Editing Saint Boniface (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Hess Boniface leaves England 1.jpg|thumb|right|Prayer card, early 20th century, depicting Boniface leaving England]]
The earliest Bonifacian [[Hagiography|vita]] does not indicate his place of birth but says that at an early age he attended a monastery ruled by Abbot Wulfhard in {{lang|la|escancastre}},<ref>Levison 6.</ref> or ''Examchester'',<ref>Talbot 28.</ref> which seems to denote [[Exeter]], and may have been one of many {{lang|la|monasteriola}} built by local landowners and churchmen; nothing else is known of it outside the Bonifacian {{lang|la|vitae}}.<ref>Schieffer 76–77; 103–105.</ref> This monastery is believed to have occupied the site of the [[Church of St Mary Major, Exeter|Church of St Mary Major]] in the [[City of Exeter]], demolished in 1971, next to which was later built [[Exeter Cathedral]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_churches/stmarymajor.php| title = St Mary Major – Cathedral Yard, ''Exeter Memories'' website, 2015}}</ref> Later tradition places his birth at [[Crediton]], but the earliest mention of Crediton in connection to Boniface is from the early fourteenth century,<ref>Orme 97; Hockey 106.</ref> in [[John Grandisson]]'s ''Legenda Sanctorum: The Proper Lessons for Saints' Days according to the use of Exeter''.<ref>Levison xxix.</ref> In one of his letters Boniface mentions he was "born and reared...[in] the synod of London",<ref>Emerton 81.</ref> but he may have been speaking metaphorically.<ref>Flechner 47.</ref> His English name is recorded as being Winfrid or Winfred.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickinson |first=William Leeson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ia0CJL4lFJcC&dq=boniface+isle+of+wight+named&pg=PA64 |title=The Lives of the Saints; Or, Notes Ecclesiological and Historical on the Holy Days of the English Church |date=1865 |publisher=Church Printing Company |pages=64 |language=en}}</ref>

According to the {{lang|la|vitae}}, Winfrid was of a respected and prosperous family. Against his father's wishes he devoted himself at an early age to the monastic life. He received further theological training in the [[Benedictine]] monastery and [[Minster (church)|minster]] of [[Nursling|Nhutscelle (Nursling)]],<ref>Levison 9.</ref> not far from [[Winchester]], which under the direction of abbot Winbert had grown into an industrious centre of learning in the tradition of [[Aldhelm]].<ref>Schieffer 105–106.</ref> Winfrid taught in the abbey school and at the age of 30 became a priest; in this time, he wrote a Latin grammar, the {{lang|la|Ars Grammatica}}, besides a treatise on verse and some [[Aldhelm]]-inspired riddles.<ref>Gneuss 38.</ref> While little is known about Nursling outside Boniface's {{lang|la|vitae}}, it seems clear that the library there was significant. To supply Boniface with the materials he needed, it would have contained works by [[Aelius Donatus|Donatus]], [[Priscian]], [[Isidore of Seville|Isidore]], and many others.<ref>Gneuss 37–40.</ref> Around 716, when his abbot Wynberth of Nursling died, he was invited (or expected) to assume his position—it is possible that they were related, and the practice of hereditary right among the early Anglo-Saxons would affirm this.<ref>Yorke.</ref> Winfrid, however, declined the position and in 716 set out on a [[Mission (Christianity)|missionary expedition]] to [[Frisia]].