Mayeuce, a German town, beautifully situated on a sloping hill on the left bank of the River Rhine, is noted in ecclesiastical annals as the scat of an archiepis- copal see, and as the seat of several important Church councils. See Mayen'ce, Councils of.
Mayence as an A rchbishojjric and Bishoj)ric. — We have no trustworthy information as to the early history of this archbishopric. Attempts have been made to prove that the Christian Church was established there by St. Crescens, based on the passage in 2 Tim. iv, 10, " Crescens (is departed) to Galatia ;" and Jerome and other writers also favor the opinion of Gaul having been Christianized by Crescens. Ado, however, in his Mar- fyrologium, written about 860, is the first to refer to the action of Crescens at Vienna. StLU we find no docu- ments referring to it until the 10th century, which may, however, be accounted for by the fact that the city was three times destroyed by tire up to that period. According to the ecclesiastical tradition, Crescens, a pu- pil of the apostle Paul, came to preach there as early as the year 82, became the first bishop of Mayence, and died a martyr in 103. The list of bishops up to the 6th century is all of later origin ; according to it, Cres- cens was succeeded by Aureus, who was murdered by the Vandals when they took the citj' in 451. Sidonius, about 546, began the restoration of the town and of the church ; Sigbert then became bishop about 589, and is said to have received from king Childebert the onyx bearing a likeness of that prince and of his wife, which is still retained among the jewels of IMayence. In 612 Leonisius (Leutgasius) caused war between Theoderick and Theodebert. We then find in the list Euthelmus (Rudelin), Landwald, Lupoald (Leowald), Rigbert (Rich- bert.f 712), Gerold, who died at the hands of the Saxons in 743. He was succeeded by his son Gerwilio or Ge- wilieb, who in 744 marched with Carloman against the Saxons, and defeated thorn on the shores of the Weser. In 745 he was deposed, Bonifacius appointed in his place, and the bishopric transformed into an archbish- opric, with the sanction of pope Zacharv, in 748. In 753 or 754 Bonifacius resigned in favor of his pupil Lul- lus, who, however, did not receive the pallium before 780 ; he labored diligently for the interest of the arch- bishopric, founded several churches and convents, and greatly increased the revenues of the Church by the
MAYENCE
922
MAYENCE
adoption of the tithing system in 779. He died Oct. IG, 7,si;. ]lis successor was liiculf, wlio founded tlie school <if the Church of St. Alban at Mayence, and died Aug. 9, •SI 3, the very year in which Constantine called a coun- cil at Mayence (see below). Haistulf,f Jan. 28, 827, in- troduced canonical life in the archbishopric; j'et the succeeding archbishops, down to Marculf, were not elect- eil according to canonical rules, but by the king, with the consent of the clergy and people. This was the case with Otgar, 826-47 ; Rabanus Jlaurus, 847-56 (who called a council, by order of Louis of Germany, in the year of his accession to the archiepiscopal chair) ; Charles, son of king Pepin I of Aquitania, and nephew of Louis the German, 856-63, who was also archchan- ccllor of the empire, a dignity which was retained by his successors ; Liutbert, who marched against the Bo- hemians in 872, and against the Sorbians in 874 ; defeat- ed the Normans, who had ascended the Rhine, in 883, and died Feb. 17, 889. Sunzo (Sunderhold) fell fight- ing against the Normans in 891. Hatto I played an important part in the history of Germany during the reign of Louis the Lifant and Conrad I, and died Jan. 18, 913. His successor, Heriger, died in 927. Hildebert, who snccessfuU)' disputed against Cologne and Treves the right to crown the king, and crowned Otto I at Aix- la-Chapelle in 936, died in 937. Frledrich was exiled to Hamliurg or Fulda by the emperor Otto I, as a rebel; was recalled in 954, but repeatedly accused of treason, and escaped punishment only by his sudden decease in 954. He was succeeded by Wilhelm, a natural son of Otto, •who died in 968. Of Hatto H (968-70), the tradition says that he was devoured by mice. Ruprecht died in 974. AVilligis received the pallium from pope Benedict VII, together with the privilege of presiding at all the German councils and of crowning the king. To remind him always of his low origin (his father was said to have been a wagoner), he caused a wheel to be erected on the walls of his palace, and this is said to be the ori- gin of the wheel on the arms of thj archbishops of Mayence. In 978 he laid the foundations of the new cathedral (which, however, was burned down on the day of its consecration in 1009), and died in 1011. Next fol- low Archimbald (Erkenbold), 1011-21; Aribon, 1021- 31; Bardo of Oppershofen, 1031-51, who finished the new cathedral, and consecrated it Nov. 10, 1037. He received on this occasion the pallium from pope John XIX, and the right to act as papal legate whenever no other person appeared invested with that authority in his diocese. The succeeding incumbent was Leopold (Luitpold), count of Bogen, 1051-59. Sigfrid I, comit of Eppstein, joined a crusade in 1065; in 1069 he tried, but in vain, to procure a divorce between Henry IV and Bertha, and proclaimed — yet without effect— in 1075 the edict of celibacy of Gregory VII. After 1077 he took the part of the anti- kings, and crowned Rudolf of Suabia and Hermann of Luxemburg. He died in 1084. Wezilo (1084-88) was complained of at the Council of Ilalberstadt, and put under ban for maintaining that those of the secular clergy who lost their estates were no longer subject to ecclesiastical jurisdiction ; he sub- setiuently receded from this position. Under Ruthard (10.S8-99), in 1097, a persecution liroke out against the Jews in Mayence, and the archbishop, fearing the anger of the emperor for having taken an active part in it, lied to Tliuringia, whence he returned only after a lapse of eight years. Adelbert I, count of SaaVbruck (1109- 37), was elected by Henry V, yet sided against him in 1112 on the question of investiture ; lie was imprisoned for his opposition, and only released in 1115, when the people of Mayence rose in arms to secure his liberation. Adelbert showed his gratitude by granting the citizens of Mayence the charter (releasing them from the jiirisdic- tion of the church-wardens and-from their taxes), which was inscribed on the door of the cathedral in 1135. In 1120 he tied again before the emperor, after whose death, in 1125, he assembled a diet for the election of a king. This is the first instance of the appearance in the his-