Walter

Walter is mentioned in the first line of the Ormulum. In the dedication, Orm writes that Walter is his brother in three ways. In the flesh, because they were born of the same parents, in Christ, because the are both Christians, and in the abbey, because they both belong to the same order of monks. The fact that Walter apparently commissioned Orm to write the Ormulum is an indication that Walter was senior in the monastery, and may have been Orm’s older brother. We know, however, that he cannot have been the abbot, as the surviving records of Bourne abbey list a man called David as being the abbot during Orm's time.