Pious, Charles the Bald and Carloman were friendly. He crowned several queens of the Carolingian
family, and in 869 Charles the Bald. He also solemnized their marriages. In 859 he headed the
German delegation to Louis, and in 860 conducted the peace deliberations at Coblenz. He took the
side of Charles the Bald in his fight with Rome, and in 871 wrote for him a very violent letter to
Pope Hadrian II.^1385 It may be said that in state politics he was more successful than in church
politics. He preserved his king from disgrace, and secured his independence, but he was unable to
secure for himself the papal sanction at all times, and the much coveted honor of the primacy of
France which John VIII., in 876, gave to Ansegis, archbishop of Sens.
One of the most important facts about these Hincmarian controversies is that in them for
the first time the famous pseudo-Isidorian decretals^1386 are quoted; and that by all parties. Whether
Hincmar knew of their fraudulent character may well be questioned, for that he had little if any
critical ability is proved by his belief in two literary forgeries, an apocryphal tale of the birth of the
Virgin, and a homily upon her assumption,^1387 attributed to Jerome. The fraud was exposed by
Ratramnus. His use of the decretals was arbitrary. He quoted them when they would help him, as
against the pope in contending for the liberty of the Frankish Church. He ignored them when they
opposed his ideas, as in his struggle with his nephew, because in their original design they asserted
the independence of bishops from their metropolitans.
Hincmar was not only a valiant fighter, but also a faithful shepherd. He performed with
efficiency all the usual duties of a bishop, such as holding councils, hearing complaints, settling
difficulties, laying plans and carrying out improvements. He paid particular attention to education
and the promotion of learning generally. He was himself a scholar and urged his clergy to do all
in their power to build up the schools. He also gave many books to the libraries of the cathedral at
Rheims and the monastery of St. Remi, and had many copied especially for them. His own writings
enriched these collections. His attention to architecture was manifested in the stately cathedral of
Rheims, begun by Ebo, but which he completed, and in the enlargement of the monastery of St.
Remi.
The career of this extraordinary man was troubled to its very end. In 881 he came in conflict
with Louis the Third by absolutely refusing to consecrate one of the king’s favorites, Odoacer,
bishop of Beauvais. Hincmar maintained that he was entirely unfit for the office, and as the Pope
agreed with him Odoacer was excommunicated. In the early part of the following year the dreaded
Normans made their appearance in the neighborhood of Rheims. Hincmar bethought himself of
the precious relics of St. Remi and removed them for safety’s sake to Epernay when he himself
fled thither. There he died, Dec. 21, 882. He was buried two days after at Rheims.
Looking back upon Hincmar through the vista of ten centuries, he stands forth as the
determined, irrepressible, tireless opponent of both royal and papal tyranny over the Church. He
asserted the liberty of the Gallican Church at a time when the State on the one hand endeavored to
absorb her revenues and utilize her clergy in its struggles and wars, and the Pope on the other hand
strove to make his authority in ecclesiastical matters supreme. That Hincmar was arrogant, relentless,
self-seeking, is true. But withal he was a pure man, a stern moralist, and the very depth and vigor
of his belief in his own opinions rendered him the more intolerant of the opinions of opponents, as
(^1385) See Hefele, IV. 507. The letter is in Migne, CXXIV. col. 881-896.
(^1386) See pp. 268 sqq.
(^1387) See p. 750.