Adalard of Corbie

Saint Adalard

Born	751 Huise
Died	(827-01-02)2 January 827
Venerated in	Catholicism; Eastern Orthodoxy
Canonized	1024 by Pope John XIX
Patronage	Patron of many churches and towns in France and along the lower Rhine

Adalard of Corbie (Latin: Adalhardus Corbeiensis; c. 751, Huise – 2 January 827)^[1] was the son of Bernard who was the son of Charles Martel and half-brother of Pepin; Charlemagne was his cousin. He is recognised as a saint within the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church.

Biography

Adalard received a good education in the Palatine School at the Court of Charlemagne in Aachen, and while still very young was made Count of the Palace. At the age of twenty, he entered the monastery at Corbie in Picardy, a monastery that had been founded by queen Bathild, in 662.^[1] In order to be more secluded, he went to Monte Cassino, but was ordered by Charlemagne to return to Corbie, where he was elected abbot. At the same time, Charlemagne made him prime minister to his son Pepin, King of Italy, in the Carolingian Empire.^[2] As a high court administrator, he attended some meetings that discussed military planning. His De ordine palatinii discusses in some detail a well-developed intelligence system by the end of Pepin's reign.^[3] At his death in Milan in 810, Pepin appointed Adalard tutor to his son Bernard of Italy, then but twelve years of age.

When, in 817, Bernard, son of Pepin, aspired to the imperial crown, emperor Louis the Pious suspected Adalard of being in sympathy with Bernard and banished him to Hermoutier, the modern Noirmoutier, on the island of the same name. Adalard's brother Wala was obliged to become a monk at Corbie.^[4] After seven years Louis saw his mistake and made Adalard one of his chief advisers.^[2]

Several hospitals were erected by him. In 822 Adalard and his brother Wala founded Corvey Abbey ("New Corbie") in Westphalia.^[5] Corvey was an imperial abbey; its territory extended from the bishopric of Paderborn to the duchy of Brunswick. Its abbot was one of the eleven abbots, who sat with twenty-one bishops in the imperial diet at Regensburg.^[1]

Adalard was returning from Corvey to old Corbie when he fell sick three days before Christmas: he died about three in the afternoon, on January 1 in the year 827,^[6] at the age of seventy-three.

Shortly after his death, the Vitae Adalhardi was written by Paschasius Radbertus, who admired Adalhard greatly.

Veneration

Adalard is honoured as patron saint of many churches and towns in France and along the lower Rhine.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Butler, Alban. "St. Adalard, or Adelard, Abbot and Confessor", The Lives of the Saints, vol. I, 1866
^ ^a ^b ^c Ott, Michael. "St. Adalard." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 9 Mar. 2014
^ Bachrach, Bernard S., Early Carolingian Warfare, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011 ISBN 9780812221442
^ McKitterick, Rosamond. (1983). The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751–987. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-49005-7
^ De Jong, Mayke "Interconnected Lives: Adalhard, Wala and Radbert", Epitaph for an Era: Politics and Rhetoric in the Carolingian World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2019, pp. 19–43
^ "Adalard (or Adelard)", The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. (James Strong and John McClintock, eds.); Harper and Brothers; NY; 1880

Literature

Brigitte Kasten: Adalhard von Corbie. Die Biographie eines karolingischen Politikers und Klostervorstehers. Studia hmanoria, Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1985, ISBN 978-3-7700-0803-2.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Adalard of Corbie

either Childebrand or Plectrudis

Alpaida

Bernhard

Ruodhaid

Adalard of Corbie

Gundelindis

Pippinids, Arnulfings and Carolingians

Legend: → ≡ "father of",
* ≡ "brother of"

Begga, the daughter of Pepin I, married Ansegisel, the son of Arnulf of Metz, and was the mother of Pepin II.

Pippinids

Carloman → Pepin I → Grimoald I → Childebert the Adopted

Arnulfings

Arnulf of Metz → Chlodulf of Metz Ansegisel → Pepin II, his sons
Drogo, sons	Arnulf Hugh of Champagne Godfrey Pepin
Grimoald I, son	Theudoald
Charles Martel, sons	Carloman Pepin III Grifo Bernard Jerome Remigius
Childebrand I, son	Nibelung I → Nibelungids

Early
Carolingians

Sons of Charles Martel

Carloman, son

Drogo

Pepin III, sons

Charlemagne, sons	Pepin the Hunchback Charles the Younger Pepin Louis the Pious Lothair Drogo Hugh Theoderic
Carloman, son	Pepin
Pepin

Bernard, sons

Wala
Adalhard
Bernhar

Carolingian
Empire

Sons of Charlemagne

Pepin, son

Bernard → Pepin, Count of Vermandois → Counts of Vermandois

Louis the Pious,
sons

Arnulf of Sens
Lothair I, sons	Louis II of Italy → Ermengard → Louis the Blind → Bosonids Lothair II → Hugh Charles
Pepin I, son	Pepin II
Louis the German, sons	Carloman → Arnulf → Louis the Child Ratold Zwentibold → Godfrey Otto Louis the Younger → Louis Hugh Charles the Fat → Bernard Ratold → Adalbert
Charles the Bald, sons	Louis the Stammerer → Louis III Carloman II Charles the Simple Charles the Child Carloman Lothair the Lame Drogo Pepin Charles

West
Francia

West Francia was in the hands of the Robertians from 888 until 898. It was the last Carolingian kingdom.
Charles the Simple, sons	Louis IV Arnulf Drogo Rorico
Louis IV, sons	Lothair IV Charles Louis Charles of Lorraine Henry
Lothair IV, sons	Louis V Arnulf
Charles of Lorraine, sons	Otto Louis Charles