h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Bishop Odo was an actual person, as I'm sure you must know. I'm trying to write a biography of him, he was deeply unpleasant, very much a kind of Black Adder figure!

Hope all's well.

Cheers

DMS

Ha ha, I've been spotted!

Yes I know Odo was a real person and a younger brother of Willian the Conqueror. First stumbled across him years ago whilst still in school doing a history topic on the Norman invasion. I hadn't realised till fairly recently exactly how ruthless he was nor how much influence he had for a while.

There is also a local connection of Bish Odo to William Fitz Osbourne who was granted land etc. and started to build Chepstow Castle, the first stone built castle in Britain in 1067.

It was a nick name I was given by the form while in school which I was quite fond of. Well it was preferable to some of the things the others were called anyway!!

Good luck with the biography, I'd be very interested to here how it goes.

Odo

Yes, he's an interesting if rather hapless character. He gets more than a couple of mentions in a Guide entry I wrote on Rochester Castle, tell me what you think! A670088

Cheers

DMS

A good entry, I ended up feeling very sympathetic towards the remains. I've always wished old buildings could speak. The stories and events they could describe would be fascinating.

Anyway, heading back to reality the entry sums Odo up really. Power grabbing, ruthless and lucky to be alive after all his manipulations.

The whole mace/club-wielding thing comes from an instruction in the writings of St Paul (I think, although not 100% sure of the author) who instructs priests 'not to spill blood by the sword'. Again I'm not sure of the exact wording but the use of a sword to shed blood was defiantly forbidden. Obviously battering someone over the head with a club is not going to cause them to bleed, so it's quite ok to fight using one!

Odo

Yes, it's something to do with not actually shedding blood. In the course of my research I've found a book that appears to deal with him at some length, if not an actual biography, called 'Odo's Hanging'. It's out of print, but I shall endeavour to get hold of it.

The blood shedding is the reason for the mace, although he probably did more damage with that on horseback than some knights managed with swords.

You've got me intrigued now. Had a quick look on the net for Odo and found the section of the 'Anglo Saxon Chronicle' that deals with the siege at Rochester. Good luck with the research.

Odo

Is there any chance you could post the link? I may already have it, just need to collect as many leads as possible.

Cheers

DMS

Not posted links before so I hope this works. The pages I was looking at deal with 1088-1091 and are on the britannia website. http://britannia.com/history/docs/1088-91.html The whole translation of the chronicle is on there.

Hope this is useful, the site looks fairly reliable.

Odo