when the English clergy were required to pay a subsidy of a fifth for the war against Frederick II., and simultaneously three hundred Romans were "provided" with English benefices in return for their political services to the Holy See. Edmund withdrew to Pontigny in the summer of 1240. A little later the state of his health compelled him to seek the cooler air of Soissy (near Provins). Here he died on the 16th of November 1240. His canonization was at once demanded by his admirers, and only delayed (till 1247) through the opposition of Henry III. The honour was well deserved. He is one of the most saintly and attractive figures in the history of the English church. It was his misfortune to be placed at the head of the national hierarchy in a crisis for which he had not been prepared by practical training or experience. As archbishop he showed no great capacity or force of character; but the purity of his motives and the loftiness of his ideals commanded universal respect. See the Life printed by Martène and Durand in the _Thesaurus novus anecdotorum_ (1717). Other lives of importance exist in manuscript at the British Museum, in the Cambridge University library and in that of St John's College, Cambridge. The last-named is printed by W. Wallace in the appendix to his _Life of St Edmund_ (1893). An account of the manuscript lives and many extracts (translated) will be found in the Rev. B. Ward's _St Edmund_ (1903). See also _St Edmund of Abingdon_ (1898), by the Baroness Paravicini; and the _English Historical Review_, xxii. pp. 84 ff. (H. W. C. D.) EDMUND, king of East Anglia (c. 840-870), succeeded to the East Anglian throne in 855 while he was yet but a boy. According to Abbo, followed by Florence of Worcester, he was "_ex antiquorum Saxonum prosapia_," which would seem to mean that he was of foreign origin and that he belonged to the Old Saxons of the continent. This very doubtful tradition was expanded later into a fuller legend which spoke of his Old Saxon parentage, his birth at Nuremberg, his nomination as successor to Offa, king of East Anglia, and his landing at Hunstanton to claim his kingdom. His coronation took place in the next year at "Burna" (i.e. probably Bures St Mary, Suffolk), which was then the royal capital.