Ebbo
Ebo of Rheims (also Ebbo; probably * 778, † March 20 851 in Hildesheim ) was 816-835 and 840-841 Archbishop of Reims, 845-851 Bishop of Hildesheim.
Life
Origin and early career
Ebo was the only son of a working on a Krongut Saxon serfs and foster-brother of the future Emperor Louis the Pious. His mother's name was Himiltrudis. Ebo received by Charlemagne and his freedom was educated at the Imperial Palace School at Aachen's royal palace as a classmate of Louis the Pious for an ecclesiastical career. Since he was indeed raised to the outdoors ( " liber " ), but not to the nobles ( " nobilis " ), later mocked him the biographer of Louis the Pious, Chorbishop Thegan of Trier, by describing him as a lower peasants and slaves, whose ancestors were goatherds.
Ebo was talented, ambitious and energetic and rose up quickly. Already 814 he should have been abbot. He was sent to Louis the Pious to Aquitaine to this to assist in the management of its portion Kingdom. Louis made him his librarian. In the autumn of 816 nunmehrige Emperor Louis the Pious appointed him Archbishop of Reims, as successor Wulfars.
Archbishop of Reims
In Reims, preserved and extended Ebo determined ownership, rights and privileges of his diocese, where he had the trust and friendship of the Emperor useful. A number of churches and goods within Reims, who had been alienated from the pen before, came to Imperial instruction again in the possession of the archbishopric. To rebuild the decaying cathedral, a predecessor of the famous cathedral of Reims, Ebo were left to the city walls and gates of Reims and adopt the usual labor services of his church for the Pfalz in Aachen.
827 Ebo designed the Abbey Montier -en-Der order within the meaning of Aniane begun by Benedict reform from a pen of canons back to a Benedictine monastery. In order to fight abuses, he wrote a compilation of the official duties of provosts, archdeacons, bishops and bishops choir, in which he clarified their position, rights and obligations and sharply defined. After the Paris synod of 829, who spoke out against the confusion of different in use penitentials, he instructed his suffragan bishop of Cambrai Halitgar to develop a new penitential to put an end to the prevailing confusion. 832 he made on behalf of Louis establishes the order in St. Denis Abbey.
Ebo was vain and retribution addictive, and as mighty churches and princes of the empire, there was no shortage him to true and false followers and admirers. The homage of the Archbishop of Lyon Agobard, who dedicated him a theological treatise, and the verses of the Walahfrid Strabo flattered him, just as the poem in the Gospel Book from the monastery Hautvillers in Epernay, the " Ebo Gospels " so-called.
Nordic Mission
Had After receiving the missionary mandate of the emperor and the consent of the Reichstag to Attigny 822, on which Louis performed his public act of repentance, Ebo traveled to Rome, where he 822 or 823 I with a papal bull of Pope Paschal the Great Commission for the North received without that the mission area was thereby circumscribed closer. This was Ebo mission vicar and Missionslegat of the Pope on the model of Boniface. The Pope also sharpened Ebo, rückzufragen in all cases of doubt the Pope, as it had already been subject to Boniface. Thus, the mission of the Church gradually began to emancipate themselves from the imperial church.
In the summer of 823 Ebo undertook his first mission trip to Denmark, accompanied by the bishops of Cambrai and Halitgar Willerich of Bremen. As a base, and spiritual training center for the Danish mission he founded in today's Münsterdorf in Holstein on the banks of sturgeon in the protection of Wallburg " Esseveldoburg " ( in or at the later Itzehoe ) a small house of prayer, the " Cella Welana " (or Cella Wellana also Cella Welanao ).
Been the course of the next three years, however, with long interruptions ( testified, for example, his presence at the Diet of Compiègne in November 823 ), to Ebo, whose appointment as legate of Pope Eugene II ( 824-827 ) devoted renewed was, at long summer stays of missionary work in Denmark. He won neither Harald Klak other the Danish Great for Christianity, and the bitter Erbkrieg between Harald Klak and the sons Gudfreds eventually forced him to abandon his missionary work.
The position Klaks Harald, who had ruled for 821 in an unsafe co- regency with Gudreds son Horik I. in Denmark, had become progressively weaker. Although Ebo had 825 provides a new agreement between Harald and Horik, but this was, given the deep-seated hostility of the antagonists of short duration. The obvious partisanship of the Franks for Harald was not done to appease the suspicions Horiks and Christianity mostly dismissive of stationary population. 826 Harald traveled at the invitation of the Emperor Louis Ingelheim, where he was received on a national assembly, with great pomp in the local imperial palace. On June 24, he was baptized at Mainz with his wife and his son Gottfried in its wake in the monastery of St. Alban. Louis himself was Harald's godfather and enfeoffed him with the county Rüstringen in the North East Friesland. On his return journey 827 Harald accompanied the former head of the monastery school of Corvey, Ansgar, who should continue the Nordic mission there. Harald but was finally driven from Denmark already in the same year; actually is not even certain whether he ever entered the Danish soil again. His baptism had neither the spread of Christianity secured yet availed of the mission itself. He had to settle for the sovereign rights in Friesland, where he made a name by raids in the North Sea area.
The Danish mission was resumed by Ansgar until after 831. Probably in November 831 Ebo was present at the consecration Ansgars Archbishop of Hamburg. Ansgar became the new legate of Rome for the Nordic Mission, and Ebo agreed with him to the effect that the missionary work in Sweden remain under his supervision and should be led by his nephew Gauzbert while Ansgar took over the Danish mission.
Suspension of Louis the Pious
The years 831-833 took a decisive turn in life Ebos: from the friend and confidant of Emperor Louis was a bitter enemy who through his sons played a central and unworthy role in the overthrow of the Emperor.
Louis had already ordered 817 of the Ordinatio imperii of succession among his three sons. In order to maintain the unity of the Empire, though should receive any part of the Kingdom, but still. Within a single empire under the future emperor Lothar, the eldest of the sons But this almost unanimously co-sponsored by the Great Empire of regulation he came 829 823 in favor of his son born from his second marriage to Charles the Bald. Empress Judith had sent soon after her son's birth, Charles ( June 13, 823 ) a ring on Ebo in Denmark and asked him never to forget the recent Emperor's son in prayer. Ebos position and influence, and its strong commitment to the unity of the empire they were afraid that he would work against their plans a territorial features Charles and thus a change in the Ordinatio imperii of 817.
In fact, Ebo and other church leaders spoke out at the Paris synod of 829 against Louis new Erbteilungspläne. Nevertheless Ebo were not supported, the first revolt of the three older sons of Emperor in the year 830. Only 831 he became partisans of Lothair and his brethren in their struggle against their father.
The intervention of Pope Gregory played IV ( 827-844 ) in the inheritance dispute in favor of Lothar's certainly a role, as well as Ebos fears that the endangered imperial unity, which lay at the base of the Ordinatio imperii of 817 and called for their maintenance of the rebels was, at the same time his own influence would come to the imperial policy in danger. As a representative of the Church's claims to power that had just unfolded thanks to the government of Louis maxims, Ebo joined the camp of the Emperor opponents. Its displacement from the Imperial Council, which was later attributed to serious crimes, may have him extra motivation. Only a promise of Lothar, to give him the abbey of Saint- Vaast in Arras, should not have been enough to let him off the soft side of Louis.
With merciless rigor and passionate animosity Ebo led the Church Assembly, which at ( today ) Soissons ecclesiastical sanction of dismissal judgment brought on 13 November 833 in Saint- Médard monastery and imposed the humiliating public penance of his former benefactor. As an emissary of the held in Compiegne by Lother in October Imperial Assembly held Ebo and Archbishop Agobard of Lyon to the Emperor his alleged offenses before, gave him a " sins ", and forced him to read a previously- translated confession to remove his arms to attract a hair shirt to renounce the world and the throne to declare himself unworthy. The empress Judith was exiled to Tortona in Italy, her son Charles the Bald transferred in strict adherence to the monastery of Prüm. As a reward Ebo by Lothar received the rich abbey of Saint- Vaast.
Dismissal and imprisonment
The boom after the overthrow of Emperor battle of the sons of the kingdom brought a new change. Louis the German and Pepin of Aquitaine allied themselves against their brother Lothar and forced the release of her father, who was employed on March 1 834 in St. Denis again as emperor.
Ebo was not among those who asked for forgiveness for their waste in St. Denis. He was seriously ill from gout, taken refuge in the monastery of Saint-Basle in Reims, fled from there by boat on the Marne to Paris and had been hiding there in the hermitage of a monk. Emperor Louis had him by the bishops Rothad ( Rothard ) II of Soissons and Erchanrad captured by Paris take and bring in the monastery of Fulda in custody.
Ebo made a new turn. At the Diet at Thionville on 2 February 835, he expressed, in the presence of the emperor and of 43 bishops in solemn form the illegality of the events of 833 On February 28, 835 he participated in the re- coronation of Louis in the cathedral of Metz and accused herself publicly and from the pulpit of error.
But four days later, on March 4, 835, Ludwig stepped in front of the Archbishop led by Drogo of Metz Synod in Thionville as prosecutor Ebos on. Ebo had him accused of crimes alleged that he never conceded, let alone had committed; on account of which he had thrust him from the throne and expelled from the church community; and he had been in Metz saying that his action in Soissons contrary to canon law. Ebos self-defense - he pointed to the other bishops who are just as guilty as he - was both undignified and ineffective. In Thionville and Metz he was to escape Louis revenge, went too far in his self-accusation. When he saw that he could not save himself, the punishment should also take other. At his entreaties, the Assembly agreed only that only the clergy should judge him. Due to the decision of three -elect him judge of the Archbishop Aiulf (Holy Août ) of Bourges and the bishops Modoin of Autun and Badurad from Paderborn to Ebo known in a document signed by him document his office unworthy and agree to the election of his successor. After repeating this oral statement before Archbishop Nothon ( Noto ) of Arles, the bishops Theodoric ( Dietrich ) of Cambrai and Tournai and Noyon announced Fichard of the Synod unanimously Ebos deposition. The administration of the archbishopric of Reims was transferred to the abbot of St. Fulk Rémi in Reims.
Ebo to the monastery of Fulda was handed over to rigorous imprisonment. In vain turned Hraban abbot of Fulda, through the mediation of the abbot of Prüm Mark Ward to Charles the Bald, to the Empress Judith and on the half- brother of Louis, Archbishop Drogo of Metz. Ebo regained freedom only after Ludwig's death on June 20, 840.
Recovery and re- deposition
Ebo turned immediately to the hurrying from Italy Lothar I. available, whom he met in Worms. ( Some sources state that he had fled immediately after the old emperor 's death secretly from the monastery of Fulda, others that he had traveled with Abbot Boso of Fleury to Worms. ) He was rewarded with the re-establishment of the archiepiscopal dignity, a meeting by Lothar devoted bishops in Ingelheim end of August 840 announced in due form. On December 6, 840 Ebo moved into Reims in the presence of Lothar. With the consecration of several clergyman, he stressed that he considered only his restitution, but not his removal of 835 as a valid canon law act. Three consecrated during his absence suffragan bishops subsequently requested him to their confirmation.
But he could hardly survive a year in Reims. Soon after Tommy's defeat at the Battle of Fontenoy on 25 June 841 drove him Charles the Bald from Reims. The administration of the archdiocese was first transferred back to the Abbot of St. Rémi Fulk and then to Bishop Nothon of Arles. At the conclusion of peace the brothers in the Treaty of Verdun in 843 Ebo did not receive much support by Lothar and had to deal with the abbeys of Stavelot in Belgium and content Bobbio in Italy, with which it endowed Lothar.
Ebos ambition remained unbroken. In agreement with Emperor Lothar, who related it to several embassies and the re- transfer of the Archdiocese of Reims had to appear to be favorable to a trailer as Ebo, he demanded in June 844 in Rome by Pope Sergius II ( 844-847 ) and the Rekonziliation as her outward sign the pallium. Sergius refused and confessed to him only the lay communion.
On April 18, 845 Hincmar was a partisan and a close advisor of Charles the Bald, was appointed at the synod of Beauvais Archbishop of Reims, and the see is vacant, the archbishopric was completed.
Diocese of Hildesheim
Shortly thereafter, Ebo also fell out of favor with Lothar because he refused with reference to his age, to go as imperial envoy to Constantinople Opel. He lost his two abbeys, and he purchased possession in Italy. This time he found refuge with King Louis the German. 844 or 845, he was appointed Bishop of Hildesheim, perhaps to advocacy Ansgars of Bremen and Hrabans of Fulda, and probably with the connivance of the Pope.
Ebo, there always looking for connection, where views offered on personal gain, gave up hope, once again return to Reims, never. In agreement with Louis the German Lothar took, despite the previous quarrel, Ebos claims again, thereby bringing Charles the Bald in embarrassment. Ebo was long only one type pawn in the game of fraternal rivals. Pope Sergius II approved the calling of a synod at Trier in the summer of 846, which was to investigate the legality of the election as Archbishop Hincmar of Reims. She remained without result because Ebo wanted to, which is under influence westfränkischem court and the request to appear in person or to send authorized representatives, not add. He also refused a show at the synod in Paris towards the end of 846, which prohibited him from entering the diocese of Reims and any connection with his relatives until he found quite literally and had received his final sentence. Subsequent requests to the Pope were no longer heard, and a trip to the West Frankish kingdom was in vain.
Scripture Combinatorial activity
Ebos literary activity was the justification and self-aggrandizement, in particular the two editions of his written defense, the so-called Apologeticum Ebonis show. Both sought his deposition in the year 835 as illegal and to make restitution of 840 as lawful. His confession of Thionville he had just delivered to escape the external pressure not to obtain one's own salvation. No offense was expressly mentioned therein, for whose sake he should have been discontinued. The second edition, published probably 842 or 843, combines the tone of injured innocence with which the humble submission to a supposedly undeserved fate. Ebo was not afraid of it and to spread obvious fakes. In Lothar's reinstatement certificate of 840 he turned on his own ingredients, and the document is intended to give the joy of Reims suffragan bishops about his return expression, was his handiwork. The same applies to an alleged deed of Gregory IV, which explains the dismissal of 835 for inadequate and Ebos archiepiscopal dignity in full restores, but on the other hand will also testify that the Pope Ebos return to Reims well for dangerous desirable, but currently hold and therefore permit his work in another diocese. No doubt that this Ebos transfer to Hildesheim should be subsequently justified.
However, Ebo is not well, was suspected as long, the author of Pseudo- Decretals. This was questioned in 1904 by Albert Werminghoff. Current research results of the Cologne medievalists Klaus Zechiel -gon let the Pseudo-Isidore - forger rather in the abbey of Corbie or within their abbot Paschasius Radbertus suspect ..
Death
Ebo died on 20 March 851 in Hildesheim His successor, who later canonized Altfrid, raised the ordinations issued by Ebo on as invalid. In Reims Hincmar maintained his enemy in protracted litigation which was only 867 finally settled on the legality of Ebo by 840 and 841 completed ordinations.