A brief history of Edward the Confessor

Edward (Eadward) The Confessor (s. 1042, d. 1066) was the younger
son of Emma and Ethelred the Unready, and was born probably
about 1004. This Emma - or, to call her by her English name, Edith -
was the daughter of Richard Sanspeur [fearless], great grandfather of
William the Conqueror who was therefore second cousin to Edward.
The early days of Edward and his brother Alfred were spent in
Normandy, at the court of their uncle, Richard the Good; for they had
been carried there by Emma at the time of Sweyn's success in 1013,
and did not return to their native land on their mother's marriage with
Canute (1017). Hence the two young Athelings grew up to manhood
abroad, and learnt to prefer the Norman-French customs and life to
those of England.

It is uncertain whether Edward had any share in the invasion of
England that led to Alfred's death in 1036; but Robert the Devil
seems to have made at least one effort for the restoration of his
cousins a few years before this date.

When Hardicanute (Harthacnut) succeeded his brother Harold, it was
not long before he invited his half-brother Edward to return home,
and thus be at hand to assume the throne should any misfortune
happen to himself (1041). Accordingly, in the words of the
Chronicle, on Hardicanute's death, in June, 1042, "all folk chose
Edward, and received him for a king," though the coronation did not
take place at Winchester till Easter next year.

There seems to have been some opposition to Edward's succession -
one party preferring the claims of a Danish pretender, Sweyn
Estrithson, Canute's nephew - but the eloquence of Bishop Lyfing
and Earl Godwin carried the day in favour of Ethelred's son.

A year or two later, Magnus, King of Norway and Denmark, was
preparing to make good his pretensions on England, but was
prevented from carrying out his project by the attack of his rivals,
Harold Hardrada and Sweyn (1045). It was probably for her
connection with Sweyn's party that the Witan stripped Emma of her
treasures (1043); while the dangers of this Danish element led, a year
or two later, to the banishment of the great Danish lords in England,
Sweyn's brother Osbeorn, and Osgod Clapa (1046). From this time
the new king's throne was secure.

Meanwhile, Edward had married Godwin's daughter Edith, and the
power of the great earl's house was growing every day. At the time
of Edward's succession there were four great earldoms, of which only
one, Wessex, was in the hands of Godwin. Siward held Northumbria,
Leofric Mercia, while another earl, whose name is lost, ruled East
Anglia.

But in 1043 Godwin's eldest son, Sweyn, received an earldom
irregularly carved out of the western parts of Mercia and Wessex,
including Hereford, Gloucester, Oxford, Berkshire and Somerset;
about the same time his nephew, Beorn, received the earldom of the
Middle Angles (1045). But Edward could never forget the land of
his early life, and was constantly bringing foreigners over to hold
rule in England. His nephew Ralph [Ralph "the Timid" de Ewyas],
was made Earl of Worcester and Hereford in succession. It was,
however, by manipulating the ecclesiastical appointments that
Edward found his readiest way of placing the strangers in high office.
In especial, a Norman monk, Robert of Jumièges, was nominated
Bishop of London(1044), and some six years later Archbishop of
Canterbury (1051); while another Norman, Ulf, was made Bishop of
Dorchester (1049).

But all the time these and many other Norman strangers were
swarming into the land, the house of Godwin was becoming more
and more the centre of the national party. In 1051 things came to a
climax. In this year the king, who had a few months previously
rejected the choice of the Canterbury monks and Godwin for the see
of Canterbury, gave the great earl still further offence by requiring
him to punish the men of Dover for vengeance they had inflicted on
the insolent followers of Baldwin of Flanders. This Godwin refused
to do without giving the offenders a fair trial. About the same time
he had another charge against the king's foreign friends; for the
"Welshmen," or French [Ralph probably] had built a castle in
Sweyn's earldom of Hereford, and were working all the harm they
could on the people thereabouts. Godwin, being summoned to attend
a meeting of the Witan in Gloucester, gathered his own men and
those of his sons at Beverstone, not far from Malmesbury, while the
rival hosts of Siward, Leofric, and Ralph [de Ewyas] supported the
king at Gloucester.

The meeting place was transferred to London, and Godwin's case
was brought forward apparently before he could arrive himself.
Sweyn was outlawed once more, and Godwin and Harold summoned
to appear as criminals. In these circumstances flight seemed the
wisest course: Harold crossed over to Dublin, and Godwin to
Flanders, whence they returned next year to drive out the Norman
offenders with Archbishop Robert and Bishop Ulf at their head
(1052).

Next year, however, the great earl died, and was succeeded in his
West Saxon province by his eldest living son Harold; for Sweyn had
died on his way back from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Sept, 1052).
Upon this, East Anglia was given to Leofric's son Aelfgar; while
about the same time Siward took his expedition against Macbeth, and
proclaimed Malcolm King of Scots (1054).

On Siward's death, next year, his earldom was given to Harold's
brother Tostig. In the same month Aelfgar was banished from the
kingdom, but soon returned to aid the Welsh in their foray upon
Hereford. Harold was now the most the most prominent man in the
kingdom, and to him was entrusted the task of beating back the
invaders, though in the reconcilement of Gruffydd he seems to have
had the co-operation of Aelfgar's father, Leofric (1056) - apparently a
token of some approaches to amity between the two great rival
houses.

East Anglia was now given to Harold's brother Gyrth, while another
brother, Leofwin, had Kent and Essex, and the other shires of south-
east England. In 1062 Gruffydd of Wales once more invaded
England. But Harold and Tostig united their forces for the purpose
of harrying his land; the English soldiers were bidden to adopt the
arms and tactics of the Welsh, and before the year 1063 was out
Gruffydd was dead, and his kingdom divided between two native
princes, who swore fealty to Edward.

In 1065 Northumberland rose in rebellion against Tostig, and elected
Leofric's grandson, Morkere, as its earl. Morkere, in combination
with his brother Eadwine, who had been Earl of Mercia since about
the year 1062, appeared in arms at Northampton, perhaps meditating
a division of the kingdom, and certainly declaring that the
Northumbrians would no longer support the tyranny of Tostig.

Edward would have pushed matters to extremes, but Harold
persuaded the Oxford gemot to confirm the wishes of the
Northerners. Accordingly the Northumbrians were promised a
renewal of Canute's laws and Tostig was banished. This was the last
important in Edward the Confessor's reign. At the end of the year
1065 his great church of Westminster was consecrated, and on Jan
5th, 1066, the king died.

Edward had no children, and for many years Harold's position in the
kingdom had ben such that it was scarcely possible, under all the
circumstances, to elect any other successor. Pious, meditative, and
given up to religious exercises, Edward, as it has been often said, was
more fitted for a Norman cloister than the English throne. His
virtues earned him popular respect; but he was deficient in practical
vigour, and during a large part of his reign the actual business of
administration was managed by members of the house of Godwin.