Gunther

Who was Gunther?

Gunther or Gunthar was Archbishop of Cologne in Germany from 850 until he was excommunicated and deposed in 863.

Gunther belonged to a noble Frankish family and, if we may believe the poet Sedulius Scottus, was a man of great ability. He was consecrated Archbishop of Cologne on 22 April 850. For a long time he refused to cede his suffragan Diocese of Bremen to St. Ansgar who, in order to facilitate his missionary labours, desired to unite it with his Archdiocese of Hamburg. The affair was finally settled by pope Nicholas I in favour of St. Ansgar, and Gunther reluctantly consented.

Gunther, who had become archchaplain of King Lothair II, received an unenviable notoriety through his unjustifiable conduct in the divorce of this licentious king from his lawful wife Teutberga. At a synod held at Aachen in January, and another in February, 860, a few bishops and abbots, under the leadership of Gunther, compelled Teutberga to declare that before her marriage with the king she had been violated by her brother. Upon her compulsory confession the king was allowed to discard her and she was condemned to a convent. At a third synod held at Aachen in April, 862, Gunther and a few other Lorraine bishops allowed the king to marry his concubine Waldrada. Nicholas I sent two legates to investigate the case, but the king bribed them, and at a synod which they held in Metz, in June, 863, the divorce was approved. According to historian Baron Ernouf, Ghunter was Waldrada's uncle and Thietgaud, Archbishop of Trier was her brother.