The Anglo-Saxons had been Christianised in the 500s and 600s by Irish missionaries from the north, and from Roman (and Frankish) missionaries from the south. Thus, these formerly pagan settlers from what is now Germany and the Netherlands came to profess Christ, and embraced the gospel. This led, in the late 600s and into the 700s, to a missionary movement from what we would call England back to the ancestral homeland of the newly converted Anglo-Saxons. In other words, having themselves turned to worship the true and living God, the Anglo-Saxons had a desire to bring that same gospel to their ancestors still living on the continent of Europe. Two names stand out among the many Anglo-Saxon missionaries. The first is Willibrord . He hailed from Northumbria, and arrived in Frisia (Netherlands) in 690. He laboured among the Frisian people for many decades, and saw fruit from his labours, but also died a martyr's death, demonstrating the ongoing hostility to the gospel on ...