He was born in the province of East Angles, of noble Danish parents,
who, about the year 870, had accompanied Inguar and Hubba in their
barbarous expedition, and had acquired a peaceable plentiful
settlement in that part of England. Odo from a child loved the
Christian religion, frequented the churches, and often spoke with
honor of Christ to his parents; for which he was frequently severely
chastised by them, and at length disinherited and turned out of
doors. The young nobleman, rejoicing to see himself naked, and found
worthy to suffer something for God, chose him for his inheritance;
and, fearing lest by sloth he should lose the advantages he had
already gained, resolved to give himself wholly to God, and embrace
an ecclesiastical state. He was enabled to perform his studies by
the liberality of the most noble and virtuous duke Athelm, who seems
to have been son of the ealderman Athelm, who in the reign of king
Ethelwolf, being assisted by the Dorsetshire men, had defeated the
Danes near Portland, in 838. The duke or governor Athelm was one of
the principal noblemen of England in the reign of king Alfred, and
in the Saxon annals, is styled ealderman of Wiltshire. Being a most
religious man, he was much taken with the piety of Odo. In 887 he
made a devout pilgrimage to Rome, and carried thither the alms of
king Alfred and of the West-Saxons, as the Saxon Annals testify. He
had before that time procured Odo to be ordained priest, and made use
of him for his confessarius, as did many others who belonged to the
court. He recited every day the church office with him, as it was
then customary for pious persons among the laity to do. Our saint
accompanied him to Rome in quality of chaplain. On the road, this
nobleman fell sick of a fever which in seven days reduced him almost
to extremity. But Odo, after praying for him, presented him a glass
of wine on which he had made the sign of the cross, bidding him have
an entire confidence in God. Athelm had no sooner drunk the glass,
than he found himself perfectly cured, and able to get on horseback.
Athelm died in 898.
Odo continued to be caressed as much as ever, and was often employed
by the kings Alfred and his son Edward the Elder, who began his reign
in 901. King Alfred had by his wisdom and prowess raised the English
monarchy to the highest pitch of grandeur, and the Danes who, from
the time of the martyrdom of St. Edmund, were possessed of part of
Northumberland, and of the kingdom of the East-Angles, were confined
within those territories, and restrained in the eastern provinces
from making inroads by the famous ditch running from the northern
fens to the river Ouse, and into Suffolk, separating Mercia and the
kingdom of the East-Angles, called at this day, from a town of that
name, Reech-dike, and by the common people Devil’s-dike. This great
ditch, mentioned by the Saxon Annals in the reign of Edward the
Elder, seems made about this time. When the Danes broke the truce,
king Edward entirely subdued them in the country of the East-Angles;
he also defeated the Scots, Cumbrians, and Welch. He built towns
and fortresses in many parts of the kingdom, as Ethelred, earl
of Mercia, and after his death his courageous and virtuous widow
Ethelfleda, daughter to king Alfred, did in the middle counties. But
nothing reflects greater honor on the name of this king, and on his
wise counsellors, than the body or code of laws which he added to
those of his father Alfred,[25] in enacting which the Danish king
of the East-Angles, Guthrun, or rather Guthrun’s successor, Eoric,
concurred. In these laws only pecuniary fines are prescribed for
theft, and most other crimes; for which capital punishments were
not generally instituted before the thirteenth century. Edward the
Elder reigned twenty-four years, and dying in 925 was buried in the
monastery which his father Alfred had founded at Winchester.
Athelstan, his eldest son, reigned fourteen years with great prudence
and valor. His father Edward having extinguished the kingdom of
the Danes among the East-Angles, Athelstan expelled them out of
Northumberland; obliged the Welch to pay him a considerable annual
tribute; and in 938 vanquished also the Scots. For their king,
Constantine, protecting the Danes in Northumberland under their
last king Guthfrith and his son Anlaff, drew on himself the arms of
king Athelstan, who marched with his victorious army to the very
north of Scotland, in 934, as William of Malmesbury relates. In the
same year Constantine invaded England with a great army of Scots,
Danes, and Irish, another Anlaff, king of Dublin and some of the
Western Islands, coming over to his assistance. Athelstan met them at
Brunanburgh, a place at present unknown, near the Humber, and with
his valiant West-Saxons attacking Anlaff, whilst his cousin Turketil,
at the head of the Londoners, fell on the Scots, he gained a most
complete victory, which he ascribed to the intercession of Saint John
of Beverly. Having on the other side driven the Welch out of Exeter
he founded there a noble monastery, which was afterward made the
cathedral when the bishopric was removed from Crediton to that city.
Alfred of Beverly calls Athelstan the first monarch of all England,
though out of modesty he never assumed that title, but left it to
his brother Edred to take. For after the extinction of the Danish
kingdom in Northumberland, and the death of Ethelfleda, countess of
Mercia, there remained no petty sovereign in his dominions, which had
always been the case from Egbert to his time. Athelstan also subdued
the Welch and the Scots, and according to our historians made not
only the former, but likewise the latter tributary, though this the
Scottish writers deny with regard to their country. King Athelstan
was a great lover of peace, piety, and religion: he was devout,
affable to all, learned himself, and a patron of learned men; and
he was as much admired and beloved by his subjects for his humility
and humanity as he was feared by enemies and rebels for his military
skill and invincible courage. He framed many good laws, in which he
inflicted chiefly pecuniary penalties for crimes; for which purpose
he fixed for every offence a value or price according to every one’s
rank and estate. This great king reposed an entire confidence in the
prudence and sanctity of his chaplain, and not content to make use of
his counsels in his most weighty concerns, he carried him with him
in his war, that he might always animate himself to virtue by his
example and holy advice. The kingdom of the West-Saxons was for some
time all comprised under the diocess of Winchester, till in the reign
of king Ina, about the year 705, the see of Shirburne was erected,
and in 905 that of Wilton for Wiltshire, though these two sees were
again united and fixed at Salisbury in 1046. King Athelstan about the
beginning of his reign procured St. Odo to be chosen second bishop of
Wilton, according to Le Neve’s Fasti, though some say of Shirburne.
Nevertheless, the saint was obliged often to attend the king, and
was present at the great battle of Brunanburgh, against the Danes,
Scots, and Irish, in which Athelstan, being attacked by Anlaff, and
almost surrounded by enemies, having also broken or lost his sword,
called aloud for help. St. Odo ran in upon this occasion, and first
discovered to the king a sword hanging by his side, which was thought
to have been sent from heaven, with which, animated by the saint, he
gained one of the most glorious and advantageous victories that ever
was won by the English nation.
Athelstan dying in 941, left the crown to his brother Edmund, at that
time only eighteen years of age. This prince reduced a second time
the Northumbers and Anlaff the Dane, who had again revolted; and
governed by the wise counsels of St. Odo, he enacted many wholesome
laws, especially to prevent family feuds and murders. By one of
these it is ordained that if several thieves combine together, the
eldest shall be hanged, the rest whipped thrice. This seems the
first law by which robbery was punished in England by death. The
king was religious and valiant, and being a judge of men, reposed
an entire confidence in St. Odo, who, in 942, was translated to
the metropolitan see of Canterbury. The saint had consented to his
first promotion with great reluctance. But he opposed the second a
long time with a dread which saints are usually filled with on such
occasions. He alleged first, his unworthiness, secondly, the canons
against translations, and thirdly, that he was no monk. His two
first difficulties were overruled; and as to the third, he at length
consented to receive the Benedictin habit from the hands of the abbot
of Fleuri, now St. Bennet’s on the Loire, a house then famous for
its regularity. The abbot was therefore invited into England for
this purpose, or according to others, St. Odo travelled to Fleuri,
and received the habit from his hands; after which he was installed
archbishop. King Edmund was assassinated by Leof, an outlawed thief,
who had insolently seated himself at the king’s table, in a great
banquet which the king gave on the feast of St. Austin, archbishop of
Canterbury, in 948.
Edmund left two sons very young, Edwy and Edgar, but was succeeded
by his brother Edred, in whose days happened the following miracle,
related by Eadmer in his exact life of our saint; also by William of
Malmesbury, and the Chronicles of the Church of Canterbury, quoted in
Parker’s British Antiquities, and Du Pin.[26] Some of the clergy at
Canterbury being tempted to doubt of the real presence of Christ’s
body in the holy eucharist, St. Odo begged by his prayers that God
would be pleased mercifully to demonstrate to them the truth of this
sacred mystery; and at this petition, whilst he was saying mass in
his cathedral, at the breaking of the host, blood was seen by all the
people distilling from it into the chalice; the saint called up to
the altar those who labored under the temptation before-mentioned,
and others then present, to bear witness to the miracle. Full
of gratitude, they afterward celebrated with their archbishop a
solemn thanksgiving for this wonderful miracle, in which Christ had
manifested himself visible in the flesh to their corporeal eyes. King
Edred died in 955, after a lingering illness, which he sanctified by
the most edifying patience and acts of devotion, having reigned nine
years and a half. He took the title of king of Great Britain, as he
styles himself in a charter which he gave to the abbey of Croyland,
recited by Ingulphus. In another, given to the abbey of Reculver,[27]
he calls himself _Monarch of all England_.
Edwy, the eldest son of king Edmund, succeeded next to the throne,
and was crowned at Kingston by St. Odo. But being a youth abandoned
to excessive lust, after the coronation dinner he left his bishops
and nobles to go to his mistress Ethelgiva, who was his own near
relation. St. Dunstan, then abbot of Glastenbury, reproved him by
order of St. Odo, but was banished by the tyrant, and the monks
turned out of Glastenbury and many other monasteries. St. Odo exerted
his zeal against the adulteress, but the king repaired to Gloucester
when she fled to that city. The enormities of his reign stirred up
the Mercians and Northumbers to take up arms against him, and to
crown his younger brother Edgar. Edwy retained the kingdom of the
West-Saxons till his death, which happened in 959, according to
Florence of Worcester and Laud’s copy of the Saxon annals.
Edgar exceedingly honored St. Odo, recalled St. Dunstan, and advanced
him to the bishopric of Worcester. He reigned about sixteen years in
uninterrupted peace and prosperity, till his death in 975, beloved by
all his subjects, and revered by foreigners. William of Malmesbury
and Florence of Worcester mention his two great fleets, said to have
consisted of three thousand six hundred ships, with which he yearly
scoured the British seas; and he had six or eight petty kings often
to wait on him, namely, Kenneth of the Scots, Malcolm of Cumberland,
Maccus, lord of Man and the Isles, and five princes of Wales, who
all rowed his galley from Chester down the river Dee. These princes
of Wales were the successors of Howel Dha, the wise legislator and
powerful prince of all Wales.[28] King Edgar’s salutary laws are
chiefly to be ascribed to St. Odo and St. Dunstan. This great king,
by the direction of these holy men, set himself earnestly to repair
the damages which the Church and State had received under the tyranny
of his brother.
St. Odo never intermitted the daily instruction of his clergy and
flock, notwithstanding his great age, and strenuously labored to
advance daily in the divine love. He died in 961. His relics, when
his shrine was plundered at the change of religion, seem to have
been deposited under a small tomb which is seen at this day in the
same place where the shrine formerly stood. His name was famous in
our English Martyrologies. For his virtue he was usually styled
whilst living, _Odo se gode_, that is, in the Saxon language, _Odo
the Good_. The Constitutions of St. Odo seem charges delivered by
him to the clergy.[29] The laws of the kings Athelstan, Edmund, and
Edgar, are part laws of the State, part of the Church. They were
enacted in general assemblies or synods, and are for the most part
to be ascribed to St. Odo. See Matthew of Westminster, Florence of
Worcester, and the life of St. Odo, written, not by Osbern the famous
monk of Canterbury, in 1070, as Mabillon conjectured, Sæc. Ben. V.
p. 203, but by Eadmer, the disciple of St. Anselm, in 1121, as Henry
Wharton demonstrates in his Preface, vol. 2, p. 10, Anglia Sacra.
The Life of St. Odo, written by Osbern, and quoted by William of
Malmesbury, seems nowhere to be extant. The History of St. Odo is
compiled by Ericus Pantopidanus in his Gesta Danorum extra Daniam.
Hafniæ. 1740. t. 2, § 2, § 8, p. 157.