Odorannus

Odorannus of Sens (c. 985-1046) was a Benedictine monk at the abbey of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif in Sens, France. He was, in varying capacities, an artist, architect, goldsmith, musical theorist, biographer, exegete and chronicler.

Virtually all that is known of Odorannus is the information he himself provides in his work. He was given an extensive education, apparently under the auspices of the abbot Rainard of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif (979-1015), who revitalized the monastery with learning. When Odorannus was about thirty years old, the Capetian King Robert the Pious of France (r. 996-1031) commissioned him to create a great reliquary to house the remains of Saint Savinianus, the first bishop of Sens. Odorannus' Chronicle describes in detail the interesting circumstances of this commission.

Under the year 1023 in his Chronicle, Odorannus refers to his being sent away from Saint-Pierre-le-Vif for a time, staying instead at the well-known abbey of Saint Denis. He returned after this time away. The reasons he gives for this banishment are unclear, but it seems there was some difficulty with his relationship with his fellow monks. Odorannus died at Saint-Pierre-le-Vif in 1046 after having finished the corpus of his works in 1045.