Hildebold (died 3 September 818) was the

Bishop 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 ...

from 787 until 795 and the first

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 ...

thereafter. A friend of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

, in 791 Hildebold was made the

archchaplain An Archchaplain is a cleric with a senior position in a royal court. The title was used in the Frankish kingdom in the Carolingian period. Holy Roman Archchaplains * Willigis (c982-c1007) * Erkanbald Erkanbald (died 17 August 1021) was the A ...

and

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the Imperial Council. At the request of Charlemagne,

Pope Adrian I Pope Adrian I ( la, Hadrianus I; died 25 December 795) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 772 to his death. He was the son of Theodore, a Roman nobleman. Adrian and his predecessors had to contend with periodic ...

released Hildebold from the traditional episcopal requirement of residing in one's see. In 795, the pope raised Cologne to archiepiscopal status. The dioceses of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

, and

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

were made suffragan. Hildebold began the construction of an extension of

Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of ...

that was only completed in 870, which in later times was called the Hildebold Cathedral. In 805, he met the first bishop of Münster, St Ludgar. Hildebold was the first witness to Charlemagne's testament of 811. Together with Richulf, he presided over the

Synod of Mainz A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mea ...

in 813 at St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz, and in the same year he prepared

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...

to succeed his father. When Charlemagne died in 814, Hildebold donated to the construction of his tomb in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

. With

Pope Stephen IV Pope Stephen IV ( la, Stephanus IV; c. 770 – 24 January 817) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from June 816 to his death.Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

. Hildebold died on 3 September 818 and was buried in the

Abbey of St Geron An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

. The friendship of Charlemagne and Hildebold has become something of a legend. It is said that they first met when Charlemagne was hunting in the forests outside Cologne.Deborah H. Dluhy (1978). Charlemagne and the First Archbishop of Cologne: A Thirteenth-Century Wall Painting at St. Gereon. '' Gesta'' 17 (2): 33–36 After a long day hunting and in need of a rest, Charlemagne stopped at a small chapel. After a while the chapel filled with worshippers and Hildebold gave his sermon. Charlemagne was so impressed by Hildebold's sermon that he offered a sum of gold to his chapel. Believing Charlemagne was only a hunter and not the king, Hildebold rejected the offer and asked only for a small piece of leather from the next deer killed so he could bind his old prayer book. Charlemagne was so impressed by this modesty that he immediately fostered a friendship with the cleric.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hildebold 8th-century births 818 deaths Year of birth unknown Archbishops of Cologne 9th-century archbishops