death_date birth_date reign father house death_place coronation spouse image name caption predecessor succession birth_place successor mother religion burial_place article_title
5 january 1066 c. 1003 -- 1005 8 1066 june 1042 & nbsp ; -- 5 january Æthelred the unready house of wessex london , england 3 april 1043 , winchester cathedral edith of wessex bayeux_tapestry_scene1_edward_rex . jpg edward the confessor edward bayeux tapestry the confessor enthroned , opening scene of the harthacnut king of the english islip , oxfordshire , england harold godwinson emma of normandy catholicism westminster abbey , england edward the confessor

edward the confessor

edward the confessor -lrb- between 1003 and 1005 -- 5 january 1066 -rrb- , was among the last anglo-saxon kings of england , and usually considered 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 '' .
the son of Æthelred the unready and emma of normandy , 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 to reflect his reputation as a saint who did not suffer martyrdom , as opposed to edward the martyr .
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 .
