We now turn our attention to how clerics in Anglo-Norman and Angevin England applied the prescriptive debate to the actual realities of warfare. The Norman invasion of England in 1066 afforded churchmen ample opportunities to take active roles in the conquest and the subsequent pacification of the country. The men surveyed here – Bishop Odo of Bayeux, Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances, and Remigius of Fécamp (later bishop of Lincoln) – benefited from their military service to William the Conqueror. They were among the first to bring together the two traditions of warrior-clerics: the Anglo-Saxon preference for royal service and the Norman reliance of personal loyalty and affinity. Odo and Geoffrey had a close, personal relationship to William, and such personal connections to the ruler gave them the opportunity to rise to lofty heights within the government and elite society. Additionally, they had been raised in households that extolled chivalric virtues and ideology, and were thus comfortable around displays of warfare and personal prowess. While this same background nurtured many bishops and abbots, Odo and Geoffrey relied on their royal connection to place themselves at the highest levels of the ecclesiastical and secular hierarchies. For them, there was a unification of purpose between the chivalry of the high nobility, and success at the highest levels of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. This did not always guarantee that they benefited from direct royal patronage, however, as both men eventually ran afoul of the king. However, these men represent two sides of the same coin: they were both royally connected nobles who accepted the use of warfare in pursuit of their goals.

Odo was among the most famous bishops of the early Norman period of English history. He was the half-brother of William I, and the brother of Count Robert of Mortain. He is often considered the standard example of a warlike, secular bishop in the late eleventh century. He served William loyally, and his participation in government and warfare was not limited to offering advice – he also took an active and vigorous role in the thick of the fighting on the field of battle. Once William became king, Odo served him as a general, and he ran the kingdom during his brother’s frequent absences to the Continent. Finally, Odo parlayed his position into personal and independent authority, which allowed him to elevate himself to the highest ranks of ecclesiastical and secular society.