Jeffrey Burton Russell

Saint Boniface and the Eccentrics

Of all the dissidents with which Saint Boniface, the “Apostle of the Germans” in the eighth century, had to deal, those whom the sources reveal the most clearly are Aldebert and Clement, the former representing an eccentricity much in the manner of the later and more famous Tanchelm, the latter representing the reactionary resistance of the lax clergy to moral reform. Though these heretics have often received mention, 1 no one has seen fit to study them closely, doubtless owing to the mistaken prejudice that any instance of heresy in this early period must have been isolated and of little general significance. We may now see that they are in many ways representative of eighth century heresy as a whole.