Dunstan (c.909-1088)

Synopsis

DUNSTAN, St., b. at Glastonbury, 924; d. May 19, 988; was educated by Irish monks, settled in his native city, and was twice introduced into the king’s household, but was both times driven away by the envy of the rough soldier-courtiers. After taking the monastic vow, he lived for some time in retirement, studying and teaching; but King Edmund made him Abbot of Glastonbury, and appointed him treasurer of the whole kingdom. Under the reign of Edred (946-955), Dunstan seems to have been the real ruler of the country. Under Edwy he was cornpelled to flee the country (955), and seek refuge in Ghent, but only for a short time. When Edgar succeeded in establishing himself on the throne of Mercia and Northumbria, Dunstan returned to power, and was made Bishop of Worcester and London, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury. In spite of intrigues and conspiracies, he remained in power under Edward and Ethelred; and it is a significant fact that the really successful inva.sions of the Danes began inimediately after his death. As a character he is variously described. Some represent him as a reformer ot the Saxon clergy of his time, and as a worker of miracles; and the fact of his canonization shows the indebtedness of the Church to him. Others represent him as a statesman ; and, indeed, for many years he ruled England with great energy and wisdom. Several works have been ascribed to him, - a commentary on the Benedictine rule, a Regularis Concordia, etc.; but the authorship is doubtful.

Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn, Vol. 1. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. pp.674-675.

Primary Sources

	Francis Aidan Gasquet & Edmund Bishop, The Bosworth Psalter. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1908.
	Richard William Hunt, St. Dunstan's Classbook from Glastonbury. Umbrae Codicum Occidentalium, 4. Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub. Co., 1961. pp.17.

Secondary Sources

	Sylvia I Bogdanescu, Life and Times of St. Dunstan in the West. St. Dunstan-in-the-West Guild Church Council, 1986. Pbk. ISBN: 1870122003.
	Nicholas Brooks, The Early History of the Church of Canterbury, new edn. Leicester: Continuum International Publishing Group - Leicester University Press, 1996. Pbk. ISBN: 0718500415. pp.417.
	Douglas J. Dales, Dunstan: Saint and Statesman. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 1998. Hbk. ISBN: 071882704X. pp.208.
	Douglas Dales, Shepherd and Servant: the Spiritual Legacy of St Dunstan. SLG Press, 2001. Pbk. ISBN: 0728301547.
	David Knowles, OSB. The Monastic Order in England, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963. pp.780.
	M. Lapidge, "St. Dunstan's Latin Poetry," Anglia 98 (1980): pp.101-6.
	Nigel Ramsay, Margaret Sparks & Tim Tatton-Brown, eds. St. Dunstan: His Life, Times and Cult. The Boydell Press, 1992. Hbk. ISBN: 0851153011. pp.392.
	J. Armitage Robinson, The Times of St. Dunstan. Ford Lectures, 1922. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969. Hbk. ISBN: 0198223137. pp.188.
	William Stubbs, ed. Memorials of Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. Rolls Series. London, Longman & Co., 1874. pp.ccxxiii + 490.
	Thomas Symons, "Notes on the Life and Work of St. Dunstan, II," Downside Review 80 (1962): 250-261.
	Thomas Symons, "Notes on the Life and Work of St. Dunstan, I," Downside Review 80 (1962): 355-366 .
	Thomas Symons, "St Dunstan in the 'Oswald' Tradition," Downside Review 90(299) (1972): 119-124.
	M. Winterbottom & R. M. Thomson, eds. William of Malmesbury: Saints' Lives: Lives of Ss. Wulfstan, Dunstan, Patrick, Benignus and Indract. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Hbk. ISBN: 0198207093. pp.418.

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