Deutschen . In

11342-403: Was the basis for a number of (partial) translations in the nineteenth century. The first version to be published by Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH) was the edition by Ernst Dümmler (1892); the most authoritative version until today is Michael Tangl's 1912 Die Briefe des Heiligen Bonifatius, Nach der Ausgabe in den Monumenta Germaniae Historica , published by MGH in 1916. This edition

11449-508: Was widely dispersed; Levison lists some forty manuscripts. According to his lemma, a group of four manuscripts including Codex Monacensis 1086 are copies directly from the original. Listed second in Levison's edition is the entry from a late ninth-century Fulda document: Boniface's status as a martyr is attested by his inclusion in the Fulda Martyrology which also lists, for instance,

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