Adventius of Metz: Epistola ad Theutgaudum

This short confidential letter from Adventius, bishop of Metz, is addressed to Theutgaud, whom he calls his most reverend father. Adventius begs that no one else should see it and that, once read, it should be given to the flames. He asks Theutgaud to report nothing, favourable or unfavourable, to their lord until the feast of the Purification of Mary, when all their fellow bishops have been summoned to meet at Metz, because the king has resolved to follow their common counsel in everything. He urges Theutgaud to act cautiously in the meantime; the text breaks off as he gives his reasons.

Theutgaud was archbishop of Trier, and he and Adventius were among the bishops of Lothar II’s kingdom involved in the controversy over the king’s marriage. The request to burn the letter, which evidently was not obeyed, gives a rare view of private communication and political caution among Carolingian bishops. Though brief, the letter is a revealing document of the manoeuvring that surrounded royal synods in the ninth century.