Edwy and his advisers, foiled in their first attack, took another course, in which the canons of the Church, as well as the laws of the kingdom, were so clearly on their side, that it was impossible to gainsay their proceedings.
They expelled all the monks from the benefices, and restored the secular priests to their livings.
Dunstan was so incensed at these proceedings, that he went into exile; some say voluntarily, others that he was banished.
Edwy and his advisers soon discovered that their triumph was but a momentary one, and that of all enemies sacerdotal ones are the most dangerous to contend with. From the monastery in Flanders to which he had retired, Dunstan so incited the monks that they opposed in every way the administration of the young king, persuading the credulous people that he was the most impious of men.
The consequence of these slanders was not long in showing itself. Edgar raised the inhabitants of Mercia against the king, his brother, and joining with the Danes in East Anglia and in Northumbria, soon reduced the unfortunate Edwy to the greatest extremity; so much so that he resigned all but the kingdom of Wessex, which still remained faithful to him.
Edgar was elected King of Mercia. It is related that whilst the nobles were deliberating on their choice, a voice from heaven was heard commanding them to choose Edgar as their sovereign.
Most probably the monkish writers who have recorded this pretended miracle could also have explained, had they thought fit, the means by which it was wrought.
Edwy did not long survive the change; falling into a deep melancholy, he died, after a reign of four years.
According to the history of this truly unfortunate prince, as monkish writers have written it, he must have been more than usually depraved; but their evidence ought to be received with considerable doubt, if not positive incredulity. They have recorded of him that on his death his soul was being carried away by a legion of devils to the place of eternal torment, when Dunstan, who saw what was going on—how, the priestly historians do not condescend to inform us—took compassion on him, and prayed so fervently, that God himself, moved by his entreaties, snatched the unfortunate soul from the hands of the fiends, and placed it in Paradise.
For ages such legends were looked upon as history.
The cause of the young king's enmity to Dunstan is more easily explained. He had espoused Elgiva—the monks assert she was his mistress; but had she been so, neither the abbot nor archbishop could have interfered.
On the day of his coronation the young king had retired with his beautiful wife to avoid the excesses of the feast. Dunstan rushed rudely into the apartment, and dragged him from her. If he proclaimed her a harlot, it was under pretence that they were related within the prohibited degree. The unhappy lady was branded on the forehead, and banished to Ireland; from which place of exile, having got cured of her wounds, she returned; was seized upon a second time by her priestly persecutors, and hamstrung, of which outrage she died at Gloucester.
CHAPTER XIII.
Reign of Edgar—The Kingdoms of Wessox and Mercla united—Recall of Dunstan, who is elevated first to the See of Worcester, then to that of Canterbury—His Influence and Character.
Edwy dying without issue, his brother Edgar succeeded him, and thus united the two kingdoms. One of his first acts was to recall Dunstan from his exile in Flanders, and make him Bishop of Worcester, an act which gives reason to suspect the wily churchman was no stranger to the rebellion which placed the new monarch on the throne of Mercia.
The reign of Edgar was so remarkable for its tranquillity that it obtained for him the name of the "Peaceable"—a state of things easily understood, when it is remembered that he kept up not only a considerable army, but a powerful fleet, which made the Danes cautious how they invaded the island.
This wise policy so extended his influence, that, without fighting a single battle, he obliged the kings of Wales and the Isle of Man to do homage to him.
It is recorded that whilst keeping his court at Chester, he was rowed down the river Dee by eight of these tributary sovereigns.
Edgar, in order to free the country from the wolves which infested it, commuted the tribute of the Welsh into three hundred wolves' heads, and granted a pardon to many criminals on condition that each one within a given time brought in a certain number.
The consequence was that these destructive animals very soon disappeared from the kingdom.
Edgar's good qualities, and the tranquillity England enjoyed during his reign, leave no doubt that he was a wise and excellent king. But his bigotry, which at the time was extolled as the most sublime virtue, is the principal cause of the commendations given him by historians, and of his being honoured with the title of saint after his death. He is said to have founded forty monasteries, and repaired and beautified many more, particularly that of Glastonbury, the rebuilding of which was begun by his uncle, Edred. He was extravagantly liberal to the monks; and Ingulphus, in his history of the Abbey of Croyland, says that in his reign the treasure of that monastery amounted to ten thousand pounds, besides holy vessels, shrines, relics, &c. This was an immense sum, considering that house had been rebuilt but thirty years; and from its.wealth, some idea may be gathered of the immense riches of the monasteries in those times.
Edgar, not content with being thus profuse to the regular clergy, undertook to put them in possession again of the ecclesiastical benefices; no doubt at the instigation of Dunstan, whom he had made Archbishop of Canterbury. This prelate was so much in his favour, that Edred's affection to him was trifling in comparison of Edgar's. As he holds a very prominent place in the history of this and the following reign, it will not be irrelevant to give the following particulars of him.
Dunstan was the son of Herstan, and nephew of Athelm, Archbishop of Canterbury, and was born at Glastonbury in 925. He spent his youth with his uncle, the archbishop, who took care to have him instructed in all the sciences, as far as that age of ignorance would permit. He is said to have excelled particularly in music and painting, in which he took great delight all his life. By painting, we must understand that kind which was used in illuminating missals. As soon as he had finished his studies, the archbishop recommended him to King Athelstan, who sent for him to court, but gave him no preferment. The author of his life pretends the courtiers, envying his virtue and learning, slandered him to the king, by saying that he was a dissolute
