Osbert of Clare (also Osbert de Westminster; died in or after 1158) was a monk, elected prior of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

and briefly abbot. He was a prolific writer of letters, and hagiographer.

Life

Osbert was born towards the end of the eleventh century at

Clare, Suffolk Clare is a market town and civil parish on the north bank of the River River Stour, Suffolk, Stour in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. Clare is in southwest Suffolk, from Bury St Edmunds and ...

. He became a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monk at a priory located in Clare Castle. In 1090

Gilbert Fitz Richard Gilbert Fitz Richard (–), 2nd feudal baron of Clare in Suffolk, and styled "de Tonbridge", was a powerful Anglo-Norman baron who was granted the Lordship of Cardigan, in Wales . Life Gilbert, born before 1066, was the second son and an hei ...

gave the church in the castle to the Abbey of Our Lady of Bec in Normandy, making it an

alien priory Alien priories were religious establishments in England, such as monasteries and convents, which were under the control of another religious house outside England. Usually the Motherhouse, mother-house was in France.Coredon ''Dictionary of Mediev ...

and a dependency of Bec. In 1124 Gilbert's son,

Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare (died 15 April 1136) 3rd feudal baron of Clare in Suffolk, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. A marcher lord in Wales, he was also the founder of Tonbridge Priory in Kent. Life Richard was the eldest son of Gilbert F ...

, moved the Benedictines to a new foundation about two miles west of Clare in Stoke-by-Clare. Under the patronage of the powerful de Clare family, it was one of the wealthiest monastic houses in Norman England. Osbert was elected prior of St Peter's Abbey, Westminster. In the 1130s, he wrote liturgical texts for the feast of

Saint Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christianity, Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's Gosp ...

for

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England cathedral in Worcester, England, Worcester, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Worcester and is the Mother Church# ...

. During a vacancy of the

See of London See or SEE may refer to: * Visual perception Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Televisio ...

, Osbert undertook to introduce at Westminster, the Anglo-Saxon Feast of the Conception of Mary, which had been removed from the liturgical calendar by

Lanfranc Lanfranc, OSB (1005 1010 – 24 May 1089) was an Italian-born English churchman, monk and scholar. Born in Italy, he moved to Normandy to become a Benedictine monk at Bec. He served successively as prior of Bec Abbey and abbot of St Ste ...

. A number of monks objected against this since it had not been sanctioned by Rome. Whereupon the matter was brought before the Council of London in 1129. The synod decided in favour of the feast, and Bishop Gilbert of London adopted it for his diocese. Thereafter the feast spread in England, but for a time retained its private character. Osbert was a friend of

Anselm of Canterbury Anselm of Canterbury OSB (; 1033/4–1109), also known as (, ) after his birthplace and () after his monastery, was an Italian Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher, and theologian of the Catholic Church, who served as Archbishop of Canterb ...

, and had a deep appreciation of Anglo-Saxon saints and spirituality. Among his works is a biography of

Eadburh of Winchester Eadburh (; also Edburga, Edburg; born 921/924, died 15 June 951/953) was the daughter of King Edward the Elder of England and his third wife, Eadgifu of Kent. She lived most of her life as a nun known for her singing ability. Most of the infor ...

, daughter of

Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (870s?17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousi ...

and

Eadgifu of Kent Eadgifu of Kent (also Edgiva or Ediva; in or before 903 – in or after 966) was the third wife of Edward the Elder, List of British monarchs, King of Wessex. Family background Eadgifu was the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent, who died ...

, and a nun at

St Mary's Abbey, Winchester St. Mary's Abbey, also known as the ''Nunnaminster'', was a Benedictine nunnery in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded between 899 and 902 by Alfred the Great's widow Ealhswith, who was described as the 'builder' of the Nunnaminster in t ...

.Ridyard, Susan J., ''The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England. A Study of West Saxon and East Anglian Cults'', Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought 4. Cambridge University Press, 2008

Works

By 1138, he had reworked the ''

vita Ædwardi regis The ''Vita Ædwardi Regis qui apud Westmonasterium Requiescit'' () or simply ''Vita Ædwardi Regis'' is a Latin biography of King Edward the Confessor completed by an anonymous author 1067 and suspected of having been commissioned by Queen Edit ...

'' of Westminster Abbey. He himself composed a ''Life'' of St Eadburh of Winchester for

Pershore Abbey Pershore Abbey, at Pershore in Worcestershire, was a Benedictine abbey with Anglo-Saxon origins and is now an Church of England, Anglican parish church, the Church of the Holy Cross. History Foundation The foundation of the minster at Pershore ...

and a ''Life'' of St Æthelberht of East Anglia, dedicated to

Gilbert Foliot Gilbert Foliot (Wiktionary:circa, c. 1110 – 18 February 1187) was a medieval English monk and prelate, successively Abbot of Gloucester, Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London. Born to an ecclesiastical family, he became a monk at C ...

sometime after 1148. *Letters, ed. E.W. Williamson, ''The letters of Osbert of Clare''. Oxford, 1929. Reprinted in 1998. *Charters, ed. by E. Mason, J. Bray, and D. J. Murphy (eds.). ''Westminster Abbey charters, 1066–c.1214''. RS 25. London, 1988. *''Vita Edburgae'', MS. Laud Misc. 114, f. 85–120 (

Bodleian The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

, Oxford), ed. S.J. Ridyard, ''The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England. A Study of West Saxon and East Anglian Cults''. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought 4. Cambridge, 2008. 253 ff (Appendix). * Some extracts are printed in ''Vita Ædwardi regis'' "The Life of King Edward", ed. and tr. F. Barlow, ''The Life of King Edward who Rests at Westminster Attributed to a Monk of Saint-Bertin''. 2nd ed. Oxford, 1992. The full text was edited by

Marc Bloch Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch ( ; ; 6 July 1886 – 16 June 1944) was a French historian. He was a founding member of the Annales School of French social history. Bloch specialised in medieval history and published widely on France in the Middle ...

, "La vie de S. Édouard le Confesseur par Osbert de Clare." ''Analecta Bollandiana'' 41 (1923): 5–131;

References

{{Authority control Christian hagiographers 12th-century writers in Latin Abbots of Westminster 1158 deaths Year of birth unknown 12th-century English writers 12th-century Christian abbots

Life

Works

Further reading

References