Hillin's familial origins trace back to the commune of Falmagne near
Dinant in
Wallonia, now in the province of
Namur in
Belgium, but then part of the
Prince-Bishopric of Liège. He was educated in
France. In 1130, he arrived in
Trier, taking part in the consecration of the previous Archbishop,
Albero of Montreuil. In 1142, he took up direction of the cathedral school; in 1150, he was named Dean of the cathedral, and in 1152 he was elected Archbishop by the clergy and the people.
Imperial Politics Later that year Barbarossa was elected
King of the Romans with the Archbishop's support. Shortly after the election Hillin made his first journey into
Italy, accompanying the
Archbishop of Salzburg, the
Bishop of Bamberg, and the
Abbot of Erbach, as an envoy to notify the pope of Frederick's nomination, and there was consecrated by
Pope Eugenius III himself, most likely in
Segni. After Hillin's return to Germany, he took part in Frederick's first plenary court in July 1152 at
Regensburg. In 1154 – 1155 Hillin accompanied Barbarossa on the Emperor's first expedition into
Italy. In December 1154 he took part in an
Imperial Diet at
Roncaglia. On 18 June 1155, Hillin was one of the prelates attending Barbarossa's
imperial coronation by
Pope Adrian IV, and in October of that year was appointed as Adrian's
papal legate for
Germany. In June 1156 he enjoyed the privilege of crowning
Beatrice of Burgundy as queen in
Worms. After Adrian's death on 1 September 1159 amid rising tensions between the Imperial and Papal parties, Hillin lent his support in the disputed
papal election to Barbarossa and his
antipope Victor IV rather than to the majority-elected "Sicilian" candidate,
Pope Alexander III; Victor made him legate for his support. After Victor's death in 1164, however, Hillin's support for the imperial party wavered, and in 1165, the Archbishop went over to the side of Alexander.
Internal Politics In contrast to his predecessor Albero, Hillin was peaceable and prudent in character, as he displayed in continual efforts to establish peace among his various warring neighbors. Shortly after his accession to the See of Trier, Hillin served to reconcile Duke
Matthias I of
Lorraine and the Abbess of
Rémiremont. In 1155, he managed to settle affairs between his diocese and
Henry IV, Count of Luxembourg and
Namur, the former
advocatus of the abbey of
Saint-Maximin at
Trier, by exchanging the rights over the abbey with the town of
Grevenmacher. In 1159, Hillin helped solve the dispute between
Walram I, the self-styled "Count of Nassau," and the
Bishopric of Worms, by exchanging his own estate in
Partenheim in the
Nahegau for the possessions around Nassau of Conrad I of Steinach, Bishop of Worms, and formally granting the fiefdom over the
castle and town of
Nassau to the House of
Laurenburg, receiving the castle of the Laurenburgs as a loan. Around 1161, Hillin was forced to resist the
Count Palatine Conrad, who supported the rights of the citizenry of
Trier to create a
commune. In 1163 Hillin secured reparations from Frederick of Merzig, who had been engaged in extortion, and lifted the excommunication placed upon him.
Religious and Cultural Activities In order to settle affairs in the archdiocese, the archbishop turned to
Bernard of Clairvaux, with whom he corresponded and to whom he made a personal visit in
Lorraine, where the two managed to allay the strife between the people of
Metz and
Verdun. He also received letters from
Elisabeth of Schönau, who, in an epistle written
ca. 1159, rebuked Hillin for his pacific attitude and urged him to relay her prophecies of doom to the opponents of Victor IV. In 1169 Hillin engaged in correspondence with
Hildegard of Bingen, whom he approached for advice, who visited Trier under his auspices, and who preached a stern sermon to the clergy and people thereof. On 24 August 1156, the archbishop consecrated the splendid abbey church of
Laach; on 29 October of the same year he confirmed the foundations of the (formerly
Premonstratensian) abbey of
Arnstein-on-the-Lahn. In 1163, Hillin founded another Premonstratensian monastery (destroyed in the 17th century) on the site of a chapel built by Godfrey of
Beselich. The eastern half of
Trier Cathedral can further be credited to Hillin. Among his secular constructions, Hillin fortified the
castles of
Manderscheid and
Dreis with towers; around 1160, he took to renovating the
Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, augmenting the archiepiscopal
palace, deepening the
moat, laying the foundations of a pentagonal
keep, and digging a
cistern. He died in Trier, but his burial place is unknown. == References ==