Hugh of Champagne

Saint Hugh, Hugh of Champagne, or St Hugh of Rouen (died 730), was the grandson of Pepin of Heristal and Plectrude and son of Drogo of Champagne and Anstrude, herself daughter of Waratton and Ansflede. Both Waratton and Drogo were mayors of the palaces.

He was, though still a layman, endowed with the abbacies of Saint-Wandrille and Jumièges. He then entered the monastery of Jumièges in 718 and embraced the religious life under Abbot Cochin.

In 722, the archdiocese of Rouen was vacant. Hugh was taken from his solitude and appointed archbishop. In 723, he accepted charge of Fontenelle Abbey. The following year (724), he became bishop of Paris and bishop of Bayeux. At the end of life, he retired to his monastery. He died on 9 April 730 and is interred in Notre-Dame. He is regarded as a saint, with a feast day of 9 April.

Selection of primary sources

• Gesta Hugonis archiepiscopi Rotomagensis in the Gesta (sanctorum patrum) Fontanellensis coenobii (dated between about 833 and 840), ed. Samuel Löwenfeld. Gesta Abbatum Fontanellensium. MGH Scriptores rer. Germ. 28. Hanover, 1886 (reprinted 1980). 26-8; ed. F. Lohier and J. Laporte. Gesta sanctorum patrum Fontanellensis coenobii. Société de l'histoire de Normandie. Rouen, 1936. 37-43.
• Another ninth-century Vita, associated with Jumièges, ed. Joseph van der Straeten, "Vie inédite de S. Hugues évêque de Rouen." Analecta Bollandiana 87 (1969): 215-60. Based primarily on Rouen BM 1377 (U 108) f. 135r-150r.
• Baldric of Dol, Vita S. Hugonis, ed. MPL 166. 1163-72. Available online from the Documenta Catholica Omnia

Secondary sources

• Urdang, Laurence. Holidays and Anniversaries of the World. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985. ISBN 0-8103-1546-7.
• Lifshitz, Felice. The Norman Conquest of Pious Neustria: Historiographic Discourse and Saintly Relics, 684-1090. Studies and Texts 122. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1995.

External links

• Mittelalter Genealogie
• Saint Hugh of Rouen (Patron Saint Index)
• St. Hugh of Rouen (Catholic Online)
• "La production éditoriale à Jumièges vers le milieu du X^e siècle." Online PDF