Richulf

Richulf († August 9, 813 in Mainz , also Richolf ) was Archbishop of Mainz from 787 until his death . He came from a Frankish noble family from the Wetterau . Together with his brother Rutekar , he donated properties in Rödelheim to the Fulda monastery . The later Archbishop Otgar von Mainz was probably his nephew.

Life

As a student of Alkuin , Metropolitan Mainz and court chaplain , he was one of the leading representatives of the imperial episcopate and court clergy under Charlemagne . Even before his elevation to archbishop he was the king's messenger ( Missus ) of Charlemagne (so to Tassilo III. Of Bavaria 781) and as his travel companion (to Rome 781) and as a companion of Pope Leo III. (from Paderborn to Rome, around 800) verifiable. He received his episcopal ordination on March 4, 787 in Fritzlar Cathedral , the place where his predecessor Bonifatius once worked and began his missionary work with the felling of the Donariche .

Under Richulf and his successor Haistulph , the archbishopric was included in the Frankish imperial church and the church province of Mainz was expanded . Mainz was raised like the dioceses of Cologne, Trier and Salzburg, but priority was given to its Holy See . Richulf began the construction of the new monastery church of St. Alban in Mainz (consecrated December 1, 805). In the Boniface Chapel he set up the burial place of the Archbishops of Mainz. A special distinction that documents his closeness to Charlemagne was that in 794 Queen Fastrada , who died after the Synod of Frankfurt , was buried in St. Alban. 810 he received from Pope Leo III. Relics of the martyr Caesarius of Terracina for St. Alban. He also built a new building (consecrated June 6, 812) in the Bleidenstadt monastery founded by his predecessor Lul and expanded the abbey property and income. The relics of the martyr Ferrutius , whose tomb Richulf had restored as a deacon in Kastel and furnished with an inscription, had already been transferred from Lul to Bleidenstadt. He also promoted the Hersfeld monastery founded by Lul . From 802 at the latest, but probably already from 786, he was also Hersfeld's abbot. In Fulda monastery, he was active several times on behalf of Charlemagne, first at a synod (Frankfurt 794 or Aachen 800), when Bishop Berowelf of Würzburg intervened in Karl's presence in the rights of the monastery, a consecration without prior "invitatio" (invitation) by the abbot and the convent, through which the Zacharias privilege had been violated, had to be fended off, then to settle conflicts between Abbot Ratgar and the convent. In 809 and 812, church consecrations were carried out ( Frauenberg monastery (Fulda) ; Propstei Johannesberg ), which were intended to symbolically make the end of the dispute evident, which, however, continued to smolder and in 817 led to the removal of Abbot Ratgar by Ludwig the Pious .

reformer

Richulf, who belonged to the closest circle of the court, was also an active participant and probably also a promoter of the educational reform of Charlemagne, as can be seen, among other things, from letters by Alkuin to his former pupil. In 811, Richulf appears in the exclusive list of witnesses in Karl's will. Richulf was involved in the preparation of the church reform synods of 813, which took place in Mainz, Reims , Tours , Chalon-sur-Saône and Arles in parallel . He led the synod of Mainz on June 9, 813 together with Archbishop Hildebold of Cologne .

He died on August 9, 813 and was buried in St. Alban's Abbey near Mainz .

reception

In retrospect, he was ridiculed by the Karlsbiographer Notker Balbulus for his vain lust for fame and pomp. About his self-confidence (Antistes fueram famosus nomine Riculf, / inclitus officio regis in aula fui. I, Richulf, famous by his name, was a bishop and was distinguished by my service at the royal court.) And his appreciation of valuable building equipment (fulgenti ... metallo ; preciosis metallis), despite the usual modesty phrases and the complaint about the transience of earthly fame, the self-composed verse inscriptions from St. Alban and the self-composed epitaph, which may have been Notker's source, testify.

Like the Strasbourg bishop Ratho, Richulf is credited with spreading the Gallica Augustodunensis in his district . Hinkmar von Reims accused him of falsifying these writings, and David Blondel refuted this accusation.

literature

• Richard Corradini: The Viennese Manuscript Cvp 430 *. A contribution to the historiography in Fulda in the early 9th century (Fuldaer Hochschulschriften 37). Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 2000, p. 37f .; P. 41.
• Ulrich Hussong : Studies on the history of the imperial abbey Fulda up to the turn of the millennium, part. 2. In: Archives for Diplomatics . Volume 32, 1986, pp. 146-148; P. 150.
• Theodor Schieffer : Archbishop Richulf (787-813). In: Yearbook for the Diocese of Mainz . Volume 5, 1950, pp. 329-342.
• Franz Staab : Archbishop Richulf (787-813). In: Friedhelm Jürgensmeier (Ed.): Handbuch der Mainz Kirchengeschichte, Vol. 1 Christian antiquity and the Middle Ages, part 1 . (Contributions to the history of the church in Mainz 6). Echter, Würzburg 2000, p. 102f .; P. 138; 144-150; Pp. 841-843.

Web links

• Richulfus archiepiscopus Moguntinus in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ L'Art de vérifier les dates , p. 78.
2. ↑ Alcuini Ep. 182.
3. ^ Philipp Jaffé, Monumenta Moguntina , Weidmann, 1866
4. ↑ MGH epistulae aevi carolini II, No. 25; 26; 35; 212
5. ^ Johann Peter Schunk: Contributions to the History of Mainz , Fleischer, 1789, p. 224
6. ^ MGH poetae latini, Vol. 1, pp. 431f.
7. ↑ Gerhard Schmitz: The gradual production of thoughts when forging (PDF; 2.2 MB)
8. ^ [David Blondel: Pseudo-Isidorus et Turrianus vapulantes ; Geneva, 1628]

predecessor	Office	successor
Lullus	Archbishop of Mainz 787–813	Shark tulph