KING OF

See also:

• EAST
• EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

EAST  ANGLIA 947 benefices . He not infrequently retired for solitude to Reading Abbey; it is probable that he would have become a monk if that profession had afforded more scope for his gifts as a preacher and expositor . As his fame increased he became alarmed by the temptations which it threw in his way . He ceased to lecture in Oxford, and about 1222 accepted, at the invitation of Bishop ;Richard Poore, the treasurership of Salisbury cathedral . Little is known of his life for the next ten years . But he attracted the notice of the Roman court, and was appointed in 1227 to preach the Crusade in England; he formed a friendship with Ella, countess of Salisbury, and her husband, William Longsword, and he won general admiration by his works of charity and the austerity of his life . In 1233 he was elected archbishop of Canterbury at the express suggestion of Gregory IX., after the monks of Canterbury had in vain suggested three other candidates for the pope's approval . Edmund at once leaped into prominence by the outspoken manner in which he rebuked the king for following the advice of foreign favourites . In common with the baronial opposition he treated Henry III. as responsible for the tragic fate of Richard Marshal, earl of Pembroke, and threatened the king with ex-communication . The king bowed before the storm, dismissed the foreign counsellors, made peace with Marshal's adherents, and was publicly reconciled with the barons . But the new ministers were as unpopular as the old; nor was the archbishop allowed that political influence which he claimed in virtue of his office . It was with the object of emancipating himself from Edmund's control that the king asked the pope to send him a legate (1236) .

On the arrival of

Cardinal Otho (1237) the arch-bishop found himself thwarted and insulted at every point . The marriage between Simon de Montfort and the Princess Eleanor, which' Edmund had pronounced invalid, was ratified at Rome upon appeal . The king and legate upheld the monks of Canterbury in their opposition to the archbishop's authority . On all public occasions the legate took precedence of the arch-bishop . By the advice of his suffragans Edmund laid a protest before the king, and excommunicated in general terms all who had infringed the liberties of Canterbury . These measures led to no result; nor could the pope be moved to reverse the legate's decisions . Edmund complained that the discipline of the national church was ruined by this conflict of powers, and began to meditate retiring . He was confirmed in this intention by the papal encroachments of the year 1240, when the English clergy were required to pay a subsidy of a fifth for the war against Frederick II., and simultaneously three hundred Romans were " provided " with English benefices in return for their political services to the Holy See . Edmund withdrew to Pontigny in the summer of 1240 . A little later the state of his health compelled him to seek the cooler air of Soissy (near Provins) . Here he died on the 16th of November 1240 . His canonization was at once demanded by his admirers, and only delayed (till 1247) through the opposition of Henry III .

The

honour was well deserved . He is one of the most saintly and attractive figures in the history of the English church . It was his misfortune to be placed at the head of the national hierarchy in a crisis for which he had not been prepared by practical training or experience . As archbishop he showed no great capacity or force of character; but the purity of his motives and the loftiness of his deals commanded universal respect . See the Life printed by Martene and Durand in the Thesaurus novus anecdotorurn (1717) . Other lives of importance exist in manuscript at the British Museum, in the Cambridge University library and in that of St John's College, Cambridge . The last-named is printed by W . Wallace in the appendix to his Life of St Edmund (1893) . An account of the manuscript lives and many extracts (translated) will be found in the Rev . B Ward's St Edmund (19o3) . See also St Edmund of Abingdon (1898), by the Baroness Paravicini; and the English Historical Review, xxii. pp . 84 if .

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