Odo Of Cheriton

Odo of Cheriton (1180/1190 – 1246/47) was an English preacher and fabulist 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. His father William had been a crusader with Richard Coeur de Lion and then added to the family’s fortunes as a supporter of King John. His son Odo studied at the University of Paris, 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, robbers and hostile villagers.

During the next few years Odo visited the south of France and also lectured at the short-lived university in Palencia. After it closed, he moved to the University of Salamanca. In 1233 he returned to England, having inherited his father's widely dispersed estates. On one of the documents concerning property from this period appears Odo’s seal, an impress of St Odo of Cluny seated at a desk beneath a canopy with a star in the right-hand corner above, in reference to his namesake, after whom his grandfather was also named. Following his death in 1246/7 he was buried in