Gauzlin (Arch Chancellor)

Gauzlin († April 16, 886 ) was Frankish Arch Chancellor and Bishop of Paris . He came from the count family of the Rorgonids and was a son of Count Rorico von Le Mans.

When Gauzlin and his half-brother Ludwig , son of Rotrud, daughter of Charlemagne since 844, abbot of Saint-Denis in 858, were captured by the Vikings , Charles the Bald (823-877) brought the ransom that was demanded for them. After his training in Reims , Gauzlin, presumably at the instigation of his half-brother, Arch Chancellor Ludwigs , entered the court as Chancellor of Charles the Bald in 860 . When his half-brother died in 867, Gauzlin became Arch Chancellor himself.

Gauzlin was also abbot of Jumièges , Saint-Amand , St. Germain-des-Prés and from 878 also abbot of Saint-Denis.

As a confidante of Charlemagne, Gauzlin (like his rival Hugo Abbas ) belonged to the group of greats that the emperor had at a meeting in the royal palace of Quierzy (877) as his son's "co-ruler" (KF Werner) for the duration of his second move to Italy , Ludwigs der Stammler (see Quierzy's chapter ). After the death of Charles the Bald on Mont Cenis , Gauzlin took part in an opposition to the princes that granted Ludwig royalty only in return for the contractual assurance of their rights (probably based on the model of the Treaty of Coulaines ) and the award of further honors . Probably in the course of these events, Gauzlin received the Abbey of Saint-Denis. With the division of the empire of Amiens (880), which implemented the treaties of Verdun (879) and Ribémont (880), after the death of Louis the Stammler, he achieved the division of the west of France under Karlmann and King Ludwig III. († 882), who took him over as Arch Chancellor. After Karl Ferdinand Werner , he had achieved a personal coup with the division of the empire, as the creation of two West Franconian courts meant that direct competition with Hugo Abbas was eliminated. He had previously held the stronger position at the court and accordingly pushed for the successor to only one son. So it seems likely that Gauzlin, under whose aegis the Treaty of Fouron (879) was created, in which Ludwig the Stammler and his East Franconian cousin of the same name had assured, among other things, the successor of all sons, on Hugo's initiative, lost his arch-chancellor's office and only so was able to regain when he was able to persuade Ludwig the Younger, as contract partner of Fouron, to intervene in the military and conclude the treaties of Verdun and Ribémont. An important source for these events is the Annales Bertiniani . However, it should be noted that Hinkmar von Reims , who was responsible for writing them down in 861-882 , harbored personal animosity against his former student Gauzlin, in whom he saw a competitor for influence at court since the late days of Charles the Bald.

It was in all probability Gauzlin who brought about the elevation of the Robertin Odo to Count of Paris in 882 . Two years later Gauzlin became the local bishop and organized the defense of the city together with Count Odo during the siege of Paris (885-886) . On April 16, 886 Gauzlin fell victim to an epidemic.

literature

• Otto Gerhard Oexle: Bishop Ebroin of Poitiers and his relatives. In: Frühmedalterliche Studien 3 (1969), pp. 197ff.
• Karl Ferdinand Werner : Gauzlin of Saint-Denis and the division of the West Frankish empire of Amiens (March 880). A contribution to the prehistory of Odo's kingship. In: Deutsches Archiv 35 (1979), pp. 395–462.

swell

• Annales Bertiniani, edd. Félix Grat / Jeanne Vielliard / Suzanne Clémencet (Annales de Saint-Bertin, Paris 1964).
• Kapitular von Quierzy (877), edd. Alfred Boretius / Victor Krause (MGH Capit. 2. No. 281. Hannover 1890 [ND 1980], pp. 355-361).

predecessor	Office	successor
Ingelvin	Bishop of Paris 884–886	Ancharic