Hincmar [key], 806–82, Frankish canonist and theologian, archbishop of Reims (from 845). He was a supporter of Carolingian Emperor Louis I and a counselor of his son Charles II (Charles the Bald). As a metropolitan he tried to depose the bishop of Soissons in 862 and brought on himself the censure of Pope St. Nicholas I. Later (876), in a different contention, he upheld the rights of metropolitans. Hincmar vigorously opposed Gottschalk and urged (850) Eriugena to write on predestination. Dissatisfied with Eriugena's tract, Hincmar wrote three treatises on the subject himself. He strongly opposed the divorce of Lothair, king of Lotharingia, and he spent much of his time in defending the claims of Charles in various dynastic struggles, particularly against Louis the German. Hincmar openly challenged the authenticity of portions of the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals [see False Decretals]. As a strong upholder of tradition, Hincmar defended the practice of public penance and initiated a reform in the French clerical life of the period.
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