Theoderic

Theoderic, or Thierry, was a royalist bishop of Verdun from 1047 to 1089. Before his consecration, he was a chaplain of Henry III .

He sided with Henry III during the rebellion of Godfrey the Bearded, which led to significant destruction in Verdun by the latter.

In 1073, he had problems with the Abbey of St.Mihiel, probably instigated by Sophie, Countess of Bar. He placed it under an interdict, a sentence he maintained even after an intervention by the Pope Gregory VII.

During the reign of Henry IV, even if he did not attend the Synod of Worms in 1076, and fled Utrecht later that year to avoid witnessing the excommunication of Pope Gregory VII by bishop William of Utrecht, he was identified with the King's side from the beginning of the Investiture Controversy. He was the King's envoy, and plead the King's case with Benno II of Osnabrück, at the Lenten synod of 1078 in Rome, and managed to keep the Pope neutral in the conflict between Henry and the anti-king Rudolph.

In 1084, when Henry entered Rome and Gregory fled into exile, Theoderic could fully reassert his authority. He exiled the pro-Gregorian monks from Liège that had taken refuge in the city, subjugated the monks of St. Mihiel (even burning the palace at Bar, and led the monks of St. Vanne into exile, led by their abbot Rudolf, a former friend. and also consecrated Walon, abbot of Saint-Arnould as bishop of Metz, after the deposition of Hermann.

He died in 1085, having before asked the Pope and the community of Saint Vanne for forgiveness.