Today Dokkum is a very pleasant town in the north of The Netherlands with a little museum dedicated to Boniface.
This is what I learned there. Boniface was born an Englishman near what is now Exeter in Devon in the year 675. When he was killed on June 5th in 752 he was already an old man with a very impressive clergical and political career. What were his accomplishments? He christianized a huge area of Europe what is now mainly Eastern Germany and founded monasteries and bishop seats all over the place. He was an excellent organizer. The borders of the bishop seats he founded are mostly still in use today. With papal letters in hand he organized the local churches in the tradition of Rome. This made him not very popular among the Christian Frankish and Gallic rulers, who had their own ambitions to extend their territories Eastward and did not need an Englishman to meddle in their affairs in their own backyard. To make matters worse, the local Frankish and Gallic churches had deviated considerably from the doctrines of Rome and Boniface was tireless in his efforts to point this out to the local nobility. In short the local christian rulers had plenty of reasons for wanting to get rid of Boniface. So did these Frankish rulers have a hand in organizing the murder of Boniface by the heathen Frisians near Dokkum? We will never know for sure.
The Frisians were punished severely for their horrible crime and most men in Dokkum were butchered and the women were taken back home as trophy. The rest were forcibly Christianized. This did not last very long. In the year 800 the Frisians collectively reverted to paganism and only some time after that the Frankish rulers subdued and converted the proud Frisians again. This time it did last.
Boniface's many travels throughout Europe.
