Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( , ; 1003 – 5 January 1066), also known as Saint Edward the Confessor, was among the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. The son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, Edward succeeded Cnut the Great's son – and his own half brother – Harthacnut, restoring the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Cnut (better known as Canute) conquered England in 1016. When Edward died in 1066, he was
Iste confessor all others, 3 Brother was he to all the world’s forgotten; 4 One, then, in songs of praise we sing his glory, 5 Glory and praise be to our God forever, </poem> The translations below are non-metrical, and literal line by line translations. Iste confessor Domini colentes <poem> 1 Iste confessor Domini colentes // Quem pie laudant populi per orbem: [If it is not the day of his death, the last line is changed to:] 2 Qui pius, prudens, humilis, pudicus, // Sobriam duxit sine labe vitam, 3 Cuius ob præstans meritum frequenter // Ægra quæ passim iacuere membra, 4