Hildebold of Cologne

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Hildebold or Hildebald , nickname Aaron , († September 3, 818 in Cologne ) was bishop of Cologne from 787 to 795 and the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cologne from 795 to 818 . Because of his close ties to Charlemagne , more is known of him than of his predecessors and immediate successors on the Cologne bishopric. Castellanus and Gelenius count him among the saints.

Life

The church in the head of the founder of the Hillinus Codex (Cologne, Archbishop's Diocesan and Cathedral Library , Cod. 12; Reichenau School of Illumination, around 1025) is interpreted as a representation of the Hildebold building
Abbess Ida and Hildebold at the tower of Cologne City Hall

In 787 Hildebold became bishop of Cologne at the request of Charlemagne . In 791, Karl appointed his friend Hildebold arch chaplain of the court orchestra and chancellor of the imperial chancellery. He was one of his most important advisors. At Charles's request, Pope Hadrian I released Hildebold in 794 from his residence obligation in Cologne, so that he could fulfill his governmental duties at Karl's court.

At the court chapel of Charlemagne, many Alcuin students and members of the court society were given learned and biblical names. Hildebold's name Aaron was probably linked to his high priestly office as bishop. His contemporaries Alkuin , Angilbert and Theodulf mention him several times in their poems. The court chapel with its chaplains was the center of both the secular order and the ecclesiastical administration. It had a great influence on the spiritual, spiritual and political life. This is where the basis for the development of scripts in the Christian Occident arose. Hildebold was therefore an influential man at Charles' court.

According to King Charles's request, Pope Hadrian I elevated the diocese of Cologne to an archbishopric and Bishop Hildebold to archbishopric in 794/795. The dioceses of Bremen, Utrecht, Liège, Minden, Münster and Osnabrück were subordinated to the Archdiocese of Cologne as suffragan dioceses . Archbishop Hildebold then arranged for the Cologne Cathedral to be expanded; this cathedral was to be called the " Hildebold Cathedral " by later generations .

He received influential offices from Charlemagne. Karl perhaps left the old royal palace to him as a bishopric with the stipulation that a new bishop's church ( Hildebold Cathedral ) be built, which would correspond to Cologne's rank. 799 he led Pope Leo III. to Charlemagne in Paderborn. In 801 he was named as abbot of St. Cassius and Florentius monastery in Bonn, and in 802 as abbot of Mondsee monastery. During his tenure, Hildebold founded the Cologne Cathedral School and donated the Cologne Cathedral Library. Hildebold appears in 12 manuscripts preserved in Cologne in the ownership and manufacturing note Codex sub Pio Patre Hildebaldo scriptus . The pieces are primarily texts by the Church Fathers, Bible commentaries, letters and a collection of canon law. In addition, Hildebold enriched the library with outstanding compendia on chronology, the science of nature and celestial science.

On March 30, 805 he consecrated the Frisian and Saxon missionary Liudger in Cologne as the first bishop of Münster. In 813 he led the synod in St. Alban's Abbey near Mainz together with Archbishop Richulf . In the same year he anointed Ludwig the Pious , the heir of Emperor Karl, as the Frankish king. In the year 814, Archbishop Hildebold donated the sacraments of death to his friend Emperor Karl in Aachen . As early as 811 he had signed the emperor's will as the first witness. In Karl's testament, Cologne was named first among the Frankish archbishoprics. Karl received communion and the last unction from his hands.

Even after the death of the emperor, he maintained his position. In 816 he solemnly brought Pope Stephen V to Reims, where the coronation of King Louis the Pious as Roman Emperor was being prepared. Archbishop Hildebold died in Cologne on September 3, 818 and was laid to rest in St. Gereon. In the 14th century he was still considered the founder of the high altar there. There is a place named after Hildebold near St. Gereon today.

The construction of the old Carolingian cathedral in Cologne is perhaps wrongly attributed to him. The client was possibly Gunthar around 850 .

The legend about the friendship of Karl and Hildebold

There is a legend in Cologne about the beginning of the friendship between Charlemagne and Hildebold.

One day - Karl had hunted in the woods near Cologne on his way to the election of the Cologne bishop, but left his hunting party behind - he came to a small chapel. Tired from the hunt, he tied his horse in front of the chapel and entered the church. He looked for a place in the back to relax. Soon the chapel began to fill up and a service was held by the village pastor, Hildebold. Karl was so impressed by the young Hildebold's mass that he wanted to donate a whole piece of gold for his chapel after the service. Hildebold is said to have refused this generous donation from the simple hunter in his eyes, since he did not recognize Karl and instead asked for a small piece of the skin of the next deer that the hunter would kill. With this piece of leather he wanted to have his old prayer book rebound. Karl, who was even more impressed by the young Hildebold through this modesty, is said to have become a friend and supporter of Hildebold from that day on. Since people and clergy could not agree on the election of bishops, Charlemagne installed Hildebold.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Bishop Hildebold of Cologne (legend by Heinrich Pröhle)
Commons : Hildebold  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ further spellings: also Hildeboldus, Hyldebaldus, Hildibaldus, Hildivaldus, Hildialdus, Hildepold, Hiltibald, Hiddibald, Addebald written, cf. Stadler
  2. ↑ His grave inscription was entitled holy until 1638 , see Hildebold (Hildebald) von Köln , In: Stadlers Heiligenlexikon , Volume 2, 1861
  3. ↑ a b c LexMA V, col. 11
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Braunfels: Karl der Große , Hamburg 1972, p. 77f.
  5. ↑ AGB, p. 367
  6. ↑ NDB Vol. 9, Berlin 1972, p. 118
  7. ^ Leonard Ennen: Gesichte der Stadt Köln , Düsseldorf 1880
  8. ^ History of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Vol. 1 p. 86ff.
  9. ↑ Facsimile at CEEC
  10. ^ Finger, Lecture Cathedral Library
  11. ↑ Plotzek, Cathedral Library, p. 20
  12. ^ History of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Vol. 1, p. 85
  13. ↑ Article on Hildebold of Cologne in Stadler's complete dictionary of saints
  14. ↑ Archdiocese, p. 86
  15. ↑ Karl der Große and Hildebald , in: Goswin Peter Gath: Kölner Sagen , Greven Cologne 7th edition 1985, ISBN 3-7743-0220-0
predecessor Office successor
--- Archbishop of Cologne
795–818 		Hadebald
Ricolf Bishop of Cologne
787–795 		---
personal data
SURNAME Hildebold of Cologne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hildebald; Hildibald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Cologne, first Archbishop of Cologne
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 818
Place of death Cologne