I 175. HINCMAR OF RIIEIMS. 753
insubordinate and disobedient both to his metropolitan and his king. In consequence Hincmar of Rheims deposed him (871) and the king took him prisoner and blinded him. Pope Had rian II. (d. 872) defended him but accomplished nothing. Pope John VIII. also pleaded his cause, and in 878 gave him permis sion to recite mass. He died in 882.
These controversies, and those upon Predestination and the Eucharist, and his persecution of Gottschalk, elsewhere treated at length,1 have tended to obscure Hincmar' s just reputation as a statesman. Yet he was unquestionably the leader in the West Frankish kingdom, and by his wisdom and energy preserved the state during a sadly disordered time. His relations with Louis the Pious, Charles the Bald and Carloman were friendly. He crowned several queens of the Carol ingian family, and in 869 Charles the Bald. He also solemnized their marriages. In 859 he headed the German delegation to Louis, and in 860 conducted the peace deliberations at Coblenz. He took the side of Charles the Bald in his fight with Rome, and in 871 wrote for him a very violent letter to Pope Hadrian II.2 It may be said that in state politics he was more successful than in church politics. He pre served his king from disgrace, and secured his independence, but he was unable to secure for himself the papal sanction at all times, and the much coveted honor of the primacy of France which John VIII., in 876, gave to Ansegis, archbishop of Sens.
One of the most important facts about these Hincmarian con troversies is that in them for the first time the famous pseudo- Isidorian decretals3 are quoted ; and that by all parties. Whether Hincmar knew of their fraudulent character may well be questioned, for that he had little if any critical ability is proved by his belief in two literary forgeries, an apocryphal tale of the birth of the Virgin, and a homily upon her assumption,4
1 See pp. 528 sqq ; 552.
2 See Hefele, IV. 507. The letter is in Migne, CXXIV. col. 881-896. 8 See pp. 268 sqq. * See p. 750.
754 FOUKTH PERIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
attributed to Jerome. The fraud was exposed by Ratramnus. His use of the decretals was arbitrary. He quoted them when they would help him, as against the pope in contending for the liberty of the Fraukish Church. He ignored them when they opposed his ideas, as in his struggle with his nephew, because in their original design they asserted the independence of bishops from their metropolitans.
Hincmar was not only a valiant fighter, but also a faithful shepherd. He performed with efficiency all the usual duties of a bishop, such as holding councils, hearing complaints, settling difficulties, laying plans and carrying out improvements. He paid particular attention to education and the promotion of learn ing generally. He was himself a scholar and urged his clergy to do all in their power to build up the schools. He also gave many books to the libraries of the cathedral at Rheims and the monastery of St. Remi, and had many copied especially for them. His own writings enriched these collections. His attention to architecture was manifested in the stately cathedral of Rheims, begun by Ebo, but which he completed, and in the enlarge ment of the monastery of St. Remi.
The career of this extraordinary man was troubled to its very end. In 881 he came in conflict with Louis the Third by ab solutely refusing to consecrate one of the king's favorites, Odoacer, bishop of Beauvais. Hincmar maintained that he was entirely unfit for the office, and as the Pope agreed with him Odoacer was excommunicated. In the early part of the follow ing year the dreaded Normans made their appearance in the neighborhood of Rheims. Hincmar bethought himself of the precious relics of St. Remi and removed them for safety's sake to Epernay when he himself fled thither. There he died, Dec. 21, 882. He was buried two days after at Rheims.
Looking back upon Hincmar through the vista of ten cen turies, he stands forth as the determined, irrepressible, tireless opponent of both royal and papal tyranny over the Church.