Wulfad (died 876) was the

archbishop of Bourges In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

from 866 until his death. Prior to that, he was the abbot of

Montier-en-Der Montier-en-Der () is a former commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune La Porte du Der.Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital o ...

(from 858). He also served as a tutor to Carloman, a younger son of King

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (french: Charles le Chauve; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as Charles II, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), king of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a ...

. Carloman succeeded Wulfad as abbot of Soissons in 860. Wulfad was ordained a priest by Archbishop Ebbo of Reims, who had been deposed in 835 and re-instated in 840. Wulfad was ordained during Ebbo's second incumbency, which ended in 841. He may have served the anti-king Pippin II of Aquitaine, an opponent of Charles the Bald, as a notary during 847–48, a period in which support for Pippin reached a high. In 857, Charles tried to promote him to the vacant

see of Langres The Roman Catholic Diocese of Langres (Latin: ''Dioecesis Lingonensis''; French language, French: ''Diocèse de Langres'') is a Roman Catholic diocese comprising the ''département in France, département'' of Haute-Marne in France. The dioces ...

, but was successfully blocked by Ebbo's successor,

Hincmar Hincmar (; ; la, Hincmarus; 806 – 21 December 882), archbishop of Reims, was a Frankish jurist and theologian, as well as the friend, advisor and propagandist of Charles the Bald. He belonged to a noble family of northern Francia. Biography Ea ...

. In 859, Wulfad was removed from his priestly office, along with all the other priests, deacons and subdeacons ordained by Ebbo, at the synod of Savonnières, held under Hincmar's presidency. Neither Wulfad's support for Pippin nor his defrocking by Hincmar deterred Charles the Bald from appointing him archbishop of Bourges in 866. He had probably supported the king during the

Neustria Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks. Neustria included the land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, approximately the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities. It late ...

n rebellions of 858–60, for in a charter of 859 Charles calls him "our dearest abbot and minister". Although Hincmar disputed Wulfad's eligibility for the episcopate, the synod held at

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital o ...

in August 866 refused to adjudicate the case. In 868 Charles convinced Pope Nicholas I that Wulfad's "prudence and vigour" were needed to counter the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

that threatened the region around Bourges. The pope confirmed him in the see. In Wulfad's day, all books were copied by hand, thus friends lent books to friends to allow them to copy them out for their own libraries. A list of books in Wulfad's library, probably intended to circulate among his friends, has survived on the back of a manuscript copy of the philosopher

John Scotus Eriugena John Scotus Eriugena, also known as Johannes Scotus Erigena, John the Scot, or John the Irish-born ( – c. 877) was an Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, theologian and poet of the Early Middle Ages. Bertrand Russell dubbed him "the most ...

's ''Ambigua''. Wulfad was a close associate of Eriugena, who dedicated to him his ''

Periphyseon ''De Divisione Naturae'' ("The Division of Nature") is the title given by Thomas Gale to his edition (1681) of the work originally titled by 9th-century theologian Johannes Scotus Eriugena ''Periphyseon''.''John Scotus Erigena'', ''The Age of Be ...

'' and called him a "collaborator in philosophical disputes". Wulfad's list of books includes titles by Eriugena, including the latter's translations of

Pseudo-Dionysius Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the ''Corpus Areopagiticum' ...

and

Maximus the Confessor Maximus the Confessor ( el, Μάξιμος ὁ Ὁμολογητής), also spelt Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his ear ...

's ''Ad Thalassium''. There is a poem preserved in the manuscript F. 67 in the Leiden Universiteitsbibliothek that preserves a poem addressed to Wulfad by a monk suffering from the cold while his fellow monk, Wulfad's former student, Carloman, was by a warm fire.

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