Oda of Canterbury - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Oda the Severe) Archbishop of Canterbury from 941 to 958, Christian saint This article is about the Archbishop of Canterbury. For the Scottish princess, see Saint Oda.

Saint Oda
Archbishop of Canterbury
Imaginary portrait from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493)
Appointed	941
Term ended	958
Predecessor	Wulfhelm
Successor	Ælfsige
Other post(s)	Bishop of Ramsbury
Orders
Consecration	between 909 and 927
Personal details
Born	unknown
Died	2 June 958
Sainthood
Feast day	4 July
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Attributes	Archbishop holding a chalice

Oda (or Odo; died 958) the Good was a 10th-century Archbishop of Canterbury in England. The son of a Danish invader, Oda became Bishop of Ramsbury before 928. A number of stories were told about his actions both prior to becoming and while a bishop, but few of these incidents are recorded in contemporary accounts. After being named to Canterbury in 941, Oda was instrumental in crafting royal legislation as well as involved in providing rules for his clergy. Oda was also involved in the efforts to reform religious life in England. He died in 958 and legendary tales afterwards were ascribed to him. Later he came to be regarded as a saint, and a hagiography was written in the late 11th or early 12th century.

Early career

Oda's parents were Danish, and he may have been born in East Anglia. His father was said to have been a Dane who came to England in 865, together with the Viking army of Ubba and Ivar, and presumably settled in East Anglia. Oda's nephew Oswald of Worcester later became Archbishop of York. It is possible that Oswald's relatives Oscytel, afterwards Archbishop of York, and Thurcytel, an abbot, were also relatives of Oda, but this is not known for sure.

In Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Life of Saint Oswald, Oda is said to have joined the household of a pious nobleman called Æthelhelm, whom he accompanied to Rome on pilgrimage. While on pilgrimage, Oda healed the nobleman's illness. Other stories, such as those by the 12th-century writer William of Malmesbury, describe Oda as fighting under Edward the Elder and then becoming a priest, but these statements are unlikely. Other statements in the Life have Oda being named "Bishop of Wilton" by the king, who is stated to have been Æthelhelm's brother. The chronicler may be referring, slightly inaccurately, to Aethelhelm cousin of the king. This benefactor has also been associated with bishop Athelm, who reportedly sponsored Oda in his ecclesiastical career. Some sources state that Oda became a monk at Fleury-sur-Loire in France.

Bishop of Ramsbury

Oda was consecrated Bishop of Ramsbury sometime between 909 and 927, not to Wilton as stated by both William of Malmesbury and the Life. The appointment was most likely made by King Æthelstan, and the first securely attested mention in documents of the new bishop occurs in 928, when he is a witness to royal charters as bishop. According to the late tenth-century chronicler, Richer of Rheims, in 936 Æthelstan sent Oda to France to arrange the return to the throne of France of King Louis IV. Louis was Æthelstan's nephew and had been in exile in England for a number of years. However, this story is not related in any contemporary records. Oda was said to have accompanied King Æthelstan at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. It was at this battle that Oda is said to have miraculously provided a sword to the king when the king's own sword slipped out of its scabbard. A Ramsey chronicle records that in the 1170s, the sword was still preserved in the royal treasury, although the chronicler carefully states the story "as is said" rather than as fact. There are no contemporary records of Oda's appearance at the battle. In 940, Oda arranged a truce between Olaf III Guthfrithson, king of Dublin and York, and Edmund I, king of England.

Archbishop of Canterbury

Oda was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury following Wulfhelm's death on 12 February 941. It is not known whether he went to Rome to receive his pallium or when he received it, but it was before he issued his Constitutions. During his time as archbishop, he helped King Edmund with the new royal law-code, which had a number of laws concerned with ecclesiastical affairs. The archbishop was present, along with Archbishop Wulfstan of York, at council that proclaimed the first of these law codes and which was held by Edmund at London, over Easter around 945 or 946. Oda also settled a dispute over the Five Boroughs with Wulfstan.

Oda also issued Constitutions, or rules, for his clergy. His Constitutions of Oda are the first surviving constitutions of a 10th-century English ecclesiastical reformer. Oda reworked some statutes from 786 to form his updated code, and one item that was dropped were any clauses dealing with paganism. Other items covered were relations between laymen and the clergy, the duties of bishops, the need for the laity to make canonical marriages, how to observe fasts, and the need for tithes to be given by the laity. The work is extant in just one surviving manuscript, British Library Cotton MS Vespasian A XIV, folios 175v to 177v. This is an 11th-century copy done for Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York.

At the death of King Eadred of England in 955, Oda was one of the recipients of a bequest from the king, in his case a large amount of gold. He was probably behind the reestablishment of a bishopric at Elmham, as the line of bishops in that see starts with Eadwulf of Elmham in 956. Oda crowned King Eadwig in 956, but in late 957 the archbishop joined Eadwig's rival and brother Edgar who had been proclaimed king of the Mercians in 957, while Eadwig continued to rule Wessex. The exact cause of the rupture between the two brothers that led to the division of the previously united kingdom is unknown, but may have resulted from Eadwig's efforts to promote close kinsmen and his wife. The division was peaceful, and Eadwig continued to call himself "King of the English" in contrast to Edgar's title of "King of the Mercians". In early 958 Oda annulled the marriage of Eadwig and his wife Ælfgifu, who were too closely related. This act was likely a political move connected to the division between Eadwig and Edgar, as it is unlikely that the close kinship between Eadwig and Ælfgifu had not been known before their marriage.

Oda was a supporter of Dunstan's monastic reforms, and was a reforming agent in the church along with Cenwald the Bishop of Worcester and Ælfheah the Bishop of Winchester. He also built extensively, and re-roofed Canterbury Cathedral. after raising the walls higher. In 948, Oda took Saint Wilfrid's relics from Ripon. Frithegod's verse Life of Wilfrid has a preface that was written by Oda, in which the archbishop claimed that he rescued the relics from Ripon, which he described as "decayed" and "thorn-covered". He also acquired the relics of St Ouen, and Frithegod also wrote, at Oda's behest, a verse life of that saint, which has been lost. He was also active in reorganizing the diocesan structure of his province, as the sees of Elmham and Lindsey were reformed during his archbishopric.

The archbishop died on 2 June 958 and is regarded as a saint, with a feast day of 4 July. Other dates were also commemorated, including 2 June or 29 May. After his death, legendary tales ascribed miracles to him, including one where the Eucharist dripped with blood. Another was the miraculous repair of a sword. There is no contemporary evidence for veneration being made to Oda, with the first indication of cult coming in the hagiography written by Byrhtferth about Oswald, but no hagiography specifically about Oda was written until Eadmer wrote the Vita sancti Odonis sometime between 1093 and 1125. Oda was known by contemporaries as "The Good" and also became known as Severus "The Severe".

Notes

Bishops and archbishops in the medieval period were involved in secular government as well as their ecclesiastical duties.
Olaf, already king of Dublin, had seized control of Northumbria and York from Edmund shortly after Edmund's coronation as king in 939. This truce set the boundary between the two kings' realms at Watling Street.
In Michael Drayton's poem Poly-Olbion (Song 24), he is described as "Odo the Severe".

Citations

^ Farmer Oxford Dictionary of Saints p. 393
^ Walsh New Dictionary of Saints p. 454–455
Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 222–224
^ Cubitt and Costambeys "Oda" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
^ Lapidge "Oda" Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England
Fletcher Conversion of Europe p. 393
Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 448
Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 220
^ Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 347
Foot Æthelstan p. 169
Southern Western Society and the Church pp. 173–174
^ Miller "Edmund" Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England pp. 159–160
Delaney Dictionary of Saints p. 464
Clanchy From Memory to Written Record p. 40
^ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 214
Brooks, Early History of the Church of Canterbury, p. 371, n. 46
Wormald Making of English Law p. 310
Wormald Making of English Law pp. 440–441
Stafford Unification and Conquest p. 9–10
Blair Church in Anglo-Saxon Society p. 481 footnote 252
^ Darlington "Ecclesiastical Reform" English Historical Review p. 386
Schoebe "Chapters of Archbishop Oda" Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research pp. 75–83
Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 24
Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 437
^ Stafford Unification and Conquest p. 48–49
^ Miller "Eadwig" Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England pp. 151–152
Darlington "Ecclesiastical Reform" English Historical Review p. 387
Blair Church in Anglo-Saxon Society p. 314
Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 53

References

Blair, John P. (2005). The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-921117-5.
Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5.
Clanchy, C. T. (1993). From Memory to Written Record: England 1066–1307 (Second ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0-631-16857-7.
Cubitt, Catherine; Costambeys, Marios (2004). "Oda (d. 958)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20541. Retrieved 7 November 2007. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
Darlington, R. R. (July 1936). "Ecclesiastical Reform in the Late Old English Period". The English Historical Review. 51 (203): 385–428. doi:10.1093/ehr/LI.CCIII.385. JSTOR 553127.
Delaney, John P. (1980). Dictionary of Saints (Second ed.). Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-13594-7.
Farmer, David Hugh (2004). Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Fifth ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860949-0.
Fletcher, R. A. (1997). The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity 371-1386AD. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-0025-5203-5.
Fletcher, R. A. (2003). Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516136-X.
Foot, Sarah (2011). Æthelstan: The First King of England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12535-1.
Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third Edition, revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
Lapidge, Michael (2001). "Oda". In Lapidge, Michael; Blair, John; Keynes, Simon; Scragg, Donald (eds.). The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 339–340. ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1.
Miller, Sean (2001). "Eadwig". In Lapidge, Michael; Blair, John; Keynes, Simon; Scragg, Donald (eds.). The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 151–152–160. ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1.
Miller, Sean (2001). "Edmund". In Lapidge, Michael; Blair, John; Keynes, Simon; Scragg, Donald (eds.). The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 159–160. ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1.
Schoebe, G. (May 1962). "The Chapters of Archbishop Oda (942/6) and the Canons of the Legatine Councils of 786". Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research. xxxv (91): 75–83. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.1962.tb01415.x.
Southern, R. W. (1970). Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-020503-9.
Stafford, Pauline (1989). Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-7131-6532-4.
Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (Third ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5.
Walsh, Michael J. (2007). A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West. London: Burns & Oats. ISBN 978-0-86012-438-2.
Wormald, Patrick (1999). The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-22740-7.

External links

Christian titles
Preceded byAethelstan	Bishop of Ramsbury c. 925–941	Succeeded byÆlfric
Preceded byWulfhelm	Archbishop of Canterbury 941–958	Succeeded byÆlfsige

v t e Archbishops of Canterbury
List of archbishops of Canterbury
Pre-Conquest	Augustine Laurence Mellitus Justus Honorius Deusdedit Wighard Theodore of Tarsus Berhtwald Tatwine Nothhelm Cuthbert Bregowine Jænberht Æthelhard Wulfred Feologild Ceolnoth Æthelred Plegmund Athelm Wulfhelm Oda Ælfsige Byrhthelm Dunstan Æthelgar Sigeric Ælfric of Abingdon Ælfheah Lyfing Æthelnoth Eadsige Robert of Jumièges Stigand
Conquest to Reformation	Lanfranc Anselm Ralph d'Escures William de Corbeil Theobald of Bec Thomas Becket Roger de Bailleul Richard of Dover Baldwin of Forde Reginald Fitz Jocelin Hubert Walter Reginald John de Gray Stephen Langton Walter d'Eynsham Richard le Grant Ralph Neville John of Sittingbourne John Blund Edmund of Abingdon Boniface William Chillenden Robert Kilwardby Robert Burnell John Peckham Robert Winchelsey Thomas Cobham Walter Reynolds Simon Mepeham John de Stratford John de Ufford Thomas Bradwardine Simon Islip William Edington Simon Langham William Whittlesey Simon Sudbury William Courtenay Thomas Arundel Roger Walden Thomas Arundel Henry Chichele John Stafford John Kemp Thomas Bourchier John Morton Thomas Langton Henry Deane William Warham Thomas Cranmer Reginald Pole
Post-Reformation	Matthew Parker Edmund Grindal John Whitgift Richard Bancroft George Abbot William Laud Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) William Juxon Gilbert Sheldon William Sancroft John Tillotson Thomas Tenison William Wake John Potter Thomas Herring Matthew Hutton Thomas Secker Frederick Cornwallis John Moore Charles Manners-Sutton William Howley John Bird Sumner Charles Longley Archibald Campbell Tait Edward White Benson Frederick Temple Randall Davidson Cosmo Lang William Temple Geoffrey Fisher Michael Ramsey Donald Coggan Robert Runcie George Carey Rowan Williams Justin Welby
Italics indicate a person who was elected but not confirmed.

v t e Ancient Bishops of Ramsbury
erected from the Diocese of Sherborne Aethelstan Oda of Canterbury Ælfric Oswulf Ælfstan Wulfgar Sigeric Ælfric of Abingdon St Bertwald Herman re-united to the Sherborne diocese

v t e Saints of Anglo-Saxon England
British / Welsh	Aldate of Oxford Barloc of Norbury Brannoc of Braunton Branwalator of Milton Credan of Evesham Congar of Congresbury Dachuna of Bodmin Decuman of Watchet Elfin of Warrington Ivo of Ramsey Judoc of Winchester Melorius of Amesbury Nectan of Hartland Neot of Cornwall Patrick of Glastonbury Rumon of Tavistock Samson of Dol Sativola of Exeter
East Anglian	Æthelberht of East Anglia Æthelburh of Faremoutiers Æthelflæd of Ramsey Æthelthryth of Ely Æthelwine of Lindsey Athwulf of Thorney Blida of Martham Botwulf of Thorney Cissa of Crowland Cuthbald of Peterborough Eadmund of East Anglia Eadnoth of Ramsey Guthlac of Crowland Herefrith of Thorney Hiurmine of Blythburgh Huna of Thorney Pega of Peakirk Seaxburh of Ely Sigeberht of East Anglia Tancred of Thorney Torthred of Thorney Tova of Thorney Walstan of Bawburgh Wendreda Wihtburh of Ely Wulfric of Holme
East Saxon	Æthelburh of Barking Hildelith of Barking Osgyth Sæbbi of London
Frisian, Frankish and Old Saxon	Balthild of Romsey Bertha of Kent Felix of Dommoc Helier of Jersey Grimbald of St Bertin Monegunda of Watton Odwulf of Evesham Wulfram of Grantham
Irish and Scottish	Aidan of Lindisfarne Boisil of Melrose Echa of Crayke Ultan the Scribe Indract of Glastonbury Maildub of Malmesbury
Kentish	Æbbe of Thanet (Domne Eafe) Æthelberht of Kent Æthelburh of Kent Æthelred of Kent Albinus of Canterbury Berhtwald of Canterbury Deusdedit of Canterbury Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet Eanswith of Folkestone Eormengyth of Thanet Mildrith of Thanet Nothhelm of Canterbury Sigeburh of Thanet
Mercian	Ælfnoth of Stowe Ælfthryth of Crowland Æthelberht of Bedford Æthelmod of Leominster Æthelred of Mercia Æthelwynn of Sodbury Aldwyn of Coln Beonna of Breedon Beorhthelm of Stafford Coenwulf of Mercia Cotta of Breedon Credan of Evesham Cyneburh of Castor Cyneburh of Gloucester Cynehelm of Winchcombe Cyneswith of Peterborough Eadburh of Bicester Eadburh of Pershore Eadburh of Southwell Eadgyth of Aylesbury Eadweard of Maugersbury Ealdgyth of Stortford Earconwald of London Egwin of Evesham Freomund of Mercia Frithuric of Breedon Frithuswith of Oxford Frithuwold of Chertsey Hæmma of Leominster Merefin Mildburh of Wenlock Mildgyth Mildrith of Thanet Milred of Worcester Oda of Canterbury Oswald of Worcester Osburh of Coventry Regenhere of Northampton Rumbold of Buckingham Tibba of Ryhall Werburgh of Chester Wærstan Wigstan of Repton Wulfhild of Barking
Northumbrian	Acca of Hexham Æbbe "the Elder" of Coldingham Æbbe "the Younger" of Coldingham Ælfflæd of Whitby Ælfwald of Northumbria Æthelburh of Hackness Æthelgyth of Coldingham Æthelsige of Ripon Æthelwold of Farne Æthelwold of Lindisfarne Alchhild of Middleham Alchmund of Hexham Alkmund of Derby Balthere of Tyningham Beda of Jarrow Bega of Copeland Benedict Biscop Bercthun of Beverley Billfrith of Lindisfarne Bosa of York Botwine of Ripon Ceadda of Lichfield Cedd of Lichfield Ceolfrith of Monkwearmouth Ceolwulf of Northumbria Cuthbert of Durham Dryhthelm of Melrose Eadberht of Lindisfarne Eadfrith of Leominster Eadfrith of Lindisfarne Eadwine of Northumbria Ealdberht of Ripon Eanmund Eardwulf of Northumbria Eata of Hexham Ecgberht of Ripon Eoda Eosterwine of Monkwearmouth Hilda of Whitby Hyglac Iwig of Wilton John of Beverley Osana of Howden Osthryth of Bardney Oswald of Northumbria Oswine of Northumbria Sicgred of Ripon Sigfrith of Monkwearmouth Tatberht of Ripon Wihtberht of Ripon Wilfrith of Hexham Wilfrith II Wilgils of Ripon
Roman	Augustine of Canterbury Firmin of North Crawley Birinus of Dorchester Blaise Florentius of Peterborough Hadrian of Canterbury Honorius of Canterbury James the Deacon Justus of Canterbury Laurence of Canterbury Mellitus of Canterbury Paulinus of York Peter of Canterbury Theodore of Canterbury
South Saxon	Cuthflæd of Lyminster Cuthmann of Steyning Lewina of Bishopstone
West Saxon	Ælfgar of Selwood Ælfgifu of Exeter Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury Ælfheah of Canterbury Ælfheah of Winchester Æthelflæd of Romsey Æthelgar of Canterbury Æthelnoth of Canterbury Æthelwine of Athelney Æthelwold of Winchester Aldhelm of Sherborne Benignus of Glastonbury Beocca of Chertsey Beorhthelm of Shaftesbury Beornstan of Winchester Beornwald of Bampton Centwine of Wessex Cuthburh of Wimborn Cwenburh of Wimborne Dunstan of Canterbury Eadburh of Winchester Eadgar of England Eadgyth of Polesworth Eadgyth of Wilton Eadweard the Confessor Eadweard the Martyr Eadwold of Cerne Earmund of Stoke Fleming Edor of Chertsey Evorhilda Frithestan of Winchester Hædde of Winchester Humbert of Stokenham Hwita of Whitchurch Canonicorum Mærwynn of Romsey Margaret of Dunfermline Swithhun of Winchester Wulfsige of Sherborne Wulfthryth of Wilton
Unclear origin	Arilda of Oldbury Juthwara of Sherbourne Rumbold of Mechlin Urith of Chittlehampton

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