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The words of Adalberon, Archbishop of Rheims, on the subject of the coronation of Hugh Capet, are still true to-day. 'The coronation of the King of the French, he says, 'is a public interest and not a private affair, Publica, sunt haec negotia, non privata. May Charles X. deign to weigh these words, applied to the author of his race; in weeping for a brother, may he remember that he is King!
Bishop Adalberon, the accomplice and lover of the Queen, that bishop, expert in poisons, was your friend!" "He was my friend before his crime." "You repudiate his friendship, but you profit by his crime. That is high statecraft." "In what way, Blanche, have I profited by that odious crime? Does not the son of Lothaire reign to-day?
The accession of the Capetians was a work independent of all foreign influence, and strictly national, in Church as well as in State. The authority of Adalberon was of great weight in the matter. As archbishop he was full of zeal, and at the same time of wisdom in ecclesiastical administration.
It has already been pointed out, in the case of Adalberon, archbishop of Rheims, what part was taken by the clergy in this second change of dynasty; but the part played by it was so important and novel that we must make a somewhat more detailed acquaintance with the real character of it and the principal actor in it.
During a trip which he made to Rome in 981, he had entered into kindly personal relations with the Emperor Otho II., king of Germany, the most important of France's neighbors, and the most disposed to meddle in her affairs. In France, Hugh Capet had formed a close friendship with Adalberon, archbishop of Rheims, the most notable and most able of the French prelates.
"Do you believe Imma guilty of the crime?" "I believe what I see." "And when you do not see?" "Doubt is then natural." "Do you know that in that murder Queen Imma's accomplice was her lover Adalberon, bishop of Laon?" "It was a great scandal to the church!" "After the poisoning of Lothaire, the Queen and the bishop, finally delivered from the eyes of her husband, indulged their love more freely."
Patients of the highest distinction from all over Europe began to flock to Salerno, and we have the names of many of them. In the tenth century Bishop Adalberon, when ailing, went there, though he found no cure for his ills.
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