Willibrord

The Franks became Christians after their leader Clovis I converted to Catholicism in AD 496 and introduced Christianity in the north after the conquest of Friesland. Anglo-Saxon missionaries such as Willibrord (658–739) were active in converting these regions to Christianity. In the statue pictured here, the portrayed Willibrord is not wearing armour and does not have an axe in his hand, as does a few centuries later in Absalon (Denmark), but instead holds a model of a church. Nevertheless, the equestrian statue of the first Bishop of Utrecht in that Dutch city is quite impressive.