avia by the Pope; but there was
considerable jealousy on the part of the Latinized Germans towards
their Eastern fellow-labourers, and eventually the Moravian Church was
subjected to the Bishops of Bohemia.

[Sidenote: and Bohemia.]

The first Christian Duke of Bohemia was converted about A.D. 871,
whilst staying at the Moravian court, probably by Methodius; but the
Church made very slow progress in Bohemia until after the conquest of
that country by Otho the Great (A.D. 950), and the foundation of the
Bishopric of Prague by King Boleslav the Pious (A.D. 967-A.D. 999). In
Bohemia, as well as in Moravia, the influence of the Greek missionaries
made itself felt in the impress it left upon the ritual and usages of
the two Churches, especially in the fact that the native Sclavonic
language was used in Divine Worship; but in the end German influences
prevailed in both countries, and the national "use" gradually made way
for the Latinized ritual common in Germany.

[Sidenote: Conversion of North Prussia,]

Until towards the middle of the tenth century, the Church made but very
small progress in the northern portion of what is now the kingdom of
Prussia. These regions were then occupied by a Sclavonic race called
Wends, who yielded an unwilling submission to the Western emperors, and
disliked Christianity as being the religion of their conquerors.
Between A.D. 964 and A.D. 968, several bishoprics were founded in this
country by Otho the Great, and amongst them the metropolitan see of
Magdeburg. A revolt of the Wends frustrated for the time the success
of the emperor's plans, but in the next century Gottschalk, who became
king of the Wends A.D. 1047, and was himself a Christian, did all in
his {130} power to aid the missionary work of the Church among his
people. He was martyred by his subjects, A.D. 1066, and heathenism
triumphed once more. During the twelfth century, the Wendish kingdom
was dissolved, and its territories divided amongst different German
princes, after which the Church gradually regained and extended its
hold on the country. The northern Wends, who obstinately adhered to
their Pagan superstitions, were at last converted chiefly by the
labours of St. Vicelin, who became Bishop of Oldenburg, A.D. 1148.

[Sidenote: of Pomerania,]

The conversion of Pomerania was first attempted by the Poles, who, on
obtaining possession of the country at the end of the tenth century,
founded a bishopric at Colberg, A