Since the publication of Jean Devisse's magisterial and comprehensive study on Hincmar, although scholars have revaluated and reexamined Hincmar's work as a window into Early Carolingian society, they have concentrated merely on solitary aspects of Hincmar's life and have not succeeded in equaling Devisse's admirable accomplishment. Until, that is, a group of eminent scholars from around the world assembled in 2012 at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds to share their views and scholarship, recognizing the need for an updated, reevaluated, all-encompassing approach to Hincmar's life and works. The result was a single volume, edited by Charles West and Rachel Stone, adding a fresh analytical insight into different aspects of Hincmar's life, thought, and writings, offering the first comprehensive and holistic view of the Archbishop of Reims since Devisse, but updated in the light of more recent Hincmarian scholarship.
From the beginning, Rachel Stone sets the stage by providing a comprehensive and very informative introduction on Hincmar's life, relationships, and writings. Janet Nelson and Christine Kleinjung both discuss the role of Hincmar as both annalist and historian. Janet Nelson justifies the redefinition of historical writing by noting that capitularies and annals “reflected and reflected on recent tumultuous events” (45), which Nelson describes as a reflection of contemporary history. Christine Kleinjung suggests Hincmar used annalistic writings, such as the Annales Bertiniani, as a mirror of contemporary society. Elina Screen argues that a new element, religion, as well as personality and political circumstances, played a significant role in Hincmar's early relationship with Lothar I, while Margaret J. McCarthy discusses Hincmar's ever-changing political influence over Louis the Stammerer, and suggests that the correlation of Louis's decisions with Hincmar's wishes may or may not convincingly denote an intimate political relationship. Clémentine Bernard-Valette discusses Louis the German's invasions of Charles the Bald's kingdom in 858 and 875. She visualizes Hincmar's De fide Carolo regi servanda of 875 as a “work in progress” (97) that served as a deliberative template for the proper ordering of the Carolingian Christianum imperium under episcopal control.
Simon Corcoran discusses the Roman legal texts Hincmar used, arguing that Hincmar manipulated them for his own purposes in major contemporary political issues. Phillip Depreux reevaluates Hincmar's use of capitularies, by asserting that Hincmar used them selectively, contingent upon the context and various circumstances. Marie-Céline Isaia argues that the Vita Remigii is not merely a hagiographical lesson in spiritual edification, but a speculum episcoporum, a blueprint for the bishops’ ecclesiological power and framers of laws within a synodal contextual framework.
Sylvie Joye discusses Hincmar's involvement with social problems. Analyzing Hincmar's treatise De raptu, Joye sees it as more than just an argument for the suppression of abduction by arguing that it was an appeal to bishops to restore order and stability to the Carolingian Christianum imperium. Josiane Barbier portrays Hincmar as the efficient administrator, demonstrating his involvement in writing the polyptych of St. Remi (estate survey) and attempts to show the “prelate's personal involvement in the management of the Rheims estates” (211). Charles West discusses Hincmar's pastoral interactions with his parish priests, and suggests that Hincmar did not see the parish as simply a single component of his duties as pastor, but rather, unlike later church leaders, understood the parish “as a kind of miniature of the God-given ecclesiastical order” (240), while Mayke De Jong discusses the origins of and the changing views of scholarship on the Pseudo-Isidorean decretals, and sees their more widespread use in West Francia after 870 as a direct result of priests and bishops appealing to Rome in order to undermine archepiscopal authority.
This volume provides an extremely helpful contextual introduction and offers an exemplary bibliography of past and present scholarship. It also represents an admirable and highly successful endeavor by both editors and contributors to present different methodologies on various aspects of Hincmar's life and thought; yet collectively, the editors have managed to artistically blend these unitary investigations into a harmonious composite image of arguably one of the most influential figures ever to grace the Early Carolingian stage.
However, the volume does present some minor flaws. First, several studies presume an extensive background in paleography, therefore limiting the extent of their non-specialized readers; however, this is somewhat compensated by the foresight of the contributors to offer English translations of excerpts they culled from Hincmarian texts and employed, which has the advantage of offering the results of their research to an audience not necessarily proficient in Latin. Secondly, some minor stylistic problems exist, particularly inconsistencies in citation format. Two striking examples are the inconsistent citations of Patrologia Latina on page 37 and the incomplete citation of Heinrich Schrörs's Hinkmar, Erzbischof von Reims: sein Leben und seine Schriften, on page 29, where the first reference employs an abbreviated instead of full citation.
Finally, although many of the studies quite correctly, in this reviewer's opinion, view Hincmar's writings as mirrors or reflections of contemporary political, religious, and social developments, a study of Hincmar's exegetical adaption of monastic ideals for didactic instruction in arguing some of the major theological controversies of his day would have made a welcome addition to the genre of Hincmarian studies presented in this volume. Nevertheless, in spite of some minor deficiencies, the volume offers some invaluable insights into the life and work of Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims and should prove to be a tremendous asset to both Carolingian scholars and students alike.
