Bruno (920 – 26 January 976), son of
Wichmann the Elder and his wife Frederuna, niece of
Queen Matilda, wife of
Henry the Fowler
Henry the Fowler (german: Heinrich der Vogler or '; la, Henricus Auceps) (c. 876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king of East Francia, he ...
, served as a
Bishop of Verden.
Bruno was appointed to succeed Bishop Amelung, brother of
Hermann Billung, in 962. Bruno is best known for his refusal to allow the burial in church of Hermann due to his excommunication. Bruno received immunity for the diocese by
Emperor Otto I.
According to
Thietmar of Merseburg, Hermann's son
Bernard, while transporting his father's body to
Lüneburg, encountered Bruno and tearfully asked that his father be granted absolution and permitted burial at the church. Bruno refused.
Bruno was held in high regard by the emperor who had designated him successor to Amelung. Because stone was not available, Amelung had erected and consecrated a magnificent wooden church, surpassing all others in size and quality. Archaeological evidence confirms the description of this church.
As Bruno grew old,
Emperor Otto II asked that his chaplain Herman, brother of Folkmar (Volkmar),
Archbishop of Cologne
The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palati ...
, be designated as assistant and heir. Bruno respectfully declined, citing his age and mental condition.
References
Roman Catholic bishops of Verden
Medieval German theologians
10th-century Saxon bishops
House of Billung
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