Hilduin of Saint-Denis

This article deals with the Abbot of Saint-Denis. On the (perhaps identical) Archbishop of Cologne see Hilduin .

Hilduin Chapel in the crypt of the Saint-Denis Basilica (839)

Hilduin of Saint-Denis (22 † November 840 / or 855 / 861 ) was from 814 - with a short interruption 830 - up to his ouster 840 abbot of Saint-Denis and 819-831 Erzkaplan Louis the Pious . He was one of the most influential personalities of his time and had an impact throughout the Middle Ages through his political and literary activities . It is controversial whether he is identical to Hilduin , who was made Archbishop of Cologne in 842 , but could not assert himself in his archbishopric .

Hilduin as Abbot of Saint-Denis

Hilduin was Franke and had through his family background from the house of Herhardine and Gerolde access to education and offices. His intellectual horizon was shaped by the Carolingian Renaissance . He was highly educated and could even speak Greek. He was Alcuin's pupil and friend of Rabanus Maurus . In the year of Charlemagne's death in 814, he was probably favored by his son and successor Ludwig the Pious, abbot of the most important West Frankish monastery of Saint-Denis north of Paris . Hinkmar von Reims was one of his students .

Louis the Pious made him 819 in Aachen to his Erzkaplan and put him in line another important monasteries, including St. Médard in Soissons , which he with Sebastian - relics could equip. At this time he had a decisive influence on the "unity policy of the Reich" of Ludwig the Pious. He worked on the Ordinatio imperii of 817, which failed in 830. Apparently in the interests of imperial unity, Hilduin took the side of the conflict between Ludwig's sons and their father. Thereupon he was banished to Corvey and Paderborn in 830 after he had appeared at the imperial assembly in Nijmegen despite the ban with warriors, and at the subsequent imperial assembly in February 831 he was deposed as abbot and arch chaplain. In the same year he was pardoned at the instigation of Hinkmar and received two of his abbeys back.

In 832 he reformed Saint-Denis, in 836 he transferred the relics of Saint Vitus from Saint-Denis to the Corvey monastery. In 840 he again took sides against Ludwig for Lothar I and finally lost his abbot dignity. His further life either gets lost in the dark, but is probably identical to Hilduin of Cologne.

Works

Hilduin wrote several historical-theological works, including probably the Gesta Dagoberti about the life of King Dagobert I. He is considered one of the authors of the Reichsannals . Most important was his biography of St. Dionysius of Paris , the patron saint of Saint-Denis, as well as the publication of the works of the Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita in Latin. The Areopagite, whose mystical - Platonic writings have since achieved great popularity in Europe, was equated by Hilduin with Dionysius of Paris, which gave the monastery a considerable increase in importance.

Some evidence suggests that Hilduin von Saint-Denis is the namesake of the city of Hildesheim (Hilduinesheim) .

Hilduin as Archbishop of Cologne

Hilduin is presumably identical with Archbishop Hilduin of Cologne . If that is true, Hilduin, after losing his position in Corvey, went to Emperor Lothar I in 840 , who appointed him Archbishop of Cologne in 842. Presumably Hilduin was only able to assert himself in the sphere of influence of Lothar I, while he was denied allegiance in the rest of the archdiocese. It is also questionable whether he ever received episcopal ordination, which his Saxon suffragans probably denied him. Because these stood on the side of his opponent Liutbert, who was a follower of King Ludwig the German . From 844–855 Hilduin is attested as Arch Chancellor of Emperor Lothar I. In 850 an agreement was probably reached. Liutbert became bishop of Münster and Gunthar , Hilduin's nephew, took over the archbishopric of Cologne. In 855 Hilduin seems to have retired to the Prüm monastery .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ for example J. Prelog: Hilduin v. St-Denis , in: Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Vol. 5, Col. 19
2. ^ Pierre Riché: Die Karolinger , Munich 1991 p. 185
3. ↑ Fleckenstein: NDB vol. 9, p. 137
4. ↑ Prelog, LexMA, Vol. 5, Col. 19
5. ^ Egon Boshof: Ludwig the Pious. Darmstadt 1996, pp. 185-189.
6. ↑ Gesta Dagoberti I regis Francorum , ed. by B. Krusch, MGH SS rer. Mer. 2, 1888, 396-425
7. ↑ Hans Goetting: Germania Sacra , New Series 20, Berlin 1984, p. 40
8. ↑ Hans Goetting: Germania Sacra , New Series 20, Berlin 1984, p. 40, note 26
9. ↑ Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Vol. 7, Col. 20
10. ^ History of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Vol. 1: The Diocese of Cologne from the beginning to the end of the 12th century , ed. by Eduard Hegel, 2nd edition, revised by Friedrich Wilhelm Oedinger, Bachem Cologne 1971.
11. ↑ Lexicon of the Middle Ages, Vol. 5 Col. 19

literature

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Hilduin. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 855-856.
• Entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia , Robert Appleton Company, New York 1913.
• Josef Fleckenstein :  Hilduin. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 136 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Jan Prelog: Hilduin v. St-Denis . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 5, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , Sp. 20.
• History of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Vol. 1: The Diocese of Cologne from the beginning to the end of the 12th century , ed. by Eduard Hegel, 2nd edition, revised by Friedrich Wilhelm Oedinger, Bachem Cologne 1971.

Web links

• Hilduinus abbas S. Dionysii Parisiensis in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"

predecessor	Office	successor
Waldo of Reichenau	Abbot of Saint-Denis 814–840	Ludwig