St Osmund of Salisbury

Osmund is a Norman churchman of rank and responsibility who came to England with the Conquest, served as royal chancellor, and then became bishop of Salisbury. At Old Sarum he completed the cathedral, formed its chapter on a disciplined model, fostered a clergy school, and helped bring order to the liturgical books and ceremonies that later became famous as the Sarum Use throughout much of England.

This life does not conceal his weakness in the investiture struggle, when he sided with the king against St Anselm, but he also records that Osmund repented of that judgment before his death. The life is therefore not only one of church building and organization, but of humility enough to acknowledge a serious mistake.