Pilgrim I (died 8 October 923) was a Bavarian nobleman and churchman. He served as the

archbishop of Salzburg The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese ...

from 907 until his death and was in charge of the

East Frankish East Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the East Franks () was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was created through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the former empire int ...

royal chapel and chancery under Conrad I from 911 until 918.

Priest

Pilgrim was of old Bavarian stock, a member of the Aribonid and Sighardinger kin groups, whose members had at times held the

bishopric of Freising The Prince-Bishopric of Freising (German: ''Hochstift Freising'') was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1294 until its secularisation in the early years of the 19th century. The Prince-Bishopric of Freising shoul ...

in the past. He was already a clergyman when in 889 King Arnulf of Germany granted him a large forest, the

Zillertal The Ziller Valley (german: Zillertal) is a valley in Tyrol, Austria that is drained by the Ziller River. It is the widest valley south of the Inn Valley (german: Inntal) and lends its name to the Zillertal Alps, the strongly glaciated section o ...

, which remained under the lordship of the rulers of Salzburg until 1810. Pilgrim maintained good relations with the Carolingian ruling house. When Theotmar, archbishop of Salzburg, died during the

battle of Pressburg The Battle of Pressburg (german: Schlacht von Pressburg) or Battle of Pozsony ( hu, Pozsonyi csata), or Battle of Bratislava ( sk, Bitka pri Bratislave) was a three-day-long battle, fought between 4–6 July 907, during which the East Francian arm ...

in July 907, Pilgrim was appointed to succeed him on 7 September. He was consecrated by 22 October. He probably owed his appointment during such a crisis to his closeness to the royal court. The Hungarian victory at Pressburg, however, meant the loss for Salzburg of its primary mission field. For this, Pilgrim obtained compensation in the form of royal grants.

Archbishop

In 908, Pilgrim received from King Louis IV the royal ''

curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' ( Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and Ga ...

'' of

Salzburghofen Freilassing (), until 1923 Salzburghofen is a town of some 16,000 inhabitants in the southeastern corner of Bavaria, Germany. It belongs to the "Regierungsbezirk" Oberbayern and the "Landkreis" (County) of Berchtesgadener Land. Located very close ...

with all its appurtenances, which included the dominant position in the old saltworks at Reichenhall. The nuns of the convent at

Altmünster Altmünster (Central Bavarian: ''Oidmünsta''), also known as Altmünster am Traunsee, is a market town located about 3 kilometres south of Gmunden in the Austrian state of Upper Austria, on the west shore of the Traunsee. Its economic base consis ...

, who probably been forced to abandon the place by the incoming Hungarians, likewise came under the joint protection of Pilgrim, Margrave

Aribo of Austria Aribo (or Arbo; – after 909) was margrave (''comes terminalis'', "frontier count") of the Carolingian March of Pannonia from 871 until his death. He is recognised as a progenitor of the Aribonid dynasty. In his day, the Pannonian march, also c ...

and King Louis. In 911, the newly-elected Conrad I, the first non-Carolingian German king, appointed Pilgrim the archchaplain and archchancellor of his court. In September 916, Pilgrim attended the synod of the entire kingdom at

Hohenaltheim Hohenaltheim is a municipality in the district of Donau-Ries in Bavaria in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, ...

. There it was decided by the bishops to support the king and condemn the rebellions of Duke Arnulf of Bavaria and Duke Erchanger of Swabia. It was also decided to bring the German church close to the

Papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. Consequently, Arnulf went into exile in Hungary and Pilgrim took charge of Bavaria in his absence. Arnulf returned following Conrad's death in 918 and the Bavarian nobility apparently elected him king in opposition to Conrad's successor,

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...

. In 921 Henry and Arnulf came to an agreement, whereby the former recognised the latter's autonomy within Bavaria in return for his recognition as king. Henry admitted Arnulf's right to appoint bishops, which greatly reduced Pilgrim's status. He was no longer royal archchaplain whose political influence was kingdom-wide and was reduced to the metropolitan of a distinctly Bavarian church.

Notes

Sources

* * {{Authority control 923 deaths Year of birth unknown Roman Catholic archbishops of Salzburg 10th-century archbishops