St. Dunstan

The English monk and archbishop St. Dunstan (ca. 909-988) was a counselor of kings and a respected churchman. He made the English monasteries into centers of religion and culture.

Dunstan was born into an important family near Glastonbury in Somerset. As a young man, he lived for a time in the household of King Athelstan but incurred the displeasure of some of the officials by his love of singing and reading. Accused of black magic and pressured into leaving the court, Dunstan lived for a short time with the bishop of Winchester, who persuaded him to become a monk.

As a hermit near Glastonbury, Dunstan disciplined himself through prayer and penance. He worked as a silversmith and copied manuscripts. The next king, Edmund, called Dunstan back to court as one of his counselors and eventually made him abbot of Glastonbury. Under Edmund's successor, Edred, Dunstan practically ran the kingdom. But his luck changed when Edwy succeeded to the throne in 955. Dunstan's outspoken criticism of the king's loose conduct earned him a sentence of exile. For 2 years Dunstan lived on the Continent, near Ghent in Flanders, with a group of monks guided by the strict rule of St. Benedict. In 957 some of King Edwy's subjects rebelled and set up a separate kingdom. Their leader, Edgar, called Dunstan back from Flanders and appointed him bishop first of Worcester and then of London. When Edwy died 2 years later, Edgar became sole king of England. He made Dunstan archbishop of Canterbury, head of the entire Church in England.

For almost 30 years, seen by some as a golden age, Dunstan and King Edgar cooperated closely, Dunstan preaching respect for the King's law and the King giving money to help build churches and monasteries. Dunstan was as strict with his clergy as he was with himself. His experiences in Flanders taught him that monks should live in an atmosphere of self-sacrifice. He enforced the law of celibacy wherever possible. He forbade the selling of Church offices (simony) and the appointing of relatives to positions of authority (nepotism). He encouraged his people to fast and preached the ideal of justice for all. Once he refused to say Mass until some counterfeiters had paid the penalty decreed by the magistrate. Their hands were chopped off.

By his forceful preaching and administrative ability, his friendship with the King, and his personal example, Dunstan succeeded in reforming the Church in England. The monasteries he influenced became sources of genuine religious spirit for the people and provided many bishops for England as well as missionaries for northern Europe. He was accepted as a saint by the English people soon after his death on May 19, 988.

Further Reading

Eleanor S. Duckett, Saint Dunstan of Canterbury (1955), is a clearly written historical sketch of St. Dunstan. David Knowles, The Monastic Orders in England (1940; 2d ed. 1963), details St. Dunstan's important contributions. For his place in the perspective of English history see G. O. Sayles, The Medieval Foundations of England (1948; 2d ed. 1950).

Additional Sources

Dales, Douglas, Dunstan: saint and statesman, Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 1988.

St. Dunstan: his life, times, and cult, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 1992.

Dunstan, St (c.909-88). Dunstan was born into an aristocratic family related to the royal house of Wessex. His early career owed much to family and royal patronage with special support from King Edmund, who appointed him abbot of Glastonbury c.943. He was made bishop of Worcester (957), of London (959), and finally archbishop of Canterbury (959-88). From his Glastonbury base he was largely instrumental in the introduction of reformed Benedictine observance into England. As archbishop, Dunstan was immensely influential in secular and ecclesiastical affairs during the reign of Edgar (959-75). In 973 he established the Ordo for Edgar's coronation at Bath, which remained the basis for English coronation ritual. Popular opinion accorded him sainthood with a commemorative day on 19 May.

Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey and later Archbishop of Canterbury, played a major role in both Church and State matters, and when young was a fine craftsman in painting, embroidery, and metal-working. Within ten years of his death he was regarded as a national saint. In folklore, he is remembered for his conflict with the Devil (a 12th-century story); this is sometimes said to have happened at Glastonbury, sometimes at Mayfield (Sussex). The tale goes that one day when Dunstan was working at his forge making a chalice, a lovely girl arrived and began tempting him, whereupon he gripped her nose with red-hot tongs, and she turned back into a demon, whom the saint dragged round the smithy by his nose. A convent school at Mayfield still shows medieval tongs, alleged to be the very ones. Various modern elaborations include the idea that the Devil cooled his burnt nose in the springs at Tunbridge Wells (Kent) or the Roaring Spring near Mayfield; that he flew off with the tongs still in place, till they dropped off at Tong-dean (Sussex); and that he tried to destroy Mayfield, but was foiled by Dunstan's inventive new use for horseshoes—i.e. fixing them to doors. Hilaire Belloc's The Four Men (1911) makes Dunstan the hero of the Devil's Dyke legend.

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

• Farmer, 1978: 136-9 for the facts
• Westwood, 1985: 96-7,
• and Simpson, 1973: 63-4, for the legends

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