Friday 30 January 2009

The Mind & 'Voice' of Herbert de Losinga


As you may already be aware, I don't tend to concentrate my attentions on the 'great' and the 'good' of Norwich history; partly for the simple reason that they tend to get enough attention as it is. However, when I get the opportunity to read the letters of one of the great figures of Norwich history, dating from nearly 900 years ago, then I feel bound to investigate.

Today, I spent some time in the wonderful Norwich cathedral library reading through some of the letters of the first bishop of Norwich, Herbert de Losinga (Goulburn, E.M. & Symonds, H [1878]: 'The Letters and Sermons of Bishop Herbert de Losinga). I find it amazing that we are still able to access the mind of a man who has been dead for so very many years (d. 1119). It felt like a kind of mind-time portal. This is what literature can do! In part, this is because through these letters we see different facets to this man - including, perhaps, surprisingly human[e] qualities. I think that, in this, we also recognise his humanity, and are able to relate to him across all those years and all that cultural chasm

Here are some examples:

To two of his novices, with whom he regularly corresponds, he writes sternly,

'I reprove your indolent and sluggish want of exertion.'

However, he is also capable of warmth, and encourages young Otto and Willelm to, 'write to me therefore in poetry, frame verses, compose odes, sing in metre and rejoice the heart of your aged friend by cultivating the muses in every form. Henceforth I will sit as judge of your compositions and criticising your poems will prepare a palm for the conqueror, a punishment for the careless.'


We hear another side of de Losinga - the wrathful Lord of the church - when he writes about people who have been killing his dear in his park at Homersfield near Thetford:

'Meanwhile I excommunicate those who have broken into my park and killed my deer with that anathema wherewith God in His anger smiteth the souls of the wicked [...]. May the curse and excommunication rest upon them in their homes, in the ways and in the fields, in the woods and in the waters, and in all the places wheresoever they be found! May the flesh of those who have devoured my stag rot, as the flesh of Herod rotted...'

Finally, in what Oliver Rackham describes as the earliest known statement of woodland conservation in English history, de Losinga writes to William the Monk:

'As to making a present of Thorpe Wood [present day Mousehold Heath] to the sick, or any one else, I gave you no orders, nor do I give now, nor will I give any; for I appointed you the custodian of the wood, not the rooter up of it [my emphasis]. To the sick, when I come to Norwich, I will give as I did last year, not logs of wood, but pence [...] Guard the wood of the Holy Trinity, as you wish to be guarded by the Holy Trinity, and to continue in my favour.'

I can't recommend the cathedral library highly enough. It is a fabulous resource, with welcoming staff, so go see - and discover! - for yourself.

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