The new King Edwy, nephew of Eadred, was a mere child, and a palace intrigue, headed by Æthelgyfu and her daughter Ælfgyfu, who had obtained influence over the lad, drove the Queen Mother Eadgyfu from the Court, and established the power of the Wessex party. Unpopular among the Wessex nobles and in his own monastery, Dunstan was driven abroad, and took refuge in Ghent. But his party was still strong in England. Indignant probably at a violent resumption of grants from the Folkland, the nobles of England, with the exception of Wessex, set up Edwy’s younger brother Eadgar as a rival king, and were sufficiently powerful to oblige Edwy to divide the kingdom and content himself with the territories of Wessex south of the Thames. Dunstan was recalled by his partisans. He received from King Eadgar the sees of Rochester and of London; and when, on the death of Edwy, Eadgar succeeded to the undivided sovereignty of the kingdom, Dunstan rose with him, and became his chief minister and Archbishop of Canterbury.
Dunstan’s government.
Division of Northumbria.
As minister, Dunstan had both Church and State to reform. In both, decay had made great progress. The increased importance of the English King had raised him to a position very different from that of the tribal monarch. Along with the King had risen his dependants, the old members of the Comitatus. His Thegns or servants, rendered rich by grants of the public land, had gradually succeeded the old nobility by birth, of the German races. The troubled situation of the country had driven the freeholders more and more to seek safety by placing themselves and their land in a state of dependence on the Thegns. Even as early as Alfred every man was obliged to have a lord. At the same time the spirit of provincialism was strong, each district which had been a separate kingdom wishing to maintain its own independence. Dunstan seems to have understood that a change in the character of the monarchy was inevitable, and that national unity could only be secured by upholding that change, placing the monarch in what may be regarded as an imperial position over the subject kingdoms, and allowing the separate districts as much self-government as possible. Within the kingdom of Wessex itself, and perhaps of Mercia also, he established a strict police, and suppressed disorder with a strong hand. Beyond that, the largest freedom was permitted. Thus, the subordination of Northumbria was further secured by its division into three parts. The district between the Tees and the Humber was intrusted to Oslac. From the Tees to the Tweed remained in the hands of Osulf, while the Lothians between the Tweed and the Forth were given out on military service to the King of Scotland; and in subsequent history it was this district, peopled with English and Danes, which formed the civilized centre of the Scottish kingdom. But, when the supremacy of Wessex was thus secured, the Danes of the North were allowed to keep their own customs and make their own laws. Similarly, friendship with the Northmen of Ireland was maintained, and through their friendship the King was enabled to keep up a powerful fleet, which constantly sailed round the coasts, and kept them free from foreign invasion. The tradition that Eadgar was rowed upon the Dee to Chester by eight tributary kings, whether the fact be true or not, points to the imperial position which Dunstan had secured for him. In the Church the same policy was pursued. The great disturbances of the kingdom had thrown much power into the hands of the Church, the most permanent element of society. This increase of influence had been followed by an increase of secularity. The bishops became statesmen, and even commanders of armies. The older form of monasticism died out. Marriage of priests was constant. Livings began to be handed on from father to son. There was some chance of the establishment of an hereditary priestly caste. In Ghent, Dunstan had become acquainted with the Benedictine rule lately established there. He saw its efficiency for securing discipline among the clergy. Like other strong rulers, he regarded anarchy with aversion, and was therefore anxious to introduce the rule into England. He intrusted the work to his friend Æthelwold, whom he made Bishop of Winchester, and to Oswald, whom he raised to the See of Worcester. In Wessex and Mercia he carried out his reform with vigour, even with violence: but, as in his secular government, he kept himself under the restraints of prudence. Thus, when Oswald was appointed Archbishop of York, he made no efforts to restrain the marriage of the clergy, and in Dunstan’s own See he yielded to the prejudices of the people, and allowed the abbeys to continue in the hands of secular clerks. The title of Eadgar the Peaceful, and a reign of seventeen years unbroken by any great foreign war, attest the success of Dunstan’s policy.
Eadward the Martyr 975-979.
Fall of Dunstan.
But with Eadgar’s death, and the accession of his son Eadward, this prosperous state of things ended. For a time Dunstan held his own, but not without strong opposition. Again and again he had to plead his cause before the Witan. And at one synod, at Calne, it was intended to bring the matter to a crisis. Beornhelm, a Bishop of the Scottish Church, was brought forward as a champion by his enemies. His eloquence was carrying the assembly with him, and Dunstan could only appeal to heaven for assistance. Nor was that assistance denied; by accident or design, the floor of the upper chamber where the meeting was held gave way in that part where Beornhelm and his friends were seated, and they were hurried to swift destruction, while Dunstan’s triumphant party remained uninjured on the floor above. But even miraculous interferences did not suppress the enemies of the Prelate. A conspiracy, in which Ælfthryth [Elfrida], the mother of Ethelred, seems to have been chiefly engaged, was formed; and Eadward, returning from the chase, was killed at her castle at Corfe.
Æthelred the Unready. 979-1016.
Third Period of Danish invasion.
Battle of Maldon. 991.