Today is the feast of St Edward the Confessor. It is the anniversary of the day in 1163 when his relics were translated from his original tomb in Westminster Abbey to a new shrine, following his canonisation in 1161 by Pope Alexander III.
King Edward the Confessor.
From the Bayeux Tapestry
Image: Wikipedia
With all the coverage of the events of 1066 we are getting in connection with the visit of the Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum I wonder if today was chosen so that the liturgical celebration of the new saint king falls on the day before the anniversary of the battle of Hastings. This would, by implication, make King William I the immediate successor of King Edward and thus deny King Harold II the status of ever being a lawful monarch.
Detail of St Edward the Confessor from the Wilton Diptych of 1397
Image: Historical Britain blog
The cult of St Edward flourished particularly in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, most notably it would appear in the reign of King Richard II. It is noteworthy that in 1399 after the deposition of that king his successor, King Henry IV, chose to be crowned at Westminster on this feast day of St Edward, and by implication, stressing the significance of the role of St Edward as the patron in the monarchy and as the exemplar of divinely approved and sanctioned kingship.
A modern icon of St Edward in his shrine chapel at Westminster Abbey.
Image:Reddit
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