Odo of Cheriton (1180/1190 – 1246/47) was an English
preacher
A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as ...
and
fabulist
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...
who spent a considerable time studying in Paris and then lecturing in the south of France and in northern Spain.
Life and background
Odo belonged to a Norman family which had settled in Kent and were named from their manor at
Cheriton. He, however, was brought up at the family’s new manor on the other side of the county in
Farningham
Farningham is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located south-east of Swanley.
It has a population of 1,314.
History
Farningham is believed to be home to Neolithic history – flint and other tools ha ...
. His father William had been a crusader with
Richard Coeur de Lion
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
and then added to the family’s fortunes as a supporter of
King John. His son Odo studied at the
University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
, where he had gained the degree of Master (''Magister'') by 1211, after which he was granted custody of the church at Cheriton. There is uncertainty whether his degree was in theology, but by the end of the decade he was describing himself as ''Doctor Ecclesiae'' (doctor of the church) when his popular sermons on the
Sunday Gospels were completed in 1219. There is evidence that many of these were preached in France. He also seems familiar with the dangers of going on pilgrimage, giving advice there on drugged drinks, dishonest hosts, avaricious
Hospitallers
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
, robbers and hostile villagers.
During the next few years Odo visited the sou