Investigative journalism was not known in Dunstan's time. But, like today, there were often nasty rumours going around. In any event, Dunstan managed to retain the highest office in the English Church for nearly 30 years without a whiff of public scandal, and when he died on May 19th, 988, he was proclaimed, unofficially at least, a saint.
Ostensibly, the worthy Dunstan was a man of honour. He was born in the English town of Glastonbury in the first decade of the 10th century and, being talented and clever, he became expert in the arts of metal-working, painting and transcribing. In due course he was moved to take monastic vows and rose quickly in the church. By 960 he was Archbishop of Canterbury, chief adviser to the Saxon kings and one of the most powerful men in England.
But as sometimes happens even now, there was another side to Dunstan that no one was aware of - a misspent youth in which, on several occasions, the Devil figured prominently.
On his first encounter with Old Nick, Dunstan's behaviour can only be described as sans raproche. He was, it seems, a blacksmith for a time before he took the cloth, and one day the Devil happened by his forge and asked Dunstan to repair a shoe on his cloven hooves. Dunstan, knowing his customer full well, tied the devil tightly to the wall, proceeded with the job, and purposely put the devil to such pain that the latter roared for mercy.
Dunstan released the captive demon only on condition that he would never again enter a place where a horseshoe was displayed which, as we know, the devil has never done even to this day.
So far so good, but on their second encounter Dunstan's ethics left much to be desired; had the facts emerged, a tribunal might well have been required. It seems that at another time in his early life the saint set himself up in business as a brewer. To gain a competitive edge, he repaired his relationship with the Devil and bartered his soul in return for an annual spring frost severe enough to blast the apple crop; this, the wily Dunstan reckoned, would put paid to the annual supply of cider, and force everyone to purchase Dunstan's beer.
The Devil, according to the story, has kept his bargain ever since, giving a regular blast of severe frost for three days around St Dunstan's feastday on May 19th. How Dunstan managed to extricate himself from the arrangement and assume his sainthood, no one seems to know.