1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fulk (archbishop)

FULK (d. 900), archbishop of Reims, and partisan of Charles the Simple in his struggle with Odo, count of Paris, was elected to the see as archbishop in 883 upon the death of Hincmar. In 887 he was engaged in a struggle with the Normans who invaded his territories. Upon the deposition of Charles the Fat he sided with Charles the Simple in his contest for the West Frankish dominions against Count Odo of Paris, and crowned him king in his own metropolitan church at Reims after most of the nobles had gone over to Odo (893). Upon the death of Odo he succeeded in having Charles recognized as king by a majority of the West Frankish nobility. In 892 he obtained special privileges for his province from Pope Formosus, who promised that thereafter, when the archbishopric became vacant, the revenues should not be enjoyed by anyone while the vacancy existed, but should be reserved for the new incumbent, provided the election took place within the canonical limit of three months. From 898 until his death he held the office of chancellor, which for some time afterwards was regularly filled by the archbishop of Reims. In his efforts to keep the wealthy abbeys and benefices of the church out of the hands of the nobles, he incurred the hatred of Baldwin, count of Flanders, who secured his assassination on the 17th of June 900, a crime which the weak Carolingian monarch left unpunished.

Fulk left some letters, which are collected in Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. cxxxi. 11-14.