Odo of Bayeux

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Odo (left) next to his half-brother Wilhelm the Conqueror (center) and his brother Robert (right) in the Bayeux Tapestry
Odo at the Battle of Hastings in the Bayeux Tapestry

Odo I of Bayeux (also Eudes or Odon , * after 1030 ; † 1097 in Palermo ) from the House of Conteville was Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent .

Odo was born the younger son of Herluin von Conteville and Herleva , the mother of Wilhelm the Conqueror . Through this half-brother he received the bishopric of Bayeux, which he kept until his death. Odo played an important role in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, which resulted in the conquest of England . He therefore appears in the Bayeux Tapestry , which may have been commissioned by him. After the conquest he was given the county of Kent in 1067 and soon became the most powerful and richest noble landowner in England. For several years he held a role equivalent to that of a viceroy for his half-brother.

In 1082 he fell out of favor with his brother because he supposedly wanted to appoint himself Pope . He was then permanently incarcerated. Only after a long hesitation did Wilhelm the Conqueror order his release on his death bed. Odo then joined the unsuccessful uprising against Wilhelm's son, Wilhelm II . He then withdrew from major politics and devoted himself to the renewal of the churches entrusted to him.

After the Synod of Clermont in 1095, in which he most likely attended, he joined the First Crusade . On the way there he died in Palermo in 1097 , where he is also buried. Despite his office, Odo was considered a very secular man, but has shown himself to be a benefactor for his churches.

literature

  • Egon Wamers (Editor): The Last Vikings. The Bayeux Tapestry and archeology. Archaeological Museum Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-88270-506-5

Single receipts

  1. ↑ See also: Companion of Wilhelm the Conqueror
  2. ↑ Wamers et al., P. 47
predecessor Office successor
Hugo d'Ivry Bishop of Bayeux
1049-1097 		Turold de Brémoy
Leofwine Godwinson Earl of Kent
1066-1088 		Wilhelm of Ypres
personal data
SURNAME Odo of Bayeux
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Odo de Conteville
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Bayeux, Earl of Kent
DATE OF BIRTH after 1030
DATE OF DEATH 1097
Place of death Palermo