Waltger was a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

nobleman who founded

Herford Abbey Herford Abbey () was the oldest women's religious house in the Duchy of Saxony. It was founded as a house of secular canonesses in 789, initially in Müdehorst (near the modern Bielefeld) by a nobleman called Waltger, who moved it in about 800 ont ...

in the 830s. In 838, he gave the monastery to the Emperor

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (; ; ; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only ...

, who in turn placed it under the authority of the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

nunnery of

Notre-Dame de Soissons Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the ...

.Eric Knibbs, ''Ansgar, Rimbert and the Forged Foundations of Hamburg-Bremen'' (Routledge, 2016 011, pp. 64–65. Waltger is not attested in any contemporary document, but is first mentioned in his

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

, ''Vita sancti Waltgeri'' ("Life of Saint Waltger"), written in the 13th or 14th century by Wigand, a monk of Herford. Although the source is late, it is considered trustworthy in its basic outline. According to the ''Vita'', Waltger's grandfather, Aldolf, converted to Christianity during the reign of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

. His father's name was Dedda. The ''Vita'' includes a letter supposedly written by

Pope Gregory III Pope Gregory III (; died 28 November 741) was the bishop of Rome from 11 February 731 to his death on 28 November 741. His pontificate, like that of his predecessor, was disturbed by Byzantine iconoclasm and the advance of the Lombards, in which ...

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

, the relevance of which to the life of Waltger is unclear and the authenticity of which is disputed.John-Henry Clay, ''In the Shadow of Death: Saint Boniface and the Conversion of Hessia, 721–54'' (Brepols, 2010), pp. 217–221.

References

External links

''Vita sancti Waltgeri''
(manuscript) {{Authority control 9th-century Saxon people 9th-century Christian saints