of powers, and began to consider retirement. Journey to Rome Notwithstanding the gentleness of his disposition, Edmund firmly defended the rights of Church and State against the exactions and usurpations of Henry III. In December 1237 Edmund set out for Rome to plead his cause in person. From this futile mission he returned to England in August 1238 where his efforts to foster reform were frustrated. Edmund submitted to the papal demands and, early in 1240 paid to the pope's agents one fifth of his revenue, which had been levied for the pope's war against Emperor Frederick II. Other English prelates followed his example. The papacy then ordered that 300 English benefices should be assigned to Romans. In 1240 Edmund set out for Rome. At the Cistercian Pontigny Abbey in France he became sick, began travelling back to England, but died only 50 miles further north, on 16 November 1240, at the house of Augustinian Canons at Soisy-Bouy and was taken back to Pontigny. Veneration Less than a year after Edmund's death, miracles were alleged to be wrought at his grave. Despite Henry's opposition, he was canonised only six years after his death, in December 1246. His feast day is 16 November. A few years later, the first chapel dedicated to him, St Edmund's Chapel, was consecrated in Dover by his friend Richard of Chichester, making it the only chapel dedicated to one English saint by another; this small building still stands. At Salisbury, a collegiate church founded in 1269 by Bishop de la Wyle was dedicated to Edmund; rebuilt in 1407, the church is now Salisbury Arts Centre. An altar in the cathedral is also dedicated to him. Today he is remembered in the name of St Edmund Hall, Oxford and St Edmund's College, Cambridge. His name is given also to St Edmund's College, Ware; St Edmund's School, Canterbury; St Edmund's School, Hindhead; St Edmund's Catholic School, Portsmouth; St Edmund's Roman Catholic Primary School, Abingdon, Oxfordshire and St Edmund Preparatory High School, Brooklyn, NY. Edmund Rich of Abingdon is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 16 November. Relics Edmund's body was never translated to Canterbury, because the Benedictine community there resented what they regarded as Edmund's attacks on their independence. After his death he was taken back to Pontigny Abbey, where his main relics are now found in a baroque reliquary tomb dating to the