Editing Oda of Canterbury

{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 941 to 958, Christian saint}}
{{About|the Archbishop of Canterbury|the Scottish princess|Saint Oda}}
{{bots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
| name = Oda
| archbishop_of = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]
| image =Odo van Canterbury Odo episcopus (titel op object) Liber Chronicarum (serietitel), RP-P-2016-49-87-4.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption =Imaginary portrait from the [[Nuremberg Chronicle]] (1493)
| ended = 958
| appointed =941
| predecessor = [[Wulfhelm]]
| successor = [[Ælfsige]]
| consecration =between 909 and 927
| other_post = [[Bishop of Ramsbury (ancient)|Bishop of Ramsbury]]
| birth_date = unknown
| death_date = 2 June 958
| feast_day = 4 July
| venerated = [[Roman Catholic Church]]<ref name=ODS393/><br />[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<ref name=Saints/>
| attributes = Archbishop holding a chalice
| canonized_date = [[Pre-congregation|Pre-Congregation]]<ref name=Saints/>
}}

'''Oda''' (or '''Odo''';<ref name=ODS393/> died 958) '''the Good''' was a 10th-century [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] in England. The son of a Danish invader, Oda became [[Bishop of Ramsbury (ancient)|Bishop of Ramsbury]] before 928. A number of stories were told about his actions both prior to becoming and while a bishop, but few of these incidents are recorded in contemporary accounts. After being named to Canterbury in 941, Oda was instrumental in crafting royal legislation as well as involved in providing rules for his clergy. Oda was also involved in the efforts to reform religious life in England. He died in 958 and legendary tales afterwards were ascribed to him. Later he came to be regarded as a [[saint]], and a [[hagiography]] was written in the late 11th or early 12th century.

==Early career==

Oda's parents were [[Danish people|Danish]], and he may have been born in [[East Anglia]].<ref name=Brooks222>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 222–224</ref> His father was said to have been a Dane who came to England in 865, together with the [[Great Heathen Army|Viking army]] of [[Ubba]] and [[Ivar the Boneless|Ivar]], and presumably settled in East Anglia. Oda's nephew [[Oswald of Worcester]] later became [[Archbishop of York]]. It is possible that Oswald's relatives [[Oscytel]], afterwards Archbishop of York, and Thurcytel, an abbot, were also relatives of Oda, but this is not known for sure.<ref name=DNB/>

In [[Byrhtferth|Byrhtferth of Ramsey]]'s ''Life of Saint Oswald'', Oda is said to have joined the household of a pious nobleman called Æthelhelm, whom he accompanied to Rome on pilgrimage. While on pilgrimage, Oda healed the nobleman's illness.<ref name=ASE>Lapidge "Oda" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref> Other stories, such as those by the 12th-century writer [[William of Malmesbury]], describe Oda as fighting under [[Edward the Elder]] and then becoming a priest, but these statements are unlikely. Other statements in the ''Life'' have Oda being named "Bishop of Wilton" by the king, who is stated to have been Æthelhelm's brother.<ref name=DNB>Cubitt and Costambeys "Oda" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> The chronicler may be referring, slightly inaccurately, to [[Aethelhelm]] cousin of the king. This benefactor has also been associated with bishop [[Athelm]], who reportedly sponsored Oda in his ecclesiastical career.<ref>Fletcher ''Conversion of Europe'' p. 393</ref> Some sources state that Oda became a monk at [[Fleury-sur-Loire]] in France.<ref name=DNB/><ref name=ASE448>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 448</ref>

==Bishop of Ramsbury==

Oda was consecrated Bishop of Ramsbury sometime between 909 and 927,<ref name=Handbook220>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 220</ref> not to Wilton as stated by both William of Malmesbury and the ''Life''. The appointment was most likely made by King [[Athelstan of England|Æthelstan]], and the first securely attested mention in documents of the new bishop occurs in 928, when he is a witness to royal charters as bishop.<ref name=DNB/> According to the late tenth-century chronicler, [[Richerus|Richer of Rheims]], in 936 Æthelstan sent Oda to France to arrange the return to the throne of France of King [[Louis IV of France|Louis IV]].<ref name=ASE347/><ref name=Foot169>Foot ''Æthelstan'' p. 169</ref>{{efn|Bishops and archbishops in the medieval period were involved in secular government as well as their ecclesiastical duties.<ref name=Southern173>Southern ''Western Society and the Church'' pp. 173–174</ref>}} Louis was Æthelstan's nephew<ref name=BASE159/> and had been in exile in England for a number of years.<ref name=ASE347>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 347</ref> However, this story is not related in any contemporary records.<ref name=DNB/> Oda was said to have accompanied King Æthelstan at the [[Battle of Brunanburh]] in 937.<ref name=ASE/><ref name=DictSaint>Delaney ''Dictionary of Saints'' p. 464</ref> It was at this battle that Oda is said to have miraculously provided a sword to the king when the king's own sword slipped out of its scabbard. A Ramsey chronicle records that in the 1170s, the sword was still preserved in the royal treasury, although the chronicler carefully states the story "as is said" rather than as fact.<ref name=Clanchy40>Clanchy ''From Memory to Written Record'' p. 40</ref> There are no contemporary records of Oda's appearance at the battle.<ref name=DNB/> In 940, Oda arranged a truce between [[Olaf III Guthfrithson]], king of Dublin and York, and [[Edmund I]], king of England.<ref name=DNB/>{{efn|Olaf, already king of Dublin, had seized control of Northumbria and York from Edmund shortly after Edmund's coronation as king in 939. This truce set the boundary between the two kings' realms at [[Watling Street]].<ref name=BASE159>Miller "Edmund" ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 159–160</ref>}}

==Archbishop of Canterbury==
Oda was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury following [[Wulfhelm]]'s death on 12 February 941.<ref name=Handbook214>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 214</ref> It is not known whether he went to Rome to receive his [[pallium]] or when he received it, but it was before he issued his ''Constitutions''.<ref>Brooks, ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'', p. 371, n. 46</ref> During his time as archbishop, he helped King Edmund with the new royal law-code,<ref name=DNB/> which had a number of laws concerned with ecclesiastical affairs.<ref name=ASE/> The archbishop was present, along with Archbishop [[Wulfstan I|Wulfstan]] of York, at council that proclaimed the first of these law codes and which was held by Edmund<ref name=Wormald310>Wormald ''Making of English Law'' p. 310</ref> at London, over Easter around 945 or 946.<ref name=Wormald440>Wormald ''Making of English Law'' pp. 440–441</ref> Oda also settled a dispute over the [[Five Burghs|Five Boroughs]] with Wulfstan.<ref name=ASE/>

Oda also issued ''Constitutions'', or rules, for his clergy. His ''Constitutions of Oda'' are the first surviving constitutions of a 10th-century English ecclesiastical reformer.<ref name=Stafford9>Stafford ''Unification and Conquest'' p. 9–10</ref> Oda reworked some statutes from 786 to form his updated code, and one item that was dropped were any clauses dealing with paganism.<ref name=Blair>Blair ''Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'' p. 481 footnote 252</ref> Other items covered were relations between laymen and the clergy, the duties of bishops, the need for the laity to make canonical marriages, how to observe fasts, and the need for tithes to be given by the laity.<ref name=Darlington386/> The work is extant in just one surviving manuscript, [[British Library]] [[Cotton library|Cotton MS]] Vespasian A XIV, folios 175v to 177v. This is an 11th-century copy done for [[Wulfstan II]], Archbishop of York.<ref name=Schoebe>Schoebe "Chapters of Archbishop Oda" ''Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research'' pp. 75–83</ref>

At the death of King [[Eadred of England]] in 955, Oda was one of the recipients of a bequest from the king, in his case a large amount of gold.<ref name=Fletcher24>Fletcher ''Bloodfeud'' p. 24</ref> He was probably behind the reestablishment of a bishopric at [[Bishop of Elmham|Elmham]], as the line of bishops in that see starts with [[Eadwulf of Elmham]] in 956.<ref name=ASE437>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 437</ref> Oda crowned King [[Eadwig of England|Eadwig]] in 956, but in late 957 the archbishop joined Eadwig's rival and brother [[Edgar of England|Edgar]] who had been proclaimed king of the [[Mercia]]ns in 957, while Eadwig continued to rule [[Wessex]].<ref name=Stafford48/> The exact cause of the rupture between the two brothers that led to the division of the previously united kingdom is unknown, but may have resulted from Eadwig's efforts to promote close kinsmen and his wife. The division was peaceful, and Eadwig continued to call himself "King of the English" in contrast to Edgar's title of "King of the Mercians".<ref name=BASE151>Miller "Eadwig" ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 151–152</ref> In early 958 Oda annulled the marriage of Eadwig and his wife [[Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig|Ælfgifu]], who were too closely related.<ref name=Stafford48>Stafford ''Unification and Conquest'' p. 48–49</ref> This act was likely a political move connected to the division between Eadwig and Edgar, as it is unlikely that the close kinship between Eadwig and Ælfgifu had not been known before their marriage.<ref name=BASE151/>

Oda was a supporter of [[Dunstan]]'s monastic reforms,<ref name=Darlington387>Darlington "Ecclesiastical Reform" ''English Historical Review'' p. 387</ref> and was a reforming agent in the church along with [[Koenwald|Cenwald]] the [[Bishop of Worcester]] and [[Alphege the Bald|Ælfheah]] the [[Bishop of Winchester]]. He also built extensively, and re-roofed [[Canterbury Cathedral]]. after raising the walls higher.<ref name=DNB/> In 948, Oda took Saint [[Wilfrid]]'s relics from Ripon.<ref name=Blair314>Blair ''Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'' p. 314</ref> [[Frithegod]]'s verse ''Life of Wilfrid'' has a preface that was written by Oda, in which the archbishop claimed that he rescued the relics from Ripon, which he described as "decayed" and "thorn-covered".<ref name=Brooks53>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 53</ref> He also acquired the relics of [[Audoin (bishop)|St Ouen]], and Frithegod also wrote, at Oda's behest, a verse life of that saint, which has been lost.<ref name=ASE/> He was also active in reorganizing the diocesan structure of his province, as the sees of Elmham and Lindsey were reformed during his archbishopric.<ref name=Darlington386>Darlington "Ecclesiastical Reform" ''English Historical Review'' p. 386</ref>

The archbishop died on 2 June 958<ref name=Handbook214/> and is regarded as a saint, with a [[feast day]] of 4 July.<ref name=Saints>Walsh ''New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 454–455</ref> Other dates were also commemorated, including 2 June or 29 May. After his death, legendary tales ascribed miracles to him, including one where the Eucharist dripped with blood. Another was the miraculous repair of a sword.<ref name=ODS393>Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 393</ref> There is no contemporary evidence for veneration being made to Oda, with the first indication of cult coming in the hagiography written by Byrhtferth about Oswald, but no hagiography specifically about Oda was written until [[Eadmer]] wrote the ''Vita sancti Odonis'' sometime between 1093 and 1125.<ref name=DNB/> Oda was known by contemporaries as "The Good"<ref name=ASE/> and also became known as ''Severus'' "The Severe".{{efn|In [[Michael Drayton]]'s poem ''[[Poly-Olbion]]'' (Song 24), he is described as "Odo the Severe".}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|40em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |author=Blair, John P. |title=The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year= 2005 |isbn=0-19-921117-5 }}
* {{cite book |author=Brooks, Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-7185-0041-5 }}
* {{cite book  |author=Clanchy, C. T. |title=From Memory to Written Record: England 1066–1307|edition=Second|year= 1993 |publisher= Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn= 978-0-631-16857-7}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author1=Cubitt, Catherine |author2= Costambeys, Marios |title=Oda (d. 958) |encyclopedia =Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher= Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20541 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/20541|access-date= 7 November 2007 }} {{ODNBsub}}
* {{cite journal |author=Darlington, R. R.|title=Ecclesiastical Reform in the Late Old English Period |journal=[[The English Historical Review]] |volume=51 |issue=203  |date= July 1936 |pages= 385–428 |jstor= 553127 |doi=10.1093/ehr/LI.CCIII.385}}
* {{cite book |author=Delaney, John P. |title=Dictionary of Saints|edition=Second |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, NY |year=1980 |isbn=0-385-13594-7 }}
* {{cite book| author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-0-19-860949-0}}
* {{cite book |author=Fletcher, R. A. |author-link= Richard A. Fletcher |title=The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity 371-1386AD |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |year=1997  |isbn=0-0025-5203-5 }}
* {{cite book |author=Fletcher, R. A. |author-link= Richard A. Fletcher |title= Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK  |year=2003 |isbn=0-19-516136-X }}
* {{cite book |author = Foot, Sarah | author-link= Sarah Foot |title = Æthelstan: The First King of England | publisher=Yale University Press | year=2011 | location = New Haven and London | isbn=978-0-300-12535-1}}
* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third Edition, revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Lapidge, Michael |author-link=Michael Lapidge |title=Oda |pages=339–340 |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3= Simon Keynes |editor4= Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Miller, Sean |title=Eadwig |pages=151–152–160 |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3= Simon Keynes |editor4= Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Miller, Sean |title=Edmund |pages=159–160 |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3= Simon Keynes |editor4= Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Schoebe, G. |title=The Chapters of Archbishop Oda (942/6) and the Canons of the Legatine Councils of 786 |journal=[[Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research]] |volume=xxxv |issue=91 |date= May 1962 |pages=75–83 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2281.1962.tb01415.x}}
* {{cite book |author=Southern, R. W.|author-link=Richard Southern |title=Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages |publisher=Penguin Books |location=New York |year=1970 |isbn=0-14-020503-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Stafford, Pauline|author-link=Pauline Stafford |title= Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries |publisher=Edward Arnold |location=London |year=1989  |isbn=0-7131-6532-4 }}
* {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |author-link= Frank Stenton |title= Anglo-Saxon England  |year= 1971|publisher= Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}
* {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J. |title= A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |year=2007 |publisher= Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }}
* {{cite book |author=Wormald, Patrick |author-link=Patrick Wormald |title=The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |location=Cambridge, MA |year=1999 |isbn=0-631-22740-7 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{PASE|37848|Oda 1}}
* [https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0901-0961-_Odo_Cantuariensis_Archiepiscopus.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes]

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel| [[Christianity|Christian]] titles }}
{{s-bef| before=[[Aethelstan of Ramsbury|Aethelstan]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Bishop of Ramsbury (ancient)|Bishop of Ramsbury]] | | years={{circa|925|lk=yes}}–941 }}
{{s-aft| after=[[Ælfric of Ramsbury|Ælfric]] }}
{{s-bef | before=[[Wulfhelm]] }}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]] | years=941–958}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Ælfsige]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{Bishops of Ramsbury (ancient)}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{good article}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oda The Severe}}
[[Category:958 deaths]]
[[Category:10th-century English archbishops]]
[[Category:Anglo-Norse people]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon saints]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:Bishops of Ramsbury (ancient)]]
[[Category:10th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:10th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:10th-century English writers]]