Edward the Confessor
(1042–1066)
We need not linger over the reign of Edward the Confessor, the weak
and womanish king who came to the throne of England on the death of
Hardacanute; in fact, the country can hardly be said to have been
governed by Edward, for he placed himself almost entirely in the hands
of Earl Godwin, who now with rapid strides advanced to be the first man
in the kingdom and the real ruler of England. Edward was more fitted
to be a monk than a king. The mournful circumstances of his life had
no doubt helped to make him timid and retiring, and he seems to have
inherited the weak character of his father, Ethelred the Unready.
Yet he was beloved by his people, who regarded him as a saint and
admired his devotion to the Church and to religion. He was simple and
abstemious in his dress and habits, sparing in imposing taxes, and
kind to the poor; it is said that he never uttered a word of reproach
to the humblest person. Moreover, though the sons of Godwin stirred
up strife at home, the King made no foreign wars, and the nation was
thankful for peace. The only person toward whom he seems to have acted
harshly was his mother, Emma, whom, as we have said, he deprived of
all her wealth and lands, because she had never assisted him when he
was in distress. Edward must have been nearly forty years of age when
he came to England from Normandy, just before Hardacanute’s death; all
these years he had passed in exile. It is a matter of wonder, when
we consider the miserable fate that overtook his brother Alfred on
venturing to England, that Edward came at all; but he was received with
kindness, and lived quietly till the death of his half-brother. When
he heard that Hardacanute had died he was lost in uncertainty whether
to fly the kingdom or what to do. His weak mind was unable to form any
plan, and in his perplexity he betook himself to Earl Godwin, throwing
himself at his feet and praying him to assist him in escaping back to
Normandy. At first Godwin was perplexed what course to take, but he no
doubt reflected on the power which the King’s weakness would throw into
his own hands, and he determined on a bold course. Raising the King
up, he reminded him that it was better to live worthily in a position
of power than to die ingloriously in exile; that he was the son of a
King of England, and the kingdom was his by right. If he thought fit to
rely on him, whose authority was already so great in the country, he
was sure that the nation would follow his lead. He proposed that Edward
should marry his daughter, and thus cement the friendship with himself;
and Edward, who was ready to promise anything to secure Earl Godwin’s
help, fell at once into his plans. Then, calling an assembly of the
people, Godwin addressed them so fluently and cleverly that, partly by
persuasion and partly by their willing consent, Edward was chosen king,
and soon after crowned at Winchester on Easter Day (1043), all those
who opposed his election being driven out of the kingdom.
In spite of Edward’s marriage with Editha, the saintly, learned, and
beautiful daughter of Godwin, he soon fell out with the earl and his
sons. The historians of the time find it difficult to say who was to
blame in this, and where they fail we are not likely to succeed.
Whether Godwin was sincerely attached to the cause of Edward or not,
it is likely that his great power made the King jealous; his sons,
too, especially one of them named Sweyn, were wild and lawless, and
constantly stirred up strife in the country. In the end Godwin and
his sons were outlawed by the King and retired, the earl and Sweyn
and Tosti to Flanders, and Harold to Ireland, where they lay all the
winter. Edward was so incensed with the whole family that he even
sent away his wife, stripping her of all her possessions, and handing
her over to his sister. There were threats of an invasion by Magnus,
King of Norway, and the whole country was disturbed; so much so that
Edward occupied himself in gathering together his fleet; and in spite
of inexperience and feebleness he himself took charge of the fleet at
Sandwich, watching for the return of Godwin. But after all Godwin came
back to England long before they were aware of it, and went secretly
from place to place, making friends with the sailors and boatmen all
along the coast from Kent to the Isle of Wight, so that he and Harold,
his son, enticed to their side quite a large army, with which they
began an advance on London.
King Edward, hearing this, sent for more men, but they came very late,
and the fleet of Godwin sailed up the Thames to Southwark, waiting for
the flood-tide to come up. There they found the King’s men awaiting
them, and they sailed along by the south shore under the bridge,
their land forces gathered on one side and the King’s on the other.
But a fog that arose obscured the armies from each other, and a great
unwillingness was in the hearts of both to fight against their own
race, for nearly all on both sides were Englishmen. They felt that
if they began fighting each other, there would be no one to defend
the land from their common enemies; thus, happily, a truce was made
between them, and a general council called. There Godwin spoke so well
and eloquently that the King received him and his sons back into full
favour, restoring to him his earldom and possessions. The Normans who
had established themselves in Edward’s friendship during the absence
of Godwin, and who had helped to inflame the King against him, were
now in their turn driven from the country, or escaped across the sea
themselves. The Queen was recalled, and Godwin and Harold settled down
on their property; Sweyn, after many acts of piracy on the coast,
and after committing more than one murder, had gone on pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, but fell a victim to the Saracens and never returned. The
King had made Tosti Earl of Northumbria, but he was so turbulent and
harsh that the Northumbrians rose up and drove him out. Harold, his
brother, on hearing what had happened, went north with an army to his
assistance, but the Northumbrians, most of whom were Norsemen and men
of great spirit, declared that they could not put up with Tosti’s
cruelties, and they persuaded Harold to get the King to appoint a
prince named Morcar in his stead. Tosti, enraged against every one,
went with his wife and children to Bruges, in Flanders, where he
remained till the death of Edward. Shortly after this Godwin died
suddenly, while sitting with his son Harold at a feast with the King,
and Harold succeeded to the earldom.
The short remainder of Edward’s reign was spent in planning for the
succession. He sent to the King of Hungary to ask him to send back to
England Edward the Ætheling, son of Edmund Ironside, who had taken
refuge in his country. Doubtless the English people would have welcomed
him as king; but he was, like so many of his family, a man feeble in
mind and body, and he died soon after landing in England and was buried
at St Paul’s.
Some historians say, and William the Conqueror afterwards declared,
that Edward then sent Harold over to him in Normandy to offer the crown
to the duke; but we shall never know whether this is true or not. All
we know is that Harold was in Normandy about this time, cast upon the
Norman coasts by a storm, and that, as the price of his return to
England, William forced him to swear above holy relics an oath that he
would support the claim of the duke to the Crown of England.
After a reign of twenty-four years Edward laid down the crown that he
had worn so uneasily, dying on the eve of Twelfth Day, immediately
after the consecration at Westminster of the glorious edifice that
he had built to receive his tomb.[47] His last act, the remission of
the hated Danegeld, now happily no longer needed, was one of the most
welcome measures of his long reign. His people thought that in the mild
King they had lost a saint, and they called him, as we call him still,
Edward the Confessor.