| Copyright | ||
|
Home The Golden Age of the Saxons The Golden Age of the Saxons; Part 4 |
The Golden Age of the Saxons; Part 4Dunstan, we have seen, was a monk; Edgar made him Archbishop of Canterbury. Thus the first field for his activity lay in Church affairs. It happened that at this time there was a great revival in monastic affairs going on the Continent. The Benedictine monks of Clugny, who led stern, hard, self-sacrificing lives, were everywhere taken as models. In one respect the secular clergy were not doing what the Church expected them to do. It was thought right that they should remain, like the monks, unmarried. At this time, however, this rule was badly kept. Many of the seculars had wives, and this gave great offence. Dunstan did his best to make the seculars remain unmarried, but he was not altogether successful. Under these circumstances it became the fashion to think a great deal of monks and less of the secular (Monks, friars, and others who lived under a rule like that of St. Benedict, or in later days like those of St. Francis or St. Dominic, were called "regulars" (Lat. regula). The rest of the clergy were called "seculars") clergy. This showed itself not only in the revival of old monasteries and the setting up of new ones, but also in the practice of turning out the seculars from positions of dignity and putting monks in their places. Thus the secular canons of the Cathedral of Winchester were turned out, and monks installed instead of them. The same thing was done at Worcester. No doubt, in some respects, the change was for the better; the monks led stricter lives, and they were more learned. But it raised a great jealousy between regulars and seculars. Although Dunstan, as head of the Church, may be said to have approved of those changes which some of his bishops made, he did not make them in his own see. Though a monk, he was not an enthusiastic monk. He was not by nature either narrow or ascetic. The real reform that he was anxious for was that the clergy should be better educated.It would be a mistake to look on Dunstan merely as a churchman. He was more than that. He was a great statesman. To him we may attribute the wise policy by which Edgar made friends of the Danes settled in England, making some aldermen, others bishops, and admitting many to his Witan. He also continued to keep on good terms with the kings of the Scots. Just as Edmund had handed over Strathclyde to Malcolm, so Edgar, we are told, gave Lothian to Kenneth. No doubt his powers over Lothian were very slight, and it was wise to yield gracefully what was not worth the trouble of keeping; but it is a form of wisdom which ministers and kings do not always show. Though we may give Dunstan the credit of much that was done in Edgar's reign, yet the king showed himself a capable ruler. He issued improved laws, and travelled frequently over his realm to see that they were kept. More than that, he made the inhabitants of each "hundred" responsible for any misdeeds committed there. He enlarged the fleet, and himself made frequent voyages with it. And even if we distrust the old story that he was rowed across the Dee by six vassal-kings, yet none the less we may find a truth expressed in it. It is a picturesque way of saying that he was a prosperous and powerful monarch, and there was none found in Britain to rival his greatness. |
Chronology |
| copyright by uus-ununseptium.info |