Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Osmund (fl.758)
OSMUND (fl. 758), king of the South-Saxons, is said by Florence of Worcester to have been reigning in 758, at which time the South-Saxons were subject to Wessex, having been subdued by Caedwalla (659?-689) [q. v.] in 686. With the names of other South Saxon kings, under-kings, or ealdormen, the name of Osmund appears in late copies of charters preserved in the register of the church of Chichester. These documents represent him as confirming as king a charter of Nunna [q. v.], in the time of Osa, bishop of Selsey; as granting land at Ferring for a monastery by a charter dated 3 Aug. 765, and witnessed by Osa; and as granting land at Hanfield in 770. Among the witnesses of a charter of Offa of 772, quoted by Bishop Stubbs from Lambeth MS. 1212, an Osmund appears as ' dux,' and his name is followed by that of an Oswald, 'dux Suth. Saxonum.' The bishop suggests that this ealdorman Osmund may be the same as king Osmund of the charters in the Chichester register.
[Flor. Wig. i. 57 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Kemble's Codex Dipl. Nos. 1001. 1008. 1009 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Dict. Chr. Biogr. iv. 161, art 'Osmund' (3), by Bishop Stubbs.]