The Martyrs of Ebsdorf were a group of

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s killed in the winter of 880 AD at the

Battle of Lüneburg Heath The Battle of Lüneburg Heath (also called the Battle of Ebstorf) was a conflict between the army of King Louis the Younger and the Norse Great Heathen Army fought on 2 February 880 AD, at Lüneburg Heath in today's Lower Saxony. Following d ...

near

Ebstorf Ebstorf is a municipality in the district of Uelzen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 12 km northwest of Uelzen, and 25 km south of Lüneburg. Ebstorf was the seat of the former ''Samtgemeinde A ''Samtgemeinde ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

.Martyrs of Ebsdorf
at traditionalcatholic.net. Their

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is February 2.

Recognised martyrs

The Martyrs consisted of four

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

s, 11

noblemen Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characterist ...

, and numerous unknown foot soldiers. Recognised members include Bruno of Saxony, Saints

Marquard Marquard is a small farming town in the Free State province of South Africa that serves Winburg in the northwest. The town was set up in 1905 by an influential Dutch Reform minister, JJ Marquard, with the help of Christoffel Cornelis Froneman ...

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

and Theodorich of Minden. Some Synaxarions, however, contain a list of 32 Saints:Bishops * Marquard, bishop of Hildesheim; * Gobbert, bishop of Osnabrück; * Erlulf, bishop of Verden; * Dietrich (or Theodorich, Theodorik, Theodoricus), bishop of Minden; Knights * Wigmann * Bardo (3x) * Thioterik (2x) * Gerrich * Liudolf * Folkward * Avan Noblemen * Liuthar (or Lothar), Count of Stade *

Bruno, Duke of Saxony Bruno, also called Brun or Braun ( 2 February 880), a member of the Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Saxony from 866 until his death. He is rated as an ancestor of the Brunonids, a cadet branch of the Ottonians, though an affiliation is uncertain. ...

* Adelram * Alfuïnus * Addesta * Aida (or Edi, 2x) * Dodo * Bodo (or Botho) * Wal * Halif * Humilduïnus * Adalwin * Werinhart * Theodorich * Hildewart * Bardolf * Hivart The martyrs, serving in the army of King

Louis III of France Louis III (863/65—5 August 882) was King of West Francia (a precursor to the Kingdom of France) from 879 until his death in 882. He succeeded his father Louis the Stammerer, and ruled over West Francia in tandem with his brother Carloman II. L ...

, were slain while fighting

Norsemen The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the pre ...

of the

Great Heathen Army The Great Heathen Army,; da, Store Hedenske Hær also known as the Viking Great Army,Hadley. "The Winter Camp of the Viking Great Army, AD 872–3, Torksey, Lincolnshire", ''Antiquaries Journal''. 96, pp. 23–67 was a coalition of Scandin ...

who had recently been repelled from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at the

Battle of Edington At the Battle of Edington, an army of the kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great defeated the Great Heathen Army led by the Dane Guthrum on a date between 6 and 12 May 878, resulting in the Treaty of Wedmore later the same year. Primary ...

.Martyrs of Ebsdorf
at catholic.org.

References

* Year of birth unknown 880 deaths Date of birth unknown * * 9th-century Saxon people Groups of Christian martyrs of the Middle Ages {{Saint-stub