1.
Winchester
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Winchester is a city and the county town of Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a government district. It is situated 61 miles south-west of London and 13.6 miles from Southampton, at the time of the 2011 Census, Winchester had a population of 45,184. The wider City of Winchester district which includes such as Alresford. Winchester developed from the Roman town of Venta Belgarum, which in turn developed from an Iron Age oppidum. Winchesters major landmark is Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the distinction of having the longest nave and overall length of all Gothic cathedrals in Europe. The city is home to the University of Winchester and Winchester College, the area around Winchester has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with three Iron Age hillforts, Orams Arbour, St. Catherines Hill, and Worthy Down all in the nearby vicinity. In the Late Iron Age, an urban settlement type developed, known as an oppidum. It was overrun by the confederation of Gaulish tribes known as the Belgae sometime during the first century BCE and it seems to have been known as Wentā or Venta, from the Brittonic for town or meeting place. After the Roman conquest of Britain, the settlement served as the capital of the Belgae and was distinguished as Venta Belgarum, Venta of the Belgae. Although in the years of the Roman province it was of subsidiary importance to Silchester and Chichester. At the beginning of the century, Winchester was given protective stone walls. At around this time the city covered an area of 144 acres, there was a limited suburban area outside the walls. Like many other Roman towns however, Winchester began to decline in the fourth century. Ford identifies the community as the Cair Guinntguic listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of Britain in his History of the Britains, amid the Saxon invasions of Britain, cemeteries dating to the 6th and 7th centuries suggest a revival of settlement. The city became known as Wintan-ceastre in Old English, in 648, King Cenwalh of Wessex erected the Church of SS Peter and Paul, later known as the Old Minster. This became a cathedral in the 660s when the West Saxon bishopric was transferred from Dorchester-on-Thames, the citys first mint appears to date from this period. In the early tenth century there were two new establishments, the convent of Nunnaminster, founded by Alfreds widow Ealhswith
2.
Hampshire
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Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the capital city of England. The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1,547,000, Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It is bordered by Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, the southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent, facing the Isle of Wight. At its greatest size in 1890, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England and it now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres, and measures about 86 kilometres east–west and 76 kilometres north–south. Hampshires tourist attractions include many seaside resorts and two parks, the New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a maritime history and two of Europes largest ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of writers Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Hampshire takes its name from the settlement that is now the city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun, roughly meaning village-town, the old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, and it is from this spelling that the modern abbreviation Hants derives. From 1889 until 1959, the county was named the County of Southampton and has also been known as Southamptonshire. The region is believed to have continuously occupied since the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 BCE. At this time Britain was still attached to the European continent and was covered with deciduous woodland. The first inhabitants came overland from Europe, these were anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, notable sites from this period include Bouldnor Cliff. Agriculture had arrived in southern Britain by 4000 BCE, and with it a neolithic culture, some deforestation took place at that time, although it was during the Bronze Age, beginning in 2200 BCE, that this became more widespread and systematic. Hampshire has few monuments to show from early periods, although nearby Stonehenge was built in several phases at some time between 3100 BCE and 2200 BCE. It is maintained that by this period the people of Britain predominantly spoke a Celtic language, hillforts largely declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Julius Caesar invaded southeastern England briefly in 55 and again in 54 BCE, notable sites from this period include Hengistbury Head, which was a major port. There is a Museum of the Iron Age in Andover, the Romans invaded Britain again in 43 CE, and Hampshire was incorporated into the Roman province of Britannia very quickly
3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
4.
Normandy
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Normandy is one of the regions of France, roughly corresponding to the historical Duchy of Normandy. Administratively, Normandy is divided into five departments, Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne and it covers 30,627 km², forming roughly 5% of the territory of France. Its population of 3.37 million accounts for around 5% of the population of France, Normans is the name given to the inhabitants of Normandy, and the region is the homeland of the Norman language. The historical region of Normandy comprised the region of Normandy, as well as small areas now part of the départements, or departments of Mayenne. For a century and a following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman. Archaeological finds, such as paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Celts invaded Normandy in successive waves from the 4th to the 3rd century BC, when Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there were nine different Celtic tribes living in Normandy. The Romanisation of Normandy was achieved by the methods, Roman roads. Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy, in the late 3rd century, barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Coastal settlements were raided by Saxon pirates, Christianity also began to enter the area during this period. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the east, while the Saxons subjugated the Norman coast, the Roman Emperor withdrew from most of Normandy. As early as 487, the area between the River Somme and the River Loire came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis, the Vikings started to raid the Seine Valley during the middle of the 9th century. As early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, after attacking and destroying monasteries, including one at Jumièges, they took advantage of the power vacuum created by the disintegration of Charlemagnes empire to take northern France. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Norwegian Viking leader Hrólfr Ragnvaldsson, Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory which he, the name Normandy reflects Rollos Viking origins. The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and they became the Normans – a Norman-speaking mixture of Saxons and indigenous Franks and Celts. Besides the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent conquests of Wales and Ireland, Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville, Rainulf Drengot and Guimond de Moulins played important parts in the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Crusades. They also carved out a place for themselves and their descendants in the Crusader states of Asia Minor, the 14th century Norman explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a kingdom in the Canary Islands
5.
Henry I of England
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Henry I, also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death. Henry was the son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin. On Williams death in 1087, Henrys elder brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus inherited Normandy and England, respectively, Henry purchased the County of Cotentin in western Normandy from Robert, but William and Robert deposed him in 1091. Henry gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin and allied himself with William against Robert, Henry was present when William died in a hunting accident in 1100, and he seized the English throne, promising at his coronation to correct many of Williams less popular policies. Henry married Matilda of Scotland but continued to have a number of mistresses. Robert, who invaded in 1101, disputed Henrys control of England, the peace was short-lived, and Henry invaded the Duchy of Normandy in 1105 and 1106, finally defeating Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray. Henry kept Robert imprisoned for the rest of his life, following Henrys victory at the Battle of Brémule, a favourable peace settlement was agreed with Louis in 1120. Considered by contemporaries to be a harsh but effective ruler, Henry skilfully manipulated the barons in England, Normandy was also governed through a growing system of justices and an exchequer. Many of the officials who ran Henrys system were new men of obscure backgrounds rather than families of high status. Henry encouraged ecclesiastical reform, but became embroiled in a dispute in 1101 with Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury. He supported the Cluniac order and played a role in the selection of the senior clergy in England. Henrys only legitimate son and heir, William Adelin, drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120, Henry took a second wife, Adeliza, in the hope of having another son, but their marriage was childless. In response to this, Henry declared his daughter, Matilda, his heir, the relationship between Henry and the couple became strained, and fighting broke out along the border with Anjou. Henry died on 1 December 1135 after a week of illness, despite his plans for Matilda, the King was succeeded by his nephew, Stephen of Blois, resulting in a period of civil war known as the Anarchy. Henry was probably born in England in 1068, in either the summer or the last weeks of the year, possibly in the town of Selby in Yorkshire. His father was William the Conqueror, who had originally been the Duke of Normandy and then, following the invasion of 1066, became the King of England, the invasion had created an Anglo-Norman elite, many with estates spread across both sides of the English Channel. These Anglo-Norman barons typically had close links to the kingdom of France, Henrys mother, Matilda of Flanders, was the granddaughter of Robert II of France, and she probably named Henry after her uncle, King Henry I of France. Henry was the youngest of William and Matildas four sons, physically he resembled his older brothers Robert Curthose, Richard and William Rufus, being, as historian David Carpenter describes, short, stocky and barrel-chested, with black hair
6.
The Anarchy
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The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1135 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a succession crisis precipitated by the death of William Adelin. Stephens early reign was marked by fighting with English barons, rebellious Welsh leaders. Following a major rebellion in the south-west of England, Matilda invaded in 1139 with the help of her half-brother, in 1141 Stephen was captured following the Battle of Lincoln, causing a collapse in his authority over most of the country. Stephen then almost seized Matilda in 1142 during the siege of Oxford, the war dragged on for many more years. Empress Matildas husband, Geoffrey V of Anjou, conquered Normandy, rebel barons began to acquire ever greater power in northern England and in East Anglia, with widespread devastation in the regions of major fighting. In 1148 the Empress returned to Normandy, leaving the campaigning in England to her young son, Stephen unsuccessfully attempted to have his own son, Eustace, recognised by the Church as the next king of England. By the early 1150s the barons and the Church mostly wanted a long-term peace, when Henry FitzEmpress re-invaded England in 1153, neither factions forces were keen to fight. After limited campaigning and the siege of Wallingford, Stephen and Henry agreed a negotiated peace, Stephen died the next year and Henry ascended the throne as Henry II, the first Angevin king of England, beginning a long period of reconstruction. The origins of the Anarchy lay in a crisis involving England. In the 11th and 12th centuries, north-west France was controlled by a number of dukes and counts, frequently in conflict with one another for valuable territory. In 1066 one of men, Duke William II of Normandy, mounted an invasion to conquer the rich Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England, pushing on into south Wales. The division and control of lands after Williams death proved problematic. Henry intended for his lands to be inherited by his legitimate son. In 1120, the landscape changed dramatically when the White Ship sank en route from Barfleur in Normandy to England, around three hundred passengers died, including Adelin. With Adelin dead, the inheritance to the English throne was thrown into doubt, rules of succession in western Europe at the time were uncertain, in some parts of France, male primogeniture, in which the eldest son would inherit a title, was becoming more popular. The problem was complicated by the sequence of unstable Anglo-Norman successions over the previous sixty years, there had been no peaceful. With William Adelin dead, Henry had only one legitimate child, Matilda
7.
William the Conqueror
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William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward, after a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England six years later. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands, William was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by Roberts mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, during his childhood and adolescence, members of the Norman aristocracy battled each other, both for control of the child duke and for their own ends. In 1047 William was able to quash a rebellion and begin to establish his authority over the duchy and his marriage in the 1050s to Matilda of Flanders provided him with a powerful ally in the neighbouring county of Flanders. By the time of his marriage, William was able to arrange the appointments of his supporters as bishops and his consolidation of power allowed him to expand his horizons, and by 1062 William was able to secure control of the neighbouring county of Maine. In the 1050s and early 1060s William became a contender for the throne of England, then held by the childless Edward the Confessor, his first cousin once removed. There were other claimants, including the powerful English earl Harold Godwinson. William argued that Edward had previously promised the throne to him, William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066, decisively defeating and killing Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. After further military efforts William was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066 and he made arrangements for the governance of England in early 1067 before returning to Normandy. Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but by 1075 Williams hold on England was mostly secure, Williams final years were marked by difficulties in his continental domains, troubles with his eldest son, and threatened invasions of England by the Danes. In 1086 William ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, a listing all the landholders in England along with their holdings. William died in September 1087 while leading a campaign in northern France and his reign in England was marked by the construction of castles, the settling of a new Norman nobility on the land, and change in the composition of the English clergy. He did not try to integrate his various domains into one empire, Williams lands were divided after his death, Normandy went to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, and his second surviving son, William Rufus, received England. Norsemen first began raiding in what became Normandy in the late 8th century, permanent Scandinavian settlement occurred before 911, when Rollo, one of the Viking leaders, and King Charles the Simple of France reached an agreement surrendering the county of Rouen to Rollo. The lands around Rouen became the core of the duchy of Normandy. Normandy may have used as a base when Scandinavian attacks on England were renewed at the end of the 10th century. In an effort to improve matters, King Æthelred the Unready took Emma of Normandy, sister of Duke Richard II, as his second wife in 1002
8.
Matilda of Flanders
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Matilda of Flanders was the wife of William the Conqueror and, as such, Queen of England. She bore William nine or ten children who survived to adulthood and her descent from the Anglo-Saxon royal House of Wessex was also to become a useful card. Like many royal marriages of the period, it breached the rules of consanguinity, then at their most restrictive, Matilda and William were third-cousins, once removed. She was about 20 when they married in 1051/2, William was some three years older, and had been Duke of Normandy since he was about eight, the marriage appears to have been successful, and William is not recorded to have had any bastards. Matilda was about 35, and had produced most of her children, when William embarked on the Norman conquest of England, sailing in his flagship Mora. She was about 51 when she died in Normandy in 1083, Matilda, or Maud, was the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders and Adèle of France, herself daughter of Robert II of France. Another version of the states that William rode to Matildas fathers house in Lille, threw her to the ground in her room. William and Matilda were married after a delay in c. A papal dispensation was finally awarded in 1059 by Pope Nicholas II. Lanfranc, at the prior of Bec Abbey, negotiated the arrangement in Rome and it came only after William. There were rumours that Matilda had been in love variously with the English ambassador to Flanders and with the great Saxon thegn Brictric, son of Algar, who in his youth declined her advances. When William was preparing to invade England, Matilda outfitted a ship, additionally, William entrusted Normandy to his wife during his absence. Matilda successfully guided the duchy through this period in the name of her fourteen-year-old son, even after William conquered England and became its king, it took her more than a year to visit the kingdom. Despite having been crowned queen, she spent most of her time in Normandy, governing the duchy, supporting her brothers interests in Flanders, and sponsoring ecclesiastic houses there. Only one of her children was born in England, Henry was born in Yorkshire when Matilda accompanied her husband in the Harrying of the North. Matilda was crowned queen on 11 May 1068 in Westminster during the feast of Pentecost, Matilda bore William nine or ten children. He was believed to have been faithful to her and never produced a child outside their marriage, despite her royal duties, Matilda was deeply invested in her childrens well-being. All were known for being remarkably educated and her daughters were educated and taught to read Latin at Sainte-Trinité in Caen founded by Matilda and William in response to the recognition of their marriage. For her sons, she secured Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury of whom she was an ardent supporter, both she and William approved of the Archbishops desire to revitalize the Church
9.
William II of England
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William II, the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales, William is commonly known as William Rufus or William the Red, perhaps because of his red-faced appearance. He was a figure of complex temperament, capable of both bellicosity and flamboyance and he did not marry, nor did he produce any offspring, legitimate or otherwise. He died after being struck by an arrow while hunting, under circumstances that remain murky, circumstantial evidence in the behaviour of those around him raise strong but unproven suspicions of murder. His younger brother Henry hurriedly succeeded him as king, on the other hand, he was a wise ruler and victorious general. Barlow finds that, His chivalrous virtues and achievements were all too obvious and he had maintained good order and satisfactory justice in England and restored good peace to Normandy. He had extended Anglo-Norman rule in Wales, brought Scotland firmly under his lordship, recovered Maine, Williams exact date of birth is not known, but it was some time between the years 1056 and 1060. He was the third of four born to William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders, the eldest being Robert Curthose, the second Richard. William succeeded to the throne of England on his fathers death in 1087, Richard had died around 1075 while hunting in the New Forest. William had five or six sisters, records indicate strained relations between the three surviving sons of William I. A brawl broke out, and their father had to intercede to restore order, the division of William the Conquerors lands into two parts presented a dilemma for those nobles who held land on both sides of the English Channel. The only solution, as they saw it, was to unite England, in 1091 he invaded Normandy, crushing Roberts forces and forcing him to cede a portion of his lands. The two made up their differences and William agreed to help Robert recover lands lost to France, William Rufus was thus secure in what was then the most powerful kingdom in Europe, given the contemporary eclipse of the Salian emperors. Less than two years after becoming king, William II lost his father William Is adviser and confidant, after Lanfrancs death in 1089, the king delayed appointing a new archbishop for many years, appropriating ecclesiastical revenues in the interim. The English clergy, beholden to the king for their preferments, in 1095 William called a council at Rockingham to bring Anselm to heel, but the archbishop remained firm. In October 1097, Anselm went into exile, taking his case to the Pope, the diplomatic and flexible Urban II, a new pope, was involved in a major conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, who supported an antipope. Reluctant to make another enemy, Urban came to a concordat with William Rufus, whereby William recognised Urban as pope, Anselm remained in exile, and William was able to claim the revenues of the archbishop of Canterbury to the end of his reign. Lanfranc retorted that you will not seize the bishop of Bayeux and it seems reasonable to suppose that such details are indicative of William IIs personal beliefs
10.
Malcolm III of Scotland
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Malcolm was King of Scots from 1058 to 1093. Malcolms long reign of 35 years preceded the beginning of the Scoto-Norman age and he is the historical equivalent of the character of the same name in William Shakespeares Macbeth. Malcolm III fought a series of wars against the Kingdom of England and these wars did not result in any significant advances southward. Malcolms second wife, St. Margaret of Scotland, is Scotlands only royal saint, Malcolm himself had no reputation for piety, with the notable exception of Dunfermline Abbey in Fife he is not definitely associated with major religious establishments or ecclesiastical reforms. Malcolms father Duncan I became king in late 1034, on the death of Malcolm II, Duncans maternal grandfather, Duncans reign was not successful and he was killed by Macbeth on 15 August 1040. Although Shakespeares Macbeth presents Malcolm as a man and his father as an old one, it appears that Duncan was still young in 1040. Malcolms family did attempt to overthrow Macbeth in 1045, but Malcolms grandfather Crínán of Dunkeld was killed in the attempt, soon after the death of Duncan his two young sons were sent away for greater safety—exactly where is the subject of debate. According to one version, Malcolm was sent to England, based on Forduns account, it was assumed that Malcolm passed most of Macbeths seventeen-year reign in the Kingdom of England at the court of Edward the Confessor. An English invasion in 1054, with Siward, Earl of Northumbria in command, had as its goal the installation of one Máel Coluim and this Máel Coluim has traditionally been identified with the later Malcolm III. This interpretation derives from the Chronicle attributed to the 14th-century chronicler of Scotland, John of Fordun, the latter reported that Macbeth was killed in the battle by Siward, but it is known that Macbeth outlived Siward by two years. A. A. M. Duncan argued in 2002 that, using the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry as their source, Duncans argument has been supported by several subsequent historians specialising in the era, such as Richard Oram, Dauvit Broun and Alex Woolf. It has also suggested that Máel Coluim may have been a son of Owain Foel, British king of Strathclyde perhaps by a daughter of Malcolm II. In 1057 various chroniclers report the death of Macbeth at Malcolms hand, Macbeth was succeeded by his stepson Lulach, who was crowned at Scone, probably on 8 September 1057. Lulach was killed by Malcolm, by treachery, near Huntly on 23 April 1058, after this, Malcolm became king, perhaps being inaugurated on 25 April 1058, although only John of Fordun reports this. If he did visit the English court, he was the first reigning king of Scots to do so in more than eighty years. If a marriage agreement was made in 1059, it was not kept, equally, Malcolms raids in Northumbria may have been related to the disputed Kingdom of the Cumbrians, reestablished by Earl Siward in 1054, which was under Malcolms control by 1070. The Orkneyinga saga reports that Malcolm married the widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Ingibiorg, although Ingibiorg is generally assumed to have died shortly before 1070, it is possible that she died much earlier, around 1058. The Orkneyinga Saga records that Malcolm and Ingibiorg had a son, Duncan II, Malcolms son Domnall, whose death is reported in 1085, is not mentioned by the author of the Orkneyinga Saga
11.
Saint Margaret of Scotland
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Saint Margaret of Scotland, also known as Margaret of Wessex, was an English princess of the House of Wessex. Margaret was sometimes called The Pearl of Scotland, born in exile in the Kingdom of Hungary, she was the sister of Edgar Ætheling, the shortly reigned and uncrowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Margaret and her returned to the Kingdom of England in 1057. In 1070 Margaret married King Malcolm III of Scotland, becoming Queen of Scots. Margaret was the mother of three kings of Scotland, or four, if Edmund of Scotland, who ruled with his uncle, Donald III, is counted, and of a queen consort of England. In 1250 Pope Innocent IV canonized her, and her remains were reinterred in a shrine in Dunfermline Abbey in Fife and her relics were dispersed after the Scottish Reformation and subsequently lost. Mary, Queen of Scots at one time owned her head, Margaret was the daughter of the English prince Edward the Exile, and granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, king of England. After the Danish conquest of England in 1016, King Canute the Great had the infant Edward exiled to the continent and he was taken first to the court of the Swedish king, Olof Skötkonung, and then to Kiev. As an adult, he travelled to Hungary, where in 1046 he supported the bid of King Andrew I for the Hungarian crown. King Andrew I was then known as Andrew the Catholic for his extreme aversion to pagans. The provenance of Margarets mother, Agatha, is legally disputed and her brother Edgar the Ætheling and sister Cristina were also born in Hungary around this time. Margaret grew up in a religious environment in the Hungarian court. When Edward the Confessor died in January 1066, Harold Godwinson was selected as king, according to tradition, the widowed Agatha decided to leave Northumbria, England with her children and return to the continent. However, a storm drove their ship north to the Kingdom of Scotland in 1068, the locus where it is believed that they landed is known today as St Margarets Hope, near the village of North Queensferry, Fife, Scotland. King Malcolm III was a widower with two sons, Donald and Duncan and he would have been attracted to marrying one of the few remaining members of the Anglo-Saxon royal family. The marriage of Malcolm and Margaret occurred in 1070, subsequently, Malcolm executed several invasions of Northumberland to support the claim of his new brother-in-law Edgar and to increase his own power. These, however, had little effect save the devastation of the County, Andrews, credits her with having a civilizing influence on her husband Malcolm by reading him narratives from the Bible. She instigated religious reform, striving to conform the worship and practices of the Church in Scotland to those of Rome and this she did on the inspiration and with the guidance of Lanfranc, a future Archbishop of Canterbury
12.
Edward the Confessor
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Edward the Confessor, also known as Saint Edward the Confessor, 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. When Edward died in 1066, he was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, Edgar the Ætheling, who was of the House of Wessex, was proclaimed king after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but never ruled and was deposed after about eight weeks. As discussed below, historians disagree about Edwards fairly long reign and his nickname reflects the traditional image of him as unworldly and pious. Confessor reflects his reputation as a saint who did not suffer martyrdom, some portray this kings reign as leading to the disintegration of royal power in England and the advance in power of the House of Godwin, because of the infighting after his heirless death. About a century later, in 1161, Pope Alexander III canonised the late king, Saint Edward was one of Englands national saints until King Edward III adopted Saint George as the national patron saint c. His feast day is 13 October, celebrated by both the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Edward was the seventh son of Æthelred the Unready, and the first by his second wife, Emma of Normandy. Edward was born between 1003 and 1005 in Islip, Oxfordshire, and is first recorded as a witness to two charters in 1005 and he had one full brother, Alfred, and a sister, Godgifu. In charters he was always listed behind his older half-brothers, showing that he ranked behind them, during his childhood England was the target of Viking raids and invasions under Sweyn Forkbeard and his son, Cnut. Following Sweyns seizure of the throne in 1013, Emma fled to Normandy, followed by Edward and Alfred, Sweyn died in February 1014, and leading Englishmen invited Æthelred back on condition that he promised to rule more justly than before. Æthelred agreed, sending Edward back with his ambassadors, Æthelred died in April 1016, and he was succeeded by Edwards older half-brother Edmund Ironside, who carried on the fight against Sweyns son, Cnut. According to Scandinavian tradition, Edward fought alongside Edmund, as Edward was at most thirteen years old at the time, Edmund died in November 1016, and Cnut became undisputed king. Edward then again went into exile with his brother and sister, in the same year Cnut had Edwards last surviving elder half-brother, Eadwig, executed, leaving Edward as the leading Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne. Edward spent a quarter of a century in exile, probably mainly in Normandy and he probably received support from his sister Godgifu, who married Drogo of Mantes, count of Vexin in about 1024. In the early 1030s Edward witnessed four charters in Normandy, signing two of them as king of England, Edward was said to have developed an intense personal piety during this period, but modern historians regard this as a product of the later medieval campaign for his canonisation. In Frank Barlows view in his lifestyle would seem to have been that of a member of the rustic nobility. He appeared to have a slim prospect of acceding to the English throne during this period, Cnut died in 1035, and Harthacnut succeeded him as king of Denmark. It is unclear whether he was intended to have England as well and it was therefore decided that his elder half-brother Harold Harefoot should act as regent, while Emma held Wessex on Harthacnuts behalf. In 1036 Edward and his brother Alfred separately came to England, Alfred was captured by Godwin, Earl of Wessex who turned him over to Harold Harefoot
"William (1103–1120)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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