MEET SOME EARLY ENGLISH KINGS

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1935, Page 21 (Supplement)

MEET SOME EARLY ENGLISH KINGS

• EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. ■' '■ - / “T~ ■ ‘ : Edward the Confessor was so called on account of his reputation for piety. He .was, the, son of. Ethelred the Unready and was bom at Islip in Oxfordshire. History is bound to be a bit mixed with regard to these far-off days, but it seems that Edward was formally’ recognised as heir to the throne on the death of Hardicanute in 1042, although his coronation was delayed for some reason or other until Easter 1043—possibly because the king wished to be crowned at the festival. • • ■ Although he has been called samtly, he was not really a good king. He was much too keen on foreigners to please the English, and it was not; until long after his death in 1066 that historians began to ■glorify the days before the Norman conquest and to cast a halo about the head of Edward. , x ~ Earl Godwin was still causing trouble when Edward the Confessor was on the throne, and after hhn came his son Harold. Therefore th? king found his hands full most of his time. During the closing of his life, he worked on the foundation of his new Abbey of Westminster but was unable to be present at its consecration. That must have been a bitter blow indeed, but Edward the Confessor was a dying man, and he passed away on January the fifth, 1066.