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,
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