Edward the Confessor

“ I was present at that Dance of Death which men call “an historical exhumation.” And the inevitable photographer was there at the Panthéon, just as at Aix-la-Chapelle. Great men’s bones are hustled about, their skulls are pried into and weighed, as if, forsooth, some sparkle of genius could be got out of them!
Edward the Confessor. Other kings than Charlemagne have had their slumbers broken. Since the coffin of Edward the Confessor was placed, on January 6, 1066, before the high altar of Westminster Abbey it has been opened for one purpose or another three times. ”

“ Born and brought up in England, and never leaving it save for short and infrequent visits to the continent, he was proud of his English ancestors and devoted to English saints, more especially to royal saints such as Edward the Confessor and Edmund of East Anglia. Yet he showed less sympathy with English ways than many of his foreign-born predecessors. Educated under alien influences, delighting in the art, the refinement, the devotion, and the absolutist principles of foreigners, he seldom trusted a man of English birth. ”

“ Next, Henry the Third resolved to honor Edward the Confessor by pulling down his church and rebuilding it entirely. This he accomplished as far as the crossing of the transepts and the nave. The great feature of the new church was now the Shrine of the Confessor, raised high above the floor of the church by an artificial mound of earth brought from the Holy Land. St. Peter, to whom Edward had dedicated the church, was now supplanted by St. Edward. The nave was continued by Edward the First, who built five bays, according to Gilbert Scott. ”

“ King Edward the Confessor, was the first that cured this Distemper, and from him it has descended as an Hereditary Miracle upon All his Successors. To dispute the Matter of Fact, is to go to the Excess of Scepticism, to deny our Senses, and to be incredulous even to Ridiculousness. ”

“ Edward the Confessor's name is attached to too much of the Regalia, to allow us to overlook his accession to the throne. He was crowned at Winchester, A.D. 1042, on Easter day; and being a Saxon, was hailed by the people as a native prince. The archbishop, Eadsius, read to him a long exhorta [Pg 117] tion on the duties of a sovereign, and closed by reminding him of the paternal government which England enjoyed under his predecessors in the Saxon line. All our early historians dwell with great zeal on the manner in which he fulfilled these duties. ”

“ It was Edward the Confessor brought the mystic morning light of the childhood of England, the Lawgiver brought justice, the lesson of the uncrowning came with the Second Edward, and with the Third the passing of Chivalry, the Fourth came as a strong man bringing seed, & the Fifth the sorrow of unfulfilment, the Sixth was the little founder, and to the Seventh have the fates thrown a guerdon, not his own but that of the peoples at whose will and for whom he stands. ”

“ Predictions also were discovered, or invented, tending to raise still further the hopes of the people in the prosperity which would attend the new reign—hopes not destined to be realised. One of these prophecies, couched in the allegorical form in which such dark sayings were usually put forth, was attributed to King Edward the Confessor on his death-bed. That such stories produced their effect upon the minds of men may serve to show the superstitious tendencies of the age. ”

“ For long did England sorrow under their “fury,” though in time the Conquest produced advantageous results to the kingdom at large. Whether this Norman subjugation was in accordance with the will of the monarch Edward, or whether it was entirely the result of Duke William’s ambition, must now ever remain in doubt. Harold asserted that Edward the Confessor appointed him his successor (of which, however, he could not produce proof) ; to this must be opposed the improbability of Edward thus ennobling a family of whom he felt, and with such abundant cause, so jealous. ”

“ A tradition, which may be traced up to the time of Edward II., says that certain monks, driven from Mont St. Michel for their dissolute lives, settled in the Vale parish and founded an abbey about the year 968 A.D. The same authority informs us that they reformed their lives and became famous for their sanctity, and that when Robert, Duke of Normandy, visited the island in the year 1032, having been driven here by stress of weather while on his way to England with a fleet to the help of his nephew, Edward the Confessor, he confirmed them in the possession of the lands they had acquired. ”

“ EDWARD I. (1239-1307) , king of England, born at Westminster on the 17th of June 1239, was the eldest son of Henry III. and Eleanor of Provence. He was baptized Edward after Edward the Confessor, for whom Henry had special veneration, and among his godfathers was Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, his aunt Eleanor’s husband. His political career begins when the conclusion of a treaty with Alphonso X. of Castile, by which he was to marry the Spanish king’s half sister Eleanor, necessitated the conferring on him of an adequate establishment. ”

“ During the hymn and while the march is stiff in movement; there shall pass in front of the throne alone and unattended the Edwards of England, Edward the Confessor first, then Edward the Lawgiver, then Edward the Second, then Edward the King of Chivalry, then Edward the Fourth, then Edward the Child King, the last being Edward the Founder. Each as he passes from left to right behind the veil shall touch the throne and so move out. ”

“ He is described by a contemporary, Ailred of Rievaux, as ‘a sweet-tempered and amiable man, like his kinsman Edward the Confessor in all respects, who exercised no tyranny or avarice towards his people, but ruling them with the greatest charity and benevolence.’ His reign is generally described as eventless from its pacific character. ”

“ William the Conqueror, son of Robert the Magnificent, acknowledged his father’s heir; his accession; early conspiracies against him; defeats the rebels; his war with Anjou; marriage with Matilda of Flanders; founds the Abbey of St. Stephen at Caen; his grave and burial there; his visit to Edward the Confessor; Edward leaves the crown of England to him; Harold becomes his prisoner; obtains an oath of assistance from him; receives tidings of Harold’s coronation; summons a parliament at Lillebonne; prepares for the invasion of England; lands at Pevensey; his appearance at the battle of Hastings ”

“ This was followed at intervals by other attacks, and a general failure of health which obliged him to intermit his courses and take several journeys in France, Italy, England, and Spain, during which he gathered the materials of some of the most delightful of his minor works. It is a curious and characteristic incident of his visit to England, worth recording, that he was turned out of Westminster Abbey by Pg 589 the pompous beadle, whom all tourists must well remember, for kneeling down to pray at the tomb of Edward the Confessor. ”

“ His name was rendered famous by many miracles, of which God was pleased to make him the instrument, both living and after his death. He flourished about the eighth century, and his relics were honored at Steninges. This place Saint Edward {386} the Confessor bestowed on the great abbey of Fecam in Normandy, which was enriched with a portion of his relics. ”

“ For this he was brought before the Council, but came out of the debate victorious, and was offered a bishopric which he refused, saying, “I cannot put on me a surplice and a cope. I cannot swear by created beings.” Even Edward’s Government found his eloquence inconvenient, and he was sent to the Fleet for his intemperate preaching. [544] He was at length consecrated Bishop of Gloucester, with the usual ceremonies, [Pg 374] but was afterwards allowed to discard the hated vestments of Episcopacy, “the rags of the harlot of Babylon,” as he described them. ”

“ The Archbishop sided with the King, and refused to consecrate the Pope's nominee. In the end, however, he had to yield, and permitted his consecration to be performed by the Bishop of London.
The reign of Edward III. is remarkable in many ways in connection with the history of the Church. It was, from the causes already specified, a time of the deepest depression of the papal power; and there were especial causes, as we have seen, why greater hostility should be felt towards it in England than elsewhere. ”

“ But if her Grace will give me leave, I shall be ready to prove against all that will say the contrary, that the Communion-book, set forth by the most innocent and godly prince King Edward VI., in his High Court of Parliament, is conformable to the order which our Saviour Christ did both observe and command to be observed, which his Apostles and primitive Church used many years; whereas the mass in many things not only hath no foundation of Christ, his Apostles, nor the primitive Church, but also is contrary to the same, and containeth many horrible blasphemies. ”

“ He became fellow of his college in 1 538, but migrated to Christ Church about 1540, becoming a student there. At Corpus he was Greek lecturer, and noted as a strong Roman catholic of the old school. He was one of the witnesses against John Dunne in October 1538. In Edward's reign he is said to have turned protestant, and was vice-chancellor in 1552, but he 'returned to his vomit' under Mary. He also dug up the body of Peter Martyr's wife in Christ Church, and had it cast on his dunghill. ”

“ The bishops of this reign were as a body, though with some exceptions, worldly and self-seeking. On the death of Winchelsey, in 1313, the monks of Christ Church chose a new archbishop of high repute for learning and character. At the king’s request, Clement set aside their election and appointed Edward’s old tutor, Walter Reynolds, bishop of Worcester, the son of a baker, and a man in all respects unworthy of such an office. Before he came to the throne Edward had found him useful to him, and when he became king he made him treasurer and chancellor. ”

“ He succeeded his father in 901, and his reign was distinguished by successes over the Danes. He fortified many inland towns, acquired dominion over Northumbria and East Anglia, and subdued several of the Welsh tribes.
Edward, surnamed the Martyr, King of England, succeeded his father, Edgar, at the age of fifteen, in 975. His reign of four years was chiefly distinguished by ecclesiastical disputes. He was treacherously slain in 979 by a servant of his stepmother, at her residence, Corfe Castle. The pity caused by his innocence and misfortune induced the people to regard him as a martyr. ”

“ Yet I do lament, Edward, daily lament my many offenses against God; but I am assured that Christ's blood cleanseth from all sin, and that in Him I have a powerful and all-prevailing Advocate with the Father. ”

“ Only fourteen years old when he was crowned king, young Edward had already impressed all those who came in contact with him. Men saw in him a worthy successor of Edward I., whose great qualities stood out in shining contrast after the second Edward's disastrous reign. He was strong, he was brave; he, like his grandfather, passionately loved justice and passionately loved England. Nothing could have been more unfortunate than his boyhood or his early education. ”

“ Such was the state of the Holy Land at the time of Prince Edward’s arrival. His name, however, was a host; the disunion among the Christians was healed by his coming; [874] every exertion was made to render his efforts effectual; and he soon found himself at the head of a small but veteran force, amounting to seven thousand men. With this he advanced upon Nazareth, and after a severe conflict with the Moslems, he made himself master of that city, in which all the Saracens that remained were slaughtered without mercy. The climate put a stop to his successes. ”

“ Edward was brave and skilful as a warrior, and owed his success not less to his able dispositions than to his personal courage. But he was cruel and lavish of human blood. The barbarities which disgraced the triumphs of the first Crusade were repeated on a smaller scale at Nazareth, where the prince put the whole garrison to death, and subjected the inhabitants to unnecessary suffering. ”

“ Chapter XXV IF the gods, who scatter wit in sundry unexpected places, so that it is sometimes found beneath the bishop’s mitre and, once in a thousand years, beneath a king’s crown, had given Edward two-pennyworth of that commodity, he would undoubtedly have been a great as well as a good man. ”

“ Bitter experience taught Edward that he could not fight the French and the Scots at the same time, and in 1299 he made peace with Philip, and, Eleanor having died in November 1290, he married the French king’s sister Margaret (c. 1282-1318) , and some years later obtained the restitution of Gascony. In the same spirit he strove to destroy the clerical and baronial opposition. He did not succeed in the former task until a complacent pope arose in his own subject, Clement V., who abandoned Winchelsea to his anger, and suffered the archbishop to be driven into exile. ”

“ And she did devote herself to Edward, and so successfully—with her gentle sympathy with his grief, her tender feeling toward his faults, her conviction of her father's forgiveness, her unassuming but heart-breathing piety, which, without one word unduly introduced of a subject so holy, for she felt herself much too lowly and ignorant to approach it—yet always led up his thoughts to God, and from one so young, so humble, and, in general, so joyous, had still greater effect in confirming his returning religious hope, than had his teachers been only those who were older and wiser than himself. ”