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KING OF EAST

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 947 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KING OF See also:EAST ANGLIA 947 benefices. He not infrequently retired for solitude to See also:Reading See also:Abbey; it is probable that he would have become a See also:monk if that profession had afforded more See also: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 See also:Oxford, and about 1222 accepted, at the invitation of See also:Bishop ;See also:Richard See also:Poore, the treasurership of See also:Salisbury See also:cathedral. Little is known of his See also:life for the next ten years. But he attracted the See also:notice of the See also:Roman See also:court, and was appointed in 1227 to preach the Crusade in See also:England; he formed a friendship with See also:Ella, countess of Salisbury, and her See also:husband, See also:William Longsword, and he won See also:general admiration by his See also:works of charity and the austerity of his life. In 1233 he was elected See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury at the See also:express See also:suggestion of See also:Gregory IX., after the monks of Canterbury had in vain suggested three other candidates for the See also:pope's approval. See also:Edmund at once leaped into prominence by the outspoken manner in which he rebuked the king for following the See also:advice of See also:foreign favourites. In See also:common with the baronial opposition he treated See also:Henry III. as responsible for the tragic See also:fate of Richard See also:Marshal, See also:earl of See also:Pembroke, and threatened the king with ex-communication. The king bowed before the See also:storm, dismissed the foreign counsellors, made See also: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 See also:political See also:influence which he claimed in virtue of his See also:office. It was with the See also:object of emancipating himself from Edmund's See also:control that the king asked the pope to send him a See also:legate (1236).

On the arrival of See also:

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

The See also:

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

(H. W. C.

End of Article: KING OF EAST

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