Content deleted Content added
Srich32977 (talk | contribs) trim Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit iOS app edit |
m grammar, spelling, tone |
||
Line 27:
Historians disagree about Edward's fairly long 24-year reign. His nickname reflects the traditional image of him as unworldly and pious. [[Confessor of the Faith|Confessor]] reflects his reputation as a [[saint]] who did not suffer [[martyr]]dom as opposed to his uncle, King [[Edward the Martyr]]. Some portray Edward the Confessor's reign as leading to the disintegration of royal power in England and the advance in power of the [[House of Godwin]], because of the infighting that began after his death with no heirs to the throne. Biographers [[Frank Barlow (historian)|Frank Barlow]] and Peter Rex, on the other hand, portray Edward as a successful king, one who was energetic, resourceful and sometimes ruthless; they argue that the Norman conquest shortly after his death tarnished his image.{{sfn|Barlow|2006}}{{sfn|Rex|2008|p=224}} However, Richard Mortimer argues that the return of the Godwins from exile in 1052 "meant the effective end of his exercise of power", citing Edward's reduced activity as implying "a withdrawal from affairs".{{sfn|Mortimer|2009|p=}}
About a century
==Early years and exile==
Edward was the seventh son of [[Æthelred the Unready]], and the first by his second wife, [[Emma of Normandy]]. Edward was born between 1003 and 1005 in [[Islip, Oxfordshire]],{{sfn|Barlow|2006}} and is first recorded as a 'witness' to two charters in 1005. He had one full brother, [[Alfred Aetheling|Alfred]], and a sister, [[Godgifu, daughter of Æthelred the Unready|Godgifu]]. In charters he was always listed behind his older half-brothers, showing that he ranked beneath them.{{sfn|Keynes|2009|p=49}}
During his childhood, England was the target of [[Vikings|Viking]] raids and invasions under [[Sweyn Forkbeard]] and his son, Cnut. Following Sweyn's seizure of the throne in 1013, Emma fled to [[Normandy]], followed by Edward and Alfred, and then by Æthelred. Sweyn died in February 1014, and leading Englishmen invited Æthelred back on the condition that he promised to rule 'more justly' than before. Æthelred agreed, sending Edward back with his ambassadors.{{sfn|Rex|2008|pp=13, 19}} Æthelred died in April 1016, and he was succeeded by Edward's older half-brother [[Edmund Ironside]], who carried on the fight against Sweyn's son, Cnut. According to Scandinavian tradition, Edward fought alongside Edmund; as Edward was at most thirteen years old at the time, the story is disputed.{{sfn|Barlow|1970|p=[https://archive.org/details/edwardconfessor00barl/page/29 29–36]}}{{sfn|Keynes|2009|p=56}} Edmund died in November 1016, and Cnut became undisputed king. Edward then again went into exile with his brother and sister; in 1017 his mother married Cnut.{{sfn|Barlow|2006}} In the same year, Cnut had Edward's last surviving elder half-brother, [[Eadwig Ætheling|Eadwig]], executed.{{sfn|Panton|2011|p=21}}
Edward spent a quarter of a century in exile, probably mainly in Normandy, although there is no evidence of his location until the early 1030s. He probably received support from his sister Godgifu, who married [[Drogo of Mantes]], count of [[Vexin]] in about 1024. In the early 1030s, Edward witnessed four charters in Normandy, signing two of them as king of England. According to [[William of Jumièges]], the Norman chronicler, [[Robert I, Duke of Normandy]] attempted an invasion of England to place Edward on the throne in about 1034 but it was blown off course to [[Jersey]]. He also received support for his claim to the throne from several continental abbots, particularly [[Robert of Jumièges|Robert]], abbot of the [[Jumièges Abbey|Norman abbey of Jumièges]], who later became Edward's Archbishop of Canterbury.{{sfn|van Houts|2009|pp= 63–75}} Edward was said to have developed an intense personal piety during this period, but modern historians regard this as a product of the later medieval campaign for his canonisation. In Frank Barlow's view "in his lifestyle would seem to have been that of a typical member of the rustic nobility".{{sfn|Barlow|2006}}{{sfn|Howarth|1981|p=}} He appeared to have a slim prospect of acceding to the English throne during this period, and his ambitious mother was more interested in supporting Harthacnut, her son by Cnut.{{sfn|Barlow|2006}}{{sfn|Rex|2008|p=28}}
Cnut died in 1035, and Harthacnut succeeded him as king of [[Denmark]]. It is unclear whether he intended to keep England as well, but he was
In 1037, Harold was accepted as king, and the following year he expelled Emma, who retreated to [[Bruges]]. She then summoned Edward and demanded his help for Harthacnut, but he refused as he had no resources to launch an invasion, and disclaimed any interest for himself in the throne.{{sfn|Barlow|2006}}{{sfn|Rex|2008|p=33}} Harthacnut, his position in Denmark now secure, planned an invasion, but Harold died in 1040, and Harthacnut was able to cross unopposed, with his mother, to take the English throne.{{sfn|Howard|2008|p=117}}
In 1041, Harthacnut invited Edward back to England, probably as his heir because he knew he had not long to live.{{sfn|Lawson|2004}} The 12th-century ''[[Quadripartitus]]''
==Early reign==
Line 46:
Following Harthacnut's death on 8 June 1042, Godwin, the most powerful of the English earls, supported Edward, who succeeded to the throne.{{sfn|Barlow|2006}} The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' describes the popularity he enjoyed at his accession – "before he [Harthacnut] was buried, all the people chose Edward as king in London."{{sfn|Giles|1914|p=114}} Edward was crowned at [[Winchester Cathedral|the cathedral of Winchester]], the royal seat of the [[Wessex|West Saxons]], on Easter Sunday, 3 April 1043.{{sfn|Barlow|1970|p=[https://archive.org/details/edwardconfessor00barl/page/61 61]}}
Edward complained that his mother had "done less for him than he wanted before he became king, and also afterwards". In November 1043, he rode to Winchester with his three leading earls, [[Leofric, Earl of Mercia|Leofric of Mercia]], Godwin, and [[Siward, Earl of Northumbria|Siward of Northumbria]], to deprive her of her property, possibly because she was holding on to treasure which belonged to the king. Her adviser, [[Stigand]], was deprived of his bishopric of [[Bishop of Norwich|Elmham]] in [[East Anglia]]. However, both were soon restored to favour. Emma died in 1052.{{sfn|Rex|2008|pp=48–49}}
Edward's position when he came to the throne was weak. Effective rule required keeping on terms with the three leading earls, but loyalty to the ancient house of Wessex had been eroded by the period of Danish rule, and only Leofric was descended from a family which had served Æthelred. Siward was probably Danish, and although Godwin was English, he was one of Cnut's new men, married to Cnut's former sister-in-law. However, in his early years, Edward restored the traditional strong monarchy, showing himself, in Frank Barlow's view, "a vigorous and ambitious man, a true son of the impetuous Æthelred and the formidable Emma."{{sfn|Barlow|2006}}
In 1043, Godwin's eldest son [[Sweyn Godwinson|Sweyn]] was appointed to an earldom in the south-west midlands, and on 23 January 1045 Edward married Godwin's daughter [[Edith of Wessex|Edith]]. Soon afterwards, her brother [[Harold Godwinson|Harold]] and her Danish cousin [[Beorn Estrithson]] were also given earldoms in southern England. Godwin and [[House of Godwin|his family]] now ruled subordinately all of [[Southern England]]. However, in 1047 Sweyn was banished for abducting the abbess of [[Leominster]]. In 1049, he returned to try to regain his earldom, but this was said to have been opposed by Harold and Beorn, probably because they had been given Sweyn's land in his absence. Sweyn murdered his cousin Beorn and went again into exile
The wealth of Edward's lands exceeded that of the greatest earls, but they were scattered among the southern earldoms. He had no personal power base, and it seems he did not attempt to build one. In 1050–51 he even paid off the fourteen foreign ships which constituted his standing navy and abolished the tax raised to pay for it.{{sfn|Barlow|2006}}{{sfn|Mortimer|2009|pp=26–28}} However, in ecclesiastical and foreign affairs he was able to follow his own policy. King [[Magnus the Good|Magnus I of Norway]] aspired to the English throne, and in 1045 and 1046, fearing an invasion, Edward took command of the fleet at [[Sandwich, Kent|Sandwich]]. Beorn's elder brother, [[Sweyn II of Denmark]] "submitted himself to Edward as a son", hoping for his help in his battle with Magnus for control of Denmark, but in 1047 Edward rejected Godwin's demand that he send aid to Sweyn, and it was only Magnus's death in October that saved England from attack and allowed Sweyn to take the Danish throne.{{sfn|Barlow|2006}}
| |||