her husband and family took refuge in Normandy ; and Edward, notwithstanding the marriage of Emma to Canute in 1017, continued to reside at the Norman court, until he was recalled to England by Hardicanute in 1041. Hardicanute died in 1042, and " before the king was buried, all folk chose Edward to be king at London ; " but partly from his own unwillingness to accept the crown, and partly from the opposition of the Danes who came into England with Canute, his coronation did not take place till April 1043. The chief agent in overcoming his scruples, and in quelling all murmurs of opposition against his election, was Godwin the West Saxon earl, whose influence was at that time paramount in England. The exact nature of the rela tions between Godwin and Edward has been the subject of considerable discussion; but the most probable view of the matter is that, until after the marriage of Edward to Edgitha, daughter of Godwin, in 1045, these were on the whole cordial and friendly, but that gradually the king s preference of Normans to Anglo-Saxons, his necessary friendship with Leofric of Mercia and Si ward of Northumbria, and his growing dread of Godwin s ambitious character, led to misunderstanding and distrust. It was, probably, at the instigation of Godwin that Edward, on his accession to the throne, deprived his mother Emma of her possessions, and caused her to live in retirement at Winchester, and that he banished from the kingdom the chief Danish partisans who opposed his election. For the first eight years his reign was comparatively tranquil, the only circum stances worthy of mention being a threatened invasion by Norway, the ravages committed by pirates in Kent and Essex, and the outlawry of Sweyn, son of Godwin, for the seduction of the abbess of Leominster. In 1051, Eustace, count of Boulogne, in endeavouring to quarter his followers on the town of Dover, was resisted by the burghers, and a quarrel ensuing, several Normans were slain. The king, on hearing Eustace s account of the affair, with out further inquiry, commanded Godwin to chastise the town by military execution. Godwin demanded a trial ; but the king, incited it is said by Robert, archbishop of Canterbury, summoned a meeting of the Witan at Gloucester, not for the purpose of inquiring into the affair at Dover, but to pass judgment on Godwin for his contumacy. Ultimately, Godwin thought it prudent to leave the country and take refuge in Flanders. It was during his absence that William, duke of Normandy, visited England ; and if this prince did not then receive the promise of the crown from Edward, his ambition to possess it and his hopes of success were doubtless confirmed by his visit. There seems to have been general regret at Godwin s absence; and encouraged by the assurances he received from England, he gathered a fleet, and uniting with Harold, appeared before London. The king endeavoured to oppose him, but was obliged to yield to the wishes of his subjects, and Godwin and his sons were reinstated in their posses sions. When her father left England, Edgitha had been deprived of her property and sent to the royal abbey of Wherwell, but on his return she was restored to her former position. Godwin died in 1053, and after his death Harold attained to great influence, and virtually ruled the kingdom in the name of Edward. Towards the end of 1065 Edward s health began rapidly to fail. He had rebuilt the ancient abbey of Westminster, and his only wish was to be present at its consecration, which was to take place on the 28th December, but over-exertion on some previous festival days was too much for his remaining strength. His share in the ceremony had to be performed by deputy, and he died 5th January 1066. It was his last wish that Harold should succeed him on the throne. The virtues of Edward, it has been said, were monastic rather than kingly. His aims were just and righteous, and he showed his interest in his subjects by the preparation of a digest of the laws of the kingdom, and by the repeal of the Danegeld, or war tax; but his weak character and his feeble interest in worldly matters caused the real government of the kingdom during his reign to be
placed almost entirely in the hands of favourites.
See Falgrave s History of the Anglo-Saxons, Green s History of the English People, and especially Freeman s Norman Conquest, vol. ii.
of Henry III. of England, and of Eleanor, daughter of the count of Provenge, and was born at Westminster, June 16, 1239. In 1252 he was named governor of Gascony in room of Simon de Montfort, with whom Henry was dissatisfied ; and in 1254, by his marriage with Eleanor, daughter of Alphonso X. of Castile, he secured to the English for a time undisputed possession of that province. At the battle of Lewes, 13th May 1264, Edward, by the impetuosity of his attack, at first defeated the barons with great slaughter, but by his too great rashness in pursuit failed to give the king proper support in another part of the field, and was thus the cause ultimately of the utter rout of the royal forces. He was taken prisoner, but escaping by a clever stratagem, he joined with the earl of Gloucester, and inflicted a disastrous defeat on De Montfort and his sons at Evesham, August 3, 1265. In 1269, at the request of the Pope, he undertook a crusade to the Holy Land. He reached it in 1270, and in 1271 he captured Nazareth and massacred all the Turks found within its walls. In revenge, perhaps, for this act, an assassin, on June 12, 1272, stabbed him in three places with a poisoned arrow; but his vigorous constitution triumphed over his injuries and he completely recovered. In the same year his father died, and he was proclaimed king. He had arrived at Sicily when the news reached him, but instead of going direct to England, he crossed over to Italy, and thence into France, where in a tournament his followers quarrelled with those of the count of Chalons, and he slew the count in single combat. He landed in England August 2, 1274, and was crowned on the 19th. In October of the same year he issued writs to inquire into the state of the realm, and the next year there wers passed the laws called the Statutes of Westminster, which reformed many of the abuses of the feudal system, secured freedom from undue influence in the election of sheriffs and other justices, and threatened with penalties certain oppressive acts on the part of the barons. In 1277 he conquered Wales and caused Llewelyn to sue for peace; but in 1280, a Welsh war again broke out, which continued till the death of Llewelyn in 1282. Edward s plan to obtain money for the expenses of this war, by summoning for consultation in 1283 representatives oif the shires, the boroughs, and the church, was the germ of the English House of Commons, although the first properly constituted Parliament did not meet till 1295. A less creditable method of raising money was the banishment, in 1280, of the Jews from England, on condition that the clergy and laity submitted to a tax of a fifteenth. Two other important decisions were the consequence of his money difficulties : in 1297 he refused submission to the bull of Boniface VIII. forbidding the clergy to be taxed on their ecclesiastical revenue, and in 1299 he was obliged to con firm the charters conferring on the people the right to fix their own taxation. In 1290 Queen Eleanor died, and in 1293 Edward entered into negotiations for a marriage with Margaret, sister of Philip IV. of France ; but on account of an act of treachery on the part of the French, thesa negotiations were broken off for a time, and the marriage did not take place till 1299. From 1295 the affairs of Scotland occupied his chief attention. In 1292 he had
decided the claims of the candidates for the Scottish crown