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Edward the Confessor or Eadweard III (c. 1004 – January 4, 1066) was the penultimate Anglo-Saxon King of England and the last of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 until his death.1 His reign marked the continuing disintegration of royal power in England and the aggrandizement of the great territorial earls, and it foreshadowed the country's later connection with Normandy, whose duke William I was to supplant Edward's successors Harold and Edgar Ætheling as England's ruler.
Edward, and his brother Alfred were taken to Normandy by their mother Emma, sister of Normandy's duke Richard II, to escape the Danish invasion of England in 1013. In his quarter-century of Norman exile during his most formative years, while England formed part of a great Danish empire, Edward developed an intense personal piety; his familiarity with Normandy and its leaders was also to influence his later rule.
Returning to England with Alfred in an ill-advised abortive attempt (1036) to displace their step-brother Harold Harefoot from the throne, Edward escaped to Normandy after Alfred's capture and death. The Anglo-Saxon lay and ecclesiastical nobility invited him back to England in 1041; this time he became part of the household of his half-brother Harthacanute (son of Emma and Canute), and according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was sworn in as king alongside him. Following Harthacanute's death on June 8, 1042, Edward ascended the throne. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle indicates the popularity he enjoyed at his accession – "before Harthacanute was buried, all the people chose Edward as king in London". Edward was crowned at the cathedral of Winchester, the royal seat of the West Saxons on April 3, 1043.
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The Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor has been the main highlight of pilgrimages to #WestminsterAbbey since early days http://uurl.in/FNzoN
youmustsee (Youmustsee) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:50:11 -0000
The Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor has been the main highlight of pilgrimages to #WestminsterAbbey since early days http://uurl.in/FNzoN
BBC: Edward the Confessor (c.1003 - 1066) - Biography of the king who reigned from 1042 to 1066.
Meta Description: [ King from 1042 to 1066, his reputation for piety preserved some royal dignity despite his ineffectual leadership and the resulting difficulties with his nobles. ]
Edward the Confessor - Biography for the king of the English (1042–66), son of Æthelred the Unready and his Norman wife, Emma.
Edward the Confessor - Illustrated profile.
Meta Description: [ Patron Saint Index profile of Saint Edward the Confessor; illustrated ]
St. Edward - The story of King St. Edward the Confessor. Suitable for children.
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