Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor (c. 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of the English from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex.

Quotes about Edward the Confessor

• He was a compassionate Prince, and very tender in taxing his Subjects: He had nothing of Luxury or Excess in his Palate, but was remarkably Temperate at Table. And though he did not decline appearing like a Prince in his Habit, especially upon Collar-Days, yet he was always Bigger than his Equipage, and far from being Proud of the Pomp and Grandeur of his Station. From the Prosperity of his Reign, the Prophetick Spirit, with which he is said to be endow'd, and the Miracles he wrought, we may make this Remark, That God prefers the Heart to the Head; Piety to Parts, and Capacity; and is much better pleas'd with the right use of the Will, than the Advantage of the Understanding.
  • Jeremy Collier, An Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, chiefly of England: From the First Planting of Christianity, to the End of the Reign of King Charles the Second. With a Brief Account of the Affairs of Religion in Ireland. Collected from the best Ancient Historians, Councils, and Records. Vol. I (1708), p. 225

• That this Prince cur'd the King's Evil, is beyond Dispute: And since the Credit of this Miracle is unquestionable, I see no reason why we should Scruple believing the rest... King Edward the Confessor was the first that cur'd 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 Excesses of Scepticism, to deny our Senses, and be incredulous even to Ridiculousness.
  • Jeremy Collier, An Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, chiefly of England: From the First Planting of Christianity, to the End of the Reign of King Charles the Second. With a Brief Account of the Affairs of Religion in Ireland. Collected from the best Ancient Historians, Councils, and Records. Vol. I (1708), pp. 225-226

• A halo of tenderness spread in after-time round this last King of the old English stock; legends told of his pious simplicity, his blitheness and gentleness of mood, the holiness that gained him his name of "Confessor" and enshrined him as a saint in his abbey-church at Westminster. Gleemen sang in manlier tones of the long peace and glories of his reign, how warriors and wise councillors stood round his throne, and Welsh and Scot and Briton obeyed him. His was the one figure that stood out bright against the darkness when England lay trodden under foot by Norman conquerors; and so dear became his memory that liberty and independence itself seemed incarnate in his name. Instead of freedom, the subject of William or Henry called for the "good laws of Eadward the Confessor."
  • John Richard Green, A Short History of the English People (1874), p. 64

• I restore to you the law of King Edward together with such emendations to it as my father made with the counsel of his barons.
  • Henry I of England, Coronation Charter (5 August 1100), quoted in English Historical Documents, Vol. II. 1042–1189, eds. David C. Douglas and George W. Greenaway (1953), p. 402

• The so-called laws of Eadward are said to have been drawn up from declarations made on oath by twelve men of each shire in 1070; the earliest extant version of them was perhaps compiled by Ranulf Glanvill. Probably in 1070 the Conqueror declared that all should live under Eadward's law, together with such additions as he had made to it, and a like promise was made by Henry I in his charter of 1100. These grants, which should be compared with Cnut's renewal of Eadgar's law, signified that the people should enjoy their national laws and customs, and that English and Normans should dwell together in peace and security.
  • William Hunt, 'Edward the Confessor', Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XVII. Edward—Erskine, ed. Leslie Stephen (1889), p. 13

• Eadward's tomb before the high altar soon became the scene of many miracles. As the last English king of the old royal line he was naturally remembered with feelings of affection, that found expression in acts of devotion and legends of his holiness. Among these legends his vision that the seven sleepers of Ephesus had turned on to their left sides is one of the most famous. Another of greater historical importance, as proving that he practised the custom of episcopal investiture, must be reserved for the life of Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester. He is said to have healed many persons, and especially those suffering from ulcers, by touching them. William of Malmesbury declares that those who knew him while he lived in Normandy said that he performed some miracles of this kind before he came to the throne, and that it was therefore a mistake to assert, as some people then did, that he had this power, not because of his holiness, but in virtue of his hereditary royalty. By the end of the twelfth century it appears to have generally been believed that the kings of England had the gift of healing in virtue of their anointing, and down to the early part of the eighteenth century the power of curing the ‘king's evil’ was held to descend as an ‘hereditary miracle’ upon all the rightful successors of the Confessor.
  • William Hunt, 'Edward the Confessor', Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XVII. Edward—Erskine, ed. Leslie Stephen (1889), p. 13

• Know that I have granted, and by this my present charter confirmed, to all my barons and vassals of England all the liberties and good laws which Henry, king of the English, my uncle, granted and conceded to them. I also grant them all the good laws and good customs which they enjoyed in the time of King Edward.
  • Stephen of England, Charter (probably 1135), quoted in English Historical Documents, Vol. II. 1042–1189, eds. David C. Douglas and George W. Greenaway (1953), p. 402

• Henrico regi Angliæ natus est filius, quem ab Othone legato baptizatum, in honorem gloriosissimi confessoris et regis Edwardi, Edwardum vocavit.
• A son was born to Henry, King of England, whom the ambassador Otto baptized and named Edward in honour of the most glorious confessor and King Edward.
  • Nicholas Trivet, De Ordine Frat. Prædictatorum, Annales Sex Regum Angliæ, Qui A Comitibus Andega Vensibus Originem Traxerunt, (A.D. M.C.XXXVI.—M.CCC. VII.) Ad Fidem Codicum Manuscriptorum Recensuit (1845), p. 225