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Osbern FitzOsbern (–1103) was a
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
churchman. He was a relative of King
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
as well as being a royal chaplain.
[Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 164] During Edward's reign he received the church at
Bosham
Bosham is a coastal village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England, centred about west of Chichester with its clustered developed part west of this. Its land forms a broad peninsula projecting into natural Chiche ...
, near
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
.
[ He was one of those present at the consecration of ]Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
at Christmas 1065.[Kinsford "Osbern" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''] He was a steward for King William I of England
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 108 ...
during his reign, as well as being a friend of the king.[Barlow ''William Rufus'' pp. 178–179] The story that he became William's chancellor is based entirely on a charter that modern historians have declared mostly spurious.[ He became ]Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell. in 1072,[ and was consecrated at St. Paul's in London on 27 May 1072 by the ]Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, Lanfranc
Lanfranc, OSB (1005 1010 – 24 May 1089) was a celebrated Italian jurist who renounced his career to become a Benedictine monk at Bec in Normandy. He served successively as prior of Bec Abbey and abbot of St Stephen in Normandy and then ...
.[
Osbern was present at the church councils held in 1072 and 1075.][ Osbern was present at the first Christmas court held by King ]William II of England
William II ( xno, Williame; – 2 August 1100) was King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. The third so ...
after his accession.[Barlow ''William Rufus'' p. 66] Osbern did not attend the church council held by Anselm, the new Archbishop of Canterbury in 1102, as he was ill.[Vaughn ''Anselm of Bec'' pp. 246–247 and footnote 165] 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 favour on the bell issue. The dispute over the graveyard was still ongoing in 1102, when Pope Paschal II
Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cre ...
wrote to Osbern ordering him to allow the priory to establish a graveyard for their benefactors.[Brett ''English Church'' pp. 93–94]
Osbern FitzOsbern died in 1103,[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 246] having gone blind before his death.[Barlow ''English Church'' p. 80] Frank Barlow, a medieval historian, described Osbern as "unsociable".[Barlow ''William Rufus'' p. 326]
William FitzOsbern, Earl of Hereford was his brother. Their father was Osbern de Crépon Osbern the Steward, known in French as ''Osbern de Crépon'' († about 1040), was the Steward of two Dukes of Normandy and the father of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, one of William the Conqueror's closest counsellors.
Biography
Osber ...
, a guardian and seneschal
The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...
to the young Duke William.[Douglas ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 166–167]
Citations
Sources
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External links
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Entry for Osbern
in George Oliver's ''Lives of the Bishops of Exeter''
{{DEFAULTSORT:FitzOsbern, Osbern
1103 deaths
11th-century English Roman Catholic bishops
Bishops of Exeter
Year of birth uncertain
Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief
Norman clerics given benefices in England
12th-century English Roman Catholic bishops