Egbert (archbishop of Trier)

Egbert
Archbishop of Trier
Egbert, from his psalter. In this presentation miniature he presents the book to Saint Peter (in a facing portrait) in a characteristic statement of the indirect Petrine authority of the See of Trier.[1]
ChurchCatholic Church
DioceseElectorate of Trier
In office977–993
Personal details
Bornc. 950
Died9 December 993

Egbert (c. 950 – 9 December 993) was the Archbishop of Trier from 977 until his death.[2]

Egbert was a son of Dirk II, Count of Holland. After being trained in Egmond Abbey, founded and controlled by his family, and at the court of Bruno I, Archbishop of Cologne, he became the chancellor of Otto II in 976. The following year he was appointed to the archdiocese of Trier, still probably in his twenties. He accompanied Otto II on visits to Italy in 980 and 983, and may have made other trips there. After Otto II's death in 983, he joined the party supporting the succession of Henry the Quarrelsome, Duke of Bavaria, rather than Otto III, but returned to supporting Otto in 985.[3]

Egbert was a significant patron of science and the arts, who established one or more workshops of goldsmiths and enamellers at Trier, which produced works for other Ottonian centres and the Imperial court. Beginning with his tenure, Trier came to rival Mainz and Cologne as the artistic centre of the Ottonian world. These were the three most important episcopal sees in Germany, who at this period disputed the primacy of the emerging German (East Frankish) kingdom between them.[4]

  1. ^ Head, 73
  2. ^ Public Domain Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Egbert, Archbishop of Trier". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  3. ^ Head, 76; Lasko, 95
  4. ^ Lasko, 95; Dodwell, 134;