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 and praying before the Virgin's altar till the day broke and it was time for him to attend the schools. He sold the little library he possessed—consisting only of the psalter, the Pentateuch, the twelve (minor) prophets, and the decretals—that he might give their price to his needy fellow-scholars at Paris. Walter Gray hearing that he did not possess a copy of the Bible offered to send him one at his own expense, but Edmund refused lest the burden of its production should be laid upon some needy monastery. The last year before he undertook the office of reader in theology was spent with the Austin canons of Merton, whom his example roused to a more fervid sense of their religious duties (Vita Bertr. c. 16; Ep. Rob. Abb. Meritonæ).

A very few years sufficed to make St. Edmund a master of theology (Vita Bertr. c. 16). His new career as a teacher of divinity probably began between 1205 and 1210. He soon won fame as a public preacher of extraordinary eloquence. His exhaustion often caused him to fall asleep in his chair of office. On one occasion he dealt so subtly offhand with an intricate theological question that he could only explain his own eloquence by the theory of a special inspiration: the Holy Spirit had come in the form of a dove. On another occasion a Cistercian abbot brought seven of his pupils to hear Edmund's lecture, which so moved the strangers that they renounced the world. One of these seven was Stephen de Lexington, afterwards abbot of Clairvaux (1243). Among his penitents was William Longsword, the Earl of Salisbury, and natural son of Henry II.

After many years spent in expounding the ‘Lord's law,’ Edmund recognised the vanity of scholastic success, and gave up his chair (Vita Edm. ap. MS. Gale I. i. f. iiib). He was appointed treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral at some period between 15 Aug. 1219 and 18 Aug. 1222. His income, owing to his liberality, only lasted him for half the year; for the remaining six months he had to find a home with his friend, Stephen of Lexington, now abbot of Stanley in Wiltshire. He held the prebend of Calne, and he was staying at this place in 1233 when the messengers from Rome brought the news of his appointment to Canterbury.

In the intervening years (1222–33) Edmund had been employed in the work of public preaching. At the pope's bidding (probably in 1227) he had preached the crusade over a great part of England. He is mentioned at Oxford, Worcester, Gloucester, and Leominster, and it was probably his success in this work that marked him out for promotion. At all events it was at the instance of Gregory IX that he was elected to Canterbury, to which office, despite his own reluctance, he was consecrated 2 April 1234.

Hubert de Burgh [q. v.], who had kept Henry III in constitutional paths, had recently been confined in Devizes (c. November 1232), and Richard, earl marshal, was now recognised as the head of the national party, on whose behalf Edmund exercised his influence even before his consecration. In conjunction with the earl, in the name of his fellow-bishops, he had solemnly exhorted the king to take warning by his father, John. This was at Westminster (2 Feb. 1234). Two months later (9 April) the barons and the bishops, headed by the newly consecrated primate, appeared before the king once more. Edmund was the spokesman of his party; if the king would not dismiss his favourites, he was ready to excommunicate the royal person. The threat was effective. Peter des Roches, Peter de Rievaulx, and the Poitevins had to leave the court. About Easter the archbishop was negotiating a peace with Llewellyn of Wales.

Meanwhile the earl marshal had been enticed into Wales and slain in the king's name, if not with the king's consent. Edmund took up this matter also. At Gloucester he induced Henry to accept the homage of the dead noble's brother and heir, Gilbert (28 May), and on Whitsunday at Worcester he had the letters by which Earl Richard had been inveigled to his fate read before the king and the whole assembly of bishops and barons. Henry had to admit the evidence of his own seal, but pleaded ignorance of the contents of the despatch, upon which the archbishop bade him interrogate his own conscience: for all who had had a share in this fraud were as guilty of the earl's death as though they had slain him with their own hands. The accused counsellors were summoned, but, not daring to appear, sought refuge in churches and elsewhere. It was now Edmund's influence that procured them a safe-conduct to the court, and it was under his protection that (14 July) Peter de Rievaulx appeared before the king and his justices. For a moment even the archbishop refused to be his surety, and the disgraced minister was committed to the Tower weeping; but on Saturday Edmund's heart relented, and the prisoner was suffered to go to Winchester. Edmund acted a similar part with reference to the late justiciar, Stephen de Segrave, and indeed is called by Matthew Paris ‘pacis mediator hujus discidii’ (, iii. 244, 272–3, 290, 293–4, &c.;, p. 213). Edmund seems to have sided with the popular party at the Westminster council of 1237 (13 Jan.), and to have insisted