Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor or Eadweard III (c. 1004–January 4/5, 1066) was the penultimate Anglo-Saxon king of England and the last of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 until his death.1 His reign marked the continuing disintegration of royal power in England and the aggrandizement of the great territorial earls, and it foreshadowed the country's later connection with Normandy, whose duke William I was to supplant Edward's successors Harold and Edgar Ætheling as England's ruler.

Edward's reign and aftermath

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 Wessex, who was firmly in control of the thegns of Wessex, which had formerly been the heart of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy; Leofric, Earl of Mercia, whose legitimacy was strengthened by his marriage to Lady Godiva, 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 Godwin, who had become the king's father-in-law in 1045. The breaking point came over the appointment of an archbishop of Canterbury: Edward rejected Godwin's man and appointed the bishop of London, Robert of Jumieges, a trusted Norman.

Related Topics:
Godwin, Earl of Wessex - Thegn - Leofric, Earl of Mercia - Lady Godiva - Siward, Earl of Northumbria - 1045 - Archbishop of Canterbury - Robert of Jumieges

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Matters came to a head over a bloody riot at Dover between the townsfolk and Edward's kinsman Eustace, count of Boulogne. Godwin refused to punish them, Leofric and Siward backed the King, and Godwin and his family were all exiled in September 1051. Queen Edith was sent to a nunnery at Wherwell. Earl Godwin returned with an armed following a year later, however, forcing the king to restore his title and send away his Norman advisors. Godwin died in 1053, but his son Harold accumulated even greater territories for the Godwins, who held all the earldoms save Mercia after 1057. Harold led successful raiding parties into Wales in 1063 and negotiated with his inherited rivals in Northumbria in 1065, and in January 1066, upon Edward's death, he was proclaimed king. The details of the succession have been widely debated: the Norman position was that William 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. Harold's party asserted that the old king had made a deathbed bestowal of the crown on Harold. However, Harold was approved by the Witenagemot who, under Anglo-Saxon law held the ultimate authority to convey kingship.

Related Topics:
Eustace, count of Boulogne - 1051 - Wherwell - 1053 - Wales - 1066 - Witenagemot - Anglo-Saxon

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Edward had married Godwin's daughter Edith on January 23, 1045. The monastic author of the king's hagiography, written about the time of his canonization, has represented the childless union as a spiritual marriage, with Edward refusing to consummate it rather than break a vow of chastity. His nearest heir would have been his nephew Edward the Exile, born in England, but spending most of his life in Hungary who 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 Harold Hardrada in the north and the successful one of William the Bastard.

Related Topics:
January 23 - 1045 - Hagiography - Spiritual marriage - Edward the Exile - Edgar Atheling - Harold Hardrada

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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.

Related Topics:
William of Normandy - Successful bid for the English crown

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Edgar Atheling was elected king by the Witan after Harolds death but was brushed aside by William. Edward, or more especially the medieval cult which would later grow up around him under the later Plantagenet kings, had a lasting impact on English history. Westminster Abbey was founded by Edward between 1045 and 1050 on land upstream from the City of London, and was consecrated on December 28, 1065. Centuries later, Westminster was deemed symbolic enough to become the permanent seat of English government under Henry III. The Abbey contains a shrine to Edward which was the centrepiece to the Abbey's redesign during the mid-thirteenth century.

Related Topics:
Westminster Abbey - December 28 - 1065 - Westminster - Henry III

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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 Canute grew in power, while Norman influence became a powerful factor in government and in the leadership of the Church.

Related Topics:
10th century - Church

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