An attempt to spread Christianity to Germanic peoples on the continent outside the Frankish kingdom -- a missionary vision attributed to the Northumbrian monk Egbert (Ecgberht), who organized Willibrord's mission; according to Bede's Ecclesiastical History 5.9, Egbert listed the various people as follows: Sunt autem Fresones, Rugini, Danai, Hunni, Antiqui Saxones, Boructari; sunt alii perplures hisdem in partibus populi paganis adhuc ritibus servientes. [Eng. tr.]
For analysis of this story in historical context, see D. Melleno, Before They Were Vikings (Diss. Berkeley 2014), pp. 31ff.
9. Temptavit quoque idem vir Dei ultra Francorum regni fines caelestis doctrinae flumina dirivare. Nam tunc temporis regem Fresonum Rabbodum cum sua gente paganum non timuit adire et, quocumque perrexerat, verbum Dei cum omni fiducia loquebatur. Sed praefatus Fresonum rex virum Dei humilitatis gratia benigne suscipiens, nullis tamen vitae fomentis saxeum eius cor emollire potuit. Et dum apud eum vir Dei fructificare non posse agnovit, ad ferocissimos Danorum populos iter euangelizandi convertit.
9. The man of God tried also to propagate the Gospel teaching outside the boundaries of the Frankish kingdom. He had the boldness to present himself at the court of Radbod, at that time King of the Frisians and like his subjects, a pagan. Wherever he travelled he proclaimed the Word of God without fear; but though the Frisian king received the man of God in a kind and humble spirit, his heart was hardened against the Word of Life. So when the man of God saw that his efforts were of no avail he turned his missionary course towards the fierce tribes of the Danes.
Ibi tamen, ut fertur, regnabat Ongendus, homo omni fera crudelior et omni lapide durior, qui tamen, iubente Deo, veritatis praeconem honorifice tractabat. Qui dum obduratam moribus et idolatriae deditam et nullam melioris vitae spem habentem offendit, acceptis tunc triginta eiusdem patriae pueris, ad electos a Deo populos regni Francorum revertere festinavit. Sed in eo ipso itenere catecizatos eosdem pueros vitae fonte abluit, ne aliquod propter pericula longissimi navigii vel ex insidiis ferocissimorum terrae illius habitatorum damnum pateretur in illis, volens antiqui hostis praevenire astutias et Domini sacramentis animas munire adquisitas.
At that time, so we are told, the Danish ruler was Ongendus, a man more savage than any wild beast and harder than stone, who nevertheless, through divine intervention, received tbe herald of truth with every mark of honour. But when the latter found that the people were steeped in evil practices, abandoned to idolatry and indifferent to any hope of a better life, he chose thirty boys from among them and hastily returned with them to the chosen people of the Franks. On the journey he instructed the youths in the faith and baptized them, so that if they perished from the long sea voyage or through the ambushes of the savage dwellers of those parts he should suffer no loss in their regard. In this way he desired to anticipate the aaft of the devil and to strengthen these redeemed souls by the sacraments of the Lord.
[For a detailed examination of Helgoland and its names through the centuries, see H. Grahn-Hoek, "Heiliges Land - Helgoland und seine frühen Namen," in U. Ludwig and T. Schilp (eds.), Nomen et Fraternitas (Berlin, 2008), pp. 451-89; for an older examination of this passage arguing against the usual identification of "Fositesland" as Helgoland, see T. Siebs, "Der Gott Fos(e)te und sein Land," Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 35 (1909): 535-553]
10. Et dum pius verbi Dei praedicator iter agebat, pervenit in confinio Fresonum et Daenorum ad quandam insulam, quae a quodam deo suo Fositae ab accolis terrae Fositesland appellabatur, quia in ea eiusdem dei fana fuere constructa. Qui locus a paganis in tanta veneratione habebatur, ut nihil in ea vel animalium ibi pascentium vel aliarum quarumlibet rerum quisquam gentilium tangere audebat nec etiam a fonte, qui ibi ebulliebat, aquam haurire nisi tacens praesummebat.
10. Now whilst this energetic preacher of the Word was pursuing his iourney he came to a certain island on the boundary between the Frisians and the Danes, which the people of those parts call Fositeland, after a god named Fosite, whom they worship and whose temples stood there. This place was held by the pagans in such great awe that none of the natives would venture to meddle with any of the cattle that fed there nor with anything else, nor dare they draw water from the spring that bubbled up there except in complete silence.
Quo cum vir Dei tempestate iactatus est, mansit ibidem aliquot dies, quousque, sepositis tempestatibus, oportunum navigandi tempus adveniret. Sed parvi pendens stultam loci illius relegionem vel ferocissimum regis animum, qui violatores sacrorum illius atrocissima morte damnare solebat, igitur tres homines in eo fonte cum invocatione sanctae Trinitatis baptizavit, sed et animalia in ea terra pascentia in cibaria suis mactare praecepit. Quod pagani intuentes, arbitrabantur, eos vel in furorem verti vel etiam veloci morte perire. Quos nihil mali cernebat pati, stupore perterriti, regi tamen Rabbodo quod videbant factum retulerunt.
On this island the man of God was driven ashore by a storm and waited for some days until the gale died down and fair weather made it possible to set sail again. He set little store by the superstitious sacredness ascribed to the spot, or by the savage cruelty of the king, who was accustomed to condemn nolators of the sacred objects to the most cruel death. Willibrord baptized three persons in the fountain in the name of the Blessed Trinity and gave orders that some of the cattle should be slaughtered as food for his company. When the pagans saw this they expected that the strangers would become mad or be struck with sudden death. Noticing, however, that they suffered no harm, the pagans, terror-stricken and astounded, reported to the king what they had witnessed.