DUNSTAN OF CANTERBURY, ST.

Benedictine, archbishop; b. Baltonsborough, Somerset, 909; d. May 19, 988. He came of a noble family living in the vicinity of Glastonbury, where he was educated by Irish clerics. Dunstan later joined the household of his uncle Athelm, Archbishop of Canterbury, and hence the court of King Athelstan. He made a private monastic profession to alphege (aelfheah), bishop of Winchester, was ordained by him, and went to live as a hermit at Glastonbury, practicing there the crafts of the scribe, embroiderer, and silversmith. In 940 King Edmund, after a narrow escape from death in a stag hunt, installed him as abbot of glastonbury and gave financial help. Dunstan introduced the benedictine rule, enlarged the church and monastic buildings, and added to the collection of books.

Under King Edwig, Dunstan was exiled for his reproof of Edwig's irresponsible conduct and went to Mont Blandin, Ghent, where he saw the reformed type of Continental monasticism. This, together with fleury, which was visited by St. ethelwold's disciples, influenced the English monasteries in their way of life. The full flowering of this movement took place after Dunstan's recall by King edgar in 957. He became successively bishop of worcester and London and archbishop of canterbury (960). Thus began a fruitful collaboration between king and archbishop, which was regarded as a golden age by post-Conquest writers. Dunstan's influence can be seen in some of Edgar's laws: monks occupied several important sees and displaced secular canons in cathedrals, and the monasteries enjoyed royal protection. About 970 at winchester there was held a congress of secular and ecclesiastical magnates at which was promulgated the Regularis concordia, based on Continental customaries, which all agreed to observe. In recent years the importance of Saints Ethelwold and oswald of york in the monastic revival in the south and midlands of England have been rightly stressed, but Dunstan himself seems to have reformed or refounded malmesbury, bath, and Westminster, and, shortly before his death, to have perhaps introduced monks at Canterbury cathedral, at least as members of his household.

As archbishop he built many churches and corrected abuses, such as the neglect of celibacy by the clergy, and of fasting and justice by the laity. As an old man, he presided regularly in the courts and corrected manuscripts. His name appears on charters until the year of his death. But the reform of monasteries, which became centers of religion and vernacular culture and provided many bishops for England and missionaries for Scandinavia, is his principal title to fame. He was reputed to have cast bells and made organs, and was a patron saint of metalworkers. In art he is often portrayed holding the devil's nose in a pair of tongs.

Feast: May 19.

Bibliography: e. g. flight, The True Legend of St. Dunstan and the Devil (3d ed. London 1871). w. stubbs, ed., Memorials of Saint Dunstan (Rerum Brittanicarum medii aevi scriptores 63;1874). t. symons, ed. and tr., Regularis concordia (New York 1953). e. s. duckett, Saint Dunstan of Canterbury (New York 1955). d. knowles, The Monastic Order in England, 943–1216 (Cambridge 1940–). English Historical Documents v.1, ed. d. douglas (New York 1953–). e. john, "The Beginning of the Benedictine Reform in England," Revue Benedictine 73 (1963) 73–87. d. dales, Dunstan: Saint and Statesman (Cambridge 1988). St Dunstan: His Life, Times, and Cult, ed. n. ramsay, m. sparks, and t. tatton-brown (Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK 1992). d. t. rice, English Art, 871–1100 (Oxford 1952).

[h. farmer]