Joseph Armitage Robinson

“ C. ODA, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
The anonymous Life of St Oswald, which was hailed by historians some thirty years ago as throwing fresh light on the events of the second half of the tenth century, has never been subjected to a critical investigation. [1] Such an investigation must begin with the account of Archbishop Oda which forms its first section. ”

“ There Anlaf, having made a night attack, surprises and slays a bishop, and then comes suddenly upon the king, who discovers that his sword has fallen out of its scabbard. After invoking God and Saint Aldhelm, he puts his hand to the scabbard again and finds the sword there: the sword, says William, is still preserved in the royal treasury in memory of the miracle. In the Gesta Pontificum this story is blended with the story of Oda's restoration of the sword as given by Eadmer.
Oda is made to cross the sea and fetch his habit from Fleury, when about to be made archbishop. ”

“ For the early Life of Oswald tells us that Wynsige received his training in that monastery.
Oswald met the alderman Ethelwine at the funeral of a knight who died at the time of a great Easter Council, of which neither the place nor the year is mentioned by the early biographer. A few days after this Oswald visited Ramsey, and on his return to Worcester at once dispatched Eadnoth to make preparations for an immediate settlement, which took place on August 29 of the same year. Everything was necessarily constructed on the smallest scale; but the next year saw the beginning of a stone church. ”

“ The eleventh is the exceptional charter which is said to have been attested by 'Wynsige monk and all the monks at Worcester'.
Oswald's charters follow various types, which recur with only the necessary modification of the name of the person who receives the grant and the description of the land granted. The type to which our charter belongs is seen in its purity in B. C. S. 1238. First comes the date A.D. Then the body of the grant, beginning 'Ego Oswald, superni rectoris fultus iuvamine presul', and ending 'restituatur immunis'. ”

“ The third miracle occurred after Oda's death. His successor was Ælfsin, 'who being puffed up by temporal prosperity rose against the servant of God after his decease, counting him to be dead'. One day, standing over his grave, he reproached him, saying: 'Bishop, now liest thou prostrate, and I enjoy the right of triumph. ”

“ They found him seated between the two women, the crown lying on the ground. Dunstan forced him away from them, placed the crown on his head, and brought him back to the nobles. The wrath of Æthelgifu, the elder of the women, drove Dunstan into exile. [9]
Oda is again mentioned when his death is recorded, and the tale is told of his successor Ælfsin, the bishop of Winchester, that he perished of cold in the Alps when on his way to Rome to fetch his pall. But nothing is said of Ælfsin's contemptuous reproach of Oda, nor indeed is he discredited in any way. ”

“ The attestation begins thus: ✠ Ego Aldredus regulus Huicciorum propriam meam donationem signo crucis notavi. The phrase signo crucis notavi does not appear to occur again in any charter. In the very doubtful charter of his brother Eanberht (B. C. S. 183) we have signum salutiferae crucis praenotavi. In the Act of the council of Clovesho in 803 (B. C. S. 312) we find signum notavi: but only in copies, not in the original document. In the tenth century we have partial parallels: as notavi alone in two charters of King Athelstan to Exeter (B. C. S. 724, 726, both questionable) ”

“ What, then, do we learn of Archbishop Oda from the biographer of Oswald? First; in order to illustrate his high moral courage, he describes his dealings with the licentious young king Edwy. The king, unfaithful to his wife, had intercourse with another woman. ”

“ There is nothing parallel to these words in the Life of Oda. William of Malmesbury is simply quoting from Osbern's Life of St Dunstan (p. 107) : 'nisi Dunstanus succederet, ab omni Anglonmi orbe semper deflendus'.
Wharton, who at first ascribed the Life to Osbern, changed his mind and ascribed it to Eadmer, mainly on the ground of its appearance among other works of that writer. This latter view seems to have won general acceptance (Anglia Sacra, ii, p. x; Hardy, Catalogue of Materials, i. 566; W. Hunt, art. 'Oda' in Dict. Nat. Biogr.) . ”

“ The main body of the 'familia' remains as we saw it in 969; but six new men now appear with Wynsige for the first time, and three of them we presently find described as monks; no doubt they were the brethren from 'the choir of Ramsey', whom Oswald, as we are told, brought to Worcester with Wynsige.
Here, then, for the first time, we are on firm ground. We can say with confidence that in the year 977 Wynsige and a few other Ramsey monks had become established in the 'familia' at Worcester. They may have come in before this date, but we cannot prove it. ”

“ This charter is one of those which come from the codicellus already spoken of: and it is plain that no weight can be attached to its evidence, either for monks or for St Mary's church at this period.
XII
B. C. S. 578 is a Canterbury memorandum to the effect that King Alfred gave certain lands at Rotherhithe to Archbishop Plegmund and Bishop Werfrith. The words which concern us are: unum archiepiscopo Doroberniae Plegemundo et successoribus eius ad opus ecclesie Christi et monachorum: alterum vero Werefrido ad ecclesiam sanctae Mariae Wigoracensem. ”

“ The charge against Ælfsin that he had bribed the nobles begins with Osbern's Life of Dunstan, as also the statement that he had sought promotion to Canterbury on the previous vacancy, when Oda was appointed. The story of his insult to Oda's tomb is considerably embroidered, and new details as to his death in the Alps are introduced.
86. Odo se gode. The story of the dove which appeared over Dunstan on Whitsun Day, and afterwards rested on Oda's tomb, is not found in the earlier Lives of Dunstan, nor in Osbern's; but it is the climax of a longer narrative in Eadmer's Life (pp. 202 ff.) ”

“ Verens ne si illum, &c. The statement that Edwy was restrained at first by the fear that Oda might defer his coronation is peculiar to this account. In the main the Life of Dunstan, in the form in which Osbern cast it, has been followed. The story of Edwy's mistress comes from Oswald's biographer; but her identification with the elder of the two women in the coronation story belongs to the present writer, as also does the mention of Ireland as the place of her banishment: the cruelty to which she was finally subjected appears first in Osbern. ”

“ Eadmer, Hist. Nov. iv, p. 222. Accordingly, we see that here again the scruple of a later period has been introduced into the narrative, which thus becomes almost a controversial tract.
82. Nuncii ad abbatem coenobii sancti Benedicti Floriacensis. That Oda received the monastic habit from Fleury is stated by the biographer of Oswald, who happens to mention it, not in any connexion with his promotion to Canterbury, but as the reason why Oswald himself went to Fleury. But that the abbot of Fleury should have crossed to England to bring the habit to Oda is not very easy of credence. ”

“ Pre-Conquest Evidence.
The Life of Archbishop Oda published by Mabillon (Acta SS. O. S. B. vii. 286 ff.) is ascribed by the editor conjecturally to Osbern. This ascription is supposed to be supported by William of Malmesbury, who in his account of Oda says:
Quantulum autem est testimonium quod ei perhibet Osbernus, qui eum dicit pro sanctitate et industria sua ab omni Anglorum orbe semper deflendum, nisi Dunstanus successisset (Gesta Pont., p. 24 f.) . ”

“ Moreover, Wulfstan's attestation as archbishop of York agrees with the later date. It is a curious fact that B. C. S. 703 [cf. 1344] , a grant of Athelstan to St Peter's at York, has the same confusion of dates. We may remember that from 972 to 1023 the archbishops of York were also bishops of Worcester Oswald, Aldulf, Wulfstan: so that the connexion between the two churches may have been intimate during the whole of this period. Our charter is said to have been issued at London; but the York charter is dated on the same day at Nottingham. ”

“ The first is perplexing; but, as the charter itself is no longer extant, we may well doubt whether our copy faithfully represents it. We seem to see the same hand at work as in the earlier charter of 969. Again we must say that the evidence is not such as will bear any great stress.
It is strange that Worcester leases should be wanting for these seven years (970-6) , with the two exceptions that we have mentioned. [4] It may be that a batch of charters of this period was found by Heming in a state of almost irrecoverable collapse through damp or other misfortune. ”

“ Nunc ergo ego Aldredus domino dispensante Huicciorum regulus. But Aldred regularly styles himself subregulus, as indeed Offa calls him in this very charter. The only other place in which he describes himself as regulus is in B. C. S. 232, where we find Ego Aldredus meam munificentiam corroborans, &c. But this is a grant by Uhtred, not by Aldred; and Aldredus is a mere scribal error for Uhtredus in the attestation.
2. At the end we read: et hoc cum subscriptione principum meorum muniendo munio. ”

“ This completes our review of the evidence for the existence of St Mary's in the eighth century. We need have no hesitation in dismissing it as quite worthless. After this point we have not the help of Mr. Stevenson's judgements.
IX
B.C.S. 433. Berhtuulf to Heaberht, bishop of Worcester, and the monks of St Mary's. Mitton: one manse. Christmas Day, 841.
This charter seems so colourless and even, that it is difficult at first sight to judge of its genuineness. The only striking feature is the invocation of the Nine Orders of Angels: but this offers us the needed clue. ”

“ This charter also is marked by Stevenson as spurious. But it is of a very different character. The forger is a stylist, though weak in grammar, as is shown by his opening words: Appropinquantem mundi terminum ... declaratur. He has apparently used the genuine charter (B. C. S. 203) : but he makes many changes. Thus Uhtred is subregulus instead of regulus, and in the attestation Offa is made to say: mei ducis postulatione. ”

“ B. C. S. 223. Offa to Aldred. Sedgebarrow: Aldred to St Mary's. 778 (for 777) .
This charter Mr. Stevenson classifies among those in which he sees ' some definite reason for believing the document to be genuine'. It still existed at Worcester when Hickes was dean : see his Thesaurus I. 170 f., where a transcript of it is given. It is primarily a charter of King Offa, granting Sedgebarrow to his subregulus Aldred. After the signatures is added a grant by Aldred regulus to St Mary's. We need not question Mr. Stevenson's acceptance of King Offa's charter. ”

“ But it is important to observe that the church of Worcester showed another charter for the five hides at Esig in Gloucestershire, viz. B. C. S. 487, a grant of King Burgred in the next century, A.D. 855. This is somewhat inconsistent with the grant of King Offa c. A.D. 775.
We cannot, therefore, regard this charter (B. C. S. 226) as affording any solid evidence of the existence of St Mary's church in the eighth century. It is almost certainly a forgery based on B. C. S. 210.
VI
B.C.S. 231. Offa and Aldred to St Mary's. Geate. n.d. ”

“ Frequently, however, we find Saxon notes inserted at various points, before or after the bounds, or at the end of the signatures. These give supplementary grants, or the names of the heirs to whom the property came. ”

“ This again is rejected by Kemble. Its dating at once arouses suspicion: Anno dominicae incarnationis DCCCCXXX, regni vero mihi commissi VI, Indictione VII, Epacta III, Concurrente II, Septimis lunii idibus, luna XXI°. ”

“ Cf. infra 81: 'Canonum fatetur auctoritate prohiberi ... iuxta veterum monumenta librorum ... exemplum ... victus in his,' &c.
secreta male actae vitae ei aperire. The statement that the courtiers made him their father-confessor has no counterpart in the earlier narrative. ”

“ Stevenson's judgements on some of the early Worcester charters are recorded by Mr. C. H. Turner in his Early Worcester MSS., pp. xxxii ff. ↑ Mr. F. M. Stenton regards it as 'suspicious' (E. H. K. xxxiii. 448f) . ”