Edward the confessor (c. 1003 – 5 January 1066), son of Æthelred the Unready and
Emma of NormandyEmma , was a daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, by his second wife Gunnora. She was Queen consort of the Kingdom of England twice, by successive marriages: first as the second wife to Æthelred the Unready of England ; and then as a second wife to Cnut the Great of Denmark...
, was one of the last
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the
House of WessexThe House of Wessex, also known as the House of Cerdic, refers to the family that ruled a kingdom in southwest England known as Wessex. This House was in power from the 6th century under Cerdic of Wessex to the unification of the Kingdoms of England....
, ruling from 1042 to 1066 (technically the last being Edgar the Ætheling who was proclaimed king briefly in late 1066, but was deposed after about eight weeks.) His reign marked the continuing disintegration of royal power in England and the advancement in power of the earls. It foreshadowed the country's domination by the
NormansThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, whose Duke
William of NormandyWilliam I , better known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from AD 1035 and King of England from late 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name...
was to defeat Edward's successor,
Harold IIHarold Godwinson or Harold II was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England before the Norman Conquest. Harold reigned from 5 January 1066, until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October of that same year, fighting the Norman invaders, led by William the Conqueror...
, and seize the crown.
Edward had succeeded Cnut's son Harthacnut, restoring the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Cnut had conquered England in 1016. When Edward died in 1066 he had no son to take over the throne so a conflict arose as three men claimed the throne of England.
Edward was canonized in 1161 by
Pope Alexander IIIPope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...
, and is commemorated on 13 October by the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
, the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
and other Anglican Churches. He is regarded as the
patron saintA patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person. Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges...
of kings, difficult marriages, and separated spouses. From the reign of
Henry II of EnglandHenry II, called Curtmantle ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France...
to 1348 he was considered to be the patron saint of England, when he was replaced in this role by
Saint GeorgeSaint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, and the...
, and he has remained the patron saint of the Royal Family.
Early years
Edward was born
c. 1003 in
Islip, OxfordshireIslip is a village and civil parish on the River Ray, just above its confluence with the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. It is about east of Kidlington and about north of Oxford.-History:...
. Edward and his brother Alfred were sent to Normandy for exile by their mother. Æthelred died in April 1016, and he was succeeded by Edward's older half brother
Edmund IronsideEdmund Ironside or Edmund II was king of the English from 23 April to 30 November 1016. The cognomen "Ironside" refers to his efforts to fend off a Danish invasion led by King Cnut. His actual authority was limited to Wessex, or the area south of Thames. The north was controlled by Cnut, who...
, who carried on the fight against the Danes until his own death seven months later at the hand of Cnut, who next became king and married Edward and Alfred's mother, Emma. According to Scandinavian tradition, Edward, by then back in England, fought alongside his brother, and distinguished himself by almost cutting Cnut in two, although as Edward was at most thirteen years old at the time, the story is highly unlikely.
Edward then returned to Normandy, and although he is traditionally said to have developed an intense personal piety in his quarter-century of Norman exile, during his most formative years, while England formed part of a great Danish empire, some modern historians dispute this claim. His familiarity with Normandy and its leaders would also influence his later rule: the refuge he was given in Normandy, vis-à-vis the disregard the Normans paid him whilst he was there, would leave him both grateful and bitter towards his kinsmen there. It is believed that, when Duke
RobertRobert the Magnificent , also called Robert the Devil and Robert I or II, was the Duke of Normandy from 1027 until his death. He was the son of Richard II of Normandy and Judith, daughter of Conan I of Rennes...
, who was his brother-in-law, went on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land (where he died), Edward was named as one of the guardians of his son William.
Harthacnut had been considered the legitimate successor following Cnut's death in 1035, but his half-brother,
Harold HarefootHarold Harefoot, or Harold I, was King of England from 1035 to 1040. His cognomen "Harefoot" referred to his speed, and the skill of his huntsmanship. He was the son of Cnut the Great, king of England, Denmark, and Norway by Ælfgifu of Northampton...
, usurped the crown. Edward and his brother Alfred unsuccessfully attempted to depose Harold in 1036. Edward then returned to Normandy, but Alfred was captured by
Godwin, Earl of WessexGodwin of Wessex , also known as Goodwin, was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Canute the Great and his successors. Canute made him the first Earl of Wessex...
who then turned him over to
Harold HarefootHarold Harefoot, or Harold I, was King of England from 1035 to 1040. His cognomen "Harefoot" referred to his speed, and the skill of his huntsmanship. He was the son of Cnut the Great, king of England, Denmark, and Norway by Ælfgifu of Northampton...
, who blinded him to make him unsuitable for kingship. Alfred died soon after as a result of his wounds. This murder of Edward's brother is thought to be the source of much of Edward's later hatred for the Earl and one of the primary reasons for Godwin's banishment in autumn 1051; Edward said that the only way in which Godwin could be forgiven was if he brought back the murdered Alfred, an impossible task. Harthacnut succeeded on Harold's death in 1040, just as Harthacnut was preparing an invasion.
The Anglo-Saxon lay and ecclesiastical nobility invited Edward back to England in 1041; this time he became part of the household of his half-brother Harthacnut (son of Emma and Cnut), and according to the
Anglo-Saxon ChronicleThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were initially created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries...
was sworn in as king alongside him. Following Harthacnut's death on 8 June 1042, Edward ascended the throne. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle indicates the popularity he enjoyed at his accession — "before he [Harthacnut] was buried, all the people chose Edward as king in London." Edward was crowned at
the cathedral of WinchesterWinchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun and is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and...
, the royal seat of the West Saxons on 3 April 1043.
Reign
Edward's reign began in 1042 on the death of his half brother Harthacnut. Edward's reign was marked by peace and prosperity, but effective rule in England required coming to terms with three powerful earls:
Godwin, Earl of WessexGodwin of Wessex , also known as Goodwin, was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Canute the Great and his successors. Canute made him the first Earl of Wessex...
, who was firmly in control of the
thegnThe term thegn , from OE þegn, ðegn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly employed by historians to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves...
s of
WessexThe Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest of...
, which had formerly been the heart of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy;
Leofric, Earl of MerciaLeofric was the Earl of Mercia and founded monasteries at Coventry and Much Wenlock. Leofric is remembered as the husband of Lady Godiva.-Life and political influence:...
, whose legitimacy was strengthened by his marriage to
Lady GodivaGodiva , often referred to as Lady Godiva , was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry, in England, in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants...
, and in the north, Siward, Earl of Northumbria. Edward's sympathies for Norman favourites frustrated Saxon and Danish nobles alike, fuelling the growth of anti-Norman opinion led by
GodwinGodwin of Wessex , also known as Goodwin, was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Canute the Great and his successors. Canute made him the first Earl of Wessex...
, who had become the king's father-in-law in 1045. The breaking point came over the appointment of an
archbishop of CanterburyAlso see Leaders of ChristianityThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the see that churches must be in communion with in order to be...
. Edward rejected Godwin's man and appointed the bishop of London,
Robert of JumiègesRobert of Jumièges was the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. He had previously served as prior of the Abbey of St Ouen at Rouen in France, before becoming abbot of Jumièges Abbey, near Rouen, in 1037...
, a trusted Norman of Normandy.
Matters came to a head over a bloody riot at Dover between the townsfolk and Edward's kinsman
Eustace, count of BoulogneEustace II, was count of Boulogne from 1049-1087, fought on the Norman side at the Battle of Hastings, and afterwards received a large honour in England....
.
GodwinGodwin of Wessex , also known as Goodwin, was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Canute the Great and his successors. Canute made him the first Earl of Wessex...
refused to punish them,
LeofricLeofric was the Earl of Mercia and founded monasteries at Coventry and Much Wenlock. Leofric is remembered as the husband of Lady Godiva.-Life and political influence:...
and Siward backed the King, and
GodwinGodwin of Wessex , also known as Goodwin, was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Canute the Great and his successors. Canute made him the first Earl of Wessex...
and his family were all exiled in September 1051.
Queen EdithEdith of Wessex, , married King Edward the Confessor of England in 1045. The marriage produced no children. Later ecclesiastical writers claimed that this was either because Edward took a vow of celibacy, or because he refused to consummate the marriage because of his antipathy to Edith's family,...
was sent to a nunnery at
WherwellWherwell is a village in Hampshire, England. The village is located on the River Test.Before the Protestant Reformation, the parish of Wherwell was in the hands of an important Abbey of Benedictine nuns, whose Abbess was Lady of the Manor of an area much larger than the existing parish.-External...
. Earl Godwin returned with an army following a year later, however, forcing the king to restore his title and send away his Norman advisors. Godwin died in 1053 and the Norman
Ralph the TimidRalph the Timid was the Earl of Hereford from 1052 until his death in 1057. He was the son of Drogo of Mantes, Count of the Vexin, and Goda, daughter of King Ethelred the Unready of England and Emma of Normandy. Thus, he was a nephew of the English Saxon King Edward the Confessor, who placed him...
received
HerefordshireHerefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. It also forms a unitary district known as the County of Herefordshire. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the southeast, and...
, but his son Harold accumulated even greater territories for the Godwins, who held all the earldoms save
MerciaMercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
after 1057.
HaroldHarold Godwinson or Harold II was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England before the Norman Conquest. Harold reigned from 5 January 1066, until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October of that same year, fighting the Norman invaders, led by William the Conqueror...
led successful raiding parties into
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
in 1063 and negotiated with his inherited rivals in Northumbria in 1065, and in January 1066, upon Edward's death, he was proclaimed the king.
Edward and his mother
Edward's mother was
Emma of NormandyEmma , was a daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, by his second wife Gunnora. She was Queen consort of the Kingdom of England twice, by successive marriages: first as the second wife to Æthelred the Unready of England ; and then as a second wife to Cnut the Great of Denmark...
, second wife of his father, Æthelred the Unready. She remarried King Cnut the Great and Edward and his brother Alfred were sent away to Normandy through neglect of their mother whilst the third son of her first marriage, Edmund (Ironsides) was killed by her second husband, Cnut, with whom she had a fourth son, Harthacnut. Emma's son Harthacnut preceded Edward as king.
At the time that Edward ascended to the throne, Queen Emma supported another candidate, Magnus the Noble, and Edward had his mother arrested. Later she survived
trial by ordeal Trial by ordeal is a judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined by subjecting them to a painful task. In some cases, the accused was considered innocent if they survived the test, or if their injuries healed; in others, only death was considered proof of innocence...
on a trumped up charge of adultery with a bishop. Emma died in 1052.
Aftermath
The details of the succession have been widely debated. The Norman position was that William the Conqueror had been designated the heir, and that Harold had been publicly sent to him as emissary from Edward, to apprise him of Edward's decision. However, even William's eulogistic biographer,
William of PoitiersWilliam of Poitiers , Norman chronicler, was born in Les Préaux, near Pont-Audemer, and belonged to an influential Norman family...
, admitted that the old king had made a deathbed bestowal of the crown on Harold. On Edward's death, Harold was approved by the
WitenagemotThe Witenagemot or the Witena gemot , also known as the Witan was a political institution in Anglo-Saxon England which operated from before the 7th century until the 11th century...
which, under
Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes in the south and east of Great Britain from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, to the Norman conquest of 1066...
law, held the ultimate authority to convey kingship.
Edward had married Godwin's daughter
EdithEdith of Wessex, , married King Edward the Confessor of England in 1045. The marriage produced no children. Later ecclesiastical writers claimed that this was either because Edward took a vow of celibacy, or because he refused to consummate the marriage because of his antipathy to Edith's family,...
on 23 January 1045, but the union was childless. The reason for this has been the subject of much speculation. Within a few years of Edward's death, and possibly in his old age, rumours were circulating that he had not consummated his marriage, either because he had taken a vow of chastity for religious reasons, or because of hostility to the Godwin family. However, in the view of Edward's biographer,
Frank BarlowFrank Barlow CBE FBA FRSL was a British historian, known particularly for biographies of medieval figures.Barlow studied at St John's College, Oxford. He was Professor of History at the University of Exeter from 1953 until he retired in 1976 and became Emeritus Professor....
, it is extremely unlikely that Edward's childlessness was due to deliberate abstention from sexual relations.
Edward's nearest heir would have been his nephew
Edward the ExileEdward the Exile , also called Edward Ætheling, son of King Edmund Ironside and of Ealdgyth, gained the name of "Exile" from his life spent mostly far from the England of his forefathers. After the Danish conquest of England in 1016 Canute had him and his brother, Edmund, exiled to the Continent...
, who was born in England, but spent most of his life in Hungary. He had returned from exile in 1056 and died not long after, in February the following year. So Edward made his great nephew Edgar Atheling his heir. But Edgar had no secure following among the earls. The resultant succession crisis on Edward's death without a direct "throneworthy" heir — the "foreign" Edgar was a stripling of fourteen — opened the way for Harold's coronation and the invasions of two effective claimants to the throne, the unsuccessful invasion of Harald Hardrada in the north and the successful one of William of Normandy.
Edward's cousin's son,
William of NormandyWilliam I , better known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from AD 1035 and King of England from late 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name...
, 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 crownThe Norman conquest of England began in 1066 with the invasion of the Kingdom of England by the troops of William, Duke of Normandy, and his victory at the Battle of Hastings. This resulted in Norman control of England, which was firmly established during the subsequent few years. The Norman...
put an end to Harold's nine-month kingship following a 7,000-strong Norman invasion.
Edgar ÆthelingEdgar Ætheling, also known as Edgar the Outlaw was the last male member of the West Saxon royal house of Cerdic. He was proclaimed, but never crowned, King of England....
was elected king by the Witan after Harold's death but was brushed aside by William. Edward, or more especially the mediæval cult which would later grow up around him under the later Plantagenet kings, had a lasting impact on English history.
Westminster AbbeyThe Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to popularly and informally as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster...
was founded by Edward between 1045 and 1050 on land upstream from the City of London, and was consecrated on 28 December 1065. Centuries later,
WestminsterThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, is the seat of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
was deemed symbolic enough to become the permanent seat of English government under
Henry IIIHenry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
. The Abbey contains a shrine to Edward which was the centrepiece to the Abbey's redesign during the mid-thirteenth century. In 2005, Edward's remains were found beneath the pavement in front of the high altar. His remains had been moved twice in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the original tomb has since been found on the central axis of the Abbey in front of the original high altar.
Historically, Edward's reign marked a transition between the 10th century West Saxon kingship of England and the Norman monarchy which followed Harold's death. Edward's allegiances were split between England and his mother's Norman ties. The great earldoms established under Cnut grew in power, while Norman influence became a powerful factor in government and in the leadership of the
ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
.
It was during the reign of Edward that some features of the English monarchy familiar today were introduced. Edward is regarded as responsible for introducing the royal seal and coronation regalia. Also under Edward, a marked change occurred in Anglo-Saxon art, with continental influences becoming more prominent (including the "Winchester Style" which had become known in the 10th century but prominent in the 11th), supplanting Celtic influences prominent in preceding painting, sculpture, calligraphy and jewelry (see
Benedictional of St. ÆthelwoldThe Benedictional of St. Æthelwold is a 10th century illuminated benedictional, the most important surviving work of the Anglo-Saxon Winchester School of illumination...
for an example of the Winchester Style). His crown is believed to have survived until the
English Civil WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first and second civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war saw fighting between supporters of...
when
Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.He was one of the commanders of the New Model Army which defeated the royalists in...
allegedly ordered it to be destroyed. Gold from it is understood to have been integrated into the
St. Edward's CrownSt. Edward's Crown was one of the English Crown Jewels and remains one of the senior British Crown Jewels, being the official coronation crown used in the coronation of first English, then British, and finally Commonwealth realms monarchs...
, which has been used in coronations since
Charles II of EnglandCharles II was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father King Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II king at this time. Instead they passed a statute making such a...
in 1661.
Canonization
When
Henry IIHenry II, called Curtmantle ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France...
came to the throne in 1154, he promoted the
cultIn traditional usage, the cult of a religion, quite apart from its sacred writings , its theology or myths, or the personal faith of its believers, is the totality of external religious practice and observance, the neglect of which is the definition of impiety. Cult in this primary sense is...
of King Edward the Confessor. Osbert de Clare was a monk of
WestminsterThe Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to popularly and informally as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster...
, elected prior in 1136, and remembered for his lives of Saints
EdmundEdmund the Martyr was a king of East Anglia who was venerated as a martyr saint soon after his death at the hands of Danish Vikings. Contemporary evidence for his life and death is scanty, being largely confined to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and his coinage...
, Æthelberht and
EdburgaSaint Eadburh or Edburga was the daughter of King Edward the Elder of England and his third wife, Edgiva of Kent. There is little contemporary information for her life, but in a Winchester charter dated 939, she appears as the beneficiary of land in Hampshire granted by her brother King...
, in addition to one of Edward, in which the king was represented as a holy man, reported to have performed several miracles and to have healed people by his touch. Osbert was, as his surviving letters demonstrate, an active ecclesiastical politician, and went to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
to advocate the cause for Edward to be declared a saint, successfully securing his
canonizationCanonization is the act by which a particular Christian church or group declares a deceased person to be a saint and is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints...
by
Pope Alexander IIIPope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...
in 1161.
In 1163, the newly sainted king's remains were enshrined in
Westminster AbbeyThe Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to popularly and informally as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster...
with solemnities presided over by
Thomas BecketThomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to his death. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
,
Archbishop of CanterburyAlso see Leaders of ChristianityThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the see that churches must be in communion with in order to be...
. On this occasion the honour of preparing a sermon was given to Aelred, the revered Abbot of
RievaulxRievaulx is a small village and civil parish near Helmsley in North Yorkshire and is located in what was the inner court of Rievaulx Abbey, close to the River Rye. The inner court of the monastery contained buildings such as the brewhouse, bakehouse and guesthouse. Its name originated as Rye +...
, to whom is generally attributed the
vita in Latin, a
hagiographyHagiography is the study of saints. A hagiography, from the Greek and , refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of ecclesiastical and secular leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though...
partly based on materials in an earlier
vita by Osbert de Clare and which in its turn provided the material for a rhymed version in octasyllabic
Anglo-NormanThe Anglo-Norman language is a term traditionally used to refer to the variety of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period. When William the Conqueror led the Norman invasion of England, he, his nobles, and many of his followers...
, possibly written by the chronicler
Matthew ParisMatthew Paris was a Benedictine monk, English chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire. He wrote a number of works, mostly historical, which he scribed and illuminated himself, typically in drawings partly coloured with watercolour...
. At the time of Edward's canonisation, saints were broadly categorised as either
martyrA martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce a belief, usually religious.-Meaning:...
s or
confessor-Confessor of the Faith:Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith, but not to the point of death. The term is still used in this way in the East. In Latin Christianity it has come to signify any saint, as well as those who have been declared...
s. Martyrs were people who had been killed for their faith, while confessors were saints who had died natural deaths. Edward was accordingly styled Edward the Confessor, partly to distinguish him from his canonised predecessor
Edward the MartyrEdward the Martyr , was king of the English from 975 until he was murdered in 978. Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar, but not his father's acknowledged heir. On Edgar's death, the leadership of the England was divided, some supporting Edward's claim to be king and other supporting his much...
.
The
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
regards St Edward the Confessor as the patron saint of kings, difficult marriages, and separated spouses. After the reign of Henry II, Edward was considered to be the "Patron Saint of England", until 1348 when he was replaced in this role by
Saint GeorgeSaint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, and the...
. St Edward remains the "Patron Saint of the Royal Family".
Edward's reign is memorialized in an eight panel stained glass window within
St Laurence Church, LudlowSt Laurence Church, Ludlow is a parish church in the Church of England in Ludlow.-Background:The parish church was established as a Norman place of worship in association with the founding of Ludlow in the 11th century AD. This parish church in Shropshire, England contains an extensive set of...
, England.
The shrine of Saint Edward the Confessor remains where it was after the final relocation of his body in the 13th century - at the heart of Westminster Abbey, where the date of his
translationIn Christianity, the translation of relics is the removal of holy objects from one locality to another...
, 13 October, is observed as a major feast. For some time the Abbey had claimed that it possessed a set of coronation regalia that Edward had left for use in all future coronations. Following Edward's canonization, these were regarded as holy relics, and thereafter they were used at all English coronations from the 13th Century until the destruction of the regalia by
Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.He was one of the commanders of the New Model Army which defeated the royalists in...
in 1649.
The main
liturgicalA liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Catholic Mass, or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish services...
commemoration of Saint Edward is on the date of his translation, 13 October, rather than the date of his death. This feast was removed from the General Roman Calendar when it was reformed in 1969, but remains in the Calendar of the
Traditional Latin MassThe Tridentine Mass is a common name for the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. In this time period, it was the most widely celebrated form of the Catholic liturgy in the world.The term "Tridentine" is derived...
, as well as the national calendar of the Roman Catholic Church in England. The Church of England has included this feast in its calendar since the
Book of Common PrayerThe Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and of other Anglican churches, used throughout the Anglican Communion. The first book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with...
of 1662.
In popular culture
Edward is depicted as the central saint of the Wilton Diptych, a devotional piece made for
Richard IIRichard II was the eighth King of England of the House of Plantagenet. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
, but now in the collection of the National Gallery. The reverse of the piece carries Edward's arms; and Richard's badge of a white hart. The
panel paintingA panel painting is a painting on a panel made of wood, either a single piece, or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, it was the normal form of support for a painting not on a wall or on vellum, which was used for...
dates from the end of the 14th century.
Edward the Confessor is referred to by characters in Shakespeare's play
The Tragedy of Macbeth as the saintly king of England.
On screen he has been portrayed by
Eduard FranzEduard Franz was an American actor of theater, film, and television. Franz portrayed King Ahab in the 1953 biblical low-budget film Sins of Jezebel and Jethro in The Ten Commandments three years later.He was a leading Broadway actor for nearly 20 years, in such plays as First Stop to Heaven and...
in the film
Lady Godiva of CoventryLady Godiva of Coventry is an American historical film, directed by Arthur Lubin and released in 1955. It starred Maureen O'Hara in the title role.-Synopsis:...
(1955),
George HoweGeorge Winchester Howe was an English actor and comedian who appeared in numerous film and television roles.-External links:*...
in the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
TV drama series
Hereward the WakeHereward the Wake , known in his own times as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile, was an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon leader involved in resistance to the Norman conquest of England...
(1965), Donald Eccles in the two-part BBC TV play
Conquest (1966; part of the series
Theatre 625Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title highlighted the fact that it was produced and transmitted on the higher-definition...
),
Brian BlessedBrian Blessed is an English actor, author and adventurer. He is known for his loud, booming voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:...
in
Macbeth (1997), based on the Shakespeare play (although he does not appear in the play itself), and Adam Woodroffe in an episode of the British TV series
Historyonics entitled "1066" (2004). In 2002, he was portrayed by Lennox Greaves in the
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
audio adventure
Seasons of FearSeasons of Fear is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
.
See also
- Vita Ædwardi Regis
The Vita Ædwardi Regis qui apud Westmonasterium Requiescit or simply Vita Ædwardi Regis is a historical work completed by an anonymous author c. 1067 and commissioned by Queen Edith, wife of King Edward the Confessor. It survives in one manuscript, dated c. 1100, now in the British Library...
, near contemporary historical source on the king
- Játvarðar Saga
The Játvarðar Saga , is an Icelandic saga about the life of Edward the Confessor, King of England . It was compiled in the 14th century, in Iceland, using a number of earlier English sources as well as the French Chronicon Universale Anonymi Laudunensis...
, Icelandic saga about the king
- House of Wessex family tree
- St. Edward's Crown
St. Edward's Crown was one of the English Crown Jewels and remains one of the senior British Crown Jewels, being the official coronation crown used in the coronation of first English, then British, and finally Commonwealth realms monarchs...
Primary sources
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were initially created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries...
, tr. Michael Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. 2nd ed. London, 2000.
Further reading
- Aelred of Rievaulx, Life of St. Edward the Confessor, translated Fr. Jerome Bertram (first English translation) St. Austin Press ISBN 1-901157-75-X
- O'Brien, Bruce R.: God's peace and king's peace : the laws of Edward the Confessor, Philadelphia, Pa. : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8122-3461-8
External links