Wilchar from Sens

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Wilchar († around 786 / 787 ) was bishop of Mentana and Sens and bore the title of Archbishop (of Gaul). His identity with the eponymous bishops of Vienne and Sitten , however, is not certain. He was the highest ecclesiastical dignitary in the Frankish Empire at the time of Pippin the Younger , Karlmann I and Charlemagne . If he is identical with the Bishop of Vienne, he was already Archbishop of Karl Martell .

Life

He was possibly of Frankish origin. Beate Schilling concludes from his name that he is of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is not known whether he belonged to the group of Anglo-Saxons around Boniface .

Archbishop of Vienne

If one follows Beate Schilling, who assumes an identity of the Bishop of Vienne with the one from Sens, he was at the time of Karl Martell by Gregory III. appointed archbishop for the territories of the Franconian Empire. As a source, she gives an addendum to the vita of Gregory III. on. The date of the appointment is unclear. Possibly this already took place in 732. This would mean that Boniface , whose appointment took place in 735, was appointed as second archbishop after Wilchar for the eastern areas of the Frankish Empire. In contrast to Boniface, Wilchar did not make a recognizable appearance in the 740s either.

Schilling assumes that the appointment, which probably happened without the participation of Karl Martell, was not an honorary title, but that the Pope intended to restore the fallen metropolitan constitution. Wichar's area of ​​responsibility initially included the entire Franconian Empire, before the eastern mission areas for Boniface were later separated.

It is problematic that the local tradition in Vienne, for example in the Chronicle of Ados von Vienne from the 9th century, does not mention anything about Wichar's appointment as archbishop. This chronicle reports in great detail about this bishop. During his time there were devastations caused by the Saracens, but also attempts by Karl Martell to appropriate church property. He had therefore resigned his bishopric and entered a monastery. He later went to Rome and was in close contact with Pope Stephen II . He then lived as a monk in Saint-Maurice from the 740s . During this time it completely disappeared from the sources for years.

Bishop of Mentana and abbot

As Bishop of Mentana / Nomentum he acted from 751 or 753 in the immediate vicinity of Rome. It seems unusual that a member of the Frankish church held such a bishopric near Rome at that time. He was one of a number of Frankish clerics who traveled to Italy and played a certain role in the Church, particularly around Rome. They helped to build a connection between the Frankish rulers and the Pope. In the following years he was under Stephan and Paul I papal legate in the Frankish empire with Pepin the Younger. He accompanied Pope Stephan II in 754 to the Frankish Empire. The trip also led via Vienne and the Abbey of St. Maurice. Shortly before his departure, Pope Chrodegang of Metz appointed Archbishop for the Frankish Empire.

According to Schilling, he became abbot of Saint-Maurice around 762. An abbot by that name was present at the Attigny Synod that year . This is also attested by a deed of donation from 765. In the same year he transferred various relics to the Gorze monastery . Even for Schilling it is unclear what the naming of a Wichar as Bishop of Sitten is all about in more recent sources.

Archbishop in Sens

After 766 he was apparently no longer bishop in Mentana. Instead he was bishop in Sens. He was called archiepiscopus (provinciae) Galliarum civitate Senese . He first appeared as such at the Council of Rome in 769. The title of archbishop was discussed controversially on various occasions. In view of the lack of a metropolitan constitution in the Franconian Church, he was probably not the head of a church province, but instead used the designation as a personal honorary title. But the reference to Gaul makes his leadership role in the Frankish Church clear. As such, he was the successor of Bonifatius and Chrodegang von Metz as the highest church dignitary in the Frankish Empire.

After Pippin's death he was one of Karlmann's advisors. As such, he was jointly responsible for an aggressive policy towards the Longobard king Desidarius , which at that time stood in opposition to the strategy of the other Frankish ruler, Karl.

After Karlmann's death he paid homage to the new overall ruler Charlemagne in 771 at the head of the greats of his partial empire. This met the ideas of Wilchar and Fulrad of St. Denis in the Italian policy. The internal agreement in both parts was a prerequisite for the war against the pagan Saxons . As a result, he often moved in close proximity to Charlemagne and served as his envoy.

Little is known about his work as archbishop. In 777 he mediated between Fulrad of Saint-Denis and Bishop Angilram of Metz. In 777 he took part in the imperial assembly in Saxony, where the apparently conquered country was divided into mission districts. In the 780s he was involved in an attempt to extend the influence of the Frankish Church to Spanish territory south of the Pyrenees and to combat certain dissenting doctrines widespread there. To this end, Pope Hadrian I Wilchar allowed a cleric named Egila to be ordained bishop. He was not assigned a bishopric, so that he must be considered a traveling or missionary bishop. He also traveled to Rome as an envoy for Charlemagne. It wasn't just about politics, but also relics. Wilchar also seems to have been valued as a building expert by Pope Hadrian I. The Pope asked for Wilchar's presence when it came to the repair of St. Peter's Church .

At times he was the only archbishop in the Frankish Empire. The establishment of a metropolitan constitution only gradually began. In some cases this is dated to the time after Wilchars' death. In some cases, approaches to this are still seen during his lifetime in the early 780s. Beate Schilling, on the other hand, thinks that Wilchar's historic achievement was to have introduced the metropolitan constitution based on the example of the late antique provinces. The reoccupation of the bishops' seats in Lyon and Vienne, which have been vacant for years, is probably due to his influence.

Lastly, Wilchar 785 is traceable. He will have died in 786 or 787.

Source problems

A number of aspects of his biography are unclear and controversial due to the sources. It seems certain that he was bishop of Mentana / Nomentum in Italy. The identity of this person with the eponymous bishop of Sens should also be established. Whether he is also to be equated with an abbot of Saint-Maurice of the same name , a bishop of Vienne and a bishop of Sitten is less clear and probably rather improbable.

Ado von Vienne reported in his chronicle that the former bishop of Vienne Wilchar had left the diocese in the time of Karl Martell as a result of the destruction by the Arabs and had taken over the management of the Abbey of Saint-Maurice, which had been given to him earlier. In the homage of Charlemagne by the greats from the former part of Karlmann's kingdom in 771, a Wilchar is mentioned in the annals of Einhard as Bishop of Sitten. In other sources it is reported in the context of an archbishop without a place ascription. A tombstone in Saint Maurice, known since the 17th century, then temporarily lost and rediscovered in the 19th century, is dedicated to a Sion bishop with at least a similar name. This seemed to suggest an identity with Wilchar. But various indications speak for a hitherto unknown Bishop Sittens from the time of the late 10th and early 11th centuries.

In addition, it is unlikely that the Bishop of Vienne, who was mentioned in 730, was believed to have lived in 785. The naming of a bishop of Sitten in the Einhardannalen is partly interpreted as a transcription error ( Sedunensis instead of Senonensis ). Beate Schilling has no doubt that the Bishop of Vienne, the Abbot of St. Maurice, the Bishop of Manterna and the Bishop of Sens were one and the same person. It is by no means excluded that he could have turned 80 or 90 years old. An indication for them is the transfer of relics from St. Maurice and Vienne to Sens.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23–36, here p. 30.
  2. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23–36, here p. 23.
  3. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23–36, here p. 24 f.
  4. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23–36, here p. 26 f.
  5. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23–36, here pp. 28–30.
  6. ^ Donald Auberon Bullough: The dating of Codex Carolinus Nos. 95, 96, 97, Wilchar, and the beginnings of the Archbishopric of Sens. In: German archive for research into the Middle Ages. 18, 1962, pp. 223-230, here p. 230.
  7. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23–36, here p. 30 f.
  8. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23–36, here p. 32.
  9. ^ RI I n.142a. In: Regesta Imperii Online. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  10. ↑ Karl Hauck : The spread of faith in Saxony and the defense of the Roman church as competing rulers of Charlemagne. In: Early Medieval Studies . 4, 1970, pp. 138-172, here pp. 142 f .; Ulrich Knefelkamp : The Middle Ages. History at a glance (= UTB . 2105, history. ). 2nd, revised edition. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2003, ISBN 3-8252-2105-9 , p. 67.
  11. ↑ Elsanne Gilomen-Schenkel: The role of the Valais diocese in the Carolingian Empire. An invention of historiography? In: Vallesia. 40, 1985, pp. 233-245, here p. 237.
  12. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23–36, here p. 35.
  13. ^ Matthias Becher : Karl der Grosse (= Beck'sche series. 2120). 5th updated edition. Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-43320-7 , p. 105.
  14. ^ Donald Auberon Bullough: The dating of Codex Carolinus Nos. 95, 96, 97, Wilchar, and the beginnings of the Archbishopric of Sens. In: German archive for research into the Middle Ages. 18, 1962, pp. 223-230, here p. 228.
  15. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23–36, here p. 35.
  16. ↑ Elsanne Gilomen-Schenkel: The role of the Valais diocese in the Carolingian Empire. An invention of historiography? In: Vallesia. 40, 1985, pp. 233-245, here p. 236 f.
  17. ↑ Christoph Jörg: The inscriptions of the canton of Valais up to 1300 (= Corpus inscriptionum medii aevi Helvetiae. 1 = Scrinium Friburgense. 1). Universitäts-Verlag, Freiburg (Switzerland) 1977, ISBN 3-7278-0164-6 , 28 f .; Elsanne Gilomen-Schenkel: The role of the Valais diocese in the Carolingian Empire. An invention of historiography? In: Vallesia. 40, 1985, pp. 233-245, here pp. 239-242.
  18. ↑ Beate Schilling: Wilchar von Vienne and the pallium. In: Kranz, Falkenstein (ed.): Inquirens subtilia diversa. 2002, pp. 23-36, here p. 32 f.

literature

predecessor Office successor
Loup II. Archbishop of Sens
around 769 		Godescalc
personal data
SURNAME Wilchar from Sens
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilchar from Mentana; Willichaire (French)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Mentana, of Sens and Archbishop of Gaul
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century
DATE OF DEATH at 786