General Notes

REFN: 1603AN
REFN: P1603
Edward the Confessor or Eadweard III (c. 1004 – 4 January 1066), son of Et
helred the Unready, was the penultimate Anglo-Saxon King of England and t
he last of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 until his death.1 His rei
gn marked the continuing disintegration of royal power in England and t
he aggrandizement of the great territorial earls, and it foreshadowed t
he country's later connection with Normandy, whose duke William I was to s
upplant Edward's successors Harold Godwinson and Edgar Ætheling as England
's ruler.
He succeeded his half-brother Harthacanute, who had successfully regain
ed the throne of England after being dispossessed by their mutual step-bro
ther, Harold Harefoot; Edward and his brother Alfred the Aetheling, both s
ons of Emma of Normandy by Ethelred the Unready, had previously fail
ed to depose Harold in 1036.
Edward is considered a saint by both the Roman Catholic Church, which rega
rds Edward the Confessor as the patron saint of kings, difficult marriage
s, and separated spouses, and by the Eastern Orthodox Church. From the rei
gn of Henry II of England to 1348 he was considered the patron saint of En
gland, and he has remained the patron saint of the Royal Family.
In 1013, Edward and his brother Alfred were taken to Normandy by their mot
her Emma, sister of Normandy's Duke Richard II, to escape the Danish invas
ion of England. Edward developed an intense personal piety in his quarter-
century of Norman exile, during his most formative years, while England fo
rmed part of a great Danish empire. His familiarity with Normandy and i
ts leaders would also influence his later rule.
Returning to England with Alfred in an ill-advised abortive attempt (103
6) to displace their step-brother Harold Harefoot from the throne, Edwa
rd escaped to Normandy after Alfred's capture and death. The Anglo-Saxon l
ay and ecclesiastical nobility invited him back to England in 1041; this t
ime he became part of the household of his half-brother Harthacanute (s
on of Emma and Canute), and according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was swo
rn in as king alongside him. Following Harthacanute's death on 8 June 104
2, Edward ascended the throne. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle indicates the pop
ularity he enjoyed at his accession — "before Harthacanute was buried, a
ll the people chose Edward as king in London". Edward was crowned at the c
athedral of Winchester, the royal seat of the West Saxons on 3 April 1043.
Edward's reign was marked by peace and prosperity, but effective rule in E
ngland required coming to terms with three powerful earls: Godwin, Ea
rl of Wessex, who was firmly in control of the thegns of Wessex, which h
ad formerly been the heart of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy; Leofric, Earl of M
ercia, whose legitimacy was strengthened by his marriage to Lady Godiva, a
nd in the north, Siward, Earl of Northumbria. Edward's sympathies for Norm
an favourites frustrated Saxon and Danish nobles alike, fuelling the grow
th 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 archbis
hop of Canterbury: Edward rejected Godwin's man and appointed the bish
op of London, Robert of Jumièges, a trusted Norman.
Matters came to a head over a bloody riot at Dover between the townsfolk a
nd Edward's kinsman Eustace, count of Boulogne. Godwin refused to punish t
hem, Leofric and Siward backed the King, and Godwin and his family were a
ll exiled in September 1051. Queen Edith was sent to a nunnery at Wherwel
l. Earl Godwin returned with an armed following a year later, however, for
cing the king to restore his title and send away his Norman advisors. Godw
in died in 1053 and the Norman Ralph the Timid received Herefordshire, b
ut his son Harold accumulated even greater territories for the Godwins, w
ho held all the earldoms save Mercia after 1057. Harold led successful rai
ding partie