Burchard of Würzburg (in German Burkard or Burkhard) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary who became the first

Bishop of Würzburg 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 ...

(741–751).

Life

He was an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

Benedictine monk possibly of noble birth, and educated at

Malmesbury Abbey Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the dissolution ...

. He left

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 ...

after the death of his parents and joined

Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...

(who may have been a relative) in his missionary labors, some time after 732. Burchard lived for a time at the Abbey of St. Peter in

Fritzlar Fritzlar () is a small town (pop. 15,000) in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. The town has a medieval center ringed by a wall with numerous watch towers. Thirty-eight meters (125& ...

, founded by Boniface. Later he left to become a missioner in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. When Boniface organized bishoprics in

Middle Germany Central Germany (german: Mitteldeutschland) is an economic and cultural region in Germany. Its exact borders depend on context, but it is often defined as being a region within the federal states of Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, or a smalle ...

, he placed Burchard over that of

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

. As was customary at the time, his appointment was approved by

Carloman (mayor of the palace) Carloman (between 706 and 716 – 17 August 754) was the eldest son of Charles Martel, ''majordomo'' or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and his wife Chrotrud of Treves. On Charles's death (741), Carloman and his brother Pepin the S ...

, who endowed the diocese with a number of benefits. His consecration can not have occurred later than the summer of 741, since in the autumn of that year, he was documented as officiating as a bishop at the consecration of

Willibald Willibald (; c. 700 – c.787) was an 8th-century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria. Information about his life is largely drawn from the Hodoeporicon (itinerary) of Willibald, a text written in the 8th century by Huneberc, an Anglo-Saxon nun fro ...

of Eichstädt.

Pope Zachary Pope Zachary ( la, Zacharias; 679 – March 752) was the bishop of Rome from 28 November 741 to his death. He was the last pope of the Byzantine Papacy. Zachary built the original church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, forbade the traffic of slav ...

confirmed the new bishopric in 743. Burchard appears again as a member of the first German council in 742, and at the general ouncil of the Franks in 747. The following year, as an envoy to Rome from Boniface he presented the results of the council to

. In 750, with

Fulrad Saint Fulrad (french: Fulrade; la, Fulradus) was born in 710 into a wealthy family, and died on July 16, 784 as the Abbot of Saint-DenisBunson and Bunson 2003, pp.345. He was the counselor of both Pippin and Charlemagne. Historians see Fulrad a ...

of Saint-Denis, he brought to Zachary the famous question of Pepin, whose answer was supposed to justify the assumption of regal power by the

Carolingians The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...

. In 751, he resigned his see in favor of Megingoz, a Benedictine monk from St. Peter's Abbey in Fritzlar, and retired to a life of solitude. In 752, he dedicated the Abbey of St. Andrew in Würzburg (which was later renamed in his honor). He translated the relics of

Saint Kilian Kilian, also spelled Cillian or Killian (or alternatively ga, Cillín; la, Kilianus), was an Irish missionary bishop and the Apostle of Franconia (Franconia is nowadays the northern part of Bavaria), where he began his labours in the latter ha ...

to his own cathedral on July 8, 752.Hartmann, Wilfried, "Burchard of Würzburg", ''Religion Past and Present'', Brill, 2006
Burchard died in 753.

Veneration

His relics were translated to the Abbey of St. Andrew in 986. His feast day is 14 October.
Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 6 September 2017

References

Sources

* Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz: Burchard. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Band 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2., unveränderte Auflage Hamm 1990, , Sp. 816–817. * Wilhelm Engel: Burchard. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, , S. 29 (Digitalisat). * Heinrich Hahn: Burghard. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, S. 564–566. * Konrad Schäfer, Heinrich Schießer: Leben und Wirken des hl. Burkhard (= Bad Neustädter Beiträge zur Geschichte und Heimatkunde Frankens. Band 4). Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale 1986, . *Heinrich Wagner: Würzburger Diözesan Geschichtsblätter (WDGB). Band 65, 2003 (Die Würzburger Bischöfe 741-842), S. 17–43. * Alfred Wendehorst: Burchard (Nr. 14). In: Lexikon des Mittelalters (LexMA). Band 2, Artemis & Winkler, München/Zürich 1983, , Sp. 951.

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20150110042227/http://www.weyer-neustadt.de/content/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=180 * https://web.archive.org/web/20150110042227/http://www.weyer-neustadt.de/content/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=180

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burchard Of Wurzburg 750s deaths Roman Catholic bishops of Würzburg 8th-century bishops in Bavaria Medieval German saints West Saxon saints 8th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown