Adalbero I of Metz
| Adalbero I of Metz Adalbéron of Bar |
|
|---|---|
| Bishop of Metz (929-962) Abbot of Sint-Truiden (944-962) |
|
| Church | Catholic |
| See | Prince-Bishopric of Metz |
| Predecessor | |
| Successor | Dietrich I of Metz |
| Personal details | |
| Born | not known |
| Died | 26 April 962 Sint-Truiden |
Adalbero I of Metz (? - (?)26 April 962) was an important member of the clergy during the middle years of the tenth century, serving as Bishop of Metz from 929 till 954.
He also became Abbott of Sint-Truiden in 944: he presided over a period of overdue rebuilding and expansion of a monastery which had been devastated by Normans during the closing decades of the previous century.
Sources also sometimes identify him as Adalb(e/é)ro(n) of Bar or as Adalb(e/é)ro(n) of The Ardennes.
Adalbero came from one of the leading families in the area. He was a son of Wigeric, Count palatine of Lotharingia by the Count's marriage to Cunigunda, a daughter from the powerful Ardennes-Verdun dynasty. Adelbero's older brother was Frederick I, Count of Bar and Duke of Upper Lorraine. Another brother was Sigfried, Count of Ardennes. His mother, Cunigunda, was a granddaughter of Louis II of France, and therefore a descendant of Charlemagne.La Vita Johannis Gorziensis, written in 980, indicates that he was of royal descent through both his paternal and maternal lines, though the text spells out that the connection went back "several" generations.
In 929 Adalbero was elected by the clergy and the people to succeed Benneon of Metz whose own episcopal term had recently ended badly.
As Bishop of Metz, Adalbero's enthusiastic promotion of a revival in monasticism gained him the soubriquet "father of the monks". He encouraged the rebuilding of monastic buildings that had fallen into disrepair during preceding decades and the expansion of monastic properties. Starting in 933/934 he became a driving force behind the revival of Gorze Abbey, appointing the energetic Abbot John to lead the project on site. Gorze then became a famous exemplar for similar monastic recoveries elsewhere in the region during the middle and later years of the tenth century.
...
Wikipedia