Page:St. Oswald and the Church of Worcester.djvu/42



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. Such an investigation must begin with the account of Archbishop Oda which forms its first section. Oda's story has been variously retold by the post-Conquest historians, and it is most desirable to consider the pre-Conquest evidence, in this as in other instances, without allowing it to be confused with the later accretions and interpretations. These Norman or Normanized historians have coloured the history of the tenth century according to their later conceptions; but they had little to guide them that we have not before us to-day, and we need to be constantly on the watch against their misinterpretations and amplifications. In the present note I have sought (1) to bring together the whole of the pre-Conquest evidence as to Archbishop Oda, and then (2) to show how his story has been treated by later writers.

1. 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.).

This, however, is a mistaken inference. 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