He also received support for his claim to the throne from several continental abbots, particularly Robert, abbot of the Norman abbey of Jumièges, who later became Edward’s
Archbishop of Canterbury.One school of thought supports the Norman case that Edward always intended William the Conqueror to be his heir, accepting the medieval claim that Edward had already decided
to be celibate before he married, but most historians believe that he hoped to have an heir by Edith at least until his quarrel with Godwin in 1051.[58] Edward was a less popular saint for many, but he was important to the Norman dynasty, which claimed to be the successor of Edward as the last legitimate Anglo-Saxon king.
[19][20] Early reign Following Harthacnu*t’s death on 8 June 1042, Godwin, the most powerful of the English earls, supported Edward, who succeeded to the throne.
Edward’s nephew Ralph was given Beorn’s earldom, but the following year Sweyn’s father was able to secure his reinstatement.
William may have visited Edward during Godwin’s exile, and he is thought to have promised William the succession at this time, but historians disagree on how seriously he
meant the promise, and whether he later changed his mind.[1] Sweyn went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem (dying on his way back), but Godwin and his other sons returned, with an army following a year later, and received considerable support,
while Leofric and Siward failed to support the king.Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 until his death in 1066.
He was given the designation Etheling, meaning throne-worthy, which may mean that Edward considered making him his heir, and he was briefly declared king after Harold’s death
in 1066.According to the Ramsey Liber Benefactorum, the monastery’s abbot decided that it would be dangerous to publicly contest a claim brought by “a certain powerful man”, but he
claimed he was able to procure a favourable judgment by giving Edward twenty marks in gold and his wife five marks.[22] Edward complained that his mother had “done less for him than he wanted before he became king, and also afterwards”.
Elfgar likely died in 1062, and his young son Edwin was allowed to succeed as Earl of Mercia, but Harold then launched a surprise attack on Gruffydd.
He had been taken as a young child to Hungary, and in 1054 Bishop Ealdred of Worcester visited the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III to secure his return, probably with a view
to becoming Edward’s heir.This time, it had the full support of the king and the English hierarchy, and a grateful pope issued the bull of canonisation on 7 February 1161,[1] the result of a conjunction
of the interests of Westminster Abbey, King Henry II and Pope Alexander III.Siward was probably Danish, and although Godwin was English, he was one of cnu*t’s new men, married to cnu*t’s former sister-in-law.
Beorn’s elder brother, Sweyn II of Denmark “submitted himself to Edward as a son”, hoping for his help in his battle with Magnus for control of Denmark, but in 1047 Edward
rejected Godwin’s demand that he send aid to Sweyn, and it was only Magnus’s death in October that saved England from attack and allowed Sweyn to take the Danish throne.According to William of Jumièges, the Norman chronicler, Robert I, Duke of Normandy attempted an invasion of England to place Edward on the throne in about 1034 but it was
blown off course to Jersey.Some portray Edward the Confessor’s reign as leading to the disintegration of royal power in England and the advance in power of the House of Godwin, because of the infighting
that began after his death with no heirs to the throne.[1][16] Harthacnu*t, his position in Denmark now secure, planned an invasion, but Harold died in 1040, and Harthacnu*t was able to cross unopposed, with his mother, to take
the English throne.[17] In 1041, Harthacnu*t invited Edward back to England, probably as his heir because he knew he had not long to live.
According to Scandinavian tradition, Edward fought alongside Edmund; as Edward was at most thirteen years old at the time, the story is disputed.
According to his account, shortly before the Battle of Hastings, Harold sent William an envoy who admitted that Edward had promised the throne to William but argued that this
was overridden by his deathbed promise to Harold.[39] His son Edgar, who was then about 6 years old, was brought up at the English court.
There, Edward was received as king in return for his oath that he would continue the laws of cnu*t.
Sweyn and Harold called up their own vassals, but neither side wanted a fight, and Godwin and Sweyn appear to have each given a son as hostage, who were sent to Normandy.
[1] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes the popularity he enjoyed at his accession – “before he [Harthacnu*t] was buried, all the people chose Edward as king in London.
Soon afterwards, her brother Harold and her Danish cousin Beorn Estrithson were also given earldoms in southern England.
In 1049, he returned to try to regain his earldom, but this was said to have been opposed by Harold and Beorn, probably because they had been given Sweyn’s land in his absence.
[37][38] Edward probably entrusted the kingdom to Harold and Edith shortly before he died on 5 January 1066.
Edward’s young great-nephew Edgar the Etheling of the House of Wessex was proclaimed king after the Battle of Hastings, but was never crowned and was peacefully deposed after
about eight weeks.Biographers Frank Barlow and Peter Rex, on the other hand, portray Edward as a successful king, one who was energetic, resourceful and sometimes ruthless; they argue that
the Norman conquest shortly after his death tarnished his image.Sweyn died in February 1014, and leading Englishmen invited Ethelred back on the condition that he promised to rule ‘more justly’ than before.
[55] In the 1230s, King Henry III became attached to the cult of Saint Edward, and he commissioned a new life, by Matthew Paris.
[1] When Odda of Deerhurst died without heirs in 1056, Edward seized lands which Odda had granted to Pershore Abbey and gave them to his Westminster foundation; historian
Ann Williams observes that “the Confessor did not in the 11th century have the saintly reputation which he later enjoyed, largely through the efforts of the Westminster monks themselves”.Effective rule required keeping on terms with the three leading earls, but loyalty to the ancient house of Wessex had been eroded by the period of Danish rule, and only Leofric
was descended from a family which had served Ethelred.In the early 1030s, Edward witnessed four charters in Normandy, signing two of them as king of England.
[8] Edward spent a quarter of a century in exile, probably mainly in Normandy, although there is no evidence of his location until the early 1030s.
[1][30] [e] Later reign Until the mid-1050s Edward was able to structure his earldoms to prevent the Godwins from becoming dominant.
Chief among them was Robert, abbot of the Norman abbey of Jumièges, who had known Edward from the 1030s and came to England with him in 1041, becoming bishop of London in
1043.[41] After the mid-1050s, Edward seems to have withdrawn from affairs as he became increasingly dependent on the Godwins, and he may have become reconciled to the idea that
one of them would succeed him.William the Conqueror’s grandfather, Duke Richard II, was the brother of Edward the Confessor’s mother, Emma of Normandy, so the two men were second cousins once removed,
and there was a blood tie between them.[34][35] Harold Godwinson meeting Edward shortly before Edward’s death, as depicted in scene 25 of the Bayeux Tapestry In October 1065, Harold’s brother, Tostig, Earl of Northumbria,
was hunting with the king when his thegns in Northumbria rebelled against his rule, which they claimed was oppressive, and killed some 200 of his followers.Tostig seems to have been a favourite with the king and queen, who demanded that the revolt be suppressed, but neither Harold nor anyone else would fight to support Tostig.
Robert refused to consecrate him, saying that the pope had forbidden it, but Spearhafoc occupied the bishopric for several months with Edward’s support.
Edward was one of England’s national saints until King Edward III adopted Saint George (George of Lydda) as the national patron saint in about 1350.
This was commenced between 1042 and 1052 as a royal burial church, consecrated on 28 December 1065, completed after his death in about 1090, and demolished in 1245 to make
way for Henry III’s new building, which still stands.[52] In 1139, Osbert went to Rome to petition for Edward’s canonisation with the support of King Stephen, but he lacked the full support of the English hierarchy and Stephen
had quarrelled with the church, so Pope Innocent II postponed a decision, declaring that Osbert lacked sufficient testimonials of Edward’s holiness.[26][27][d] Crisis of 1051–52 In ecclesiastical appointments, Edward and his advisers showed a bias against candidates with local connections, and when the clergy and monks
of Canterbury elected a relative of Godwin as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1051, Edward rejected him and appointed Robert of Jumièges, who claimed that Godwin was in illegal possession of some archepiscopal estates.[5] Ethelred died in April 1016, and he was succeeded by Edward’s older half-brother Edmund Ironside, who carried on the fight against Sweyn’s son, cnu*t.
Following Sweyn’s seizure of the throne in 1013, Emma fled to Normandy, followed by Edward and Alfred, and then by Ethelred.
[f] Edmund Ironside’s son, Edward the Exile, had the best claim to be considered Edward’s heir.
Edward seized the chance to bring his over-mighty earl to heel.
Emma later claimed that they came in response to a letter forged by Harold inviting them to visit her, but historians believe that she probably did invite them in an effort
to counter Harold’s growing popularity.King Magnus I of Norway aspired to the English throne, and in 1045 and 1046, fearing an invasion, Edward took command of the fleet at Sandwich.
They defeated Earl Ralph at Hereford, and Harold had to collect forces from nearly all of England to drive the invaders back into Wales.
In reply, William did not dispute the deathbed promise but argued that Edward’s prior promise to him took precedence.
When Edward died in 1066, he was succeeded by his wife’s brother Harold Godwinson, who was defeated and killed in the same year at the Battle of Hastings by the Normans under
William the Conqueror.In 1055, Siward died, but his son was considered too young to command Northumbria, and Harold’s brother, Tostig, was appointed.
[57] Until about 1350, Edmund the Martyr, Gregory the Great, and Edward the Confessor were regarded as English national saints, but Edward III preferred the more war-like
figure of Saint George, and in 1348 he established the Order of the Garter with Saint George as its patron.It is not known whether Edward approved of this transformation or whether he had to accept it, but from this time he seems to have begun to withdraw from active politics,
devoting himself to hunting, which he pursued each day after attending church.In September 1051, Edward was visited by his brother-in-law, Godgifu’s second husband, Eustace II of Boulogne.
[12] In 1036, Edward and his brother Alfred separately came to England.
[9] Edward was said to have developed an intense personal piety during this period, but modern historians regard this as a product of the later medieval campaign for his canonisation.
Works Cited
[‘The regnal numbering of English monarchs starts after the Norman conquest, which is why Edward the Confessor, who was the third King Edward, is not referred to as Edward III.
2. ^ (Old English: Ēadƿeard Andettere [ˈEːɑdwEɑrˠd ˈɑndettere]; Latin: Eduardus
Confessor [ɛduˈardus kõːˈfɛssɔr], Latin: [eduˈardus konˈfessor];
3. ^ Pauline Stafford believes that Edward joined his mother at Winchester and returned to the continent after his brother’s death.[15]
4. ^ Robert of Jumièges is usually described
as Norman, but his origin is unknown, possibly Frankish.[28]
5. ^ Edward’s nephew, Earl Ralph, who had been one of his chief supporters in the crisis of 1051–52, may have received Sweyn’s marcher earldom of Hereford at this time.[31] However,
Barlow 2006, states that Ralph received Hereford on Sweyn’s first expulsion in 1047.
6. ^ Historians’ views are discussed in Baxter 2009, pp. 77–118, which this section is based on.
1. Barlow 2006.
2. ^ Rex 2008, p. 224.
3. ^ Mortimer 2009.
4. ^
Keynes 2009, p. 49.
5. ^ Rex 2008, pp. 13, 19.
6. ^ Barlow 1970, p. 29–36.
7. ^ Keynes 2009, p. 56.
8. ^ Panton 2011, p. 21.
9. ^ van Houts 2009, pp. 63–75.
10. ^ Jump up to:a b Howarth 1981.
11. ^ Rex 2008, p. 28.
12. ^ Jump up to:a
b Lawson 2004.
13. ^ Rex 2008, pp. 34–35.
14. ^ Barlow 1970, pp. 44–45.
15. ^ Stafford 2001, pp. 239–240.
16. ^ Jump up to:a b Rex 2008, p. 33.
17. ^ Howard 2008, p. 117.
18. ^ Maddicott 2004, pp. 650–666.
19. ^ Mortimer 2009, p. 7.
20. ^
Baxter 2009, p. 101.
21. ^ Giles 1914, p. 114.
22. ^ Barlow 1970, p. 61.
23. ^ Rex 2008, pp. 48–49.
24. ^ Mortimer 2009, maps between pp. 116 & 117.
25. ^ Mortimer 2009, pp. 26–28.
26. ^ van Houts 2009, p. 69.
27. ^ Gem 2009, p. 171.
28. ^
van Houts 2009, p. 70.
29. ^ Williams 2004a.
30. ^ Rex 2008, p. 107.
31. ^ Williams 2004b.
32. ^ Baxter 2009, pp. 103–104.
33. ^ Barrow 2008.
34. ^ Walker 2004.
35. ^ Williams 2004c.
36. ^ Aird 2004.
37. ^ Jump up to:a b “History
of Westminster Abbey”. Westminster Abbey. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
38. ^ Jump up to:a b Fernie 2009, pp. 139–143.
39. ^ Baxter 2009, pp. 96–98.
40. ^ Hooper 2004.
41. ^ Baxter 2009, pp. 98–103.
42. ^
Baxter 2009, pp. 103–114.
43. ^ Baxter 2009, p. 118.
44. ^ Mortimer 2009, p. 23.
45. ^ Bozoky 2009, pp. 178–179.
46. ^ Mortimer 2009, pp. 29–32.
47. ^ Blair 2004.
48. ^ Cowdrey 2004.
49. ^ Williams 1997, p. 11.
50. ^ Jump up to:a b
Barlow 2004.
51. ^ Rex 2008, pp. 214–217.
52. ^ Baxter 2009, pp. 84–85.
53. ^ Bozoky 2009, pp. 180–181.
54. ^ Bozoky 2009, p. 173.
55. ^ Rex 2008, p. 226.
56. ^ Carpenter 2007, pp. 865–891.
57. ^ Jones 2014, pp. 241–242.
58. ^ Summerson
2004.
59. ^ Bozoky 2009, pp. 180–182.
60. ^ “Visiting the Abbey : Edward The Confessor”. Westminster Abbey. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011.
61. ^ “Liturgical Calendar : October 2023”. The Catholic Church in England and Wales. Retrieved
13 October 2023.
62. ^ “The Calendar”. The Church of England. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
63. ^ “Holy Days”. Church of England. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016.
64. ^ “Edwardtide”. Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
65. ^ “Saint
Edward the Confessor”. CatholicSaints.Info. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
66. ^ Barlow 1992, p. 19.
67. ^ Mortimer 2009, p. 15.
68. ^ Molyneaux 2015, p. 218.
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Photo
credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nikontino/13472393854/’]
