Edward the Confessor
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Edward the Confessor (c.
1004 -
January 5,
1066) was the penultimate
Saxon king of
England (
1042 -
1066). His reign foreshadowed the country's later connection with
Normandy, whose duke
William I was to supplant Edward's successor
Harold as England's ruler.
The king
Ethelred the Unready, Edward and his brother Alfred were taken to Normandy by their mother
Emma, sister of Normandy's duke
Richard II, to escape the
Danish invasion of England in
1013. During his quarter-century of exile, Edward developed a familiarity with Normandy and its leaders which was to influence his later rule.
Returning to England with Alfred in an abortive attempt (
1036) to displace
Harold Harefoot from the throne, Edward escaped to Normandy after Alfred's capture and death. He was invited back to England in
1041, this time as co-ruler with his half-brother
Harthacanute (son of Emma and
Canute), on whose death on
June 8,
1042, he ascended the throne. Edward was crowned at
Winchester Cathedral on
April 3,
1043.
Edward's sympathies for Norman favourites frustrated Saxon and Danish nobles alike, fuelling the growth of anti-Norman opinion led by
Godwin, Earl of
Wessex, who had become the king's father-in-law in
1045. Exiled in September
1051, Godwin returned with an armed following a year later, forcing the king to restore his title. Godwin died in
1053, but his son Harold accumulated even greater territories, and in January
1066 took the throne upon Edward's death.
Edward married Edith of Wessex on
January 23,
1045. It was a spiritual marriage, with Edward refusing to consummate it for religious reasons.
William of Normandy, who had visited England during Godwin's exile, claimed that the childless Edward had promised him the succession to the throne, and his
successful bid for the English crown put an end to Harold's nine-month kingship following a 7000-strong Norman invasion.
Edward was known as the last English King, but it should be noted that 'English' (or Anglisc) at the time meant descended from the
Anglo-Saxons, not native to England.
Edward's reign marks a transition between the
10th century West Saxon kingship of England and the Norman monarchy which followed Harold's death. The great earldoms established under Canute grew in power, while Norman influence became a powerful factor in government and in the leadership of the
Church.
{| border=2 align="center"\n|-\n|width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:
Harthacanute\n|width="40%" align="center"|
King of England\n|width="30%" align="center"|Succeeded by:
Harold II\n|}
Category:Saints
