Biography
Humfroy of Therouanne
About Humfroy of Therouanne
Humfroy came from the region of the Meuse and entered the monastery of Prüm while young. The diocesan account places his election as bishop of Thérouanne in 856, after Folquin.
Humfroy faced pressure to leave his episcopal responsibilities during the Viking incursions. A surviving papal response addresses his question about returning to monastic life after being driven from his see. The scholarly edition places this exchange with Nicholas I around 860–861.
Nicholas urged him to remain responsible for his church. The reply compares a bishop with a helmsman: if leaving a ship is dangerous in calm weather, abandoning it during a storm is more dangerous still. The same response rejects advancement for a cleric who has killed a pagan and says that he should lose his existing rank.
Folcuin’s chronicle records Humfroy’s appointment to lead Saint-Bertin after Adalard’s death in 864. It identifies him as both bishop of Thérouanne and a monk of Prüm, says that clergy and people chose him, and gives his abbacy a duration of two years.
That responsibility ended through royal intervention. Folcuin says that Charles took the abbacy from Humfroy in 866 and gave it to Hilduin, who had recently left Lothar’s service for the king’s. The account distinguishes Humfroy’s loss of the abbacy from his episcopal office.
His death year is disputed. Folcuin’s text gives 869, while the printed edition marks the entry 870; the Diocese of Arras gives March 8, 871. The earlier chronicle’s year is retained here only approximately.
Arras commemorates him on March 8, preserving the memory of the monk who became bishop of Thérouanne.
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