Edward was born in 1003AD in Islip, Oxfordshire, the son of Ethelred and Emma of Normandy. He was just ten years old when he was sent to Normandy with his brother Alfred to escape the Danish invasion. While there, he became interested in religion and it was this piety, plus reportedly attending daily confession that earned him the title “Confessor”. He was not a worldly or decisive man and is considered weak and uncertain by some historians. He did however forge strong links between the old English church and Rome, sending bishops to Pope Leo IX’s councils in 1049 and 1050AD.
He was also reported as having seen visions and cured scrofula (The King’s Evil) by his touch. Contemporary accounts describe him as “very slothful, to have an unsteady attention to duty, with fits of ill timed zeal and to be lacking in sound judgement”. His father Ethelred died in 1016AD and was succeeded by his half brother Edmund Ironside who carried on the fight against the invaders until his death some seven months later. Edward is thought to have returned to England at this time and some Scandinavian legends claim that he fought alongside Edmund, but this seems unlikely as he would have been just thirteen.
He returned to Normandy and an unremarkable life where he seems to have been rather poorly esteemed by his Norman kin although his familiarity with Normandy and its leaders would influence his later rule, and the disregard paid to him in his exile would eventually leave him both grateful and bitter towards them.
The Danish King of England, Harthacanute never married and having no heir was the probable reason for him inviting Edward back to the English court, a popular move with both the lay and clerical nobility who looked forward to a return of the Wessex royal line. Going further, Harthacanute also had Edward sworn in as future king, which may have been a ploy to divert some of the ill feeling against him among the English. The Chronicle reports on Harthacanute’s death and states, “before he was buried, all the people chose Edward as king in London”.
Edward returned to England to take the throne, but in this he was opposed by his mother Emma who favoured Magnus the Noble, the Norwegian King to succeed, demonstrating her rejection of her sons fathered by Ethelred. Edward repaid her coldness by having her arrested and later subjected to trial by ordeal on a trumped up charge of adultery with a local bishop which she surprisingly survived.
Edward was crowned with tremendous pomp on Easter Sunday 1043AD, at his ancestor Alfred’s capital of Winchester, chosen by his supporter Earl Godwin to remind the people of the new king’s royal Wessex blood.
Edward’s reign began peacefully enough, but to ensure stability he needed the support of the three powerful English Earls, Godwin of Wessex, Leofric of Mercia and Siward of Northumbria. In 1045AD Edward married Godwin’s daughter Edith, a union that suited the ambitious Earl. The marriage produced no children, this sometimes being attributed to a vow of abstinence by Edward. Another suggestion is that he refused to consummate the marriage because of his antipathy to the Godwins, although if this was the case one would have to ask why he married her in the first place.
Godwin used his influence on the King to move his sons into important positions in the land with Harold as Earl of East Anglia – Sweyn held the earldoms of Hereford, Gloucester and Oxford, while Godwin’s nephew Beorn held the earldoms of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Relations between the Earl and the king began to deteriorate when Edward brought from Normandy, Robert of Jumieges and appointed him Bishop of London. Seven years later, Edward appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury, a move that enraged Godwin who had quarrelled with Robert on a number of occasions over his attempts to regain church lands lost to Godwin and his family. Godwin was also furious that Robert had the ear of the king who had placed many Normans in senior positions in the land. Edward’s sympathies for his Norman favourites caused much animosity among Saxon and Danish nobles who felt they were being displaced by the newcomers. Matters were not helped when Robert refused to consecrate one Spearhafoc, an ally of Godwin, as Bishop of London.
Edward, having spent much of his life in Normandy, was understandably pro Norman in his outlook and favoured them much to the chagrin of Godwin. As a sort of celebration of Norman culture, Edward began the building of a great Norman style church on the north bank of the Thames which would become Westminster Abbey.
Edward’s former brother in law and political ally, Eustace of Boulogne, paid a visit to England in 1051AD, landing at Dover with his retinue and “caused much offence to the people of the town with his high handed manner”. He was honourably received at the royal court by the king. Earl Godwin however, seeking to strengthen his own power base, had recently arranged the marriage of his son Tostig to the daughter of Eustace’s rival, the Count of Flanders and to make matters worse, Godwin’s son Sweyn had been feuding over territory with one Ralph the Timid, who in addition to being a stepson of Eustace, was also a nephew of Edward.
On their return to Dover the Frenchmen were offered no hospitality and Eustace ordered his troops to don their chain mail and force the townspeople to feed and house them. The people responded by attacking Eustace’s men and a small battle ensued which resulted in some twenty deaths on either side. Eustace raced back to the king at Gloucester and demanded retribution. Edward, favouring the French, ordered Godwin, who held jurisdiction over the town, to punish the townspeople. He refused and summoning his sons to his side, raised an army against the king. The two armies arrived at a standoff on the banks of the Thames with the Godwins on the south side and the King’s forces on the north, but after mediation it was decided to let the Witan sort the problem out. The Earls of Mercia and Northumberland remained loyal to the King during the dispute and forced Godwin and his sons Harold, Tostig, Leofwine and Gyrth to be exiled, with Harold and Leofwine going to Ireland and Godwin and Gyrth leaving to join his other son Sweyn in Flanders while his youngest son Wulfnoth was taken as hostage by the king to ensure Godwin’s good behaviour. Queen Edith, Godwin’s daughter, was sent to a nunnery at Wherwell.
Edward continued to bring Norman advisors to England causing more unrest among the Danish and Saxon nobles who viewed the increasing influence of Normandy with suspicion Godwin chose his moment to return, landing on the south coast and gathering men from Kent, Surrey and Sussex to his banner. He sailed his fleet up the Thames and gained the support of the Londoners, forcing Edward to send the advisors, including Archbishop Robert, home and reinstate Godwin and his offspring to their former estates, thus making them the most powerful group in England.
In 1052AD, Duke William of Normandy made a state visit to England and it was at this time that Edward is thought to have nominated William as his successor. Whether this offer was genuine or another placating ploy by Edward is not known. In the same year, Edward made his nephew, Ralph the Timid, the Earl of Hereford, replacing the exiled Sweyn.
The new Earl immediately began building castles in his territory, a new architectural feature in England. During Sweyn’s time as Hereford’s Earl, he had supported the Welsh King of Gwynedd in his fighting against Gruffydd, King of Deuhebarth. With Sweyn gone, King Gruffydd ap Llewlynn, together with Elfgar, son of Earl Leofric of Mercia, who had been deprived of his inheritance by the Godwins, invaded the Earldom in 1055AD. Ralph armed his forces as mailed cavalry in the Norman fashion and fought a pitched battle with Llewlynn on the 24th of October 1055AD, where the Welsh crushed the Earl’s forces and destroyed Hereford castle. It was this reliance on Norman tactics and armour, seen as inferior to the Saxon shield wall, that earned Ralph his nickname rather than any lack of courage on his part. Harold was sent to restore the situation which he did by driving the Welsh back and also restoring Elfgar to his Earldom.
Sweyn Godwinson was clearly a colourful character. In 1046AD, he fell in love with Eadgifu, the Abbess of Leominster and abducted her, keeping her in his care for over two years. One must assume that she returned his affection as they had two children, Hakon and Magnus. Sweyn was finally persuaded by the church to give Eadgifu up and he was sent into exile as punishment. His children, together with Wulfnoth, the sixth son of Earl Godwin were later kidnapped by the scheming Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert of Jumieges and taken to Normandy. It was the later ill fated ransom attempt by Sweyn’s brother Harold that took him to Normandy where Duke William tricked him into swearing an oath to support the Norman’s claim to the English throne which would lead to invasion in 1066AD.
In 1049AD, Sweyn was back in England seeking forgiveness. He gained the support of his brother Harold and his cousin Beorn and it was while travelling to meet the king that Sweyn reportedly had Beorn murdered for reasons unknown. He was again exiled and named as a niding, a man with no honour. Surprisingly, he was again forgiven, possibly due to the power and influence of his father and restored to his Earldom. He did not stay long in his position and, as explained earlier, was again exiled in 1051AD, together with his father and brothers, following their quarrel with the king.
On April the 15th 1053AD, Godwin collapsed and died at a banquet in Winchester. Legend has it that he choked on a piece of bread while swearing loyalty to the king, but contemporary accounts suggest that he suffered a stroke. Harold succeeded to the earldom of Wessex and his brother Gyrth took over the earldoms of East Anglia and Cambridgeshire, while another brother, Leofwine became Earl of Kent, Essex, Middlesex and Surrey, allowing Harold’s family to retain their position as the most powerful in the land. This position was further strengthened when, in 1055AD, Siward, Earl of Northumbria died and Harold’s brother Tostig was given the earldom. His appointment did not sit well with the Northumbrian ruling class, a mixture of Danish invaders and Anglo Saxon survivors of the last Norse invasion, who resented his high handed ways and heavy taxation. Tostig was so hated that he needed a bodyguard of 200 men to protect him, spending much of his time on his estates in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire and leaving his equally detested deputy Copsige in charge.
Despite his high position, Harold continued his father’s opposition to Norman influence in Edward’s court. Matters worsened when, according to the chronicle and some Norman sources, the childless King Edward sent Robert, Archbishop of Canterbury to Normandy to appoint his kinsman Duke William as his heir although this is not substantiated. It seems strange that Edward would make such an appointment when the English succession was neither inherited nor determined by the sitting monarch, but was decided by the Witenagemot, the assembly of nobles who would convene to select a successor following the death of the King. It is also known that Edward, in an attempt to maintain Anglo Saxon succession, sought to nominate Edward the Exile, son of Edmund Ironside as his heir.
In August 1057AD, Edward arrived in England from exile in Hungary, but died within two days of arrival, generally thought to have been poisoned, either by supporters of Harold or Duke William. The unfortunate Edward himself had a son named Edgar and the king caused further unrest by naming him as his successor, naming him Atheling, or king to be. This choice was not popular with the English nobles, partly due to Edgar’s youth and their preference for a strong leader such as Harold.
In the west, Gruffydd ap Llewlynn, King of Deuhebarth continued to seek new territory, expanding his rule until he controlled all of Wales. He also occupied large areas on the English border and defeated an English army at Glasbury when they tried to stem his expansion. The English historian John Davies states that “Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor”. Peace prevailed until the death of Gruffydd’s ally Elfgar of Mercia in 1062AD when fighting again broke out. Harold Godwinson led a force to attack the Welsh king’s base at Rhuddlan, but failed to capture Gruffydd who had been warned of the attack and had fled. In 1063AD, Harold’s brother Tostig led an English force into North Wales while Harold led his fleet first to South Wales and then north to link up with Tostig. A series of battles and skirmishes resulted in Gruffydd retreating into Snowdonia where he was killed on the 5th of August by his own men shamed by their defeat. His head and the figurehead of his ship were sent to Harold as tokens of the Welsh surrender. Harold was by now, the most powerful magnate in England with Edward practically leaving the running of the country to him while he continued to absorb himself in the building of his great abbey in Westminster.
It was in 1064AD that Harold travelled to France, embarking from Bosham on a visit said to attempt the release of his youngest brother Wulfnoth who had been kidnapped in 1051AD by the ousted Archbishop Robert. Other sources claim that Harold was simply on hunting and fishing trip and was blown of course by a storm and shipwrecked on the coast at Ponthieu where he was taken prisoner by the local Count. Duke William, hearing of the capture, travelled to Ponthieu and ordered the handover of this important English noble to himself.
Harold accompanied William in an attack on William’s enemy Conan II, the Duke of Brittany, where it is said Harold bravely rescued two of William’s men from quicksand near Mont St Michel. They pursued their quarry from Dol de Bretagne to Rennes and finally to Dinan where Conan surrendered, handing over the keys to his castle on the point of a lance. In gratitude for his services, William knighted Harold, giving him gifts of weapons and armour. It was at this time that Harold is said to have made an oath to William, swearing his support for William’s accession to England’s throne. It is difficult to imagine why Harold would make such an oath unless it was under some duress, or, perhaps it was made in return for the release of his brother with the intent of recanting it at a later date. The cunning William had however, placed certain holy relics under the cloth over which the oath was made, thus making it a sacred and more serious undertaking. It was the breaking of this oath when Harold took the throne that perhaps influenced William to invade two years later.
There is little on record of Edward’s life in the last ten years of his reign. His great passion was now the building of his abbey on which it is said he spent a tenth of his annual income. Harold was the effective ruler and his loyalty to the crown was severely tested in 1065AD, when the people of Northumbria rose in revolt over their harsh treatment and heavy taxation by Harold’s brother Tostig, accusing the earl of having, “despoiled of life and land all those over whom he could tyrannise” and robbing churches of their lands. He was also accused of procuring the deaths of the thegnes Gamel and Ulf, the sons of two Northumbrian nobles. The writer Florence of Worcester records that “he had them treachously slain in his own chamber” at York when they were under safe conduct. They demanded that Morcar, the younger brother of Edwin, Earl of Mercia, be the new Earl. With the support of troops from these two huge earldoms, Edwin and Morcar marched on London. Harold surprisingly, supported their claim and Tostig plus his family were exiled, travelling to Norway where he joined the household of Harald Hardrada “Hard Reign”, King of Norway.
All these events caused much distress to the ailing king whose health deteriorated and was unable to attend the consecration of his beloved abbey at Westminster on December the 28th 1065AD. He fell into a coma and died on the 5th of January 1066AD after briefly regaining consciousness and reportedly commending his widow and the kingdom to Harold’s “protection.”, taken by Harold to mean that he should take the throne. The Bayeux Tapestry shows the incident with Edward on his deathbed, pointing his finger at a figure thought to be Harold.
The Witamegot briefly considered Edgar the Atheling as the true successor, but Harold’s claim was stronger. He was already “sub regius” or underking and had the support of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria. Moreover he was seen as a strong leader and proven warrior at a time when England was beset by enemies in Normandy and Norway. He was crowned in Westminster Abbey on the 6th of January 1066AD, suggested by some sources as being in some haste although a more probable explanation is that the timing was due to most of the nobility being already in London for the feasting of Epiphany.
For some twenty years, Harold had been married “mora Danico” (in the Danish fashion) to Edith Swannesha (swan neck) of Mercia in a union known as “handfast”. The marriage, while not being recognised by the Church, was widely accepted as normal at the time and the six children of the union were not considered illegitimate.
In March 1066AD, Harold married Ealdgyth or Edith, daughter of the Earl of Mercia and widow of the Welsh King Gruffydd, killed by his own men after Harold’s successful campaigning three years earlier. The couple had two sons, Harold and Ulf, born around November 1066AD. Both grew to maturity in exile.
With the threat of invasion from north and south, the kingdom was uneasy but was now united under a powerful ruler. The coming year would change the face of England forever.
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