Edward the Martyr, Saint,
King of England, son to Edgar the Peaceful, and uncle to St.
Edward the Confessor; b. about 962; d. March 18, 979. His
accession to the throne on his father's death, in 975, was opposed
by a party headed by his stepmother, Queen Elfrida, who was bent
on securing the crown for her own son Ethelred, then aged seven,
in which she eventually was successful. Edward's claim, however,
was supported by St. Dunstan and the clergy and by most of the
nobles; and having been acknowledged by the Witan, he was crowned
by St. Dunstan. Though only thirteen, the young king had already
given promise of high sanctity, and during his brief reign of
three years and a half won the affection of his people by his many
virtues. His stepmother, who still cherished her treacherous
designs, contrived at last to bring about his death. Whilst
hunting in Dorsetshire he happened (March 18, 979) to call at
Corfe Castle where she lived. There, whilst drinking on horseback
a glass of mead offered him at the castle gate, he was stabbed by
an assassin in the bowels. He rode away, but soon fell from his
horse, and being dragged by the stirrup was flung into a deep
morass, where his body was revealed by a pillar of light. He was
buried first at Wareham, whence three years later, his body,
having been found entire, was translated to Shaftesbury Abbey by
St. Dunstan and Earl Alfere of Mercia, who in Edgar's lifetime had
been one of his chief opponents. Many miracles are said to have
been obtained through his intercession. Elfrida, struck with
repentance for her crimes, built the two monasteries of Wherwell
and Ambresbury, in the first of which she ended her days in
penance. The violence of St. Edward's end, joined to the fact that
the party opposed to him had been that of the irreligious, whilst
he himself had ever acted as a defender of the Church, obtained
for him the title of Martyr, which is given to him in all the old
English calendars on March 18, also in the Roman Martyrology.
G. E. PHILLIPS
