Monarchy

Edward the Confessor

In 1013, the young Edward, son of Ethelred the Unready, was driven from England by the invading Vikings and spent his youth in Normandy, the birthplace of his mother, Emma. But the dying king Harthacnut, his half-brother, recalled him as his heir in 1042, and on the monarch's death soon after, the kingdom was finally returned to the Anglo-Saxons.

Edward inherited a kingdom that was actually ruled by three powerful earls: Wessex, Northumbria and Mercia. Earl Godwin of Wessex was easily the main player, owning nearly as much land and as many men as Edward himself.

At first, Edward felt indebted to Godwin for his support, even agreeing to marry his daughter Edith. However, he gradually came to blame the earl for keeping him from the throne for over six years, during the reigns of Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut, and for murdering his brother Alfred, who had had his eyes gouged out.

With the Vikings still a threat, the earls were content to support Edward, believing that they could manipulate him. But, by 1050, the king had apparently had enough of Godwin's pre-eminence. Edward first heaped insults on Emma and confined her in a monastery. Then, in 1051, Godwin was forced to give up all his possessions and leave the country with his sons.

It was at around this time, according to later accounts, that the childless Edward promised to pass on the throne to his cousin William of Normandy. But the king's apparent fondness for 'foreigners' alienated quite a few nobles, burghers and others, and in 1052, when Godwin assembled a fleet and returned to reclaim his land and authority, they supported him.

Edward was left as king in name only. He concentrated on building a new centre of royal power and religion at West Minster, upstream from St Paul's.

According to an account of his life commissioned by Queen Edith, Vita Edwardi Regis, Edward retreated into a world of prayer and charitable works, from which he later acquired his nickname of 'the Confessor' (a type of saint who has suffered for their faith and demonstrated their sanctity in the face of worldly temptations, but has not been martyred). Given that Edward had previously been a keen hunter and soldier, the piety was probably simply an image that was convenient to cultivate.

Although Godwin's son Harold claimed to have been chosen as his heir, Edward appears to have been too afraid – or too amused by the situation – to openly declare his successor. On his deathbed on 4 January 1066, he had a vision of catastrophes to come.

He was canonised as a saint in 1161 and revered as the perfect English king by subsequent medieval monarchs. But his inability to make a clear choice of successor would plunge England into war and invasion, from which it would take generations to recover.

For more on the succession crisis created by Edward the Confessor, see The French Connection.

Edward the Confessor. Illustration from the 12th-century Westminster Abbey Psalter.
British Library/akg images
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Edward the Confessor and Edith
www.westminster-abbey.org/history-research/
royalty/burials/12157
Article on the Westminster Abbey website about Edward and Edith, both of whom are buried there.

The Life of King Edward the Confessor
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/MSS/Ee.3.59/
Cambridge University Library contains the only copy of this illustrated Anglo-Norman verse biography of the Confessor, written c. 1240. This website allows you to view the manuscript and contains summaries of pages with descriptions, plus an introduction to the manuscript.

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