Sigloard of Reims: Rhythmus de Morte Fulconis Archiepiscopi Rhemensis

This short rhythmic lament mourns Fulk, archbishop of Reims, who was murdered in 900 by followers of Count Baldwin II of Flanders. It is ascribed to Sigloard, a cleric of Reims. In short rhyming lines the poet addresses Fulk as best of bishops and most beloved of all, a pontiff in deed and name, of noble birth, wise as no one is today, handsome and eloquent, and says that the mourners can scarcely hold back their tears. He prays that Christ will give Fulk rest and an everlasting crown, and recalls how the archbishop adorned his church and governed its household and the country well. The poem then curses the ‘slippery serpent’ Winemar, who attacked Fulk with swords, clubs and armed men although Fulk had done him no wrong.

Fulk was one of the most powerful churchmen of late Carolingian France, a supporter of Charles the Simple and a patron of learning at Reims. The lament is a rare contemporary poetic response to a political murder and an example of the rhythmical verse used for mourning in the period. Its curse on Winemar reflects the outrage recorded by the chronicler Flodoard of Reims.