Council of Reims (1148) - Preliminaries and Attendees

Preliminaries and Attendees

The council was first called on 11 October 1147 by Eugene, who ordered the bishops and others summoned to the council to assemble at Trier on 21 March 1148. This is from a letter sent to Henry Zdík, the Bishop of Olmuetz by the pope. However, a letter sent by the pope on the next day, 12 October 1147, to Eberhard, the Archbishop of Salzburg, named Troyes as the location for the council. It is likely that Troyes, however, was a scribal error, as a further letter of Eugene's, to Suger, Abbot of St Denis, dated 6 October 1147, named Trier as the location also, thus confirming the location given in the letter of 11 October.

The papal entourage arrived in Trier on 30 November 1147, but shortly after arrival the pope decided to move the proceedings because of complaints from the residents of Trier, and announced in February 1148 that the council would move to Reims, but still on the date given before. A feature of the council was that the pope ordered the attendance of the various bishops and other officials. Although some requested attendees were excused, it was mostly due to ill health, not to the need to see to the business of their offices. Those who did not attend were suspended from office. The Italian bishops, however, were mostly excused from attendance, as Eugene held a council at Cremona in July 1148 where the Reims decrees were announced.

Although the number of Spanish bishops who attended is unknown, the Archbishop of Toledo, Raymund, did attend. King Alfonso VII of León and Castile interceded with the pope to lift the sentences against those bishops who did not attend. King Stephen of England refused permission for any of the English bishops to attend, except for the bishops of Hereford, Norwich and Chichester. It was the papal summons which caused the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald of Bec, to quarrel with his king, after Stephen refused the archbishop permission to go to the council. Theobald instead managed to evade the guards placed on him and hired a fishing boat to take him across the English Channel to attend the council.

The precise number of bishops, archbishops, and abbots who attended is unknown. Estimates range from 1,100 to 400, with the lower number being much more likely. The attendees were from what were later the countries of France, Germany, England, and Spain, and in keeping with the times, would have included not just the prelates who were summoned, but also their servants and officials, making the true number of people in Reims impossible to know.