Edward the Confessor

1042 - 1066

aka The Confessor

Edward was the son of a Saxon king and a Norman lady. He was not crowned until he was 37 years old. Until this time he lived at Court in Normandy, where he had been exiled as a child. His childhood was unhappy and he was lonely. His mother had remained in England, remarried and had more sons. Edward became King after his half-brother King Hardicnut summoned him to England and named him his successor. At the time, his appointment was generally supported. Edward remained more Norman than Saxon throughout his reign, surrounding himself with courtiers from his previous life. He even insisted court documents should be written in French rather than English. Thus began the split in English society between the Norman-French and the Anglo- Saxons. Despite this, England remained a stable and prosperous land during his time on the throne.

Edward was unusually tall with thick white hair and a beard. Although he looked the part, some say he struggled as King. He was very religious and considered weak in comparison to those that had gone before him. These previous rulers of England had been warriors, skilled in battle and hard-hearted. Edward also lacked the moral strength of the previous king Canute (or Cnut). Canute was of viking origin and yet he treated the native Englishmen justly by giving them positions of power and instituting common laws. However, Edward shared some of the ruthlessness of his half-brother Hardicnut who ruled before him. In revenge against his brother, Harold, Hardicnut threw his remains from their resting place into a muddy pit beside the River Thames. During his reign, Edward ordered the assassination of the Welsh prince Rhys and took receipt of his decapitated head.

Edward was heavily under the influence of Godwin (or Godwine) for the first decade of his reign. This is where his reputation for weakness came from. Godwin was granted the Earldom of Essex and it is he who brought Edward back to England to reign. Godwin was an extroverted and ambitious man. He eventually became father-in-law to Edward on his marriage to his daughter Edith. This was no mean feat since Edward was very religious and had vowed never to marry. Edward was not always at prayer however, one of his favourite past-times, in common with other noblemen, was hunting.

Throughout the early part of his reign, Godwin challenged Edward’s authority. Godwin had assumed a lot of power at Court and was enraged when Edward appointed a Norman to the post of Archbishop of Canterbury rather than one of his English relatives by marriage. Edward in turn was enraged with Godwin for failing to avenge the murder of several Norman aristocrats in the South of England. In 1051 Edward sent Godwin into exile and his wife Edith to a convent. When Godwin returned a year later, he had a small army in tow. Edward relented. He had no choice, he was at the mercy of ‘the Witan’, the powerful English advisors at Court. Edward dismissed the Archbishop and asked his wife to return. For the last ten years of his reign Godwin’s son, Harold Godwinson, ruled the country in all but name.

Edward is said on his death bed to have appointed Harold as his successor. However, this was disputed by Duke William of Normandy, a distant relative of Edward’s. This lack of direction after Edward’s death led to a royal battle between the two. After Edward’s death miraculous occurences were attributed to him and he was later made a saint. His remains were dug up, found to be in unusuallly good condition, and reburied in a shrine built especially for them at Westminster Abbey. It may be that this canonisation served a polittical purpose. Edward was the penultimate Saxon King and a symbol of unity between the native English and the increasingly unpopular Norman nobility.

Edward the Confessor Factfile