ABSTRACT
Edward was born about 1003 in the middle of the Danish wars. A strong king would have taken advantage of peace from foreign wars to unite them; Edward played them off against one another. By restoring Westminster Edward had left a superb, visible memorial and provided the setting for his shrine when the time came. Edward had been half-Saxon, half- Norman; held down by their Norman conquerors, the English looked back on the last of the English kings with sighs for good king Edward’s laws as standing for an unvanquished land. Meanwhile Aelred had been working on a life of Edward, basing it on Osbert’s work but adding further legends. Richard II, who followed his grandfather Edward III, was devoted to St Edward. The threat that hung over the abbey was, however, nearly realized with the succession of Edward VI, and the event illustrates both the iconoclastic force of the new men and the deep-rooted strength to resist them.
