Edward the Confessor of Edward's lands exceeded that of the greatest earls, but they were scattered among the southern earldoms. He had no personal powerbase, and he does not seem to have attempted to build one. In 1050–51 he even paid off the fourteen foreign ships which constituted his standing navy and abolished the tax raised to pay for it. However, in ecclesiastical and foreign affairs he was able to follow his own policy. King Magnus I of Norway aspired to the English throne, and in 1045 and 1046, fearing an invasion, Edward took command of the fleet at Sandwich. Beorn's elder brother,
Confessor of the Faith Nikephoros I of Constantinople, who was banished to the monastery of Saint Theodore for his support of iconodules, is revered as a confessor. A confessor who is also a priest or bishop may be referred to as hiero-confessor. Confessor of the Faith The title Confessor, the short form of Confessor of the Faith, is a title given by the Christian Church to a type of saint. The word confessor is derived from the Latin "confiteri", to confess, to profess. Among the early church fathers, it was a title of honor, designating those individuals who had confessed Christ publicly in time