Hincmar
Hincmar
(hĭngk`mär), 806–82, Frankish canonist and theologian, archbishop of Reims (from 845). He was a supporter of Carolingian Emperor Louis ILouis Ior Louis the Pious,
Fr. Louis le Pieux or Louis le Débonnaire, 778–840, emperor of the West (814–40), son and successor of Charlemagne. He was crowned king of Aquitaine in 781 and co-emperor with his father in 813.
..... Click the link for more information. and a counselor of his son Charles IICharles II
or Charles the Bald,
823–77, emperor of the West (875–77) and king of the West Franks (843–77); son of Emperor Louis I by a second marriage.
..... Click the link for more information. (Charles the Bald). As a metropolitan he tried to depose the bishop of Soissons in 862 and brought on himself the censure of Pope St. Nicholas INicholas I, Saint,
c.825–867, pope (858–67), a Roman; successor of Benedict III. He was a vigorous and politically active pope who arbitrated both temporal and religious disputes.
..... Click the link for more information. . Later (876), in a different contention, he upheld the rights of metropolitans. Hincmar vigorously opposed GottschalkGottschalk
or Gottschalck
, d. c.868, German theologian; son of the count of Saxony. He was placed as a boy in the monastery of Fulda (c.822). He did not wish to be a monk but was forced by Rabanus Maurus Magnentius, his superior, to remain.
..... Click the link for more information. and urged (850) ErigenaErigena, John Scotus
[Lat. Scotus=Irish, Erigena=born in Ireland], c.810–c.877, scholastic philosopher, born in Ireland. About 847 he was invited by Charles II, king of the West Franks (later Holy Roman emperor), to take charge of the court school at Paris.
..... Click the link for more information. to write on predestination. Dissatisfied with Erigena's tract, Hincmar wrote three treatises on the subject himself. He strongly opposed the divorce of LothairLothair,
sometimes called Lothair II,
d. 869, king of Lotharingia (855–69), second son of Emperor of the West Lothair I. He inherited the region bounded by the Rhine, Scheldt, Alps, and North Sea, which became known as Lotharingia (Lorraine).
..... Click the link for more information. , king of Lotharingia, and he spent much of his time in defending the claims of Charles in various dynastic struggles, particularly against Louis the GermanLouis the German,
c.804–876, king of the East Franks (817–76). When his father, Emperor of the West Louis I, partitioned the empire in 817, Louis received Bavaria and adjacent territories.
..... Click the link for more information. . Hincmar openly challenged the authenticity of portions of the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals [see False DecretalsFalse Decretals
, collection of documents, partly spurious, treating of canon law. It was composed between 847 and 852 probably in France, either at Reims or in the province of Tours (specifically at Le Mans), and composed by a man who called himself Isidore Mercator (hence the
..... Click the link for more information. ]. As a strong upholder of tradition, Hincmar defended the practice of public penance and initiated a reform in the French clerical life of the period.