Editing Edmund I (section)

=== Religion ===
[[File:MS. Hatton 30 Expositio Augustini in Apocalypsin 73v.jpg|thumb|Bodleian Library MS. Hatton 30 folio 73v, {{circa|940–947}}, last page of a set of commentaries on the [[Book of Revelation|Apocalypse]] inscribed "Dunstan the abbot gave orders for the writing of this book".]]

The major religious movement of the tenth century, the [[English Benedictine Reform]], reached its peak under Edgar,{{sfn|Blair|2005|p=347}} but Edmund's reign was important in the early stages, which were led by Oda and Ælfheah, both of whom were monks. Oda had strong connections with Continental centres of reform, especially [[Fleury Abbey]]. He had been a leading counsellor of Æthelstan and had helped to negotiate the return of Louis to France as king of the Franks in 936.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2004|2a1=Brooks|2y=1984|2pp=222–223|3a1=Dumville|3y=1992|3p=175}} Dunstan was to be a key figure in the reform and Archbishop of Canterbury, and according to his first biographer he was a leading figure at Edmund's court until his enemies persuaded Edmund to expel him, only for the king to have a change of heart after a narrow escape from death and give him a royal estate at [[Glastonbury]], including its [[Glastonbury Abbey|abbey]]. Williams rejects the story because there is no evidence that he was influential in this period; his brother attested charters, but he did not.{{sfn|Williams|2004}} Edmund may have given Dunstan the abbey to keep him at a distance because he was too much of a disruptive influence at court.{{sfnm|1a1=Brooks|1y=1992|1p=11|2a1=Lapidge|2y=2004b}} He was joined by Æthelwold, another future reform leader, and they spent much of the next decade studying Benedictine texts at Glastonbury, which became the first centre for disseminating monastic reform.{{sfn|Blair|2005|p=350}}

Edmund visited the shrine of [[Cuthbert|St Cuthbert]] in Chester-le-Street church, probably on his way to Scotland in 945. He prayed at the shrine and commended himself and his army to the saint. His men gave 60 pounds to the shrine,{{efn|In the later Anglo-Saxon period a pound was a unit of account of 240 pence.{{sfn|Naismith|2014b|p=330}}}} and Edmund placed two gold bracelets on the saint's body and wrapped two costly {{lang|la|pallia graeca}} (lengths of Greek cloth) around it. One of the {{lang|la|pallia graeca}} was probably an excellent [[Byzantine]] silk found in Cuthbert's tomb known as the "Nature Goddess silk".{{efn|The textile historian Clare Higgins dates the silk as late eighth or early ninth century, and argues that Edmund is the most likely donor to Cuthbert's tomb. The silk could have been placed in it by Æthelstan when he visited it in 934, but unlike Edmund he is not known to have revested the body. The tomb was opened again in 1104, and it is also possible that the silk was added then.{{sfn|Higgins|1989|pp=336–337}}}} He also "granted peace and law better than any it ever had to the whole territory of St Cuthbert".{{sfnm|1a1=Higgins|1y=1989|1pp=333, 336–337|2a1=Granger-Taylor|2y=1989|2p=341|3a1=Johnson South|3y=2002|3p=67}} Edmund's show of respect and support for the shrine reflected both the political power of the community of St Cuthbert in the north and southern reverence for him.{{sfnm|1a1=Johnson South|1y=2002|1p=3|2a1=Rollason|2y=1986|2pp=102–103|3a1=Rollason and Dobson|3y=2004}} According to William of Malmesbury, Edmund brought the relics of important Northumbrian saints such as [[Aidan of Lindisfarne|Aidan]] south to Glastonbury Abbey.{{sfn|Williams|2004}}

Another sign of the religious revival was the number of aristocratic women who adopted a religious life. Several received grants from Edmund, including a nun called Ælfgyth, who was a patron of [[Wilton Abbey]], and Wynflæd, the mother of Edmund's first wife.{{sfnm|1a1=Kelly|1y=1996|1pp=56, 104|2a1=Foot|2y=2000|2p=172|2ps=; [https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/charter/493.html S 493]; [https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/charter/485.html S485]}} Æthelstan had granted two estates to religious women, Edmund made seven such grants and Eadred four. After this the practice ceased abruptly, apart from one further donation. The significance of the donations is uncertain, but the most likely explanation is that in the mid-tenth century some religious aristocratic women were granted the estates so that they could choose how to pursue their vocation, whether by establishing a nunnery or living a religious life in their own homes.{{sfn|Dumville|1992|pp=177–178}}

In the reign of Edmund's son Edgar, Æthelwold and his circle insisted that Benedictine monasticism was the only worthwhile form of religious life, but this was not the view of earlier kings such as Edmund. He was concerned to support religion, but was not committed to a particular ideology of religious development. In his grants, he continued Æthelstan's policies.{{sfn|Blair|2005|pp=348–349}} When [[Gérard of Brogne]] reformed the [[Abbey of Saint Bertin]] by imposing the [[Benedictine rule]] in 944, monks who rejected the changes fled to England and Edmund gave them a church owned by the crown at [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]. He may have had personal motives for his assistance, as the monks had given burial to his half-brother, [[Edwin (son of Edward the Elder)|Edwin]], who had drowned at sea in 933, but the incident shows that Edmund did not see only one monastic rule as valid.{{sfnm|1a1=Dumville|1y=1992|1p=176|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2pp=346–347}} He may also have granted privileges to the unreformed (non-Benedictine) [[Bury St Edmunds Abbey]], but the charter's authenticity is disputed.{{sfn|Blair|2005|p=349}}{{efn|For views for and against the authenticity of S 507 see 'Comments' in [https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/charter/507.html S 507]}}