In 955, a young lad became King of the English. His name was Eadwig, aged about 15. Eadwig would accomplish little during his time as king, being best remembered for the scandal he created at his own coronation. Having been crowned, Eadwig, slipped away from the celebrations and off into his chambers and began frolicking with two noble women, a mother and a daughter. Naturally, this outrageous behaviour stirred much indignation, not least with Dunstan, the abbot of Glastonbury and one of the most distinguished churchmen of the day.
Dunstan, with little regard for Eadwig’s anger, “violently dragged the lascivious boy from the chamber…making him his enemy for ever.” The furious and probably embarrassed Eadwig had Dunstan banished from his kingdom with Dunstan forced to cross the channel to Flanders where he would reside for the next two years. Eadwig, however, was not popular and, by 957, he had lost control with the Mercians and Northumbrians rejecting his kingship outright and electing Eadwig’s brother Edgar as their king instead. England, so recently united, had once more become divided.
But Edgar, despite his tender years, had better judgement than Eadwig and one of his first decisions was to recall Dunstan from his exile. Within a short time, Dunstan was chosen as the new Bishop of Worcester, consecrated by Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury. Given the solemnity of the occasion, I think it’s safe to say Eadwig’s authority as king by that point was virtually nonexistent. Dunstan would then be granted the Bishopric of London.
In 959, Eadwig, still in his teens, died and Edgar, already proving himself capable as king, would now rule over the whole of England. Among the first decisions for Edgar to make was to choose a new Archbishop of Canterbury. Odo, “a man of talent, worth and virtues”, had died the previous year, whilst a successor, Aelfsige, had frozen to death whilst travelling to Rome to gain the Pope’s approval whilst yet another Byrhthelm had been selected but was soon deemed “little qualified for so high a dignity.” Fortunately for Edgar, there was an obvious candidate to put an end to this rather bizarre period of instability at Canterbury. Dunstan was chosen as Archbishop and, in 960, he made a successful trip to Rome to meet with the Pope, avoiding the fate of Aelfsige.
Under Edgar’s guidance, England and its church prospered for the next 16 years, ably supported by Dunstan and the other leading churchmen, as the country enjoyed a much needed period of calm. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing between Edgar and Dunstan. Edgar earned Dunstan’s wrath when he kidnapped a nun and raped her. Dunstan was outraged at Edgar’s disgusting behaviour, “vehemently reproving him”, demanding a 7 year penance of the king. Whilst Edgar was unquestionably a great king, there were fatal weaknesses in his character.
In 978, following the shocking death of Edward The Martyr, Dunstan found himself supervising the coronation of Aethelred, Edward’s half brother. Edward had been murdered by Aethelred’s mother, Elfrida, so her son could take the throne. It was a sorrowful tale and Dunstan strongly rebuked both Aethelred and Elfrida at the coronation warning them that their actions would bring upon them and the country many woes; “such evils shall come upon the English nation as they have never suffered.” Indeed, it is quite likely that Aethelred, a pawn to his mother’s machinations, may have had a disliking for Dunstan. As a little baby, Aethelred had been baptised by Dunstan as Edgar, Aethelred’s father, and Elfrida watched on. Unfortunately, Aethelred soiled the baptismal font causing Dunstan to cry out “By God and his mother, this will be a sorry fellow.” If this tale is true, Aethelred may have heard it and, after his coronation, he would surely have drawn the conclusion that Dunstan was not a man to upset. However, there is reason to doubt the baptism story as it seems unlikely Dunstan would insult baby Aethelred in front of the king and queen.
Dunstan died in 988 as England began to suffer from the evils that he had predicted. The Vikings returned to English shores during the early 980s and Aethelred, for all of his long reign, would fight a miserable and losing battle against them. Did Dunstan really know the full extent of the troubles that lay ahead for England as he crowned Aethelred? It is doubtful as the country, largely, had been at peace for a long time. More likely is that he detected a fundamental weakness in young Aethelred’s character, a similar weakness that he had seen in Eadwig when he frogmarched him out of his chambers. Dunstan was a stern faced man with little tolerance for the sins of kings. One of his successors as Archbishop of Canterbury, Sigeric, would have none of Dunstan’s resolve, advising Aethelred’s disastrous “Danegeld” policy. The king may have harboured longstanding resentment against Dunstan but he would have fared better if he had more men like Dunstan around him for the duration of his reign.
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