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29-2053: According to Willibald 's 8th century Life of Saint Boniface , the felling of the tree occurred during Boniface's life earlier the same century at a location at the time known as Gaesmere (for details, see discussion below). Although no date is provided, the felling may have occurred around 723 or 724. Willibald's account is as follows (note that Robinson has translated robor Iobis , "tree of Jove ", as "oak of Jupiter"): Cum vero Hessorum iam multi, catholica fide subditi ac septiformis spiritus gratia confirmati, manus inspositionem acciperunt, et quidem, nondum animo confortati, intermeratae fidei documenta integre perceipere rennuerunt, alii etiam lignis et fontibus clanculo, alii autem aperte sacrificabant; alii vero aruspicia et divinationes, prestigia atque icantationes occulte, alii quidem manifeste exercebant; alii quippe auguria et auspicia intendebant diversosque sacrificandi ritus incoluerunt; alii etiam, quibus mens sanior inerat, omni abeicta gentilitatis profantione, nihil horum commisserunt. Quorum consultu atque consilio roborem quendam mirae magnitudinis, qui prisco paganorum vocabulo appellatur robor Iobis, in loco qui dicitur Gaesmere, servis Dei secum adstantibus succidere temptavit. Cumque, mentis constantia confortatus, arborem succidisset, — magna quippe aderat copia paganorum, qui et inimicum deorum suorum intra se diligentissime devotabant, — sed ad modicum quidem arbore praeciso, confestim inmensa roboris moles, divino desuper flatu exagitata, palmitum confracto culmine, corruit et quasi superni nutus solatio in quattuor etiam partes disrupta est, et quattuor ingentis magnitudinis aequali longitudine trunci absque fratrum labore adstantium apparuerunt. Quo viso, prius devotantes pagani etiam versa vice benedictionem Domino, pristina abiecta maledictione, credentes reddiderunt. Tunc autem summae sanctitatis antistes, consilio inito cum fratribus, ligneum ex supradictae arboris metallo oratorium construxit eamque in honore sancti Petri apostoli dedicavit. Now at that time many of

58-601: A city in northern Italy . It was here that Willibald's father became gravely ill and died. After burying their father Willibald and Winibald continued on their journey, travelling through Italy until they reached Rome. Here they visited the Lateran Basilica and St. Peter's . They spent some time in Italy, strengthening in devotion and discipline, but soon the two brothers became ill with the Black Plague (although Mershman says it

87-454: A major role in the reformation and future prosperity of the monastery . It happened that in 738 Boniface, coming to Rome, asked of Pope Gregory III that Willibald might be sent to assist him in his missions in Germany. The pope desired to see the monk, and was much delighted with the history of his travels, and acquainted him of Boniface's request. Upon arriving at Eichstätt, he was ordained

116-657: A possible location, he himself comments that most people consider Geismar near Fritzlar as the right place. Unequivocal identification of Geismar near Fritzlar as the location of the Donar Oak is found in the Catholic Encyclopedia , in teaching materials for religious studies classes in Germany, in the work of Alexander Demandt , in histories of the Carolingians, and in the work of Lutz von Padberg . The Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde notes that for Willibald it

145-464: A priest by Boniface on 22 July 741 and asked to begin missionary work in the area. A year later, Boniface summoned him to Thuringia . While travelling, Willibald encountered his brother, Winibald, whom he had not seen for over eight years. Shortly thereafter he returned to Eichstätt to begin his work. In 742 he and Winibald founded the double monastery of Heidenheim . Winibald served as the first abbot. Following his death, Willibald's sister, Walburga,

174-818: The Church of the Nativity , Thecua , the Great Lavra of St Sabbas , the church at the spot where Philip the Evangelist baptised the Ethiopian eunuch , the port city of Gaza , Hebron , Saint George 's hometown of Lydda , Joppa , Tyre and Sidon , Sebaste and other places in Samaria , Ptolemais , and again reached Tyre by way of the Ladder of Tyre. After waiting for some time in Tyre, Willibald

203-525: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Geismar (Fritzlar) " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try the purge function . Titles on Misplaced Pages are case sensitive except for

232-465: The Benedictine community at Monte Cassino . Here Willibald taught the community about his travels. He would spend over ten years (c. 729–739) at Monte Cassino and another local Benedictine monastery where he served roles as, " sacrist , dean , and porter ." According to David Farmer, his new-found monasticism was drastically shaped by his experiences in both England and Palestine, allowing him to play

261-673: The Hessians, brought under the Catholic faith and confirmed by the grace of the sevenfold spirit, received the laying on of hands; others indeed, not yet strengthened in soul, refused to accept in their entirety the lessons of the inviolate faith. Moreover some were wont secretly, some openly to sacrifice to trees and springs; some in secret, others openly practiced inspections of victims and divinations, legerdemain and incantations; some turned their attention to auguries and auspices and various sacrificial rites; while others, with sounder minds, abandoned all

290-455: The brethren who stood by. At this sight the pagans who before had cursed now, on the contrary, believed, and blessed the Lord, and put away their former reviling. Then moreover the most holy bishop, after taking counsel with the brethren, built from the timber of the tree a wooden oratory, and dedicated it in honor of Saint Peter the apostle. Sacred groves and sacred trees were venerated throughout

319-626: The diocesan apostolate, but also for the diffusion and development of monasticism." Wilibald served as the bishop of the region in Franconia for over four decades, living in the monastery and entertaining visitors throughout Europe who would come to hear of his journey and monasticism. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sts. Willibald and Winnebald". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. Geismar (Fritzlar) From Misplaced Pages,

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348-913: The 💕 Look for Geismar (Fritzlar) on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Geismar (Fritzlar) in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

377-785: The history of the Germanic peoples and were targeted for destruction by Christian missionaries during the Christianization of the Germanic peoples . Ken Dowden notes that behind this great oak dedicated to Donar, the Irminsul (also felled by Christian missionaries in the 8th century), and the Sacred tree at Uppsala (described by Adam of Bremen in the 11th century), stands a mythic prototype of an immense world tree, described in Norse mythology as Yggdrasil . By

406-648: The island of Cyprus . Following a stay in Cyprus they reached Antadoros (now called Tartus ) where they had an audience with a Greek bishop and visited the church of Saint John the Baptist . Willibald's journey then took him and a group of seven companions to Palestine (c. 723/24 - 726/27). There he visited Nazareth. From Nazareth he went to Bethlehem, and thence into Egypt. He returned to Nazareth, and thence travelled to Cana, Capharnaum, and Jerusalem, where he arrived on 11 November 725. The pilgrimage continued to Bethlehem and

435-584: The location of the tree felling as "still unidentified". In the late 19th century, folklorist and philologist Francis Barton Gummere identifies the Gaesemere of the attestation as Geismar, a district of Frankenberg located in Hesse. However, most scholars agree that the site mentioned by Willibald is Geismar near Fritzlar. In 1897 historian C. Neuber placed the Donar Oak "im Kreise Fritzlar". While Gregor Richter, in 1906, noted that one scholar considered Hofgeismar as

464-457: The nineteenth century Gaesmere was identified as Geismar  [ de ] in the Schwalm-Eder district, for instance by August Neander . There are a few dissenting voices: in his 1916 translation of Willibald's Vita Bonifacii , George W. Robinson says "The location [of the tree] is uncertain. There are in Hesse several places named Geismar." Historian Thomas F. X. Noble (2000) describes

493-500: The point of death, the breath of life had practically left their bodies. But God in His never failing providence and fatherly love deigned to listen to their prayers and come to their aid, so that each of them rested in turn for one week whilst they attended to each other's needs. Willibald left Rome in 724, heading for Naples . From there, accompanied by two unnamed companions and brother, he departed by sea, visited Sicily and Greece along

522-446: The profanations of heathenism, and committed none of these things. With the advice and counsel of these last, the saint attempted, in the place called Gaesmere, while the servants of God stood by his side, to fell a certain oak of extraordinary size, which is called, by an old name of the pagans, the Oak of Jupiter. And when in the strength of his steadfast heart he had cut the lower notch, there

551-477: The tree fall down to the ground and form a cross. In Hubertus Lutterbach's fictional expansion of the Boniface correspondence, Boniface relates the entire event in a long letter to Pope Gregory II , commenting that it took hours to cut the tree down, and that any account that says the tree fell down miraculously is a falsification of history. Willibald Willibald ( Latin : Willibaldus ; c. 700 – c.787)

580-604: The way, and eventually arrived in Asia Minor . Winnebald had, after the departure of his brother for Palestine, lived in a monastery at Rome. In Asia Minor Willibald and his companions first arrived in the city of Ephesus . Here they visited the tomb of John the Evangelist . They then continued on to Patara in Lycia , where they waited out the winter, and then travelled to Mount Chelidonium , almost dying of hunger and thirst as they attempted to cross. They departed by boat and arrived on

609-451: The year 700. His mother, Wuna of Wessex , was reportedly a sister of Boniface . His father, Richard the Pilgrim , was a chieftain of Wessex. At the age of three, Willibald suffered from a violent illness. His parents prayed to God, vowing to commit Willibald to a monastic life if he was to be spared. Willibald survived and at the age of five entered the Benedictine monastery at Waldheim and

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638-568: Was Richard the Pilgrim , and his mother Wuna of Wessex . His brother was Winibald and his sister was Walburga . Willibald was well-travelled and the first known Englishman to visit the Holy Land . His shrine is at the Eichstätt Cathedral in Germany, where his body and relics from his journeys are preserved. His feast day is 7 July. Willibald was born in Wessex on 21 October around

667-789: Was able to sail to Constantinople . He remained in Constantinople for some two years (c. 726/27–729) and was provided with a small room in an annex of the Church of the Holy Apostles . He spent part of this time in Nicaea , visiting a church and studying documents from the First Council of Nicaea that was arranged by Emperor Constantine . He left Constantinople and sailed for Sicily arriving in Naples approximately seven years after he had left Italy. Willibald and his remaining companion, Tidbercht, joined

696-521: Was an 8th-century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria . Information about his life is largely drawn from the Hodoeporicon of Willibald , a text written in the 8th century by Huneberc , an Anglo-Saxon nun from Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm who knew Willibald and his brother personally. The text of the Hodoeporicon ("Itinerary") was dictated to Huneberc by Willibald shortly before he died. Willibald's father

725-408: Was appointed the first abbess of the monastery. In 746 Boniface consecrated Willibald bishop of Eichstätt. According to Bunson, Eichstätt was the site of Willibald's most successful missionary efforts, although specific details like the means of conversion and number of converts are not known. The monastery was one of the first buildings in the region and served as an important centre, "not only for

754-546: Was educated by Abbot Egwald. At the monastery he became accustomed to the Irish and Anglo-Saxon monastic ideal of peregrinatio religiosa , or pious rootlessness. In 721 Willibald set out on a pilgrimage to Rome with his father and brother. After departing by ship the group arrived in Rouen , France visiting shrines and spending much of their time in prayer. Eventually they arrived in Lucca ,

783-482: Was malaria). Hunebrec recounts the disease and miraculous recovery: Then with the passing of the days and the increasing heat of the summer, which is usually a sign of future fever, they were struck down with sickness. They found it difficult to breathe, fever set in, and at one moment they were shivering with cold the next burning with heat. They had caught the black plague. So great a hold had it got on them that, scarcely able to move, worn out with fever and almost at

812-512: Was present a great multitude of pagans, who in their souls were earnestly cursing the enemy of their gods. But when the fore side of the tree was notched only a little, suddenly the oak's vast bulk, driven by a blast from above, crashed to the ground, shivering its crown of branches as it fell; and, as if by the gracious compensation of the Most High, it was also burst into four parts, and four trunks of huge size, equal in length, were seen, unwrought by

841-401: Was probably not necessary to specify the location any further because he presumed it widely known. This Geismar was close to Büraburg , then a hill castle and a Frankish stronghold. One of the focal points of Boniface's life, the scene is frequently repeated, illustrated, and reimagined. Roberto Muller, for instance, in a retelling of Boniface's biography for young adults, has the four parts of

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