EDMUND (EADMUND), SAINT, THE MARTYR: Last king of the East Angles; b. in
Nuremberg 841, the son of King Alkmund;
killed by the
Danes near Hoxne (25 m. n. of Ipswich), Suffolk,
(5 m. n. of Oxford) c.1003; d. at Westminster, London, Jan. 5, 1066. He was a son of Ethelred the
Unready (king 979-1016) and nephew of Edward
the Martyr (see
Dunstan, Saint). As a child he was
sent to Normandy, his mother's country, and there
he was brought up and lived, while the Danes,
Canute and his sons, ruled
England (1016-42).
The desire of the English to restore the kings of
their own race made Edward the general choice to
succeed Hardicanute in 1042, and he was crowned
at Winchester on Easter day, Apr. 3, 1043. As king
the best that can be said for him is that he meant
well; he was indolent and willingly left royal duties
to others. The great earls really ruled England
and their jealousies and intrigues were productive
of disorder. Edward preferred his Norman friends
to Englishmen and appointed his favorites in Church
and State. The Normans, however, were superior
to the English in arts and learning, and one result
was a closer connection between the English Church
and continental Christendom. English representatives appeared at papal synods and visited Rome
(1050). Simony was scandalously prevalent. Edward gave much to monasteries. Between 1051
and 1061 he rebuilt the monastery of Thorney
(Westminster), west of London and near his palace,
and then he erected a new church, which was the
first church in England of the Norman Romanesque
style, and became the king's burial-place nine days
after its consecration. Miracles were soon believed
to be wrought at the tomb; and a mass of legend
gathered about Edward's name, attributing to him
visions and gifts of healing even before he became
king. He was canonized by Alexander III. in 1161.
Bibliography:
Sources: The Vita by Alred or Erred (d. 1166) with other material and prefatory comment is in
ASB, Jan., i. 290-304, and
part of this is in
MPL, cacv, 737-790; the Lives of
Edward the Confessor, ed. H. R. Luard for the Rolls Series, no. 3, London, 1858, contains
several works of primary importance; other material may
be found in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward 1, and IL,
ed. W. Stubbs for the Rolls Series, no.
78, 2 vols., ib. 1882-83; and Matthew of Paris,
Chronica majors, ed. H. R.
Luard for Rolls Series, no. 57, vol. i., ib. 1872. The beet
modern book is E. A. Freeman, Hist. of the Norman Conquest, vol. ii.,
Oxford, 1879. Further material is in
Lyfe of Saynt Eduardo, London, 1533; J. Porter, Life of St.
Edward, King and Confessor, ib. 1710; J. R. Green,
The Conquest of England, 760-1071,
2 vols., ib. 1889; F. Liebermann,
Ueber die lepea Edwardi Conteaeorfia,
Halle, 1896; J. H. Ramsay, The Foundations of England
.... B.C. ti6A.D. 1164, 2 vols., London, 1898; W. Hunt, The English
Church . . . (699'-1066), ib. 1899;
DNB, xvii.
7-14; and, in general, the works on the history of the period.
