Willehad of Bremen

Willehad or Willihad ; 745 AD 8 November 789) was a Christian missionary and the Bishop of Bremen from 787 AD.

Life Willehad was born in Northumbria and probably received his education at York under Ecgbert. He was a friend of Alcuin. He was ordained, and about the year 766, he went to Frisia, to continue the missionary work of Boniface who had been martyred by the Frisians in 754. At an assembly in Paderborn in 777, Saxony was divided into missionary zones. The zone between the Weser and the Elbe, called Wigmodia, was given to Willehad.

From 780 Willehad preached in the region of the lower Weser River on commission from Charlemagne. He barely escaped with his life when the Frisians wanted to kill him and he returned to the area around Utrecht. Once again he and his fellow missionaries barely escaped with their lives when the local pagans wanted to kill them for destroying some temples. He also built a small church at Blexen.

Willehad died in Blexen upon Weser, today a part of Nordenham. He is buried in the city's cathedral, which he consecrated shortly before his death on 8 November 789. Anschar compiled a life of Willehad, and the preface which he wrote was considered a masterpiece for that age. In 860, a sick girl from Wege (Weyhe) traveled to his grave. There, she was reportedly cured by a miracle. This was the first time the small village was mentioned in any historical documents.