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Edwy's triumph was, however, exceedingly brief. In the year 957 all England north of the Thames rebelled against him, and chose Edgar, his brother, to be their king. Dunstan, who probably was by no means unacquainted with what was going on, was immediately recalled, and in a very short space of time made Bishop of Rochester and of London. In the following year the Archbishop of Canterbury compelled Edwy to put away his wife, and in 959 Edwy died. There is a story that the unhappy Ælfgifu was branded on the forehead, and banished to Ireland; from which place of exile when she ventured to return, she was seized by her priestly persecutor and hamstrung, of which outrage she died at Gloucester. This repellent tale, however, rests on indifferent authority, and can be at once rejected.

Edwy dying without issue, his brother Edgar was elected as his successor, and thus united the two kingdoms once more. He was known as the "Peaceable," and the kingdom enjoyed under him a tranquillity to which it had long been unaccustomed. Acting with wise foresight he kept up a large fleet, so that the Danes were not able to land, and we read that he punished malefactors with great severity.

His chief war was with the Welsh, who refused to pay tribute, and it was completely successful. William of Malmesbury tells us that 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 criminals on condition that each one within a given time brought in a certain number. In three years, he continues, the tribute was remitted because no more wolves were to be found; a statement which it is impossible to believe, as wolves were plentiful in England and Wales for many a year afterwards. He also broke up Northumberland into the old divisions of Bernicia and Deira, and granted Lothian to Kenneth, King of the Scots, to be held by him in homage. It was after this that the Scottish kings came to live in the south of their kingdom, and made Edinburgh its capital.

For some reason Edgar was not crowned until he had reigned thirteen years. Shortly after the ceremony he visited Chester, and it is said—though the incident is possibly of a legendary character—that he was rowed on the Dee from the city to the minster of St. John by his eight vassal kings, Kenneth of Scotland, Malcolm of Cumberland, Maccus of the Isles, and five Welsh princes.

Edgar continued to give Dunstan fresh marks of esteem, and his regard for him was strengthened by the miracles attributed to him. After the death of Athelm, who held the see of Canterbury, Odo, by birth a Dane, was made archbishop; and to him succeeded Elfsige, who died as he was going to Rome for his pall, in the beginning of Edgar's reign. Brithelm, Bishop of Bath, was elected to the vacant see; but Edgar, being desirous of making Dunstan archbishop, called a general council, where he represented Brithelm as unqualified for so great a station; whereupon he was ordered to return to his old diocese, and Dunstan was chosen in his place. This election not being perfectly canonical, it was deemed necessary that Dunstan should go to Rome, on pretence of receiving his pall, and at the same time justify these proceedings. The Pope, who was perfectly aware how extensive the influence of Dunstan was at the court of England, and who was gratified by the zeal with which he had espoused the interest of the Church of Rome and of the monks, readily confirmed his election, constituting him at the same time his legate in England, with most extensive powers.

In justification of this remarkable man's favourite project of removing the secular clergy from their benefices and supplying their places by the monks, it is enough to say that the former, as a body, had become fearfully corrupt; that luxury, gluttony, avarice, and lust reigned amongst them. Dunstan caused a council of the Church to be held, at which Edgar assisted in person, and made a remarkable oration, which is both curious and interesting as a picture of the corruptions of the clergy of the time, and his subserviency to the views of Dunstan. This harangue, which was most probably written by Dunstan himself, had the desired effect. The three bishops, Dunstan, Ethelwald of Winchester, and Oswald of York, expelled the secular priests, and gave their benefices to the monks, the objects of the king's and archbishop's favour. In many cases, however, expulsion was unnecessary, so depopulated were all the livings through the Danish massacres; and though the celibacy of the clergy which Dunstan enforced was not altogether a step in the right direction, there can be no doubt that the times called for drastic remedies. Nor was the restoration of monasticism the only reform that Dunstan had at heart. "He was," says Bishop Stubbs, "the prime minister, perhaps the inspirer of the consolidating policy of Edgar; he restored through the monastic revival the intercourse between the English church and that of France, and established a more intimate communication with the Apostolic See; in so doing he did what could be done to restore piety and learning. Under his influence the Mercian bishoprics again lift up their heads: the archbishops henceforth go to Rome for their palls: the Frank writers begin to record the lives of the English saints."

The monks were bound in gratitude to make a suitable return for the service Edgar had done them; and, accordingly, their historians have endeavoured, by their excessive commendations, to make him pass for a real saint. But whether from want of attention, or some other reason, they have related some particulars of his life which certainly do not tend to sustain that idea of him. If, indeed, his political actions are only considered, it must be confessed he was a great prince; but a great king and a great saint are two very different characters.

Edgar died in 975, in the thirty-second year of his age. He was afterwards canonised, and miracles are said to have been worked at his shrine.

He left two sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Edward, was the son of Elfleda, surnamed "The Fair," and he was supported by Dunstan; his opponent, who had a large following, was his half-brother Ethelred, the son of Edgar's second wife, Elfrida. The Archbishop, however, in the Witena-gemot promptly and bravely took Edward by the hand, led him towards the church, attended by the other bishops and a crowd of people, and anointed the young prince king, without regarding the opposition of the party against him. The nobles deplored their falling once more under the government of that imperious prelate; but, seeing the people ready to support him, they were compelled to submit.