EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. - B. at Islip (Oxfordshire) in 1002, d. 5 Jan. 1066 at Westminster. Son of King Ethelred and of Emma of Normandy, because of a new Danish invasion he was taken as a child to his mother's house, where he received a completely Norman education. In 1042 he obtained the crown of his ancestors and, having returned from exile, was consecrated king (1043). Of a gentle character, he did not have the energy necessary to reunite England and keep it at peace. He chose Norman secretaries and chaplains, made the Norman Robert of Jumièges primate of England, and handed over certain ports to the Normans, whereby they became masters of English trade and formed a strong party in E.'s kingdom. The reaction was not long in coming, and Godwin, earl of Wessex, who had first given him his daughter Edith in marriage, placed himself at the head of the opposing party with the aim of usurping the crown for himself and for his own house.
The kingdom was divided into two parts: the north, favorable to the king, the south, to Godwin. After a momentary failure, the pretender, who had been exiled with his whole family, returned victorious in 1051, dictating conditions to the king.
In 1053 Godwin died, leaving a strong party and a powerful family which, however, the king's party was well able to counterbalance until E.'s death. Then the kingdom fell to William the Bastard, duke of Normandy.
During E.'s reign he restored the laws of his ancestor Edgar which from him took the name of "laws of St. E." (Edwardlans); many were ecclesiastical laws. He transferred the capital of the kingdom from Winchester in Wessex to Westminster in East Anglia, where he built the new royal palace near the church of St. Peter which he had begun. After his death he was venerated in England as a saint and Alexander IIIcanonized him on 7 Feb. 1161 giving him the title of Confessor; feast on 13 Oct. in commemoration of the translation.
Bibliography8 worksActa SS. Januarii, I. Paris 1863, pp. 290-304; J. H. Round, The Officers of Edward the Confessor, in The english historical review, 19 (1904
BIBL.: Acta SS. Januarii, I. Paris 1863, pp. 290-304; J. H. Round, The Officers of Edward the Confessor, in The english historical review, 19 (1904), pp. 90-92; P. Carlson-Britton, Edward the Confessor and his coins, in The numismatice cronicle, 1905, pp. 179-205; K. Pearson, A myth about Edward the Confessor, in The english hist. rev., 25 (1910), pp. 517-20; G. E. Moore, The middle English verse life of Edward the Confessor, Philadelphia 1942; R. W. Southern, The first life of Edward the Confessor, in The english hist. rev., 28 (1943), pp. 385-400; E. R. Heningham, The genuineness of the osta Acknardi regis, in Speculum, 21 (1946), pp. 419-56; Martyr, Romanum, pp. 7-8, 451.
Vicentini, Ulderico. “Edoardo [Iii] Il Confessore.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, coll. 86–87. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/edoardo-iii-il-confessore.
MLA
Vicentini, Ulderico. “Edoardo [Iii] Il Confessore.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, coll. 86–87. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/edoardo-iii-il-confessore.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec5_edoardo_iii_il_confessore,
author = {Vicentini, Ulderico},
title = {Edoardo [Iii] Il Confessore},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {V},
pages = {86--87},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/edoardo-iii-il-confessore}
}
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