synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

of the ecclesiastical province of Mainz was held in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

in early October 847.The ''Annals of Fulda'' says "around October 1" (). It was attended by all the

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

s of Mainz except the

bishop of Strasbourg Archbishops

*Charles Amarin Brand (16 July 1984 – 23 October 1997) (with rank of archbishop from 1988) *Joseph Doré (23 October 1997 – 25 August 2006) *Jean-Pierre Grallet (21 April 2007 – 18 February 2017) *Luc Ravel (18 February 2017 ...

. It was convoked on the orders of King

Louis the German Louis the German (German language, German: ''Ludwig der Deutsche''; c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany (German language, German: ''Ludwig II. von Deutschland''), was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 8 ...

and Archbishop

Hrabanus Maurus Rabanus Maurus Magnentius ( 780 – 4 February 856), also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, theologian, poet, encyclopedist and military writer who became archbishop of Mainz in East Francia. He was the author of th ...

presided. It was the first church council held in the kingdom of

East Francia East Francia (Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the East Franks () was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire created in 843 and ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was established through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the for ...

. The council's 31 acts or canons are preserved along with a cover letter written by Hrabanus. Addressing to the king, Hrabanus demonstrates the loyalty of the church following a period of civil war. He ordered the bishops, abbots, monks and priests of his province to celebrate 3,500 Masses and recite 1,700

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

s for the souls of Louis and his family. Many of the canons adopted by the council were lifted directly from the acts of the , the last council under

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

. Some bear the mark of Hrabanus's thinking, as seen in his

penitential A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christianity, Christian sacrament of penance, used for regular private confession with a confessor-priest, a "new manner of reconciliation with God in Christianity, God" that was prom ...

. The issues of baptism, penance, public peace, tithes, the care for the poor, the rights and privileges of the church and the rights and duties of it officers were perennial. A new issue was that the synod dealt with was the violence and gluttony of the laity, especially the aristocracy. There had been a rise in wandering gangs engaged in violence, perhaps as a result of the civil war. The council outlined stricter rules of penance for laymen guilty of murder. In canon 2, it decreed that preaching was to be done in the vernacular Germanic and

Romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

languages. In canon 5, it forbade any sworn association against the king, the church or "the powers of the state established in any way by legitimate arrangement". It enjoined the king to defend the church like

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

and to order monks to abide by the

Benedictine rule The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' () is a book of precepts written in Latin by St. Benedict of Nursia (c. AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedict's Rule is summed up in the motto of th ...

. According to the ''

Annals of Fulda The ''Annales Fuldenses'' or ''Annals of Fulda'' are East Frankish chronicles that cover independently the period from the last years of Louis the Pious (died 840) to shortly after the end of effective Carolingian rule in East Francia with the ...

'', the prophetess Thiota was brought before the bishops in Saint Alban's Abbey on the occasion of the synod and condemned. According to the '' Life of Anskar'', the council agreed to permit the king to appoint Anskar, already

archbishop of Hamburg The Archdiocese of Hamburg (Lat. ''Archidioecesis Hamburgensis''; Ger. Erzbistum Hamburg) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the north of Germany and covers the Federal States of Hamburg and Schlesw ...

, to the vacant suffragan diocese of Bremen and to hold them simultaneously on account of the devastation suffered in Hamburg. Anskar was permitted to reside in Bremen.

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