Osbern FitzOsbern

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Osbern FitzOsbern
Denomination Catholic
Senior posting
See Diocese of Exeter
Title Bishop of Exeter
Period in office 1072–1103
Predecessor Leofric
Successor William Warelwast
Personal
Date of death 1103

Osbern FitzOsbern (c.1032–1103) was an Anglo-Norman churchman.

[edit] Life

He was a relative of King Edward the Confessor as well as being a royal chaplain.[1] During Edward's reign he received the church at Bosham, near Chichester.[2] He was one of those present at the consecration of Westminster Abbey at Christmas 1065.[3] He was a steward for King William I of England during his reign, as well as being a friend of the king.[4] The story that he became William's chancellor is based entirely on a charter that modern historians have declared mostly spurious.[3] He became Bishop of Exeter in 1072,[5] and was consecrated at St. Paul's in London on May 27, 1072 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc.[3]

Osbern was present at the church councils held in 1072 and 1075.[3] Osbern was present at the first Christmas court held by King William II of England after his accension.[6] Osbern did not attend the church council held by Anselm, the new Archbishop of Canterbury in 1102, as he was ill.[7] He became embroiled in a dispute with the monks of Battle Abbey, who had established a priory in Exeter. The cathedral chapter of Exeter objected to the priory establishing a graveyard or ringing their bells, and both sides appealed to Anselm, who ruled in Battle's favor on the bell issue. The dispute over the graveyard was still ongoing in 1102, when Pope Paschal II wrote to Osbern ordering the him to allow the priory to establish a graveyard for their benefactors.[8]

He died in 1103,[5] having gone blind before his death.[9] William fitz Osbern, 1st Earl of Hereford was his brother. Their father was Osbern de Crépon, a guardian and seneschal to the young Duke William.[2] Frank Barlow, a medieval historian, described Osbern as "unsociable".[10]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Barlow Edward the Confessor p. 164
  2. ^ a b Douglas William the Conqueror p. 166-167
  3. ^ a b c d Kinsford "Osbern (d. 1103)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  4. ^ Barlow William Rufus p. 178-179
  5. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 246
  6. ^ Barlow William Rufus p. 66
  7. ^ Vaughn Anselm of Bec p. 246-247 and footnote 165
  8. ^ Brett English Church Under Henry I p. 93-94
  9. ^ Barlow English Church 1066-1154 p. 80
  10. ^ Barlow William Rufus p. 326

[edit] References

  • Barlow, Frank (1970). Edward the Confessor. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01671-8. 
  • Barlow, Frank (1979). The English Church 1066-1154: A History of the Anglo-Norman Church. New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-50236-5. 
  • Barlow, Frank (1983). William Rufus. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04936-5. 
  • Brett, M. (1975). The English Church under Henry I. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821861-3. 
  • Douglas, David C. (1964). William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England. Berkeley: University of California Press. 
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
  • Kingsford, C. L.; revised by Marios Costambeys (2004). "Osbern (d. 1103)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2008-04-08. 
  • Vaughn, Sally N. (1987). Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan: The Innocence of the Dove and the Wisdom of the Serpent. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05674-4. 

[edit] External links

Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Leofric		 Bishop of Exeter
1072–1103		 Succeeded by
William Warelwast
Persondata
NAME FitzOsbern, Osbern
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Exeter
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH 1103
PLACE OF DEATH