Editing Edgar, King of England (section)

=== Religion ===
[[File:Edgar from Winchester Charter.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Frontispiece of the [[New Minster Charter|Winchester New Minster Charter]] of 966, the only illuminated charter and the only manuscript written entirely in gold to survive from Anglo-Saxon England. Edgar is flanked by the [[Virgin Mary]] and [[St Peter]], and he is offering the charter to Christ, who sits enthroned above, surrounded by four winged angels.{{sfnm|1a1=Miller|1y=2001|1pp=95, 105|2a1=Karkov|2y=2008|2p=224|3a1=Charter S 745|3loc=London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian A, viii, fol. 2v.}}]]

As king of Mercia in 958, Edgar granted land to [[Chester Cathedral#History|St Werburgh's Minster, Chester]]. This was an unreformed community, a house of secular clergy, and would have been an unlikely beneficiary of royal patronage later in Edgar's reign. The Benedictine reformers later presented his accession as a victory for their cause, but this donation shows that monastic status was not then crucial for him and his advisers.{{sfnm|1a1=Lewis|1y=2008|1pp=104–105, 122|2a1=Charter S 667}}

Earlier kings had supported reform, but there were only two Benedictine monasteries when Edgar came to the throne,{{sfn|Roach|2016|p=35}} and his support was key to the wider success of the movement.{{sfnm|1a1=Wollasch|1y=1999|1pp=173–174|2a1=Blair|2y=2005|2p=346}} In Stenton's view, his accession to the throne of England led to few changes in secular personnel, but it caused momentous changes in the church. He comments: "There is no doubt that in the re-establishment of English monasticism, which is the principal achievement of this period, the enthusiasm of King Edgar was the decisive factor."{{sfn|Stenton|1971|pp=365, 367}} He favoured all three of the leading figures in the movement, Dunstan, [[Oswald of Worcester|Oswald]] and Æthelwold.{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|p=42}} Oda had died in 958, and Eadwig's choice of successor as Archbishop of Canterbury, Ælfsige, froze to death in the Alps on the way to get his [[pallium]] from the Pope. [[Byrhthelm (bishop of Wells)|Byrhthelm]], [[Bishop of Wells]], was Eadwig's second choice, but when Edgar succeeded, he dismissed Byrhthelm on the ground that he was too gentle to maintain discipline and appointed Dunstan.{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p=367}} 
Oswald became [[bishop of Worcester]] in 962 and then [[archbishop of York]] in 971 without relinquishing Worcester.{{sfn|Williams|2014}}

In the early years of Edgar's reign, the third monastic leader, Æthelwold, was the only abbot who attested charters, showing his special status.{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|p=29}} He was a strong critic of secular clergy (sometimes called canons), who were able to marry, unlike monks.{{sfn|Blair|2005|pp=342, 351}} Following his appointment as Bishop of Winchester in 963, Æthelwold converted the city's [[New Minster]] into an institution exclusively of monks. Edgar successfully sought papal authority for the forcible expulsion of the canons and sent an armed force under a royal official to help in carrying it out.{{sfnm|1a1=Yorke|1y=2004d|2a1=Whitelock|2a2=Brett|2a3=Brooke|2y=1981|2pp=109–113}} In 966, he granted privileges to the new community in a magnificent charter (see image), which referred to the cleansing of the church by the driving out of the canons and recorded the grant of the New Minster to Christ by Edgar, who is described as {{lang|la|vicarius christi}} (vicar of Christ).{{sfnm|1a1=Miller|1y=2001|1pp=95–111|2a1=Karkov|2y=2008|2pp=234–235|3a1=Charter S 745}} One of the main justifications for the king's involvement was that the canons' sinful nature meant that their prayers for him were worthless.{{sfn|Karkov|2004|p=85}}

Edgar and Ælfthryth granted Æthelwold an estate at [[Sudbourne]] on condition that he translate the {{lang|la|[[Regula S. Benedicti]]}} (Rule of Saint Benedict) from Latin into English to assist the religious instruction of the laity, and the translation survives.{{sfnm|1a1=Lapidge|1y=1988|1p=101|2a1=Lapidge|2y=1993|2pp=34–35}} The {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia}}{{efn|The full name of the {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia}} is given in the title of Thomas Symons's 1953 edition: {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia Anglicae Nationis Monachorum Sanctimonialiumque}}: ''The Monastic Agreement of Monks and Nuns of the English Nation''.{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=1 n. 3}} }} laid down rules for English monasteries. It was written as a result of instructions sent by Edgar to a synod at Winchester to draw up a single monastic rule for all England, and it exhibits his desire for unity and uniformity. He urged his bishops, abbots and abbesses, "to be of one mind regarding monastic usage ... lest differing ways of observing the customs of one Rule and one country should bring their holy conversation into disrepute".{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1999|1p=481|2a1=Cooper|2y=2015|2p=62}} The {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia}} instructed that psalms be said several times a day for the king and queen in all monasteries, and required the consent of the king for the election of abbots.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|p=174}} The document dates to around 973, perhaps after Edgar's coronation in Bath on 11 May.{{efn|For Edgar's coronation, see the 'Events in 973' section below.}}{{sfnm|1a1=Symons|1y=1975|1pp=40–42|2a1=Cooper|2y=2015|2p=48 n.3}}

Continental reformers accepted that secular clergy had their place in the church, and Dunstan and Oswald agreed. They did not expel the canons from their cathedral communities. Æthelwold was more extreme, and in a text known as "King Edgar's Establishment of Monasteries", he wrote that Edgar:
:cleansed holy places from all men's foulnesses, not only in the kingdom of the West Saxons but in the land of the Mercians also. Assuredly he drove out canons who abounded beyond measure in the aforesaid sins, and he established monks in the foremost places of all his dominion for the glorious service of the Saviour Christ. In some places also he established nuns and entrusted them to his consort, Ælfthryth, that she might help them in every necessity.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2005|1p=352|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2pp=921–922}}

The reformers practised personal austerity, but their masses, liturgy and prayers became more and more lavish along Continental lines, and they worked vigorously to increase the land and wealth of the monasteries to pay for the buildings and objects required.{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=64}} The reformers did not only receive physical and financial support from Edgar and his officials, but also from other members of the laity.{{sfn|Rumble|2008|p=242}} In addition, the leaders of the movement were wealthy aristocrats who used their own resources to support the movement.{{sfnm|1a1=Naismith|1y=2021|1p=313|2a1=Blair|2y=2005|2p=350}} Æthelwold paid Edgar 200 [[Mancus|mancuses]] of gold and a silver cup worth five pounds to renew privileges of Winchester Old Minster, granted by Edward the Elder, in relation to a large estate at [[Taunton]], and Æthelwold also paid Ælfthryth 50 mancuses "in return for her help in his just mission".{{sfnm|1a1=Yorke|1y=1988b|1p=81|2a1=Robertson|2y=1956|2pp=92–95, 339–342|3a1=Charter S 806}} Æthelwold relentlessly pursued land claims through the courts on behalf of monasteries in his diocese, and Edgar frequently intervened to support him.{{sfn|Yorke|1988a|pp=5–6}} After his death landowners brought legal actions, and sometimes used violence, to recover estates lost by the aggressive and dubious claims of monasteries. Even the greatest magnates were not immune from the reformers' demands, and Æthelwine brought a successful action to recover an estate of forty hides in [[Hatfield, Hertfordshire|Hatfield]], complaining that Edgar had forced him and his brothers to surrender it to Æthelwold.{{sfnm|1a1=Fisher|1y=1952|1pp=263–264|2a1=Fairweather|2y=2005|2pp=103–104|ps= (Book II, 7) }} The anti-monastic reaction following Edgar's death shows how dependent the reformers were on the king's support,{{sfn|Karkov|2004|p=84}} but no writings survive of the reformers' opponents to show how they saw Edgar.{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=479}}

Edgar's support for the reformers earned him extravagant praise in the works of Benedictine authors such as [[Byrhtferth]] and Wulfstan, both writing in the late 990s.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1999|1p=479|2a1=Keynes|2y=2008a|2pp=3–4}} The reformers gave Edgar a status which was almost theocratic, and he is compared in the {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia}} to the [[Good Shepherd]].{{sfn|Gransden|1992|p=36}} The contemporary theologian [[Ælfric of Eynsham]] also praised Edgar; he urged obedience to monarchy, which he regarded as divinely instituted.{{sfn|Nelson|1999|p=96}} The historian [[Catherine Karkov]] observes that: "From the very beginning of his reign Edgar had been portrayed as an able and powerful {{transliteration|grc|[[basileus]]}}, whose kingship derived directly from God".{{sfn|Karkov|2004|p=86}} The reform was the English branch of a European movement,{{sfn|John|1982|p=160}} and monasteries in post-[[Carolingian Empire|Carolingian]] Europe universally followed the {{lang|la|Regula S. Benedicti}}, but Wormald comments that "England was the only place in post-Carolingian Europe where monastic uniformity was a matter of political principle".{{sfn|Wormald|1988|p=32}}

Like other kings, Edgar was generous in his donations to churches. In 970 Æthelwold re-founded the community of secular priests at [[Ely Abbey]] as a house for monks with the generous support of Edgar, whose gifts included a cross covered in gold and silver gilt, together with golden images and precious stones; a cloak embellished with gold; and a gospel book gilded with precious stones and enamels.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=2003b|1pp=17–23|2a1=Lawson|2y=2011|2p=115|3a1=Fairweather|3y=2005|3loc=pp. 140–141, 354–355 (Book II, 50 and Book III, 50) }} He was a major patron of [[Romsey Abbey]], a Benedictine nunnery which was founded or refounded in 967, and his son Edmund was buried there.{{sfnm|1a1=Coatsworth|1y=1988|1p=167|2a1=Foot|2y=2000|2pp=151–152}} Edgar also supported the [[Old Minster, Winchester]], which had the body of [[Saint Swithun]]. In 971, the saint's body was translated from its tomb in the grounds to one inside the minster, on the order of Edgar and with the support of Æthelwold. This was the start of a major new cult.{{sfn|Ridyard|1988|pp=108–109, 119}} A second translation was carried out in around 974. Swithun's relics were carried in a barefoot procession for three miles before being placed in a grand new reliquary of gold, silver and rubies which Edgar had ordered to be made.{{sfnm|1a1=Rollason|1y=1989|1p=183|2a1=Lapidge|2y=2003|2pp=492–497}} He was also the greatest benefactor of Æthelwold's Abingdon Abbey.{{sfn|Thacker|1988|pp=52–53}}

Reformed Benedictine monasteries were mainly confined to Wessex and some areas of Mercia, and they were greatly outnumbered by the many secular minsters, although the reformed monasteries were much wealthier. The reformers portrayed Edgar's reign as a golden age which fundamentally changed the English church, but the historian [[John Blair (historian)|John Blair]] is sceptical: "The polemic may belie a religious culture in Edgar's reign which, when we probe beneath the surface, starts to look less exclusive and more like that of Æthelstan's and Edmund's."{{sfn|Blair|2005|pp=351–352}}