Kings and Queens of England - Edward the Confessor
Edward was born between 1003 and 1005 at Islip, near Oxford. Prior to his accession, England was fragmented. However Edward had ruled very well and had united England.
His parents
Father - King Æthelred II
Mother - Queen Emma, sister of the Duke of Normandy
Spouse
Edith, daughter of Earl Godwine of Wessex, 1045
Edward was crowned on the 3rd of April, 1043 at Winchester.
Ælred of Rievaulx talks about a miracle being made by Edward when a woman begged for his help. She had tumours on her neck. The Kings washed and made the sign of a cross over them. "At once the skin broke, worms gushed out with the infection, the swelling subsided, the pain disappeared". This "Touching for the King's Evil" ritual, where the monarch dispels the disease of scrofula from their subjects, became a tradition from the 13th century continued until the accession of George I in 1714.
Edward was the seventh son of Æthelred II, and had come to the throne after outliving and outsmarting the other contenders.
Edward had died, childless on the 4th or 5th of January 1066, aged about 61, at the Palace of Westminster, buried in Westminster Abbey.
Edward dying childless had led to turmoil in England and the Norman conquest, led by William the Conqueror (aka William the Bastard).
Edward had built the first Westminster Abbey, and had become known after his death of his piety (hence the name "Confessor") and on the 7th of February 1161, he was canonised and became known as "Saint Edward the Confessor".
This is part of something else I want to try. As well as the crusades, I want to list off the Kings and Queens of England and give a sort of face file of them. I will try to be more brief in the future as there is a lot to read here.
