Fulk of Reims

Saint Fulk of Reims, called "the Venerable", was archbishop of Reims from 883 until his death on 17 June 900. He was a key figure in the political conflicts of the West Frankish kingdom after the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire in the later ninth century. He was born into a powerful aristocratic family, and his brother was Anscar I, margrave of Ivrea. He was a palace cleric of Charles the Bald and, from 877, abbot of the abbey of Saint-⁠Bertin near Saint-⁠Omer. He was consecrated archbishop in March 883, after the long tenure of Hincmar. He corresponded with rulers, bishops and popes; much of what is known of him comes from the History of the Church of Reims by Flodoard, written in 948 to 952, which preserves summaries of some 76 of his letters, half of them to or from popes. He wrote to Alfred the Great about the needs of the English Church and rebuked Queen Richilde for her irregular behaviour.

After the deposition of the emperor Charles the Fat in 887 he tried to install his kinsman Guy III, duke of Spoleto, as king, and even crowned him at Langres in 888, but Odo, count of Paris, was crowned by Archbishop Walter of Sens. Fulk opposed Odo and in 893 crowned Charles the Simple in opposition to him; after the conflicts were settled in 898, Charles succeeded Odo and made Fulk his chancellor. In 893 he restored the schools of Reims, bringing in the renowned teachers Remigius of Auxerre and Hucbald of Saint-⁠Amand.

In 900, travelling with a small escort to meet Charles, he was killed by a man called Winemar and his accomplices, in the service of Count Baldwin of Flanders. The murder of a bishop was extremely rare in the Carolingian period and shocked the chroniclers. His successor, Heriveus, convened a synod that excommunicated Winemar. He is commemorated on 17 June as a saint of the West before the Great Schism (a saint of the undivided Church), by the New Calendar.