Dunstan post-Edgar

Unfortunately, St. Dunstan could never stop himself from speaking truth to power, even when power was more, um powerful than he. (I suppose that was the point.) He only survived after his clash with Eadwig thanks to the accession to the throne of Edgar the Peaceable.

Dunstan as Archbishop of Canterbury and Edgar as King of England made a terrific pair for 16 years, but Edgar's death in 975 led to a dispute over succession. Edgar had more than one son by more than one wife, and the most recent wife, Ælfthryth, wanted her son Æthelred to succeed. Dunstan (and others) supported the candidacy of the older son Edward. Both boys were in their minority, but Edward won.

This turned out to be a bad move by Dunstan, since Edward's reign was characterized by anti-monastic and anti-reform views. The link on Ælfrthryth above will give you a taste of what happened. Edward was assassinated a few years later (some say Ælfthryth was involved), and Æthelred became king.

This is where speaking truth to power again shows how risky it is for the speaker. As Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan was the chief celebrant at the coronation, during which he lectured Æthelred about the evils about to visit themselves upon the kingdom because of the evil act that led to Æthelred's succession.

Dunstan then wisely went back to Canterbury and stayed there, teaching at the school. His name rarely appears in any official records. In 980, Dunstan was part of the "translation" of the relics of Edward. His remains were moved from their original burial place to a shrine at Shaftesbury Abbey. (Edward's death had gained him the nickname "the Martyr"; the moving of the relics was a step toward declaring him a saint.)

Dunstan apparently persuaded Æthelred to appoint Ælfheah of Mercia as Bishop of Winchester, and bribed the king with 100 pounds (lbs., not £) of silver to stop persecuting the See of Rochester. (Æthelred was taking land from the diocese to give grants to a retainer.)

Dunstan led a quiet retirement, saying Mass, visiting shrines, teaching. On 19 May 988 he assembled the clergy and had Mass said. He knew he was dying, and asked for Extreme Unction (Last Rites). He died right after. He was considered a saint, and formally canonized in 1029. He was England's favorite Archbishop-turned-saint until Thomas Becket overshadowed him.

His feast day is 19 May. He is patron saint of goldsmiths and silversmiths because of how he occupied himself at Glastonbury. The monks of Glastonbury used to say that his relics were taken there for safekeeping from Canterbury during a 1012 Danish invasion, but a 16th-century Archbishop of Canterbury opened Dunstan's tomb and proved the monks wrong.

Tomorrow we'll get to the third of the Three Holy Hierarchs of English Reform, Oswald of Worcester. 

Dunstan's Comeback

Now brought back to England by Edgar the Peaceable after the demise of Eadwig, Dunstan was made Bishop of Worcester and Bishop of London. Just before Eadwig died he had named a new Archbishop of Canterbury, Byrhthelm. Edgar reversed that appointment, claiming incompetence, and conferred the position on Dunstan.

To be confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan had to go to Rome to receive the pallium from the pope, in this case John XII. His biographer tells us that he was so generous to others during the trip the he ran out of money for himself and his retinue.

Back in England he started making changes. His friend Æthelwold became Bishop of Winchester, and Oswald became Bishop of Worcester. (Oswald, Æthelwold, and Dunstan are referred to as the "Three English Holy Hierarchs" because of their religiou reforms. We'll be getting to Oswald soon.)

Dunstan enforced a spirit of self-sacrifice in the monasteries, and enforced (where he could) celibacy. He forbade selling clergy positions for money, and stopped clergy from appointing relatives to positions under their jurisdiction.

He started a program of building monasteries and cathedrals. The cathedral communities he created were monks instead of secular priests, and in those that existed already with secular priests he insisted they live according to monastic discipline. Priests were encouraged to be educated, and to teach parishioners not only about their religion but also useful knowledge of trades.

For the coronation of King Edgar, Dunstan himself designed the service which became the basis for modern British coronations. Edgar's strong rule and his partnership with Dunstan was considered by contemporary chroniclers as a "Golden Age" for England. The only problem mentioned in chronicles was by William of Malmesbury who wrote that the sailors tasked with patrolling the North Sea shores to guard against Viking invasions were not happy with their post.

Once again, however, Dunstan would clash with the king and lose his standing. Edgar was not the adversary. It was "two kings later" that brought about the end of Dunstan's public career. One more post on Dunstan, and then we will get to the third of the "Holy Hierarchs."

P.S. The illustration is from the anecdote found in the Dunstan link in the first paragraph above, of Dunstan grabbing the devil with red-hot tongs.

Dunstan vs. Eadwig

When King Eadred died, Dunstan was ready to serve his successor, the teenaged Eadwig (pictured to the left). Eadwig, however, was not interested in comporting himself in proper courtly style. Eadwig was under the influence of a woman (who may have been his foster mother), Æthelgifu, who wanted Eadwig to marry her daughter Ælfgifu.

On the day of Earwig's coronation in 956, Eadwig abandoned the banquet to be with the two women. The nobles were unhappy with this behavior. Archbishop Oda suggested Eadwig be brought back, but no one dared interrupt the new king, who was known to be headstrong and had no interest in court etiquette.

Only Dunstan was brave enough to deal with the situation. Along with his kinsman, the Bishop of Lichfield Cynesige, he found the king with the two women, the crown on the floor. In the words of Dunstan's biographer:

...they went in and found the royal crown, brilliant with the wonderful gold and silver and variously sparkling jewels that made it up, tossed carelessly on the ground some distance from the king's head, while he was disporting himself disgracefully between the two women as though they were wallowing in some revolting pigsty. They said to the king: "Our nobles have sent us to ask you to come with all speed to take your proper place in the hall, and not to refuse to show yourself at this happy occasion with your great men." Dunstan first told off the foolish women. As for the king, since he would not get up, Dunstan put out his hand and removed him from the couch where he had been fornicating with the harlots, put his diadem on him, and marched him off to the royal company, parted from his women if only by main force.

Æthelgifu is given the credit for turning people against Dunstan out of revenge. Eadwig confiscated all his property. Dunstan stayed with friends, but because they would also feel the king's disfavor, he fled to Flanders.

In Flanders he did not know the country or the language, but its ruler Count Arnulf I received him with honor and put him in the Abbey of Mont Blandin, where Dunstan was able to see firsthand the fruits of the Benedictine Revival that had been flourishing on the continent but had not reached England.

Fortunately, back in England people were getting fed up with the excesses of Eadwig, and he was driven out in October 959 to be replaced with Edgar the Peaceable. Edgar had been taught by Dunstan's friend, Æthelwold of Winchester, who persuaded Edgar to bring Dunstan back.

After several turns of fortune, Dunstan was now back in England. One of the first acts of the new king was to name Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury. Now Dunstan could really start making changes he saw necessary, and now he had knowledge of the Benedictine Revival and could bring real change and discipline to the monasteries of England. Not that there weren't other problems for monks in the future, but that's a story for tomorrow.

Promoted by a Miracle

St. Dunstan's life had its ups and downs, as the Wheel of Fortune predicts. Driven from one king's court because of the jealousy of others, returned to a later king's court, and then driven away by the jealousy of others—his life was developing a dismal pattern.

The second king was Edmund, and he was becoming increasingly disillusioned with Dunstan as a minister because of the lies of others. Dunstan was prepared to leave, even asking representatives of the kingdom of East Anglia to let him go with them when they left Edmund's court.

Before that event, however, Edmund went out hunting in the Mendip Forest. I'll let someone else take it from here:

He became separated from his attendants and followed a stag at great speed in the direction of the Cheddar cliffs. The stag rushed blindly over the precipice and was followed by the hounds. Eadmund endeavoured vainly to stop his horse; then, seeing death to be imminent, he remembered his harsh treatment of St. Dunstan and promised to make amends if his life was spared. At that moment his horse was stopped on the very edge of the cliff. Giving thanks to God, he returned forthwith to his palace, called for St. Dunstan and bade him follow, then rode straight to Glastonbury. Entering the church, the king first knelt in prayer before the altar, then, taking St. Dunstan by the hand, he gave him the kiss of peace, led him to the abbot's throne and, seating him thereon, promised him all assistance in restoring Divine worship and regular observance. [link]

Dunstan's childhood dream of restoring Glastonbury Abbey to its former glory was in his grasp. Edmund also sent Æthelwold to help. The two began to rebuild the abbey (see illustration for how it might have looked before Henry VIII) and established Benedictine Rule, although probably not as strictly as it was being reformed on the continent. Unlike Æthelwold, Dunstan was not opposed to the presence of secular priests.

Dunstan had a brother, Wulfric, who was given responsibility for the material upkeep of the abbey, so that the cloistered monks did not have to "break enclosure." The first project was to rebuild the church of St. Peter.

Things were looking up for Dunstan and Glastonbury. When Edmund was assassinated in 946, his successor's policies looked to make things even better for Dunstan. Eadred promoted unification of all parts of the kingdom, both Saxon and Danish, along with moral reform and rebuilding of churches. Dunstan's position grew in authority. But Eadred died in 955, and Eadwig was a very different kind of king.

The 45-year-old Dunstan clashed with the 15-year-old Eadwig on the very day of the coronation, setting up another turn of the wheel. I'll tell that awkward story next time.

Saint Dunstan

There were three men in the 10th century in England who were called the "Three English Holy Hierarchs" for their work in reviving English Orthodox monasticism. Æthelwold of Winchester was one, Oswald of Worcester another, and Dunstan.

From Dunstan's biographer "B" (who claimed to be a member of Dunstan's household) we can estimate that he was born c.910 to a couple named Heorstan and Cynethryth near Glastonbury, and that he was related to Bishop of Winchester Alfheah the Bald and to Bishop of Lichfield Cynesige. He studied under the Irish monks who had occupied Glastonbury Abbey, at that time in a state of disrepair. Supposedly he dreamed of restoring the Abbey to its former glory. He would get his chance as its abbot, but that was a long time coming.

Known for his religious devotion and his learning, he was sent to the court of King Æthelstan, where he became such a favorite of the king that he aroused jealousy among others. They accused him of witchcraft and black magic, which caused the king to send him from the court. On his way out, his enemies attacked him, beating him so severely that he could barely crawl out of the cesspool into which they finally threw him. He hid with a friend until he was well enough to travel to Winchester and join the household of Alfheah.

Alfheah thought Dunstan should become a monk, but Dunstan wasn't sure he was made for a celibate life. He was so ill, however (possibly from the beating and the cesspool), that he decided to try the monastic life. He took Holy Orders in 943 and went to live at Glastonbury. He built a 5 by 2.5 foot cell to stay in; he studied, played the harp, and practiced art like silversmithing and illuminating manuscripts. A later legend says the devil tempted him during this time and Dunstan held the devil's face in a pair of tongs.

He worked in the scriptorium. An illustration of a monk kneeling next to Christ (see the illustration) is thought to have been drawn by Dunstan.

Despite his reputation at Æthelstan's court, the king's niece Lady Æthelflæd made him her advisor and left him a considerable sum of money at her death. Around that time Dunstan also had a large inheritance after the death of his father. Suddenly he had secular power through his fortune. Æthelstan died in 940, and his brother Edmund became king. Edmund summoned Dunstan to court as an advisor.

Once again, the jealousy of others at court threatened Dunstan's position and even his life, but he was saved by a miracle. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

St. Swithin

I mentioned yesterday that the Winchester Bible was made at the Priory of St. Swithin in Winchester, and I thought it would be interesting to know more about this early medieval saint...of which we know very little, to be fair.

Like Henry of Blois (who likely commissioned the Winchester Bible), Swithin (or Swithun) was an early bishop of Winchester. We know hardly anything contemporary about his life. He was probably born c.800 in Wessex, and one of the first public mentions of him is when he was consecrated a bishop on 30 October 852. His name is recorded as witness to nine charters, the earliest in 854. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions his death in the year 861.

It is only much later that his name was attached to the restored church at Winchester that had been dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. The place was being rebuilt by Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester (904 - 984), who maybe wanted to promote veneration of local saints over biblical ones. He was aided in this by Dunstan (909 - 988). Swithin's remains were moved to Winchester on 15 July 971 (15 July is his feast day in England), and that's when things got interesting.

Suddenly this obscure bishop had a prominent place in London, and people reported miracles attributed to him. The sick were healed, the blind could see. His shrine became a major pilgrimage site. Æthelwold decreed that the monks should all drop what they were doing at any time a miracle was announced and come to the shrine to worship. Supposedly this took place so frequently, even at night when the monks were in their beds, that they became too frustrated and stopped coming. Swithin then appeared in a dream to one or more of the monks, telling them that the miracles would stop if the monks did not deliver their praise. The story was spread, and the monks decided that they had to continue as before, no matter the time of day or night.

It was much later that other stories (with no known contemporary source) were told. He is often depicted as standing over eggs, because when some workmen maliciously broke the eggs of an old woman, Swithin found the eggs and made them whole.

There is another bit of lore ascribed to him:

St Swithun's day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St Swithun's day if thou be fair
For forty days 'twill rain nae mare

If it rains on 15 July, rain will persist for 40 days more. Buckinghamshire has simplified this:

If on St Swithun's day it really pours
You're better off to stay indoors

Swithin has made a mark on popular culture. Jane Austen's last poem had Saint Swithin antagonizing race runners in Winchester. St. Swithin's Day is referred to in the TV show Sopranos and in an episode of The Simpsons.

So what about the men who "brought Swithin back" to prominence, Æthelwold and Dunstan? Let's take a look at them next

The Richest Abbey, Part 1

I've mentioned Glastonbury Abbey before, most notably here and here, but it was important for more than its legend as the dubious discovery of the burial place of King Arthur.

The legend of its founding by Joseph of Arimathea has been easily proven wrong by the complete lack of archaeological evidence that anything Christian existed there in the 1st century CE. Robert de Boron connects Glastonbury to King Arthur and the Holy Grail, but his mention of Joseph does not include bringing Joseph to Glastonbury.

The earliest evidence for an abbey comes from the 7th century. William of Malmesbury records a grant of land made to the "old church" at Glastonbury in 601 from King Gwrgan of Damnonia. The town of Glastonbury fell into Saxon hands in c.660 when they defeated the Britons of Somerset. The Saxon leader, Cenwalh of Wessex, was a Christian, so the abbey was not harmed.

King Ine of Wessex a couple decades later made gifts to the monks at Glastonbury Abbey and directed that a stone church be built. It was enlarged in the 10th century by Abbot (later Saint) Dunstan, who made it a Benedictine monastery.

The abbey instituted some projects to drain excess water from the surrounding Somerset Levels, a coastal plain and wetland area that covers about 160,000 acres. This made the land more suitable for farming. The Abbey also created the Glastonbury Canal to link it with the River Brue (a little more than a mile away) to more easily transport goods to and from the Abbey. The Abbey was important and prosperous enough to import ceramic wine jars from the Mediterranean.

William the Conqueror wanted to control the wealth of Glastonbury, so in 1086 he appointed a Norman named Turstinus as its abbot. Turstinus expanded the church. In Domesday Book, Glastonbury Abbey was listed as the richest monastery in the country.

How did it go from the richest in the country to the ruin we see in the illustration? Well, of course we'll go into that tomorrow.

The Politics of Saints

After Edith of Wilton died (c.984), her canonization was a slow process, taking 13 years (slow for the time; canonization these days in the Roman Catholic Church has more stringent requirements). One of the issues may have been that, although she chose to remain in Wilton Abbey her whole life, and at the age of two chose religious objects over fine clothing and jewelry, her life was not the same as a humble servant of God.

She wore clothing befitting a princess, had a special metal container for heating bath water, and a collection of exotic animals provided by her father, King Edgar, and others. She also kept contact with her father that enabled her to use his influence in various ways. Goscelin of Canterbury wrote that her influence with her father was so profound that people from other countries and Rome would visit her, bringing her gifts for her growing zoo and asking for help with the king.

Christianity and politics were deeply entwined: kings were believed to rule by divine right, and Christian counsel was sought by rulers. Having a saint in the family was a good sign, so it makes sense that, 13 years after her death, her half-brother Æthelred pushed her canonization with the support of St. Dunstan.

Even King Cnut, who conquered half of England from Æthelred's son, Edmund II, supported her sainthood, perhaps as a way to ingratiate himself to the Wessex royalty, although marrying Æthelred's widow might have been sufficient. Cnut claimed that Edith appeared and saved him from a storm at sea.

Edith's "miracles" were mostly not of helping people with curing illness, but of appearances in visions, and often, shall we say, self-serving. Prior to canonization, she appeared to people urging them to support her elevation to sainthood. Afterward, when a Wilton nun tried to take one of her relics, a headband, Edith's head appeared to warn her off.

Of course, all of this comes from Goscelin of Canterbury, writing several decades after her death. We should take a closer look at him, next time.

Ælfthryth's Plans

Ælfthryth was the first wife of a king of England (Edgar the Peaceable) to be crowned queen herself. She was the third woman (that we know of) with whom Edgar had children. She had two with Edgar: Edmund, who died young, and Æthelred, born c.966.

Edgar had an older son, Edward, born c.962 by his first wife, Æthelflæd. Upon Edgar's death in July 975, the question of succession came down to Edward and Æthelred. Ælfthryth tried to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the marriage to Æthelflæd, trying to convince the nobles and populace that Æthelred was the only legitimate son and therefore should take the throne.

There is some additional evidence supporting Ælfthryth's claim. A charter of 966 lists Ælfthryth  as the "legitimate wife" and Edmund as the "legitimate son," whereas Edward is mentioned as "begotten by the same king."

Neither of the boys had reached his majority—and the evidence suggests that Edward may, indeed, have been born out of wedlock, but by the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan, and the powerful Ealdorman of East Anglia, Æthelwine, Edward was chosen over Æthelred. An account written many decades later claims that Dunstan, seeing the opposition to Edward, pushed forward with declaring Edward king in a drastically abbreviated ceremony. In compensation, Æthelred was given the lands traditionally granted to the king's eldest son. He and his mother retired to Corfe Castle.

After Edgar's support of monastic reform—replacing secular clergy in monasteries with monks following the Rule of St. Benedict—Edward's was a very different reign. One almost-contemporary priest, Byrhtferth, described it thus:

the commonwealth of the entire realm was shaken; bishops were perplexed, ealdormen were angry, monks were struck with fear, the people were terrified, and the secular clerics were made happy, because their time had come. Abbots are now expelled, together with their monks; clerics are brought in together with their wives; and 'the last error was worse than the first'

In light of this, Ælfthryth may have been the savior of the people. In March 978 the king decided to visit his brother at Corfe Castle. When he arrived, he was met at the gate by Ælfthryth and some retainers. Some sources say he was offered a cup by his step-mother to quench his thirst after the ride. He was then pulled from the horse and stabbed by her retainers. It is said his foot was caught in the stirrup, and that his horse bolted and he wa dragged for some distance.

He was 16 years old. The body was buried quickly somewhere nearby. We'll talk about the immediate aftermath tomorrow.

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset may be the best-known of English abbeys. Originally founded in 712 with the construction of a stone church, it has been rebuilt and expanded many times. One of the expansions was under Dunstan (mentioned here) when he reformed it, expelled all the monks he considered unfit, and instituted the Rule of St. Benedict. It became an important site: King Edmund I was buried there, and an important charter of King Cnut's was disseminated from there.

Legend claims that an abbey was founded there in the 1st centuryCE by Joseph of Arimathea, the New Testament figure who provided the tomb for Jesus. This legend was described by Robert de Boron, a French poet of the late 12th century. His claim was that Joseph brought to Glastonbury 12 disciples as well as the Holy Grail containing drops of Jesus' blood, collected as he suffered on the cross.

For these and other reasons, Glastonbury became prominent as a pilgrimage site and a political power. A fire in 1184 destroyed the monastic buildings. Not wanting for money, reconstruction began right away, but the building of a large church and many buildings takes time. Pilgrimages—and the donations they bring—declined. In 1191, however, a discovery took place during excavation that would bring attention to Glastonbury once again, and shed light on an age-old legend.

But that's a story for tomorrow.

St. Æthelwold

Æthelwold was born about 910CE to a wealthy Winchester family. He served at the court of King Æthelstan (reigned 924-939), learning as much as he can and yearning toward a religious life. He and his friend Dunstan were ordained about 939 by the Bishop of Winchester, St. Alphege. Æthelwold and Dunstan went to the monastery in Glastonbury in Somerset about 940, where Dunstan was made abbot

At this time, Danish incursions into England had sacked and destroyed many monasteries. Monastic life in England was at a low point. Dunstan, who like Æthelwold was later made a saint, adopted the Rule of St. Benedict (mentioned a few times) for the Glastonbury monastery, and led the revival of monasticism in England. Dunstan, Æthelwold, and Oswald of Worcester and York would be called the "Three English Holy Hierarchs" for their work in reviving English Orthodox monasticism.

Æthelwold wanted to go to Cluny in France to experience their version of monasticism, but Dunstan and then-King Edred did not want to lose him, and they sent him to Abingdon-on-Thames to run the derelict monastery there. The patron saint of the place was St. Helena, because legend had it that she built a church there.

Abingdon became a strong monastic community. Æthelwold brought singers from Corbie in France to teach Gregorian chant, which was not common at the time in England.

When Æthelwold became Bishop of Winchester in 963, the priests were illiterate, lazy, guilty of drunkenness and gluttony; they were not good at the services, and most were married men. Æthelwold expelled the married men, tightened up discipline, and brought in monks from Abingdon as the nucleus of a new "monastery/cathedral" institution.

I'll say a little more about him tomorrow, including about the miracles attributed to him.

Building Westminster Abbey - Part 1

Panel from Bayeaux Tapestry; Edward's body carried to Westminster.

The Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster was begun on a site near the Thames where a vision of St. Peter was seen by (appropriately) a fisherman. The fisherman, named Aldrich in the anecdote, may be fictional, but the abbey was fact: we know that a church was there by the early 970s when King Edgar supported St. Dunstan in establishing a community of Benedictine monks. (Edgar was obviously very interested in supporting abbeys: see his other mention here.) The Aldrich story would explain the practice of the Abbey receiving an annual tribute of salmon from Thames fishermen—a tradition that is carried on to this day, with a single salmon being presented to the Abbey annually.*

The Abbey's real prominence came during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), who decided it would be suitable for his burial place, but only after some serious upgrading. Edward's building campaign—the first in the Norman Romanesque style to be built in England—resulted in a larger structure whose details are now lost to us, except in the stylized image we find on the Bayeaux Tapestry. Edward died 5 January, 1066 with the Abbey decades away from completion (in 1090), but he made sure it was consecrated while he was still alive, so that he could be buried there right after his death. (The Tapestry even seems to show—in the upper left of the picture above—the work still progressing even while the funeral procession approaches.) The Abbey was used for the coronation of William the Conqueror in late 1066, after that whole Invasion mess. Very little of this era's structure survives now.

Westminster Abbey, as we know it today, was reconstructed during the reign of Henry III. We have more records of materials and workmen surviving from that era, which I will share with you next time.


*At least, some sources report this; however, it is not found anywhere on the Company's website. I'm dubious.