King Edward the Confessor

 

Edward the Confessor was the only English king to become a saint. This was entirely due to his personal behaviour and had nothing to do with his abilities as a monarch, which were far from what the country needed at the time.

Born in 1004, he was the son of King Ethelred II, who is known to history as Ethelred the Unready. Edward was 13 years old when his father died, at which time the throne of England was being disputed between Anglo-Saxons and invading Danes. Queen Emma fled to her native Normandy, taking Edward with her.

However, the new king, Canute the Dane, thought that a good way to make himself acceptable to his new English subjects would be to marry Ethelred’s widow, which is what he did. Emma later gave birth to another son, named Hardecanute.

Canute also had an illegitimate son named Harold and it was he who became king on Canute’s death. This was because Hardecanute was far more interested in looking after Denmark than England. However, when Harold died in 1040 Hardecanute became King of England and he invited his half-brother Edward to return from exile and assume the position of heir to the throne. Edward therefore became King when Hardecanute died in 1042.

Edward had very little interest in the monarchy, much preferring to spend his time in religious devotion. He was known to spend several hours every day praying and was even reputed to perform miracles of healing. He grew a long white beard and therefore looked more like an Old Testament prophet than a king of England.

The real power in the land was the Godwin family, who ruled the roost and whose word was law. Edward married a Godwin daughter but this was a marriage in name only, with no children issuing from it. There have been various theories as to why this was – Edward might have been impotent or homosexual, and it is even possible that he had taken a monkly vow of chastity.

At any event, when Edward died in 1066 after a reign of 24 years he left no heir other than his brother-in-law Harold Godwin. The resulting conflict over the succession between Harold and Edward’s French cousin William of Normandy soon resulted in the Norman conquest and the end of Anglo-Saxon England.

© John Welford