Dunstan  acted  as  Eadgar's  chief  minister  in
secular    affairs,   and   was    preoccupied  with
that  policy  of  consolidation  and   construc-
tion which  gave  his  master,  by  973,  a  quasi-
Imperial  position  in  Great  Britain.     Legend
makes    Dunstan    responsible    for    delaying
Eadgar's  coronation  till  973  ;    and  we  can
hardly  doubt  that  it  was  his  influence  which
induced  the  King  to  obtain  in  that  year  the
Pope's  benediction.     We  may  also  attribute
to  Dunstan's  advice  the  ecclesiastical  laws
of  Eadgar.     But  these  contain  few  novelties,
are  moderate  in  tone,  and  lend  no  support  to
the  story  that  Dunstan  persecuted  the  married
clergy.     He    took,    however,    a    strong   line
against    the    ecclesiastical    reaction    which
followed  Eadgar's  death.     During  the  inter-
regnum,  when   the   throne   was   in   dispute
between  Eadward  the  elder,  and  Aethelred
the  younger,  son  of  Eadgar,  the  lay  magnates


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Dictionary  of  English  Church  History


[Durham


of  Meroia  and  East  Anglia  took  up  arms,
some  to  attack  and  some  to  defend  the  monks
of  the  reformed  houses.  Dunstan  and  St.
