What Role Did St. Dunstan Play In The 10th Century

By the 10th century, the Christian Church throughout what we know as Europe, was in a state of decline with regards to the following of doctrinal practices by the clerics and Church leaders. There is no doubt that the figure of St. Dunstan plays a vital role in the reforms of the Anglo-Saxon Church during the 10th century and, without him, the Church would not have developed the way it did during this time. In great need of reform in terms of doctrinal practice amongst it's clerical Orders, the 10th century reforms carried out within the Anglo-Saxon Church were considered necessary by the likes of great Church leaders, such as St. Dunstan. Dunstan's involvement in the reformation movement of the 10th century in the Anglo-Saxon Church is pivotal

in the movement and it can be said that it would not have happened, due to his experiences in France and the reformation movement at Cluny. This essay will explore the importance of St. Dunstan in the Cluniac reforms of the 10th century within the Anglo-Saxon Church and the importance of his positions of power within the Church, at the time and whither this had an impact on the success of this reformation movement.
Christianity had been introduced to England at the end of the 6th century, an event which is attributed to the Gregorian missions of 597 A.D., with the customs of the Pagan religions slowly being eroded over the course of the following centuries. By the 10th century, the Anglo-Saxon Church was in major need to reform if it was to reflect the doctrine of the Christian faith. Marred by corruption and a general disregard for Biblical practices, the Church's practices emphasised to the secular public the immense power the Church held within Anglo-Saxon England, but not in a positive way.1 Instead the Church could be viewed as a powerful body of peoples who, in general, had swayed from the original teaching of the Church and had become more involved in living a life that reflected society of the time, instead of living a life which reflected Christian teaching. Christianity had, by the 10th century, firmly taken the place of Paganism within England as the religion of the country. Throughout England, monasteries and rectories were firmly established, to the extent that schisms had began to emerge within them, sparking the need for reform. The behaviour within these monastic houses had descended into misconduct and disorder which the orchestrators of this reformation movement were attempting to address.
There is no doubt that the role St. Dunstan played in this reformation movement is a vital one. As the abbot of Glastonbury, and the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan was a very influential figure in the Church at the time. His importance in this movement is as a direct correlation with his time spent in Flanders, in a monastery at Ghent.2 This was one of the early medieval centres for the Benedictine Order of monks in Europe, and it is believed that here is where he got his inspiration for the form of the reforms, due to the reforms that had taken place at this site. The Benedictine Order was one of the largest in Europe at this time, with hundreds of monastic houses and thousands of monks under it. Monastic Orders had been, at their conception, intended to be designed in such a way for devout clerical men to live away from secular society, to fulfil the monastic ideal way of life. 3However, by the 10th century, discord and misconduct had crept into the Orders, with the clerical men living less than devout, rigorous, celibate lives. Dunstan spent most of his life in a monastery at Fleury, where changes from the first wave of reforms initiated by Benedict of Aquitaine, had been enforced, and it can be said, where Dunstan would get his inspiration for the reformation movement in England by using Fleury as a model to mould the English churches and monastic houses to.4
Dunstan was a man of power, not only due to his various positions within the Church; abbot of Glastonbury; bishop of Worcester, and later, bishop of London and archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church in England, but also due to his influential position as advisor several kings.5 It can be said that, due to his elevated position within society, not only on a ecclesiastical level, but also on a secular level, as kings advisor, Dunstan was in the perfect position to introduce these reforms to the Church as a whole. His appointment to archbishop of Canterbury, and head of the Church in England, in 959/960 A.D. instigated his main stage of reform in the Church in England, with an emphasis on a ascetic lifestyle, and on the vow of abstinence. Dunstan advocated an end to the practice of nepotism within the positions of authority in the Church,and, by outlawing the practice of Simony,6 Dunstan ensured a change in the 'right' direction for the Church, to a road which more closely followed the rules that the Benedictine Order was founded on. 7
Although Dunstan was notably a pivotal figure in the reformation movement in England during the 10th century, it cannot be said that he was the only important figure involved in the the movement. Without the involvement of other notable figures, such as the support of kings an other men of the clergy, the relative success of the reformation movement would not have been at the level that it was. As previously stated, the reformation movement in England was part of a wider movement in Europe which ha been started by Benedict of Aquitaine and the support he received from king Louis the pious. Although this first wave of the reformation movement started in the 9th century, and didn't involve England, it marked the start of the wider reformation movement in Europe and can be seen as an important set of events that influenced the English reforms. Out of this movement, at a meeting held as Aachen in 817 A.D., regulations and rules were passed and created to control the actions of the Church members. Although this movement created around 80 rules, there appeared to be too many to follow properly and the reform movement, which can be seen as a monumental step in the direction for proper reform of the Church in Europe, it can be ultimately viewed as unsuccessful due to the complicated nature of the reforms.
Dunstan was inspired to launch his reformation movement for the English Church, supposedly after his experiences at the monastery at Cluny under St. Berno, the first abbot of Cluny. It is here that the beginnings of the Benedictine Order as one organisation, with rules and doctrinal practices followed throughout Europe began, and it can be argued that the English reform movement was sparked at this time, due to Dunstan's association with Cluny at this time.8 If we give credit to St Berno for the start of the English reformation movement, due to his influence on Dunstan, then credit must also be given, to some extent to Kings Eadwig and Edgar, for exiling Dunstan to France, and for asking for him back to England. These kings both played a role in the movement of reforms as they are the reasons behind Dunstan understanding the reform movement in France, and in the bringing back of these ideas and ideals to England. The support, or lack of it in Eadwigs case, played a vital role in the reform movement and it can be argued that, without them, the movement in England would not have been what it was and Dunstan might not have been the person most associated with the reforms as, these kings played a pivotal role in his experiences of the reformation movement in Europe.
Probably one of the most important documents to come out of the reformation movement of the 10th century in England, came from the support of the bishop of Winchester; Æthelwold, and came in the form of the Concordia Regularis which was a type of rulebook for the Benedictine houses in England. 9It sets out rules and reforms for the members of the Benedictine Order to follow, in an attempt to ensure there was a type of consistency in the conduct and lifestyles of the members of the clergy at this time.10 This documentation ensured a uniform observance in all English monasteries, in an attempt to fix the issues that lay cause for the reform of the Church in England . It also serves to highlight the importance of a degree of democracy within the Church, in the form of the Synod which was held c.973 A.D., in order to determine the content of the Concordia Regularis. It addresses several of the problems that were considered to be within the Church at this time, but one of the biggest was the election of bishops into the Church, addressing the problems on nepotism and of simony, and ensuring that only members of the clergy or the monastic order were appointed to these positions of power, and these positions would no longer be filled due to corruption or money.11
With the introduction of universal observances to be preformed by the monks and members of the Benedictine Order in England, there came a unification within the Church in the sense that a sense of order was resorted amongst the ranks, to some degree.

The monastic houses underwent a tremendous overhaul, ensuring the true nature of the Benedictine Order was upheld throughout the country of England, and false clergy and rectories were abolished, creating an altogether more cohesive image of the Church. The extent of the role St. Dunstan played in this reformation movement can be debated, however it is clear that he did play a pivotal role through his experiences in Cluny and the subsequent ideas of reform in England that may have been a direct result of this. Although there is no doubt that other people played an important role in the 10th century reforms in the English Church, such as the support from both monarchical figures and from Church figures, it can be said that, without St. Dunstan, the movement would not have came about with the results that it did. The chances of the reformation movement that was spreading throughout mainland Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, reaching England without the intervention of St. Dunstan can be debated, and in all likelihood, these reforms would have reached England as some stage, however, how efficient these reforms would have been is unsure. I believe that, without the involvement of St. Dunstan, and the support for the reform movement that he experienced from other ecclesiastical figures and other secular figures, such as kings, as well as the relative stability of England and peace, under the rule of King Edgar, the Benedictine reformation movement of the 10th century in England, would not have developed in the way that it did and, in all likelihood, would not have taken root in English society, due to the geographical isolation England faces from mainland Europe and the lack of powerful figures in support of

it.