Wilbert (Archbishop of Cologne)

Wilbert, Wilibert, or Willibert (died 889) was the Archbishop of Cologne from 870 until his death.

Willibert was originally a priest in Cologne Cathedral. On 7 January 870, following the excommunication and deposition of Gunther, Willibert was appointed archbishop by Louis the German and consecrated by Liutbert, Archbishop of Mainz, and some of his suffragans, including Odilbald of Utrecht, with the consent of the clergy and people of the diocese and of Pope Hadrian II, who sent an embassy under Wibod, Bishop of Parma, carrying his letters of acceptance. [AF, 870 (pp 61&62 and n2, p. 64 and n13).] His appointment was made rapidly in order to foil any attempt by Louis's rival, Charles the Bald, to fill the vacant see with a candidate favourable to him. [Ibid, n3.] Charles did succeed in placing Bertulf in power in the Archdiocese of Trier.

Willibert received the contested pallium from Pope Hadrian II in 875. He extended the cathedral for use in holding synods, held the first provincial synod of his province there in 887, and was the first archbishop buried in the cathedral in 889. On 26 September 870, a German synod, attended by Liutbert and Bertulf, was held in Cologne with all the bishops of Saxony. [Ibid, 63 and n11.] The cathedral, desecrated by Gunther, was reconsecrated to Saint Peter.

In 876, Charles the Bald plotted to capture and blind his nephew Louis the Younger, with whom he was disputing Lotharingia. Willibert discovered the plot and tried to dissuade him but failing warned Louis instead. [Ibid, 876 (p. 81 and n12).]

Cologne was pillaged and razed by Vikings in 881–882, but Liutbert of Mainz assisted in rebuilding it. Willibert and Henry of Franconia met the Viking leader Godfrid, Duke of Frisia, at Herespich, an island in the confluence of the Rhine and the Waal. At the meeting, Godfrid was killed and Willibert persuaded Gisela, his wife, to leave the island and pursue a policy of peace. [AF(M), 885 (p. 97&98 and n2).]

ources

*" [http://www.medievalsources.co.uk/fulda.htm The Annals of Fulda] ". (Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II.) Reuter, Timothy (trans.) Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992.

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