page_title: Büraburg
section_title: Donar Oak and bishopric
hierarchical_section_title: Büraburg / Donar Oak and bishopric
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bonifatius lässt die Donareiche fällen. Bild von 1737 befindet sich in der St.Martinskirche von Westenhofen bei Schliersee. English: Thor's Oak
context_page_description: The Büraburg was a prominent hill castle with historic significance, on the Büraberg hill overlooking the Eder river near the town of Fritzlar in northern Hesse. Only foundation walls remain, and a church dedicated to St. Brigida.
  The hill, which already had a Christian monastery in the seventh century. It was occupied by the Franks c. 690, who fortified it with a castle and kept a mounted garrison there. The Franks supported the missionary efforts of Saint Boniface, who cut down the Donar Oak in nearby Geismar and established a short-lived bishopric in Büraburg.
context_section_description: In 723 AD the Anglo-Saxon missionary Saint Boniface arrived in the area on his mission to convert the central and northern German tribes to Christianity. Seeking to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity, he and his followers felled a sacred oak dedicated to the god Donar (Thor) by the local tribe of the Chatten/Chatti. His hagiography claims that when Thor failed to punish Boniface for his infraction, the locals agreed to be baptized.
  Using the wood of the oak, Boniface erected a small chapel dedicated to Saint Peter at a site nearby, in what soon became the important religious, intellectual, and trade center of Fritzlar. Between 723 and 741 Büraburg may have been led by an abbot Humbert, or so local traditions hold. In 742 Boniface established a bishopric at Büraburg, the first in Germany north of the Roman Limes, but after the death of the only bishop, Witta, in 748 the bishopric was incorporated by Lullus, Boniface's successor as archbishop of Mainz, into his own diocese. From 747 to 786 Büraburg was administered by an auxiliary bishop, Meginoz, but this post was not filled again after Meginoz's death.
caption: 1737 painting of St. Boniface overseeing the felling of Donar's Oak, located in the St. Martinskirche of Westenhofen in Schliersee
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