ODINGTON, WALTER. - Benedictine monk, who lived in England in the second half of the 13th century.
He first resided at Evesham, then at Merton College (Oxford); he was a profound scholar of Greek literature, music, singing, mathematics, and one of the most important writers on mensural music. His treatise *De speculatione musicae* in six books was published by C. de Coussemaker in *Scriptores de musica medii aevi*, I, Paris 1864, pp. 182-250, a most significant document for the knowledge of the music of the time, especially regarding rhythm and intervals, which formed the basis upon which harmony would develop.
BIBL.: J. Wolf, *Geschichte der Mensuralnotation von 1240-1460*, Leipzig 1904, passim; id., *Handbuch der Notationskunde*, I, ibid. 1913, p. 264.