he was consecrated bishop at Worms, having previous- ly been a simple presbyter. On his return, he found the Saxons unwilling to recognise a bishop placed over them by the conqueror and endowed with the .right of exacting tithes: but he labored with persistent zeal to effect a firm establishment of the Ctiurch among them, and succeeded in dedicating the first Church in his diocese Nov. 1, 789. His administration, however, was but brief. He undertook a tour of visitation, the fatigues of which threw him into a violent fever, from which he died Nov. 8, 789. He had earned the repu- tation of a devout, eminently trustful, and very zealous Christian laborer, as well as of a modest, courageous, and abstemious man. He wholly abstained from the use of flesh food and intoxicating drink. His body was interred at Bremen and was credited with the perform- ance of many miracles. Ansgar enumerates thirty- four such wonders, which involve not only many note- worthy historical and topographical traditions of that time, but also several psychological features which de- serve examination. He was formally canonized, and two days, July 13 and Nov. 8, were set apart in his honor.
Literature. — Anskarius, Vita 8. Willekadi, Episc. Brem. (earliest edition), the principal source; Csesaris [Phil.] Triapostol. Septentrion., sice Vitm et Gestce SS. Willehadi, Ansgarii, et Rimberti (Colon. 1642); Mabil- lon. Acta SS. Bened. iii, 2, 404 sq., best edition in Pertz, Monum. ii, 378-390 ; Adami Gesta JIammaburg. Eccl. Pontif. usque ad An. 1072, in Pertz, vii, 267 sq. ; Rett- berg, Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, ii, 450-455, 537 ; Klip- pel, Lebensheschreihung d. Erzbischofs Ansgar (Bremen, 1845) ; Herzog, Real-Enci/Mop. s. v.
Willerani (or 'Willirani, also Walram and Waltramus) was a learned German monk, and na- tive of Franconia. On his return from Paris, where he had been to study philosophy and belles-lettres un- der able masters, he was appointed prebendarj^ at Bam- berg; but ere long he assumed the garb of a monk and retired into the convent at Fulda. The report of his piety, his merits, and his learning reached tlie emper- or Henry HI, who gave to him the Abbey of Ebersberg, Bavaria, in 1048, where he passed the remainder of his days. Willeram died May 7, 1085. He seems to have been concerned to improve the material interests of his monastery, as a number of exchanges of property made by him are on record, among them the barter of several devotional books for a vineyard possessed by bishop Henry of Trittent. He had the reputation of being a scholar and a poet. We are indebted to him for a double paraphrase of Solomon's Song, one in hexame- ter verse in Latin, another in prose in the language of the ancient Franks. It was arranged in the form of a dialogue between bridegroom and bride. Several copies of this double work are preserved in manuscript in vari- ous libraries of Europe ; the original is at the Abbey of Ebersberg. The Latin paraphrase had been brought out for the first time by Menrad Molther of Augsburg, under the title Wilrami A bbatos in Cantica Salomonis Mystica Explanatio (Hagenau, 1528)'. Paul Merula published the two texts, with notes and a Dutch translation, at Leyden, in 1598, entitled Willerami Pa?'aphrasis Gemina in Caniicum Canticorum, pi-ior Rhythmis Latinis, Altera Veteri Lingua Francica. But, in spite of all his merit, his publication, after one poor manuscript was finished, remained incorrect and of little value. That which Marquard Freher had given in German from the man- uscript at Heidelberg is more highly estimated. It was published at Worms in 1631 under the title Uhralte Verdolmetschung des hohen Liedes Salomonis. Schiller, the author of Thesaurus Antiq. Teuton., formed a plan of reducing the work of Willeram, but he died before he had time to realize his project. His work was found among his papers, and Scherz took upon himself the task of completing it, and published it in Ulm in 1726. Through the efforts of M. de Failersleben, an entire edition of the work was published by Hoffmann in Ger-
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man, at Breslau, in 1827. See Oefele, Rerum Boicar. Script, ii, 1-40; Ilirscli, Jahib. </. deiilschcn Jieichs un- ter Utinrich II, i, IJO; Watteubach, iJeutschlamk Ge- schklUsqiu'llen im Miltelalter, p. 217 sq. ; (iiesebrecht, GescJi. (L deutsch. Kaiserzeit (2d ed.), ii, o^O ; Hoeler, Nouv. Bio(/. Geiierale, s. v.
William {St.) of Aquitaine, duke, snrnamed " the Great," was the son of count Thierry, and is thought to have been the brother of Charlemagne, who greatly honored him, and rewarded his services in reducing the Saracens in Spain. William founded a monastery in Gellone, a little valley on the borders of the diocese of Lodeve, which he entered barefooted and in sack- cloth in 806, after having obtained the consent of his wife, and made provision for his children. He prac- ticed great austerity, and <lied May 28, 812 or 813. His body was found in 1679 under the great altar of the church there. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Genet-ale, xxii, 594.
■William of Aria, a goldsmith of Paris, flourished about the beginning of the 13th century. He stood forth as a preacher of the sect of the Holy Ghost, and annotniced the coming of judgments on a corrupt Church, and the inauguration of a new era in which the Holy (Jhost was to permeate all. See Neander, IJist. of the Church, iv, 448.