Rowley The Man Behind the Bayeux Tapestry

Odo, William the Conqueror's Half-Brother
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7524-7867-8
Verlag: The History Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 192 Seiten

Odo of Conteville, the younger half-brother of William the Conqueror, was ordained Bishop of Bayeux while still in his teens. A larger than life character, he is best known for commissioning the Bayeaux Tapestry, in which he makes a dashing appearance at the height of the Battle of Hastings. He also played a pivotal role in the planning and implementation of the Conquest of England, after which, as Earl of Kent, he was second only to William in wealth and power. The popular impression of Odo is of a not so loveable rogue, who typified the worst excesses of the Norman conquerors. He was the first Chief Justice of England and on occasion also acted as regent when the king was in Normandy. After allegedly defrauding both Crown and Church, however, Odo was disgraced and his plans to raise an unauthorised army for a campaign in Italy, possibly in order to gain the papacy, saw him imprisoned for five years. He was released by the dying William in 1087, but soon rebelled against the new king, his nephew William Rufus. Yet Odo was far from being a loutish philistine. The bishop recognised the value of education and the arts and amongst his less well-known activities was his generous patronage of both. Trevor Rowley's book is the first full-length biography of Odo, which also seeks to redress this balance and to make Bishop Odo's extraordinary life story known.

TREVOR ROWLEY was Director of Studies in the Department for Continuing Education, Oxford University and is a Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. He is the author of many books including The Shropshire Landscape, Villages in the Landscape and The English Landscape in the Twentieth Century.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rowley, Trevor