Osmund, 1078—1099. 169 
immense wealth of Osmund, and his boundless generosity in endowing 
the Cathedral Church. An expression used in his foundation charter 
in which he speaks of having bestowed certain estates on his Church * 
* even as he had obtained them from the king,” has somewhat misled 
them. To say the truth, the estates were, at all events to a great 
extent, the old endowments of the bishoprics of Sherborne and 
Ramsbury. In theory all such estates would on any vacancy be, 
for the time being, in the possession of the crown; and all that 
Osmund did was to give a definite form to his Cathedral foundation, 
after receiving back those estates from William the Conqueror. I 
May mention in passing, that in the enumeration of these estates, 
those in Dorset are invariably named first ; and, in the Cathedral, 
the seat next to the dean was assigned afterwards to the archdeacon 
of Dorset, as though in recognition of the respect due to the ancient 
see of Sherborne, which, like that ef Winchester, had been the 
mother-see of several daughter churches. 
I must say a word or two in passing of the fellow-workers that 
Osmund gathered round him. His canons are said to have been 
noted for their learning, and their skill in music. Malmesbury 
speaks of the “ Canonicorum claritas cantibus et literatura juata 
nobilium.’* Osmund did his best to attach such to him by liberal 
pecuniary help, and he furthered their taste for reading and musie 
by purchasing or transcribing manuscripts, and himself willingly 
turning ‘ book-binder” for the better preservation of his literary 
treasures.’ 
A word also must be said as to what is commonly termed 
the ‘‘ Use of Sarum,” which Osmund compiled. The immediate 
eause of this compilation was the attempt to introduce into this 
country a new style of chanting invented by William of Fescamp 
_in Normandy, which the bishops and abbots, who towards the close 
of the eleventh century were principally of Norman origin, en- 
deavoured to force on the Saxon monks. Amongst others Abbot 
1Gest. Pontif., 184. 
x 2«TVibrorum copia conquisita, cum episcopus ipse nec scribere, nec scriptos 
_ ligare, fastidiret.” Gest. Pont. p. 184. 
