Hugo of Lincoln
Hugo von Lincoln ( English Hugh of Lincoln ; also St Hugh of Lincoln or Hugh of Avalon ) (* uncertain: 1140 in Saint-Maximin (Isère) ; † November 16, 1200 in London ) was a religious priest . Born in Burgundy, he entered the Carthusian Order and in 1186 became bishop of the English diocese of Lincoln . He is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches .
Origin, youth and entry into the Carthusian order
Hugo was the youngest son of the Burgundian nobleman Guillaume d'Avalon and his wife Anne, who came from the family of the Lords of Theys . He was probably born in Avalon, a village near Saint-Maximin in what was then the Kingdom of Arelat . When his mother died around 1148, his father entered the nearby Augustinian Canons of Villardbenoît on the Isère River . He took his youngest son with him to the monastery, who grew up there and took his religious vows at the age of 15 . When Hugo was in his early twenties, he became a deacon in the parish of Saint-Maximin. A little later he visited the Grande Chartreuse . This visit to the mother monastery of the Carthusian monastery led him to join the order at the age of 23. Ten years later he took over the office of treasurer of the monastery.
Prior of Witham
After Hugo had been treasurer of the Grande Chartreuse for six years, he became prior of the Charterhouse Witham Friary in Somerset, England , in 1179 . This was probably founded by the English King Henry II as atonement for the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket , but the monastery did not flourish due to a lack of leadership. Hugo was recommended to the English king by Count Humbert von Maurienne , whom he already knew through previous negotiations about the marriage of his son Johann Ohneland to a daughter of Humbert. In addition, in 1179 the French King Louis VII visited the Becket shrine in Canterbury Cathedral together with Henry II .
A basic problem of the Witham Friary was that there were conflicts with the small farmers there who did not want to leave their farms in favor of the monastery. Hugo was able to make it clear to the king that he needed more money to generously compensate the farmers. After successfully getting the peasants to leave their farms, Hugo is said to have reported to the king with a smile that as a poor foreigner he had enriched the king with many houses in his own country. The king did not take this offense, but on the contrary developed a close and good relationship with Hugo. Hugo regularly reprimanded the king for his sins, especially when he withheld the income of dioceses and abbeys during long vacancies . He reprimanded him because he prevented free elections of bishops and abbots and instead let deserving officials be elected to these offices.
Bishop of Lincoln
Election to bishop
Finally, in 1186, Henry II made Hugo a candidate for the Diocese of Lincoln. Hugo insisted on a proper election by the cathedral chapter , whereupon the canons voted unanimously. To this end, Hugo demanded that the prior of the Grande Chartreuse also approve the election; a delegation was then sent to France to seek approval. Eventually Hugo was ordained bishop on September 21, 1186 in St Katherine's Chapel in Westminster .
Political activity
Relationship to Heinrich II.
As Bishop of Lincoln, the largest and one of the richest English dioceses, Hugo had to deal more with secular matters. Since he was very careful to protect the rights of the Church, he did not shy away from quarreling with the powerful Angevin kings on several occasions. Shortly after taking office , Hugo excommunicated the highest royal forest warden Geoffrey. He had suppressed tenants in Lincolnshire , but Hugo nevertheless drew the anger of Henry II. Before this dispute escalated, however, and put a heavy burden on the relationship between the king and the church, which had improved again after the murder of Thomas Becket, Hugo sought a factual dispute with the king. He relaxed the situation with little jokes and was able to quickly win back the favor of the king.
In February 1188 Hugo attended the royal council of Geddington , during which the king presented his crusade plans. In the summer of 1188 he traveled as the king's envoy to the French king Philip II.
Relationship with Richard I.
After the death of Heinrich II in July 1189, Hugo took part in the coronation of his son Richard I on September 3rd . A little later he attended the council of Pipewell , during which the new king ruled the government of England while he led his crusade to Palestine . During the king's absence, Hugo stood up for Archbishop Geoffrey of York in 1191 after he was captured by the royal justiciar William de Longchamp . However, when Archbishop Geoffrey excommunicated Bishop Hugh de Puiset of Durham at the end of 1191 , Hugo was appointed by Pope Celestine III. instructed to annul the church sentence. He was commissioned by the Pope several times to make decisions in ecclesiastical disputes, although he was reluctant to perform these tasks. Together with other bishops, he excommunicated Johann Ohneland , the king's brother , in 1194 when he openly rebelled against his brother.
In contrast to his good relationship with Henry II, however, he often had a difficult relationship with Richard I, as Richard I made high financial demands on the clergy for his wars. Shortly after the return of Richard I from his captivity, in which he got caught on the return journey from the crusade, Hugo agreed in 1194 to the demand of the king that the Diocese of Lincoln should pay a one-time payment of £ 2,000 instead of regular dues to the king. In contrast, Hugo was able to successfully enforce his claim to the appointment of the abbot and the patronage right of Eynsham Abbey in Oxfordshire against the king . In 1197 there was an open conflict during a council meeting of the bishops in Oxford, to which the royal justiciar and Archbishop Hubert Walter had invited. Hubert Walter demanded on behalf of the king that the bishops should provide 300 more knights for the war in Normandy against France. Hugo refused this request because the bishops were not obliged to do so and the request was clearly to the detriment of the church. As a result, all bishops initially rejected the demand, and Archbishop Walter was only able to convince most of the bishops with difficulty to give in to the king's demand. Only Hugo and Bishop Herbert Poor of Salisbury continued to oppose. Hugo eventually traveled to Normandy, where he reconciled with the king, apparently not having to pay a heavy fine, unlike Herbert Poor. However, when Hugo refused in 1199 to send twelve of his canons abroad at his own expense on behalf of the king, the angry king had the diocese's temporalities confiscated.
The audacity with which Hugo defied the mighty Angevin kings was probably only accepted because he was still considered a foreigner in England. In addition, he already had a reputation for holiness during his lifetime.
Spiritual work
Even as a prior, but also as a bishop, Hugo lived according to the rule of Pope Gregory the Great , whom he admired. As a result, he did not hesitate to openly blame others for wrongdoing. Once a year he retired to Witham for some time, where he spent the time in prayer, reading and meditation. Hugo was faced with serious conflicts of conscience several times, for example as a young man when asked whether, as an Augustinian, he should obey his superiors or follow his wish to join the Carthusian order. He was also reluctant to become prior, fearing that he would succumb to worldly temptations against which he had long fought. The acceptance of the election as bishop caused him problems because as a bishop he could no longer follow the ideal of the Carthusian monks to lead an isolated life in prayer. So he turned to the prior of the Grande Chartreuse, whereupon the prior told him to accept the election.
As a bishop, Hugo conscientiously took care of the administration of his diocese, as most other English bishops did during his time. But since he came from Burgundy, he never spoke English fluently, although Anglo- Norman was the common language of the English upper class at the time. In order to cope with his complex and increasing tasks as a bishop, Hugo hired several officials. As a foreigner he trusted the advice of Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury , who gave him Robert of Bedford and Roger of Rolleston. but certainly recommended other clergymen. Hugo refused to follow the custom according to which his officials were given posts as canons at Lincoln Cathedral , which they held only as sinecurs . Instead, he required that the canons live in Lincoln and serve regularly as chaplains. William de Montibus († 1213), a former lecturer at the University of Paris , had to move to Lincoln before Hugo appointed him canon. As a representative of the current theological teachings from Paris, he had a great influence on the bishop and later became rector of Lincoln Cathedral. Hugo further promoted the cathedral chapter by transferring the rights and revenues of the churches of Glentham , Scredington and Wellingore .
Although the impressive number of 224 documents from Hugo's term of office have been preserved, these only give a small insight into his work as bishop. Numerous documents deal with the supply of the priests in the parishes, others show how he raised funds to enable the further construction of the Lincoln Cathedral. For this extension he employed Geoffrey de Noyers, who proved to be an excellent master builder and built the choir of St Hugh's, which is considered a masterpiece of the Early English Style . The regulations drawn up by Hugo for his diocese are reproduced in the Chronicle Gesta Henrici secundi and are therefore the only ones to have survived from England in the 12th century. They mainly include regulations for the clergy. Hugo once suspended a priest and withdrew his beneficiary when he illegally married minors. Like his predecessors, he attached great importance to confession and penance, for example commissioning the prior of Huntingdon to ensure that confessions were carried out regularly in his region. In general, he wanted the laity to take an active part in church life. Several times he invited pious mothers and widows to his meals. He was also hospitable and generally approachable to his clergy, as Gerald of Wales , who lived as a canon in Lincoln in the 1190s, reports.
At least once, Hugo accompanied Archbishop Hubert Walter of Canterbury as Bishop when he was visiting his ecclesiastical province. Together with the Archbishop and Abbot Samson von Bury St Edmunds , he dissolved the collegiate foundation founded by Bishop Hugh de Nonant in 1198 at Coventry Cathedral and replaced it with a cathedral priory formed by religious men.
death
Hugo attended the funeral of Richard I in Fontevrault on April 11, 1199 , as well as the coronation of Johann Ohneland on May 27. The next year he traveled to Grenoble and visited the Grande Chartreuse, where a large crowd gathered to see him. However, on the return trip to England he fell ill. In London he had a conversation with Johann Ohneland, in which apparently his disdain for the king became clear. A few days later he died in the Old Temple in Holborn , where the bishops of Lincoln owned a house. His body was transferred to Lincoln within four days and finally buried in the cathedral on November 23.
Canonization and devotion
The Benedictine monk Adam of Eynsham, who had served Hugo as chaplain, wrote Hugo's first biography with the help of the Carthusian monks of Witham. His Magna Vita was completed shortly after 1212. Gerald von Wales, who lived as a canon in Lincoln in the 1190s, also wrote a more extensive biography of Hugo before 1220, in which he also reports on miracles at his grave. He had already briefly described Hugo's life in his work Life of St Remigius . After Hugo was canonized in 1220, a description of his life in verse was written, perhaps by Henry d'Avranches . Soon after Hugo's death, numerous legends emerged from his life, including that of the wild swan that lived on the episcopal estate of Stow in Lincolnshire. This had become tame in Hugo's presence. In addition, miracles at his grave were soon reported, whereupon the canonization process was initiated. Already on February 18, 1220 Hugo was from Pope Honorius III. canonized, making Hugo the first saint of the Carthusian order. His feast day is November 17th . In pictorial representations he is often depicted with the swan as an attribute .
In 1280 two new shrines were erected for his relics ; a magnificent reliquary contained his head. His body was transferred to a new shrine behind the high altar of the cathedral. When these shrines were destroyed after the Reformation in 1540, his relics were buried in a new tomb at the east end of the cathedral. The patronage of Hugo are consecrated especially in England numerous churches. In addition, his patronage was St. Hugh's Charterhouse in Horsham, England, as well as St Hugh's Hall, now St Hugh's College in Oxford, founded in 1886 by Dorothy Wordsworth, daughter of Bishop Christopher Wordsworth of Lincoln .
literature
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Hugo von Lincoln. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 1143.
- Adam of Eynsham, David Hugh Farmer, Decima L. Douie: Magna vita sancti Hugonis (The life of Saint Hugh of Lincoln). Nelson, London 1961/1962
- David Hugh Farmer: St. Hugh of Lincoln: an exhibition to commemorate the eighth centenary of his consecration as Bishop of Lincoln in 1186, Bodleian Library, Oxford, February to April 1986 . Bodleian Library, Oxford 1986. ISBN 1-85124-004-7
- Henry Mayr-Harting (Ed.): St Hugh of Lincoln: lectures delivered at Oxford and Lincoln to celebrate the eighth centenary of St Hugh's consecration as Bishop of Lincoln. Clarendon, Oxford 1987, ISBN 0-19-820120-6
- Michael G. Sargent (Ed.): De cella in seculum: religious and secular life and devotion in late medieval England: an interdisciplinary conference in celebration of the eighth centenary of the consecration of St. Hugh of Avalon, Bishop of Lincoln, 20- July 22, 1986 . DS Brewer, Cambridge 1989, ISBN 0-85991-268-X
Web links
- Henry Mayr-Harting: Hugh of Lincoln (1140? –1200). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
- Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints: Hugo von Lincoln
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Choir of Lincoln Cathedral: An Interpretation . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1963, p. 4
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Walter de Coutances |
Bishop of Lincoln 1185–1200 |
William de Blois |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hugo of Lincoln |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hugh of Lincoln; St Hugh of Lincoln; Hugh of Avalon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bishop of Lincoln, Saint of the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1140 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | uncertain: Saint-Maximin (Isère) |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 16, 1200 |
| Place of death | London |