Margaret of Scotland, who was born in 1046, the daughter of the Anglo-Saxon royal house of England but educated in Hungary, where her family lived in exile during the reign of Danish kings in England.
After the Norman invasion in 1066, when her royal person was still a threat to the new monarchy, she was welcomed in the royal court of Malcolm iii of Scotland and soon afterwards married him in 1069. Theirs was a happy and fruitful union and Margaret proved to be both a civilising and a holy presence.
She instituted many church reforms and founded many monasteries, churches and pilgrim hostels. She was a woman of prayer as well as good works who seemed to influence for good all with whom she came into contact.
She died on this day in the year 1093.
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Edmund Rich, who was born in Abingdon around 1175.
His father was a merchant whose wealth probably led to Edmund being later surnamed ‘Rich’, and who himself became a monk later in life.
Edmund was educated at Oxford and in Paris. After also teaching in both places, he became Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral in 1222 and was eventually made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1233.
He was a reforming bishop and, as well as bringing gifts of administration to his task, appointed clergy of outstanding talent to senior positions in the Church.
He also acted as peacemaker between the king and his barons, many believing that his actions averted civil war. He died on this day in the year 1240.
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