166 Bishops of Old Sarum. 
Earl of Dorset. Mr. Planché! doubts whether he ever held either 
of these last-named dignities—at all events there is no clear evidence 
of the fact. In contemporaneous records he is styled simply “Osmund 
the Bishop.” It is probable enough that he was Earl (or Count) 
of Seez in his own right, for there is no necessity to suppose that 
the assumption of the mitre in England terminated his connection 
with Normandy his native country. 
Osmund would seem to have been employed by the Conqueror in 
high and important offices, and, for a time at least, to have been 
Chancellor of England. He was engaged as one of the commission- 
ers, whose work it was to compile the wonderful record which we 
know as Domesday Book. The survey of Grantham and its adjuncts, 
which was made by the Lincolnshire commissioners, was probably 
his doing to a great extent. If so, his circuit comprehended Derby- 
shire, Notts, Yorkshire, Mid-Lancashire, North Lancashire, part of 
Westmoreland, Huntingdonshire, and Lincolnshire; truly a great 
and arduous work, but so ably performed as to consist well with his 
reputation for marvellous abilities. 
Osmund was present, in the memorable year 1086, when the king 
met all the principal men of his kingdom at “ Sarisberie ”—sixty 
thousand in number—and when they not only fully accepted the 
Domesday Book as a true “extent” of the whole kingdom, bert 
acknowledged William as their lawful sovereign, and “ swore to him 
oaths of fealty that they would be faithful to him against all other 
men.” 
But the great work to which Osmund devoted himself was the 
spiritual care of those committed to his charge as Bishop, and, as a 
means towards this end, the completion of his Cathedral at Old 
Sarum. 
For fifteen years we are told the work was in progress, and it is 
described as having been built “infra castrum Domini Regis,” i.e., 
within the king’s castle. It was consecrated on April 5th, 
1092, but five days afterwards a severe thunderstorm entirely 
destroyed the roof of the Church tower, and much injured the 
1 Journal of Brit. Archzol, Assoc., xv., 27. 
