In thtyear 862 we find Hincmar engaged in controversy with the pope, Nicholas I., one of the most learned ecelesiaatica of the age. The occasion of it was u follows :—Rothadius, bishop of Soissone, had incurred the displeasure of his metropolitan, Iiinemar, on account of the deposition of a priest of his church, whom Ilincmar wished to restore to office. Rothadius, refusing to re-admit this priest, was condemned in two councils held at Mamma, excommunicated, and afterwards deposed and imprisoned. On an appeal of Rothadius to Rome, the pope issued a peremptory order to Ilinemar to restore this bishop to his see within thirty days, or to appear at Rome, either in person or by legate, to answer the charge which had been made against him. In the year following Hincmar commissioned Ode, bishop of Beauvais, to proceed to Rome, and to request a confirmation of the decrees of the council of Sol:mons. Nicholas, irritated at the oppoeiticn of Hincmar, rescinded the decisions of that council, and demanded the liberation of Rothadius, in order that he might plead in person at Rome the cause of his appeal. This demand was at first resisted by Ilincmar, but through the interference of the king Itothadius was released, and deputies were finally sent by Ilinemar to the pope to state the reasons of his conduct This triumph of Nicholas was soon succeeded 11 one more Important : Rothadius was restored to the episcopal dignity, and he returned to his diocese accompanied by a legate of the pope. The pretensions of Rome in this affair were founded on the 'Decretals of the Ancient Pontiffa; a work probably composed by Isidore Mercator, but claiming much greater antiquity. Mucmar, though the moat learned monist of the age, does not appear to have doubted the authenticity of these DecretaLs.
The Interference of the pope in temporal matters was however more successfully resisted. On the death of Lothaire, king of Lorraine, Adrian II. was desirous of excluding Charles the Bald from the sue cession of his states, and to bestow them upon the Emperor Lewis. To this effect he addressed two letters, one to the nobles of Lorraine and the other to the subjects of Charles, threatening excommunication should they disobey his injunctions to favour the cause of Lewis. llincmar, in the name of his fellow•subjects, replied to the pretensions of the pope. In his letter he remarks that Adrian should bear in mind that "he Is not at the same time king and bishop, and that his predecessors had regulated the church, which was their concern, not the state, which is the heritage of kings." The opposition was suc cessful, and Charles, with the aid of Hincmar and other prelates, took possession of the throne of Lorraine, of which all the subsequent efforts of the disappointed pontiff were unable to deprive him.
In the year 871 Hincmar presided at the Council of Douzi, com posed of twenty bishops, assembled by the order of Charles the Bald, for the purpose of inquiring into the conduct of Hincmar, bishop of Laou, nephew of the Archbishop of Rheims. He was accused of spoliation of church revenues, of usurpation of powers not properly belonging to a bishop, and of revolt against his sovereign. llis uncle appears to have conducted the trial with severe impartiality, and, on conviction, sentenced him to be degraded from his ecclesiastical office.
About ten years after these events, Hiucmar exercised the same firmness in defending the rights of the church against the encroach ments of regal authority that be had shown in opposing the claims of the Roman pontiff. Lewis III. wished to bestow the bishopric of Beauvais upon Odacer, a favourite courtier, who had been rejected as unworthy of the office by the Council of Vienne; and he endeavoured, both by supplication and menace, to obtain the acquiescence of Ilinemar to his nomination. This prelate however boldly defended the liberty of canonical elections, and the independence of the Church. In a letter addressed to Lewis, he fearlessly reminds him of the sanctity of the oath he had taken to respect the privilege which the Church possesses to refuse induction to unworthy candidates, and warns him against arrogating to himself a power which had been denied to the most eminent of his predecessors. In a second letter ho used still stronger language, and terminates it with these ominous words :—" It is your lot soon to depart from this earth, but the Church with its pastors, wider J. C. their chief, has, according to his promise, an eternal existence." "This threat," says Fleury, "appeared a prophecy, when the king, while yet iu the strength of his youth, died the following year." (Fleury, b. liii. c. 31.) Hincmar did not however long survive his royal master. About this period the Normans extended their predatory incursions as far as his province, the principal towns of which they pillaged and destroyed. They were advancing towards Rheims when notice of their approach was given to Hincmar, who was obliged to leave the city by night, having previously taken the precaution to secure the treasures of the church and the relics of St. Remy. The aged prelate arrived at Epernay, worn down by fatigue and anxiety. Severe illness compelled him to remain in that towu, where on the 21st of December 832 he ended his eventful life.
The name of Hincmar, though associated with the darkest period of ecclesiastical history, will ever be conspicuous as that of one of the most zealous defenders of the liberties of the Chnrch. His great object was to produce that unity among its members which could alone present an effectual barrier against the cucroachments of regal and papal authority. The memorable words which he uttered when he heard that the pope was about to visit France, and threatened the excommunication of its bishops, are a sufficient index of his fearless spirit : "Si excommunicaturus venit, excommunicatus abibit ;" "If ho comes to excommunicate, he will return excommuuicated." The principal works not alluded to in this article are-1, A Treatise on the Duties of a King,' addressed to Charles the Bald ; 2, ' On the Ordeal by Water,' which practice he attempts to authoriso by quota tions from Scripture, and which unfortunately proves that ho was not superior to the superstitions of the age; 3, ' On the Rights of Metro politan Bishops,' 4, On the Translation of Bishops, and on their Duties; 5, ' On the Council of Nice ;' and, 6, ' On the Nature and Sanctity of Oaths ;' besides several letters and ' Capitularia.' His works have been collected in two volumes folio by the learned Sirmouil, Paris, 1645, and another volume was added to this collection by Celiot in 1658.