KING EDWARD THE CONFESSOR
“_There is
One great society alone on earth:
The noble Living and the noble Dead._”
WORDSWORTH (_Prelude_).
King Edward the Confessor is such an important person in the history of
the Abbey that his Chapel and Shrine must be described in a chapter by
themselves.
As has already been told, the Confessor died on January 5th, 1066, and
was buried the next day, January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany. He was
laid in front of the high altar of his newly built church, and the
Conqueror afterwards presented splendid hangings to cover the simple
tomb which was erected over the grave.
There is an interesting old story of something that happened at this
tomb in the reign of William the Conqueror.
When Lanfranc became Archbishop of Canterbury, most of the Saxon bishops
were sent away and Normans were put in their places. Among the Saxon
bishops was the good old St. Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester. He was made
bishop in 1062, in the Confessor’s time. The Normans despised him, and
thought him ignorant because he could not speak French, and they thought
he would not be able to give any good advice to the King. Wulfstan was
told that he must come to Westminster to meet the other bishops. They
then said to him that he must give up the pastoral staff, which belonged
to him as a bishop. Wulfstan showed no anger, but only said quite simply
that he would resign his staff, not to the archbishop, “but rather to
St. Edward, by whose authority I received it.” He then went into the
Abbey, walked up to the Confessor’s tomb, and, raising his arm slowly,
he struck the pastoral staff into the stone, saying: “Receive, my lord
the King; and give it to whomsoever thou mayst choose.” It is said that
the staff remained firmly fixed in the stone, so that no one could pull
it out. The King and the Archbishop were amazed, and acknowledged that
they had done wrong in trying to turn Wulfstan out of his bishopric.
They begged Wulfstan to take his staff once more. The old man came near,
and drew the staff out quite easily. The King and the Archbishop went
down on their knees and begged his forgiveness, but, as the old story
says: “He, who had learned from the Lord to be mild and humble in heart,
threw himself in his turn upon his knees.”
We are told that in 1098 the Confessor’s tomb was opened, and that his
body was found to be still in perfect preservation. Bishop Gundulph, of
Rochester, alone ventured to uncover the face. The memory of Edward’s
pure life, and of his goodness and charity, together with the miracles
that were believed to be worked at his tomb, caused the people to honour
him more and more as a saint, and in the year 1161, Pope Alexander III
caused his name to be formally added to the names of the Saints of the
Christian Church. In our Prayer-Books his name appears on October 13th,
as King Edward the Confessor. A “confessor” means some one who has
suffered for the faith of Christ without actual shedding of blood. In
King Edward’s case it alludes to his exile in the time of the heathen
Danes. The “Translation” of which the Prayer-Book speaks means the
moving of the body into the shrine. This “Translation” took place on
October 13th, 1163, when the Confessor’s body was placed in the new and
splendid shrine made for it by King Henry II. This ceremony took place
at midnight, and both Henry II and Archbishop Becket were present.
While the Abbey was being rebuilt in the reign of Henry III, the
Confessor’s coffin was taken for the time to the Palace of Westminster
close by. On October 13th, 1269, it was brought back with great pomp,
and placed in another shrine, more gorgeous even than the former one.
The coffin was carried by the King himself, his brother, Richard, Earl
of Cornwall, his two sons, Edward and Edmund, together with many of the
nobles of the land. Dean Stanley says that this great ceremony must have
reminded Henry III of an equally splendid one which he saw at Canterbury
Cathedral when he was a boy. This was the “Translation” of the relics of
St. Thomas à Becket in 1220, when Henry III walked in the procession.
Pandulf, the Papal Legate (who had come to England in King John’s
reign), and Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, were there also,
to see Becket’s body placed in the shrine prepared for it.
The chapel in which the Confessor’s shrine stands, and in which so many
of our Kings and Queens are buried, is raised above the rest of the
church by a mound of earth brought from Holy Land. What we now see of
the shrine is only the remains of its former splendour. It was adorned
at first with mosaic-work, and with many gold and jewelled images. The
materials for the decoration were brought from Rome, and the shrine was
made by Italian workmen. In Henry VIII’s time the beautiful decorations
of the shrine, and the various treasures kept near it, were taken away.
The monks were afraid that even the Confessor’s body might be destroyed,
so they buried it in another part of the church. When Queen Mary Tudor
came to the throne the shrine was set up again, and King Edward’s body
was restored to its place. The Queen presented images and jewels for the
adornment of the shrine. Under the Commonwealth the ornaments of the
shrine were again removed, but the Confessor’s body was not removed or
disturbed.
Another interesting story about the Confessor’s shrine must be told
here. When James II was crowned, in 1685, one of the “singing men”
thought he saw a hole made in the Confessor’s coffin by the fall of some
bit of the wooden scaffolding. On going to see, he found that there was
a hole, and he could see something shining inside the coffin. He put in
his hand, and drew out a gold cross and chain, which he gave to the
Dean. The Dean, in his turn, gave this precious cross and chain to the
King. James II, seeing that the coffin was so unsafe, had it enclosed in
another strong and solid one, and since that time the body has rested in
peace. On the north side of the Confessor lies his wife, Queen Editha,
the daughter of Earl Godwin. She is usually supposed to have been a
sweet and gentle woman, but opinions differ a little on this point. At
any rate, she appears to have been very well instructed for those days,
and, we are told, very clever with her needle,—a valuable accomplishment
for any woman. On the south side of the shrine lies the “Good Queen
Maud,” wife of Henry I, and great-niece of Edward the Confessor. As she
was a Saxon princess, her marriage with Henry I made the Saxons and
Normans much better friends than they had been before. Queen Maud was a
very good woman, and very kind to the poor. Neither of these Queens have
any monument.
The Confessor’s shrine was always held to be a most important and sacred
place, and many precious and beautiful things were placed near it, as if
to do it honour. Among these the Stone of Scone was chief. We have
already heard how and when it came to Westminster, and why it was so
greatly prized. But the Stone of Scone was not alone. The coronet of
Llewellyn, the last Welsh Prince of Wales, was taken by Edward I, and
hung up in the Confessor’s Chapel by Edward’s little son Alfonso. Every
one will remember that Edward II—Edward of Carnarvon, as he was
called—was the first Prince of Wales who was the son of an English King.
If we could have visited the Abbey in those old days we should have seen
yet another very interesting thing in the Confessor’s Chapel. This was a
golden cup containing the heart of Prince Henry d’Almayne, son of
Richard Earl of Cornwall, and nephew of Henry III. The story of this
heart takes us back both to the Barons’ War and to the Crusades. It also
takes us back to the great Italian poet Dante, who writes of Prince
Henry’s heart in his famous poem, the _Divine Comedy_.
The story is as follows. At the Battle of Evesham, in 1265, when Simon
de Montfort and the other Barons were fighting against Henry III, Simon
de Montfort was slain. It must be remembered that Simon de Montfort had
married Eleanor, daughter of King John, and that he was therefore
brother-in-law of King Henry III, and of Richard Earl of Cornwall. That
is rather an important part of the story.
Some years afterwards, in 1271, there was a great council held at the
town of Viterbo, in Italy, for the purpose of electing a new Pope. The
King of France, Prince Edward and Prince Edmund of England, and Prince
Henry d’Almayne, came there also, on their way home from the Crusade.
Guy and Simon, sons of the great Simon de Montfort, were also in Italy,
and they, too, went to Viterbo. One day they were all at service in the
Church of San Silvestro, when suddenly, just at the most solemn part of
the Mass, Guy de Montfort rushed forward and stabbed his cousin, Prince
Henry, even while the prince clung to the altar for protection. Not
content with killing Prince Henry, Guy de Montfort dragged him out by
the hair of the head into the square in front of the church. This was
all done in revenge for the death of Simon de Montfort at Evesham. Guy
de Montfort escaped, but was afterwards excommunicated. Prince Henry’s
body was brought home, and buried in the monastery-church of Hayles in
Gloucestershire, where his father also was buried, as being the founder
of the monastery. Prince Henry’s heart was put into a golden cup, and
brought to the Abbey, where it was placed close to the Confessor’s
shrine,—some say, in the hand of a statue.
The shield of Richard Earl of Cornwall is carved on the Abbey walls, in
the spandrels of the beautiful arcade which runs round the interior of
the whole Church. It will be found in the South Aisle.
In the North Aisle, also in the arcade, is the shield of Simon de
Montfort, with its double-tailed lion. When we look at this shield, we
remember Simon de Montfort’s great work for his country, and how he
helped to form our English Parliament. But his name reminds us of
something else that happened in Southern France, and for which we feel
sorry. Simon’s father, Count Simon de Montfort, had a great deal to do
with the persecution of the Albigenses in 1209–1229, a cruel war which
was called the Albigensian Crusade. These terrible religious wars are
sad to think of, although, at the same time, it is interesting to find
this link between the Abbey and the history of other parts of Europe.
But it is time to come back to Edward the Confessor himself. If we want
to learn something about his character, and to understand why the people
loved him so much, we cannot do better than study the sculptures on the
screen behind the Coronation Chair. This delicately carved stone screen
was made about the time of Edward IV, and along the top of it is a row
of sculptures representing scenes from the life of the Confessor.
These scenes—beginning on the left hand as you face the screen—are as
follows:—
1. The nobles swearing to be loyal to Queen Emma, widow of Ethelred the
Unready, and mother of the Confessor.
2. Edward’s birth at Islip in Oxfordshire.
3. Edward’s Coronation at Winchester. The Archbishops of Canterbury and
York are represented standing on either side of the King.
4. The abolition of the Danegelt, or tax which Ethelred had made the
people pay in order to bribe the Danes to leave England. The carving
represents an old story which says that the Confessor saw a demon
dancing on the casks which held the money, and so he at once did away
with the tax.
5. This is a very curious story. A scullion, thinking that the King was
asleep, came into his room no less than three times to steal money out
of the treasure-chest. The third time the King startled him very much by
speaking. He did not scold him, however, but told him to make haste and
get away before Hugolin the Treasurer came. When Hugolin did come, he
was very angry with the King for letting the thief get off, but Edward
was very merciful, and perhaps remembered that it is sometimes a great
temptation to be very poor.
6. This picture shows the King kneeling in the old church at Thorney,
where he is said to have had a vision of our Lord, who appeared to him
as a child.
7. This represents a very curious, almost funny, story. One Whitsunday,
when the King was at church, his courtiers saw him laugh, just at a very
solemn part of the service too. They asked him afterwards why he had
behaved in such a strange way. He answered that he had seen the Danes
and Norwegians preparing to come and attack England, but as the Danish
King was going on board his ship he fell into the sea and was drowned.
This was what had made Edward laugh.
8. This represents a quarrel between Harold and Tosti, sons of Earl
Godwin, and brothers-in-law of the Confessor.
9. This is a vision, in which the Confessor saw that the Seven Sleepers
of Ephesus had all turned over from their right side to their left. This
meant that dreadful troubles and disasters were to come upon the world
for seventy years.
10, 12, and 13. These three pictures tell the beautiful story of the
pilgrim’s ring. One day the Confessor met a poor pilgrim who asked an
alms, and as the old book tells it, “the king is in distress because
neither gold nor silver he finds at hand. And he reflects, remains
silent, looks at his hand, and remembers that on his finder he had a
cherished ring, which was large, royal, and beautiful. To the poor man
he gives it, for the love of St. John his dear lord: and he takes it
with joy, and gently gives him thanks; and when he was possessed of it
he departed and vanished.”
Some time after, two English pilgrims from Ludlow were travelling in
Palestine, and they met an old man “white and hoary, brighter than the
sun at midday,” who showed them kindness and entertained them
hospitably. He told them that he was John the Evangelist, and that he
had a special love for the King of their country. He then gave them back
the ring, and bade them restore it to King Edward, who had given it to
him when he was disguised as a poor pilgrim. They were also to tell the
King that in six months’ time he would be with St. John in Paradise. The
pilgrims returned to England, and the thirteenth carving shows them
bringing back the ring and delivering the message, whereupon the King
began to prepare himself for his death.
These stories, together with others told of Edward’s kindness to the
sick and to the leper, show us the power of this simple goodness and
piety, and explain why the Confessor’s memory was so much loved and
revered.
His tomb has been the centre round which not only many of our Kings and
Queens, but gradually most of our best and greatest men, have been laid
to rest.
At the time of King Edward VII’s Coronation a covering, or “pall”, in
red velvet and gold was placed over the upper part of the Confessor’s
shrine, where it still remains. Round the edge of the pall is
embroidered a beautiful Latin inscription, which runs as follows—
“_Deo carus Rex Edwardus non mortuus est, sed cum XPO viaturus de morte
ad vitam migravit._”
“King Edward, dear to God, has not died, but has passed from death to
life, to live with Christ.”
[Illustration:
[_G. A. Dunn._
RICHARD II.
]