The Most Famous English Christian You Probably Don't Know About

And he's from Somerset, naturally

May 16, 2025

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St Dunstan might be the most famous English Christian you’ve never heard of. A thousand years ago, he was a rockstar, canonised almost immediately after his death on 19th May 988, the day on which he is commemorated in the Church of England.

If the office for ‘Patron saint of England’ were re-elected, Dunstan should be in line for a place in the final run-off. His opponent might be Thomas Becket, whose fame eclipsed Dunstan in medieval England thanks to a dramatic death in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, giving the Church a true hero, champion and martyr.

The power and prestige of the Church and its Archbishop Becket, however, owed much to Dunstan. He is the one who dramatically changed the fortunes of the Church in England, as well as England itself, two hundred years earlier. Dunstan took the Church from being an important but marginal voice into the heart and soul of the nation itself. Allow me to explain how:

St Dunstan’s Church, Baltonsborough, Somerset

Origin Story

Dunstan was born in about 910 in the village of Baltonsborough in Somerset. Much as I would love to paint him as the humble son of a ploughman or dairy farmer, Dunstan was, in fact, from a noble West Saxon family with royal connections. Baltonsborough may be a small village in Somerset that you have probably never heard of. But it is in Wessex, not far from Glastonbury in an area associated with King Alfred who had recently died.

Dunstan’s noble father and pious mother sent their son to Glastonbury Abbey to be educated. It was already a major religious centre. Or, at least, it had been. The first flush of enthusiasm for monasticism had abated in England. Monasteries were in decline. Given there had been bands of merciless marauding Vikings roaming England over the previous centuries, becoming an unarmed wealthy monk was not an attractive option for most.

When Dunstan arrived in Glastonbury, the abbey was managed by some Irish monks and clearly under the influence of the older, Celtic Christianity that refused to go away following the advent of the Roman church in 597. By Dunstan’s day, monasteries were looser and less formal and strict. Some monks were married with children. Latin had fallen into disuse to the point where King Alfred had complained that he struggled to find anyone to teach him the language.

Dunstan changed all of this. Although he was educated at Glastonbury, he left to pursue a career in the royal court. His elevated birth had made that possible. But when he fell from favour, being accused of witchcraft at one point, he returned to the Abbey as a monk in 936. Seven years later, he was elected abbot and set about reforming the monastery, adopting the Rule of St Benedict. This was a rigorous system which codified and simplified everything. Today we might call it an ‘out of the box solution’.

The appeal of the Rule of St Benedict for Roman Catholics may be similar to the attraction of Calvinism for Protestants (like me). Calvin’s Institutes present a template for theology, order, and discipline, especially around Church governance.

Make Glastonbury Great Again

Dunstan’s reforms supercharged the monastic community in Glastonbury and he ‘made Glastonbury Great Again.’ The monks of the Abbey set about draining the wetlands of the Somerset Levels, reclaiming land for farming. This began a trajectory of wealth accumulation that would grow and grow for five hundred years to the point where Glastonbury’s wealth in England was second only to Westminster Abbey.

Monasteries, however, did not merely grow in size and wealth, but number, amplifying wealth and influence. Intrepid monks would sally forth from large monasteries to found new satellite monasteries. Again, this was easy since the Benedictine system was all about replication.

By the time Becket was born in 1118, England was littered with monasteries, particular in the south. Moreover, those dominant monasteries, being Benedictine, were Roman rather than Celtic. Whether he intended to do this or not, Dunstan gently nudged England towards greater papal authority, which would become a bone of contention several times over the coming centuries. But we can hardly blame Dunstan for that, can we?

Monastic Power and Blessing

It's hard to overestimate the power and influence of monasteries on England in the medieval period. They were testbeds for agriculture and centres of technical innovation – since they needed to pioneer clocks in order to keep their hours of devotional prayer. And let us not underestimate the benefit of continual, devotional, intercessory prayer. If we believe what the Bible teaches, we must acknowledge there is inherent value in seeking the Lord’s favour and blessing.

All of the above makes Dunstan sound like a serial entrepreneur, determined to maximise the revenue and influence of the Church. But his personal example and devotion to God, rather than the Church, were obvious, making him a credible political advisor over his long life.

Church and State

At that time in history, Anglo-Saxon kings were typically advised by family members who were invariably fellow warriors. This is understandable given the frequent waves of Vikings who came looking for food, treasure and satisfaction for their bloodlust. Dunstan ended up being an advisor to a succession of Anglo-Saxon kings whose names are hard to separate in my mind since they all begin with ‘Ae’ or ‘E’. They were also young men in need of a father figure as well as wisdom. Dunstan, then, remained a close advisor to Edward the Martyr, King Edgar and Aethelred. It was not unusual thereafter for a senior Bishop or Archbishop to be an advisor to the King in all matters secular and administrative.

As a result, Thomas Becket could be both the hand of the King as Chancellor and a Lord Spiritual, as Archbishop of Canterbury. In fact, Henry II was personally offended when Thomas Becket stepped away from secular role to be a champion of the church alone. Two centuries of fusion made this separation painful and, ultimately, deadly.

Coronation Legacy

It was under King Edgar that Dunstan became Archbishop of Canterbury who then crowned Edgar king at Bath Abbey in 973, the service becoming a template for coronation services to this day. See? Dunstan’s fingerprints are all over English society, ancient and modern.

On 19^th May, we can give thanks for the life of Dunstan who shows us how Church and State can and should work together to be a blessing to the nation. Church leaders can and should offer advice, counsel and non-partisan godly wisdom at all levels of society. We think about that most readily with regard to bishops in the House of Lords, or statements from the archbishops. But how can we, as humble churches, be a blessing to our towns and community?

In order to advise or lead, we must walk the walk as well as talk the talk. It begins with getting our own house in order, as Dunstan did in Glastonbury. We have a lot of work to do.

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And you might enjoy this video I made, where I went to Baltonsborough, Glastonbury and St Dunstan-in-the-East in London: