Edward the Confessor (1001??-1066)

King of England from 1042 to 1087

Edward was born just after Year 1000, around 1001-1004 in Islip (Oxfordshire). He is the son of the King Æthelred "the Unready" and Emma of Normandy⁽¹⁾. He is the second-last Anglo-Saxon king of England.

In 1013, he must flee England with his brother Alfred and his mother because of the invasion by the Danes of Sweyn I Forkbeard, who seizes the throne. He takes refuge in Normandy at his uncle's, the Duke Richard II.
In 1014, Sweyn dies and leaves the throne of England to his son, Knut "the Great". Emma, now widowed, returns then to England to marry Knut and thus give him legitimacy to the throne of England. In 1035, Knut "the Great" dies and the throne is subject to a fratricidal dispute between two of his sons : Harold I^st "Harefoot" and Knut III "the Hardy" (Harthcanut). Harold I^st will reign of 1035 to 1040 and Knut of 1040 to 1042.

The death of Knut "the Hardy" makes Edward his successor, and he takes the throne on 8 June, 1042. He will be crowned in Westminster the next year.
Edward will favour relations with the Normans by surrounding himself with many advisers to the detriment of the Saxons. To spare their susceptibilities, Edward marries in 1045 Edith, daughter of Godwin, the powerful Count de Wessex⁽²⁾. In spite of this purely political marriage which will never be consummated, Godwin will head an anti-Norman party, to be joined by the Danes and many barons Saxons offended by Edward's attitude.

In 1051, a bloody riot breaks out in Dover upon the visit of Eustache of Boulogne, a close relation to the King. Godwin then rises up against the King by refusing to have the leaders punished. Edward then sends him to exile in Flanders with all his family and locks up his wife Edith in a monastery.
The next year, Godwin returns from exile at the head of a Saxon army, helped by all the Saxon lords of the kingdom.
Confronted with this show of force, the king can only return him his title of Count de Wessex and his domains. The return of Godwin will be short-lived, because in 1053, he will die choking on a piece of bread during a royal banquet in Winchester.

It is his son, Harold Godwinson, who inherits then Wessex to become the most powerful lord of the Kingdom.
Harold will distinguish himself gloriously in various campaigns against the Welsh, and for this reason declare himself heir to the throne of England, thus countering Guillaume of Normandy's plan to also declare himself successor of Edward through his family connection.

In January 1066, Edward dies in Westminster, in the abbey he had founded himself, after declaring Harold his successor. The nature of his reign he sought to be peaceful and prosperous, his great piety and his great religious faith brought him to be canonized in 1161⁽³⁾.

Next king : Harold Godwinson

Back to the list of England's Kings

1. "Les Cahiers de l'Histoire"
   

   4^{éme trimestre 1960}

2. "Who's Who in British History - Early Medieval England"
   

   Christophe Tyerman; 1966