After spending a year in retirement with the Augustinian canons of Merton (Surrey) he became a theological lecturer in Oxford. In this capacity he gained some reputation, and it is related that his audience were often moved to tears by his eloquence. He spent the fees which he received in charity, and refused to spend upon himself the revenues which he derived from several benefices. He not infrequently retired for solitude to Reading Abbey; it is probable that he would have become a monk if that profession had afforded more 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 Oxford, and about 1222 accepted, at the invitation of Bishop Richard Poore, the treasurership of Salisbury cathedral. Little is known of his life for the next ten years. But he attracted the notice of the Roman court, and was appointed in 1227 to preach the Crusade in England; he formed a friendship with Ella, countess of Salisbury, and her husband, William Longsword, and he won general admiration by his works of charity and the austerity of his life. In 1233 he was elected archbishop of Canterbury at the express suggestion of Gregory IX., after the monks of Canterbury had in vain suggested three other candidates for the pope's approval. Edmund at once leaped into prominence by the outspoken manner in which he rebuked the king for following the advice of foreign favourites. In common with the baronial opposition he treated Henry III. as responsible for the tragic fate of Richard Marshal, earl of Pembroke, and threatened the king with excommunication. The king bowed before the storm, dismissed the foreign counsellors, made 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 political influence which he claimed in virtue of his office. It was with the object of emancipating himself from Edmund's control that the king asked the pope to send him a legate (1236). On the arrival of Cardinal Otho (1237) the archbishop found himself thwarted and insulted at every point. The marriage between Simon de Montfort and the Princess Eleanor, which Edmund had pronounced invalid, was ratified at Rome upon 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 precedence of the archbishop. 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 measures led to no result; nor could the pope be moved to reverse the legate's decisions. Edmund complained that the discipline of the national church was ruined by this conflict of powers, and began to meditate retiring. He was confirmed in this intention by the papal encroachments of the year 1240,