EDOUARD D'ALENÇON. - Capuchin historian, b. at Alençon (Orne) on 10 Apr. 1859, d. at Rome on 1 Sept. 1928. He entered the Order in the province of Paris on 6 Jan. 1879, and served as general archivist in Rome (1892–1914) and definitor general (1924–1926).
Among the most renowned modern scholars of Franciscan history, he became a valued contributor to the principal Franciscan historical journals and published numerous monographs distinguished by their documentary research and critical exactitude. He devoted particular attention to the origins of the Franciscan movement (he published the work of Thomas of Celano, *S. Francisci vita et vitae additio opusculi liturgicis*, Rome 1906; *Sacrum commercium b. Francisci cum domina Paupertate*, extracted from *Anal. Ord. Min. Cap.*, 15 [1896]; *Spicilegium franciscanum*, ibid., 14–17 [1898–1901]; *La légende de St. François dite des Trois Compagnons*, Paris 1903; *Frère Jacqueline... de Settezoli*, ibid. 1899; *Les origines de la Portiuncula et ses diverses dénominations*, Paris 1904, etc.) and to those of the Capuchin reform, which he expounded with fresh documentation (*De origine Min. Cap., Chronica Ioannis Romaei de Terranova*, Rome 1908; *Gian Pietro Carafa e la riforma nell'Ordine dei Min. dell'Osservanza*, Foligno 1912; *Tribulationes Ord. Min. Cap. [1534–41]*, Rome 1914; *De primordiis Ord. Min. Cap. commentarium historicum [1525–1534]*, ibid. 1921; *Primigeniae legislationis Ord. Min. Cap. textus originales*, ibid. 1928; etc.). He also illuminated interesting aspects of the Order’s activity and members (*Les premiers pompiers de Paris*, Paris 1892; *S. Languini Brunusini da rebus Austriae et Bohemiae commentariorum autographum*, Rome 1910; *Collegii S. Fidelis pro missionibus Ordinis conspectus historicus*, ibid. 1926; etc.) and amassed a rich bibliographical corpus, still consulted today, of which he published several samples (*Bibliotheca Mariana Ord. Min. Cap.*, Rome 1916; *Essai de bibliographie europo-congolaise*, in *Neerlandia Franc.*, 1 (1914), pp. 33–42, 251–65; 2 (1919), pp. 101–26). Under the heading *Frères Mineurs* in the *Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique*, VI, cols. 569–63, he provided an erudite compendium of Franciscan literary output in sacred disciplines. His example and method shaped the critical direction of Franciscan historical research.
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EDWARD [I], King of ENGLAND. - Eldest son of King Alfred the Great, he reigned from 899 until his death on 17 July 925. Though less learned than his father, he was one of the chief architects of national unity, having liberated much of England from the Danes.
At his accession the kingdom was confined to Wessex alone. From 918, however, he launched a campaign against the invaders, aided by his sister Æthelflæd, a courageous and resolute lady who ruled Mercia. While she took Derby and Leicester, Edward recovered Northampton, Huntingdon, Cambridge, East Anglia, and in later years Stamford, Nottingham, and Lincoln. The Scots too sought his friendship and protection.
He also rendered notable service to the reorganization of the Church in Wessex.
Ulderica Vicentini
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EDWARD [II] the Martyr, King of ENGLAND. - B. c. 961–63, d. 13 Mar. 978. Eldest son of King Edgar and his first wife Æthelflæd, he was baptized in infancy by Dunstan, Bishop of Canterbury, and succeeded to the throne in 975. A powerful faction of barons opposed his coronation, but Dunstan prevailed.
His reign was troubled by internal strife between partisans and opponents of religious reform. He continued the war against the Danish invaders with some success. Beloved by his subjects, he incurred the envy of his stepmother Ælfthryth, who had him murdered at Corfe in Dorset in 978 in order to secure the throne for her own son Æthelred. From 1001 he has been venerated as a martyr saint, as attested by very ancient martyrologies.
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EDWARD [III] the Confessor, St., King of ENGLAND. - B. at Islip (Oxfordshire) in 1002, d. at Westminster on 5 Jan. 1066. Son of King Æthelred and Emma of Normandy, he was taken as a child to Normandy during a new Danish invasion and there received a thoroughly Norman upbringing. In 1042 he obtained the crown of his ancestors and, returning from exile, was consecrated king (1043). Of gentle disposition, he lacked the strength needed to restore and maintain peace in England. He appointed Norman secretaries and chaplains, made the Norman Robert of Jumièges Primate of England, entrusted certain ports to Normans who thereby gained control of English commerce, and fostered a strong Norman party within the kingdom. A reaction soon followed: Godwin, Earl of Wessex, who had first given him his daughter Edith in marriage, became the leader of the opposing faction intent on usurping the crown for himself and his house.
The kingdom was divided into two factions: the north loyal to the king, the south to Godwin. After a temporary setback, the claimant—exiled with his entire family—returned in 1051 and dictated terms to the king.
In 1053 Godwin died, leaving a powerful party and a strong family, yet the king’s party managed to maintain a balance until Edward’s death. The throne then passed to William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy.
During his reign Edward revived the laws of his grandfather Edgar, which henceforth bore the name of St Edward’s laws (*Edwardianus*); many of them were ecclesiastical in character. He transferred the royal capital from Winchester in Wessex to Westminster in Middlesex, where he built a new royal palace beside the church of St Peter, which he had begun. After his death he was venerated as a saint in England, and Alexander III canonized him on 7 Feb. 1161, granting him the title of Confessor; his feast is kept on 13 Oct. in memory of his translation.