15 - Dunstan, Edgar and the History of Not-So-Recent Events

Summary

This chapter focuses on Eadmer’streatment of Edgar’s reign as the consummation of a golden age destroyed by the assassination of Edgar’s son and immediate successor, Edward the Martyr. It was Dunstan, at the coronation of Æthelred, who prophesied the disasters that would ensue. In telling this story, Eadmer was building on an analysis that can be traced back through his predecessor as cantor at Christ Church Canterbury, Osbern, to the lives of Dunstan written not long after Dunstan’s death by ‘B.’ and Adelard. Careful attention is paid to Eadmer’s use of his sources and to the ways in which earlier lives had been compiled. Shortly after Dunstan’s death, the saint had been seen as potentially a uniquely influential intercessor, who had the best hope of persuading God to alleviate the barbarian threat. Archbishop Ælfeah had promoted the cult, and Edward the Martyr’s. His own martyrdom meant that he would soon be twinned with his predecessor Dunstan. All three cults were then appropriated by King Cnut. Eadmer moved beyond Osbern in including the Norman Conquest amongst the acts of divine retribution prophesied by Dunstan, and attributed to the saint a soteriological significance in the hoped-for redemption of the English.