Biography
Reolus of Reims
About Reolus of Reims
Reolus, remembered in French as Réol or Rieul, succeeded Nivard as bishop of Reims. Nominis describes him as a former monk and abbot of Hautvillers who encouraged monastic foundations. His best-known foundation was Orbais.
His political activity appears in a much darker account. The Continuation of the Chronicle attributed to Fredegar names Reolus and Aglibert as envoys sent by Ebroin to Martin, who had taken refuge at Laon after defeat in battle. According to the chronicler, the envoys offered assurances through false oaths sworn over empty reliquaries. Martin trusted them, left his refuge, and was killed with his companions. The text explicitly identifies Reolus as bishop of Reims.
The Liber historiae Francorum also describes the deception and killing, but does not name the envoys in its account.
Orbais preserves a different part of his legacy. The commune identifies him as the abbey’s seventh-century founder. Its surviving church dates from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, so it is not the building he would have known. Parts of the conventual buildings and a tower bearing his name also remain.
The date of his death is less secure than a single calendar entry suggests: Nominis gives 698. A modern Reims diocesan panel instead gives about 692 and places his burial at Orbais. It lists a shared September 7 commemoration for Réol and Nivard at Hautvillers and Ambonnay.
At Ambonnay, the church still bears his name. The diocese’s posted 2026 directory lists Saint-Réol among the churches of the parish La Grappe et l’Épi.
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