Edward the Confessor and abbacies. However, his appointments were generally respectable. When Odda of Deerhurst died without heirs in 1056, Edward seized lands which Odda had granted to Pershore Abbey and gave them to his Westminster foundation; the historian Ann Williams observes that "the Confessor did not in the 11th century have the saintly reputation which he later enjoyed, largely through the efforts of the Westminster monks themselves". After 1066 there was a subdued cult of Edward as a saint, possibly discouraged by the early Norman abbots of Westminster, which gradually increased in the early 12th century . Osbert of Clare, the prior
Iste confessor Noster hinc illi chorus obsequentem // Concinit laudem, celebresque palmas; 5 Sit salus illi, decus, atque virtus, // Qui super cæli solio coruscans, </poem> This confessor of the Lord honouring <poem> 1 This confessor of the Lord, honouring // whom, piously people praise worldwide [If it is not the day of his death, the last line is changed to:] 2 Who holy, prudent, humble, modest // led a sober life without sin 3 On account of whose merit, frequently // sick limbs, from many places, languishing 4 Hence our choir, praying to him, sing praise (about his) famous victories 5