Editing Pope Nicholas I (section)

===Bishops===
Archbishop John of [[Ravenna]] oppressed the inhabitants of the [[Papal States]], treated his suffragan bishops with violence, made unjust demands upon them for money, and illegally imprisoned priests. He also forged documents to support his claims against the Roman See and maltreated the papal legates. As the warnings of the pope were without result, and the archbishop ignored a thrice-repeated summons to appear before the papal tribunal, he was excommunicated. Having first visited the Emperor Louis at [[Pavia]], the archbishop repaired with two imperial delegates to Rome, where Nicholas cited him before the Roman synod assembled in the autumn of 860. Upon this John fled from Rome.<ref name=Kirsch/>

Going in person to Ravenna, the pope then investigated and equitably regulated everything. Again appealing to the emperor, the archbishop was recommended by him to submit to the pope, which he did at the Roman Synod of November 861. Later on, however, he entered into a pact with the excommunicated [[Archbishop of Trier|archbishops of Trier]] and [[Archbishop of Cologne|Cologne]], was himself again excommunicated, and once more forced to make his submission to the pope. Another conflict arose between Nicholas and Archbishop [[Hincmar of Reims]]: this concerned the prerogatives of the papacy. [[Bishop Rothad of Soissons]] had appealed to the pope against the decision of the Synod of Soissons of 861, which had deposed him. Hincmar opposed the appeal to the pope, but eventually had to acknowledge the right of the papacy to take cognizance of important legal causes (''causae majores'') and pass independent judgment upon them. A further dispute broke out between Hincmar and the pope as to the elevation of the cleric Wulfad to the [[Archbishop of Bourges|archiepiscopal See of Bourges]], but here again, Hincmar finally submitted to the decrees of the Apostolic See, and the Frankish synods passed corresponding ordinances.