 Dunstan was born in Baltonsborough , Somerset . He was the son of Heorstan , a noble of Wessex . Heorstan was the brother of Athelm the bishop of Wells and of the Bishop of Winchester . It is recorded that his mother , Cynethryth , was a pious woman . Osbern 's life of Dunstan relates that a messenger miraculously told her of the saintly child she would give birth to : 
