Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor (between 1003 and 1005 – 4 or 5 January 1066), son of Ethelred the Unready, and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066.

Edward has traditionally been seen as unworldly and pious, and his reign is notable for the disintegration of royal power in England and the advance in power of the Godwin family. His biographers, Frank Barlow and Peter Rex, dispute this, picturing him as a successful king, who was energetic, resourceful and sometimes ruthless, but whose reputation has been unfairly tarnished by the Norman conquest shortly after his death. Other historians regard this positive picture as only partly true, and not at all in the later part of his reign. In the view of Richard Mortimer, the return of the Godwins from exile in 1052 "meant the effective end of his exercise of power". The difference in his level of activity from the earlier part of his reign "implies a withdrawal from affairs".

Edward succeeded Cnut the Great's son Harthacnut, restoring the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Cnut conquered England in 1016. When Edward died in 1066, he was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, who was defeated and killed in the same year by the Normans under William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings.

Edward is called Confessor, the name for someone believed to have lived a saintly life but who was not a martyr, in Latin S. Eduardus Confessor rex Anglorum, as opposed to S. Eduardus Martyr rex Anglorum. He was canonised in 1161 by Pope Alexander III, and is commemorated on 13 October by both the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. Saint Edward was one of the national saints of England until King Edward III adopted Saint George as patron saint in about 1350.

William I in Jat History

दलीप सिंह अहलावत ने लिखा है:

साधु एडवर्ड (1042 ई० से 1066 ई०)

वह अनुद्यत एथलरेड और एम्मा का पुत्र था। धार्मिक प्रवृत्तियों तथा चरित्र की साधुता के कारण उसे साधु एडवर्ड कहा जाता था। वह इंगलैंड का राजा बनने की अपेक्षा एक नार्मन भिक्षु बनने के अधिक योग्य था। नार्मनों के प्रति उसकी अनुचित कृपाओं के कारण अंग्रेज उससे घृणा करने लगे, इस कारण इंगलैंड में दो दल खड़े हो गये - (1) राजा का दल अर्थात् नॉरमन और उसके अनुयायी (2) राष्ट्रीय अथवा सेक्सन दल, जिसका नेता गाडविन जो राजा का विरोधी था। उसके राज्यकाल में वेस्सेक्स का नवाब गाडविन और उसका पुत्र हेरोल्ड इंगलैंड के वास्तविक शासक थे। हेरोल्ड ने राजा को नॉरमनों को देश से निकालने के लिए विवश कर दिया। उनके चले जाने के बाद एडवर्ड हेरोल्ड की सलाह से राज्य करता रहा। 1066 ई० में उसकी मृत्यु होने पर उसका बहनोई हेरोल्ड राजा बना।

External links

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