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,
Paul Atkinson (confessor) his status as a Catholic priest. One governor of his prison, Hurst Castle on the Solent, allowed him to walk outside of the prison; but complaint was made of this and the leave was revoked. He died in prison in 1729 after nearly thirty years. He was buried in Winchester's Roman Catholic Cemetery. Paul Atkinson (confessor) Paul Atkinson (c. 1655 – 15 October 1729), born Matthew Atkinson, was a 17th and 18th century English Roman Catholic priest, regarded as the penal times in the English Church. who is viewed as a martyr due to dying in prison for his Catholic