His 11th-century biographer Osbern, himself an artist and scribe, states that Dunstan was skilled in "making a picture and forming letters", as were other clergy of his age who reached senior rank.

According to a later biographer, Adelard of Ghent, he was a nephew of Athelm, Archbishop of Canterbury, but this is less certain as it is not mentioned by B, who should have known as he had been a member of Dunstan's household.

It is thought likely that he was the artist who drew the well-known image of Christ with a small kneeling monk beside him in the Glastonbury Classbook, "one of the first of a series of outline drawings which were to become a special feature of Anglo-Saxon art of this period.

[8] Lady Æthelflæd, King Æthelstan's niece, made Dunstan a trusted adviser and on her death, she left a considerable fortune to him.

Eadmund endeavoured vainly to stop his horse; then, seeing death to be imminent, he remembered his harsh treatment of St Dunstan and promised to make amends if his life was spared.

Giving thanks to God, he returned forthwith to his palace, called for St. Dunstan and bade him follow, then rode straight to Glastonbury.

Entering the church, the king first knelt in prayer before the altar, then, taking St. Dunstan by the hand, he gave him the kiss of peace, led him to the abbot's throne and, seating him thereon, promised him all assistance in restoring Divine worship and regular observance.Dunstan, now Abbot of Glastonbury, went to work at once on the task of reform.

The policy of the new government was supported by the Queen mother, Eadgifu of Kent, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Oda, and by the East Anglian nobles, at whose head was the powerful ealdorman Æthelstan the "Half-king".

In ecclesiastical matters it favoured the spread of Catholic observance, the rebuilding of churches, the moral reform of the clergy and laity, and the end of the religion of the Danes in England.

According to one legend, the feud with Dunstan began on the day of Eadwig's coronation, when he failed to attend a meeting of nobles.

When Dunstan eventually found the young monarch, he was cavorting with a noblewoman named Ælfgifu and her mother, and refused to return with the bishop.

Before the end of 957, the Mercians and Northumbrians revolted and drove out Eadwig, choosing his brother Edgar as king of the country north of the Thames.

With their aid and with the ready support of King Edgar, Dunstan pushed forward his reforms in the English Church.

[3] The monks in his communities were taught to live in a spirit of self-sacrifice, and Dunstan actively enforced the law of celibacy whenever possible.

The parish priests were compelled to be qualified for their office; they were urged to teach parishioners not only the truths of the Christian faith, but also trades to improve their position.

Edgar was crowned at Bath in an imperial ceremony planned not as the initiation, but as the culmination of his reign (a move that must have taken a great deal of preliminary diplomacy).

[21] This service, devised by Dunstan himself and celebrated with a poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle forms the basis of the present-day British coronation ceremony.

Edgar's reign, and implicitly his governing partnership with Dunstan, was praised by early chroniclers and historians who regarded it as a golden age.

It would appear from William of Malmesbury's later history that the objection was limited to the mercenary seaman, employed from around the North Sea littoral, to assist in the defence of the country.

At the second of them the floor of the hall where the Witan was sitting gave way, and all except Dunstan, who clung to a beam, fell into the room below; several men were killed.

According to William of Malmsesbury, writing over a century later, when the young king took the usual oath to govern well, Dunstan addressed him in solemn warning.

He criticised the violent act whereby he became king and prophesied the misfortunes that were shortly to fall on the kingdom,[25] but Dunstan's influence at court was ended.

In 980, Dunstan joined Ælfhere of Mercia in the solemn translation of the relics of King Edward, soon to be regarded as a saint, from their grave at Wareham to a shrine at Shaftesbury Abbey.

Dunstan's retirement at Canterbury consisted of long hours, both day and night, spent in private prayer, as well as his regular attendance at Mass and the daily office.

He worked to improve the spiritual and temporal well-being of his people, to build and restore churches, to establish schools, to judge suits, to defend widows and orphans, to promote peace, and to enforce respect for purity.

In 1180 his relics were translated to a tomb on the south side of the high altar, when that building was restored after being partially destroyed by a fire in 1174.

[31] English literature contains many references to him: for example, in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens,[c] and in this folk rhyme: St Dunstan, as the story goes, Once pull'd the devil by the nose With red-hot tongs, which made him roar, That he was heard three miles or more.

[33] This folk story is already shown in an initial in the Life of Dunstan in the Canterbury Passionale, from the second quarter of the 12th century (British Library, Harley MS 315, f.

[34] Daniel Anlezark has tentatively suggested that Dunstan may be the medieval author of the poem Solomon and Saturn, citing the style, word choice, and Hiberno-Latin used in the texts.

[37] A further legend relating to Dunstan and the Devil seeks to explain the phenomena of Franklin nights, late frosts which occur around his Feast Day.