St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-01-30
The English Edwards.
who the Six Kings were Who Bore the
New SOVeTigus Name.

The story VI lnc SIX PREDECESSORS Oh
Edward VII, who have been known as
King Edward OF England is of particular
interest at this time Edward, the name
1.-TWO royal saints, is the Anglo Saxon
name through which the Plantagenet
sovereigns, who were mainly of mixed
Norman and Latin descent, sought to
andear themselves to their Anglo. Saxon
subjects. In it's original spelling it signi-
fed Guardian OF Property" and it was
the name of two Of the minor Saxon
kings before the eleventh century, one of
ryhom was martyred by the Danish
"Heathen of the Northern Sea-" The
first king of England who bore the name
was the son of Ethelred the Unready,
whom, in 1912, "all folk chose to king"
mon the death OF Hardicanute, son Of
Canute, the Danish oppressor OF the
English. Although as ruler this Ed
ward was a decided failure paving the
yay by his imprudence for the Norman
INVASION, which came soon after his
death, his private life was so sanity and
his love for his people so evident that he
was canonized by the popular voice long
before the Roman See added it's authori.
+atiye decision. He it was who founded
the abbey in honor Of st. Peter upon the
island of Thorney, now known as West.
minister The legend goes that in the
conservation of the new abbey church a
moor fisherman who was watching his
nets in the Thorney marshes saw light
streaming through the church windows
and heard mysterious sound of voices
chanting the liturgy. Going nearer he
saw a strange procession moving around
the newly finished walls, and in it was a
venerable white bearded figure vested
like bishop, but wearing the papal
tiara. In the morning the fisherman
went and told the king what he had
seen. and when they looked at the walls
the marks OF sacred oil were found on the
stones. So King Edward saw that St.
Peter himself had come down from hea-
ven to bless the abbey, and no ceremony
was performed by earthly clergy.
The first of the foreign line of kings to
take the Saxon name was the fifth Plan
tagenet, son of Henry III, who in his
lifetime had initiated as closely as he
could the devout virtues as well as the
unstatesmanlike conduct of Edward the
Confessor, even to the rebuilding of the
abbey with added magnifcence. Edward
l. as he was entitled, ignoring the Saxon
King either from reasons OF policy or out
of reverence to his sanctity, assembled the
throne in 1874. He it was who, as
Prince Edward, fought stubbornly
against Simon de Montfort and the
barons of England, who werein arms for
something which would nowadays be
called constitutional reform. 1t was he
nevertheless, who, once on the throne,
did more than any previous English
king to promote the development of
parliamentary government. The first
perfect English parliament may be said
to have assembled in the twenty.frst
wear OF his reign. He also conquered
Wales and Scotland as far as the Moray
Firth or thereabouts. His work as a
legislator earned for him the name in his
tory of "The English Justinian.
Edward II, fourth surviving son of
Edward l, and the first Prince Of Wales
to ascend the English throne, succeeded
in 1907. He was born at Carnarvon
Castle, where his father had some time
before promised the Welsh chieftains soon
to provide them with prince OF their
own, and within an hour Of his birth the
baby Prince was presented to the throng
outside the castle walls as he who had
been promised to them by the king. The
title of Prince of Wales, however, was
not formally conferred upon him until be
had completed his seventeenth year.
After his accession to the throne this
Edward met with nothing but disaster,
chiefly through his own weakness. 1t
was in the seventh year of his reign that
the battle of Bannockburn put an end,
to all practical purposes to English do
mination in Scotland. In 1927 he was
deposed by parliament, and in the same
year was atrociously murdered in Berk-
eley Keep, Glouchestershire.
Edward III, eldest son of Edward II,
is distinguished in history. first, as the
"MalIeus Scotorum" (Hammer of the
Scots), having, by dint of great persever-
ance, succeeded in reconquering the
northern kingdom for at least a time;
second, as the victor of Crecy and Poit-
iers; third, as the father of Edward the
Black Prince and Of John Of Gauut. In
the minds of the English people, how
ever, he was even more affectionately
remembered as the devoted husband OF
Philippa, who set up the great stone
cross between London and Westminster
t"Chere Refine Croixe'0, afterward
known as Charing Cross, to mark the
last spot of earth where his wltes dead
body had rested in its stately progress to
the grave. His was one of the longest
reigns in English history and marked the
climacteric period of chivalry in Western
Europe.
From 1877 to 1461 no King of Eng
land bore the time honored and sancti-
fed Saxon name. In the latter year
Edward Plantagenet, son of Richard OF
York, succeeded in deposing the feeble
Henry VI, whose successor he had al
ready been named by Parliament. This
Edward was the "Roi Soleil" of his age
and country, his personal badge being
the golden sun, to which Richard makes
allusion in
Now is the winter of our discomfort
Made glorious summer by this sun of York"
He was in RIGHTEOUSNESS and also IN
personal popularity prototype of
OF Charles II. His proAgate relations
with Jane Shore have formed the basis of
many historical romances. On the other
hand, it must be remembered that it was
Edward w who first encouraged the
new art of printing in his kingdom.
When the printers of these days assemble
IN their "chapels," they unconsciously
commemorate the opening by Edward
~ OF the first composing room, which
happened to be one of the chapels at the