Royal Profile: Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor seated on his throne, as seen on the Bayeux Tapestry.

     On this day in 1066, Edward the Confessor, King of England (1042-1066), was buried at Westminster Abbey. He had died on the previous day at the age of around 62.

     Born between 1002 and 1005, he was the eldest son of King Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, though his path to throne was hardly smooth sailing.

     In his youth, England was targeted by Danish raiders, who eventually turned their sights on conquest under the leadership of King Sweyn. As Æthelred's son, Edward was a target of the invaders, though he and his family escaped to Normandy - the homeland of his mother, Queen Emma - when Sweyn seized the throne in 1013. Fortunately for the House of Wessex, Sweyn died the following year, and the English nobility invited
Æthelred to be restored to the throne. Edward was sent to London as a pledge of good faith, along with the King's ambassadors to negotiate the terms of his return.

     When King Æthelred died in April 1016, he was succeed by Edmund Ironside (son from his previous marriage and therefore, Edward's half-brother), and the struggles with the Danes continued - this time under Sweyn's son Cnut, who saw England as his lost inheritance. Edmund died in November of that year, and Cnut emerged as King. Edward and younger brother Alfred fled to Normandy again, surviving the near-mass wipe-out of other members of the royal family - including his half brother from Æthelred's first wife, which made Edward the leading Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne.

     Meanwhile, his mother Queen Emma married Cnut, and had two more children with him. Edward stayed in exile in Normandy for about 25 years, and was supported by his Norman-French relatives, who made attempts to invade England on his behalf.

     In 1035, Cnut died, and was succeeded by Harold Harefoot, his son from his first marriage. Queen Emma resented this move, for she wanted Harthacnut, her son by Cnut, to be King of England. It is thought that she invited Edward and Alfred over to England to counter the growing popularity of Harold and help Harthacnut assume the throne. In 1036, the brother came over separately, and Alfred was captured by Godwin, Earl of Wessex, who had Alfred blinded to death. Edward fought a successful skirmish in Southampton, but retreated back to Normandy.

     King Harold died in 1040, and was succeeded by Harthacnut, who in 1041, invited his half-brother Edward to return to England, where he recognized Edward as his heir.

     The following year, Edward succeeded Harthacnut as King, and was crowned at Winchester Cathedral. He ascended the throne with the support of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, the most powerful of the English nobles -  the same Godwin who was supposedly responsible for the death of Edward's brother in 1036. This contributed to Edward's personal hatred for Godwin, and his reign was to be dominated by a power struggle between him and Godwin and his family.

     As part of his uneasy relationship with Godwin, Edward married his daughter Edith, and gave titles, offices, and lands to Godwin's other children and relatives. To counter the power that the family was amassing under Godwin, the childless King Edward made an offer in 1051 of the English throne to his cousin William, Duke of Normandy. This was used as means to bring down the over-mighty earl a peg or two, for Edward figured that the expectations of the succession (which could be changed at any time by Edward) would keep Godwin in line.

     This tension increased as Edward increasingly took Norman's into his inner circle, and reached a flashpoint in September 1051, when one of his Norman supporters, Eustace II, Count of Boulonge and his men caused a civil disturbance in Dover. Edward demanded that Godwin - as Earl of Kent - punish the town's burgesses, but Godwin refused. This nearly resulted in an armed conflict and a civil war as Edward seized his chance to take on Godwin. But the armies of both sides did not want a fight, fearing that disunity would result in another Danish invasion, and Godwin - with his support gone - fled from England. But in the following year, Godwin returned with an army and demanded to be restored to his earldoms, and this time, the political elite sided with him, again fearing disunity and civil war. For them, the idea of a united England was more powerful and compelling than any individual - even than the King. As a result, Edward was forced banish many of his French supporters and to restore Godwin and his family to their positions in England, though the King restructured the earldoms in an effort to prevent the Godwin's from becoming dominant.

     This new political settlement lasted for more than a decade, and when Godwin himself died in 1053, he was succeeded to the Earldom of Wessex by his eldest son Harold, whilst another son named Tostig was made Earl of Northumbria by King Edward. Indeed, this was a period of relative calm for Edward, who seemed to have made his peace with Godwin's family - or at the least, tolerated their presence and power in his kingdom.

     Elsewhere in Britain, Edward may have aided Malcolm Canmore in seizing the Scottish throne from Macbeth and his stepson Lulach as Malcolm III, whilst in Wales, he made some of the prince's there pay homage to him and his earls.

     At the end of 1065, King Edward's new (though unfinished) abbey at Westminster was consecrated, though Edward himself was not in attendance due to ill health. Within days, it was clear that he was dying, and on his deathbed, Edward apparently had a change of heart and decided to entrust the Kingdom of England to Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, instead of Duke William of Normandy. Harold was the leading Anglo-Saxon earl, and perhaps the childless king had gotten over the troubles with Harold's family to the extent that he was comfortable in handing Harold the crown.

     Upon Edward's death, Harold - who was alleged to have promised to support Duke William's claims to the throne - was elected and crowned as King of England. The disputed claim would later result in a crisis and the Norman conquest later that year.

      King Edward was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander III, and remains venerated in both the Catholic and Anglican churches for his supposed Christian piety and for living a saintly life - especially with regard to his childlessness, which his monkish admirer's claimed was due to a commitment to celibacy. He was not a martyr, so he became known as "the Confessor", and remained at prominent patron saint of England he was replaced by St. George in the 14th Century.