✠ Wulfnoth thegn.
✠ Æthelstan thegn.
✠ Æthelsige thegn.
✠ Eanulf thegn.
On the back: ✠ This is Oswalding tun’s boc which Eadmund the king booked to Æthelswith as a perpetual heritage.
DUNSTAN IS MADE ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY BY KING EDMUND (946).
Source.—Life of St. Dunstan, by B., a Saxon priest, written between 995 and 1006, §§ 13, 14. Stubbs’ Memorials of St. Dunstan (Rolls Series). Translated by W.
At length they [Dunstan’s opponents] bound around him the rope of their iniquity, destined therein to entangle themselves rather than him, that they might poison the heart of the king, infected by their wickedness, and make him credulous by their lies. The latter, as he had before been led on by evil men, moved with great anger, immediately ordered him to be deprived of every dignity and office, and to seek his sureties where he willed, without him or his. There were then dwelling with the king at Cheddar, where these events occurred, venerable ambassadors of the eastern kingdom, whom Dunstan, as if already condemned to exile, and unwitting of any other plan for himself, approached, begging that they would not desert one abandoned by the king, but would conduct him home with themselves although but for a sojourn. Taking compassion on his sorrow they promised him whatever advantages their kingdom afforded if he would accompany them.
So the next day the king went where he might enjoy himself in hunting with his followers according to his custom. And as they go to the wood a-hunting, they take in rivalry diverse tracks of the shady paths. And lo! with the uproar of the horns and the barking of the hounds many stags took to flight. The king by himself with his pack of hounds chose one to hunt, and wearied it for a long while through various by-paths by the swiftness of his horse and the eagerness of his hounds. Now there is close to Cheddar, among many other features of the steep mountain, a certain precipice which reaches down to a marvellous and unfathomable depth. At this the stag arrived in its flight, I know not how, unless by the hidden will of God, and threw itself headlong down to the depths of that precipice, together with the hounds that followed, and, dashed in pieces, they rushed upon death together. So too the king, following stag and hounds, came up with his horse at the gallop, and the moment he saw the precipice attempted with all his might to stay the course of his hurrying steed. But such was the strength and stiffness of its mouth and neck that he could not. What then? He gave up all hope of life and commended his soul into the hands of God, saying in his heart, “I thank thee, O most High, that I do not remember ever, to have injured anyone, save Dunstan alone, and this I will amend, reconciling myself to him with ready willingness if my life is spared.” As he spoke, by the merits of the saint, his horse stopped on the turf at the very edge of the cliff (I shudder to tell it), when its forefeet were almost about to dash into the depths of the abyss. Then the king with heart and voice alike gave thanks and praises to God for that his life was saved, plainly perceiving, and very often considering in the secrecy of his heart, that he had been almost doomed to a near death for his attack on such a man.
When he arrived home, without delay he ordered the blessed Dunstan to be called to him in great haste. And when he was come the king said to him, “Get thee a horse ready as swiftly as may be, that thou mayest be able to go with me whither I am about to go with but small retinue.” And immediately they mounted and went straight along the road to Glastonbury. Arrived there, they entered the church of God, as was meet, to pray. And as soon as their prayers were ended, and the streaming tears wiped from their eyes, the king again called to him Dunstan the servant of God, and taking his right hand, for forgiveness, or perhaps to honour him, kissed it, and leading him to the abbot’s seat, and placing him therein, said: “Be thou ruler of this seat, and a mighty occupant, and most faithful abbot of this church; and whatsoever thou lackest of thine own substance for the increase of Divine worship or to supplement the sacred rule, that will I gladly supply of the royal munificence.” And so thereafter Dunstan the servant of God undertook the above-mentioned office at the king’s command, to rule it, and in the aforesaid manner, following the healthful rule of St. Benedict, shone forth as the foremost abbot of the English nation.