Bishop Fulco
| Christianization of Finland |
|---|
 |
| People |
| Bishops: Thomas ● Henry ● |
| Rodulff ● Fulco ● Bero |
| Popes: Alexander III ● |
| Innocent III ● Gregory IX |
| Archbishops: Anders ● |
| Valerius |
| Others: Birger Jarl ● |
| Sergius ● Lalli ● King Eric |
| Locations |
| Kokemäki ● Köyliö ● |
| Nousiainen ● Koroinen ● |
| Turku Cathedral |
| Events |
| Finnish-Novgorodian wars |
| First Swedish Crusade |
| Second Swedish Crusade |
| Third Swedish Crusade |
Fulco was the first known missionary Bishop of Estonia. He was appointed in 1165 by Eskil, the Danish Archbishop of Lund. Before his appointment, Fulco was a Benedictine monk in the abbey of Moutier-la-Celle, near Troyes in France. His nationality is not known.
After his appointment, Fulco appears in sources only once. In 1171, Pope Alexander III asked the Archbishop of Trondheim to assign an Estonian monk Nicolaus living in Stavanger to go to Fulco's assistance. No further information survives about Fulco's work in Estonia, or whether he ever even got there.
Fulco is sometimes speculated to be the same person as a certain Folquinus, a late 12th century Bishop of Finland, briefly mentioned in a mid-15th century chronicle Chronicon episcoporum Finlandensium after equally legendary Rodulff and before quite historical Thomas. The chronicle claimed him to be Swedish by birth. Folquinus was again mentioned in another chronicle of the same name by Paulus Juusten, the Bishop of Turku, about 100 years later, adding that during a Russian attack to Finland in 1198 he was still in office.
The name "Fulco" appears in unrelated Scandinavian sources as the Latinized form of "Folke". Also Folquinus is known to have stood for Folke in various medieval texts, as the Latin suffix -inus (meaning "pertaining to") in the name just emphasizes its first part. As the two bishops had similar names and they worked roughly around the same time in neighboring areas under Lund's missionary supervision, possibility for the identification remains, although the church in Finland is officially sceptical about it.
...
Wikipedia