Saint Rimbert (or Rembert) (c. 830 - 11 June 888 in Bremen) was archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, in the northern part of the Kingdom of East Frankia from 865 until his death in 888. He most famously wrote the life of Saint Ansgar, the Vita Ansgari, one of the most popular hagiographies of the middle ages.
Biography
Little is directly known about Rimbert, much of the information available regarding his life comes from the Vita Rimberti, a hagiography written by an unknown author, likely produced some time in the 10th century. As a monk he trained in Turholt (Torhout), after which he shared a missionary trip to Scandinavia with his mentor Ansgar, Bishop of Hamburg. Upon Ansgar's death in 865, Rimbert was unanimously elected Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. Upon his election, Rimbert travelled with Bishop Theodric of Minden and Abbot Adalgar of Corvey to the court of Louis the German, who sent him to Archbishop Liudbert of Mainz to receive his consecration, which he received with the aid of Luidhard of Paderborn and Thoedric.
Rimbert continued much of the missionary work that had begun under Ansgar, despite the lack of royal or papal support for the missionary effort.
Rimbert is revered as a saint particularly in Frisia. His feast day is 4 February. After Ansgar, known as the Apostle of the North, Rimbert is revered as the Second Apostle of the North, alongside the missionary Sigfrid of Sweden.
Connections with Ratramnus and Corbie
In a highly notable letter from the controversial 9th century theologian, Ratramnus of Corbie, Ratramnus responded to a lost letter from Rimbert regarding the nature of cynocephali. In the letter, Ratramnus gave a response to an account received by Rimbert, while on a mission in Scandinavia. The account told of cynocephali living in the region and that they were living in organised communities. Rimbert had enquired if this in meant that the cynocephali were capable of reason and therefore are 'arose from the line of Adam' making them human and eligible for Christian conversion. This letter highlights the beginning of the change of perception of cynocephali and by extension, Vikings, with whom they were intrinsically linked.
This understanding of cynocephali as human and therefore convertible had profound connotations for Rimbert. Not only was this continued justification for the conversion of his fellow Danes but also had profound prophetic implications. The apocalypse of pseudo-Methodius was one of the most widely read and popular accounts of the apocalypse in 9th century Europe, in which when all people had been converted to Christianity, the monstrous and barbaric people from the North would destroy the world. The prophetic and apocalyptic implications of his work to convert Scandinavian people was not lost Rimbert.