The New Student's Reference Work/Edward

Ed′ward, surnamed the Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon king of the old royal line, was the elder son of Ethelred the Unready. On the deaths of Ethelred and Edmund Ironside, in 1016, Canute obtained possession of the throne and married the wife of Ethelred. Until Canute's death, in 1035, Edward lived in Normandy, but in 1042 he succeeded his half-brother, Hardicanute, as king. He was continually under the influence of favorites, who usually were foreigners; and the history of his reign is a record of the struggle between the Norman or court party and the old Anglo-Saxon party under Earl Godwin and his son Harold. Edward also carried on wars with the Welsh. He died on Jan. 5, 1066. He was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander III. With him the old English monarchy perished, save for the few months of the energetic rule of his successor, Harold II.