The Carolingian Dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire wanted to restore the Western Roman Empire but with a Christian dynasty. The government would be similar to the emperors of Rome, but the ruler would be called the Holy Roman Emperor. The capital was the German city of Aachen, the home of Charlemagne’s palace. Charlemagne hired artists, writers, and builders from every city he visited to build great structures. Alcuin of York, who was an Englishman, became a key advisor to Charlemagne and became Abbot of Tours, where he translated many works into Latin. In 787, Charlemagne told every abbot and bishop to establish a school in all monasteries and cathedrals, so the clergy could learn to read and write. 

Saint Patrick of Ireland was one of the most influential Saints of all, converting Ireland from Druidism to Christianity without violence, and established many churches and monasteries. After its conversion in the 5th century, Ireland was known as the “Isle of Saints.” Many of the greatest missionaries of the Early Church were from Ireland and were converted by Saint Patrick. Irish Saint Columbia built a monastery on the Scottish Island of Iona and set out to Christianize England. Moreover, Columbanus (born 546) established monasteries throughout Gaul and Italy. 

Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) used the famines, plagues, and wars to help convert thousands of people. By the 7th century, most of Europe was Christian even in the formerly pagan countryside. The Anglo-Saxons had been the most violent against conversion, killing many missionaries who tried to convert them. 

Saint Augustine of Canterbury approached King Ethelbert of Kent (leader of the Anglo-Saxons) with 40 monks and convinced him to marry a Christian queen from France, so he could baptize his people. By 597, a substantial portion of England had been converted. Once the Anglo-Saxons accepted the Faith, the Celts refused to convert because of their hatred of the Anglo-Saxons. In 626, Irish missionaries convinced the Celtic King Edwin to accept Christianity, but in 633 Edwin was defeated in battle by the Welsh, which meant the Celts were no longer Christian. In 634, Edwin’s nephew, Oswald, came to power and made his kingdom Christian again. 

In 686, Pope Conan sent three Irish monks on a missionary trip to Germany, which still had a large pagan population. Killian, one of the Irish monks, was made the first Bishop of Germany. Bishop Killian baptized the Duke Gosbert of Franconia but was martyred in 689. Saint Willibrord and 11 other Irish monks went on missions to the Netherlands and Germany. Subsequently, Pope Sergius I made Willibrord Bishop of Frisia, and as bishop, Willibrord traveled to Wurvburg in 704 and converted the Rhineland. 

Saint Boniface (675-754) was an Englishman from Wessex, was sent by Pope Gregory II to continue the work of Killian. In Thuringia and Hesse, Boniface converted two chieftains along with their whole tribe and he succeeded Killian as Archbishop of Germany. As bishop, Boniface built many monasteries and churches in Germany, and even chopped down a large tree dedicated to the pagan god Thor. 

During the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries, the Kingdom of the Franks and the Holy Roman Empire had a golden age known as the Carolingian Renaissance, in which they were the most influential kingdom in Western Europe. They had more control over the Church and the pope than the Byzantines, and this would eventually cause tension.