Goswin was a Benedictine abbot. Born in Douai in 1086, then in the County of Flanders and since 1668 in France, he studied in Paris and afterwards returned to Douai to teach theology. Goswin then entered Anchin Abbey in 1113, in Pecquencourt, near his hometown, and became a Benedictine monk. In 1130 he was made abbot of Anchin Abbey.