Adaldag

ADALDAG, ad´ɑl-dɑ̄g: Seventh archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen (937-988); d. at Bremen Apr. 28 or 29, 988. He was of noble birth, a relation and pupil of Bishop Adalward of Verden and became canon of Hildesheim. Otho I. made him his chancellor and notary immediately after his accession, and on the death of Archbishop Unni of Hamburg-Bremen (936) nominated him to the vacant see. None of the early incumbents of the see ruled so long a time; and none did so much for the diocese, though his success was partly the fruit of his predecessors’ labors and of peculiarly favorable circumstances. Under Adaldag the metropolitan see obtained its first suffragans, by the erection of the bishoprics of Ripen, Sleswick, and Aarhus; and that of Aldenburg was also placed under Hamburg, though the Slavic territories of the present Oldenburg had formerly belonged to the diocese of Verden. He resisted successfully a renewal of the efforts of Cologne to claim jurisdiction over Bremen (see Adalgar). He gained many privileges for his see, in jurisdiction, possession of land, and market rights, by his close relations with the emperors, especially Otho I. He accompanied the latter on his journey to Rome, and remained with him from 961 to 965, and is mentioned as the emperor’s chief counselor at the time of his coronation in Rome. Otho placed the deposed pope Benedict V. in his custody. After Adaldag’s return to Hamburg, he still maintained these relations, and his privileges were confirmed by Otho II. and by the regency of Otho III. The later years of his life were troubled by inroads of the Danes and Slavonians on the north, and he may have witnessed the sack of Hamburg by the latter under Mistiwoi (if its date, as Usinger and Dehio think, was 983).

(Carl Bertheau.)

Bibliography: Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammenburgensis ecclesiæ pontificum, in MGH, Script., vii. (1846) 267-389 (issued separately, Hanover, 1846; 2d ed., 1876); W. von Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, i., Brunswick, 1874; R. Köpcke and E. Dümmler, Kaiser Otto der Grosse, Leipsic, 1876; G. Dehio, Geschichte des Erzbistums Hamburg-Bremen, i. 65, 104-132, Berlin, 1877; Hauck, KD, vol. ii.