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  1. Inicio
  2. About
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  4. Celebrating St Edward

The Coronation

The Coronation of Their Majesties The King and The Queen will take place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6th May. To prepare for the occasion the Abbey will be closed to visitors and worshippers from 25th April and will re-open on Monday 8th May.

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Celebrating St Edward
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Celebrating St Edward

In a shrine at the heart of Westminster Abbey is the tomb of Edward the Confessor, king and saint. The magnificent chapel where he lies, is not, though, his original resting place.

4 minute read

Edward, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, was born in Islip, Oxfordshire, sometime between 1002 and 1005AD, the eighth son of King Ethelred 'the Unready' and Emma.

He was driven into exile in Normandy by the Danes and vowed that should he ever return safely home, he would make a pilgrimage to Rome in thanks. After 28 years in France, he was eventually invited to return to England. He succeeded his half-brother Harthacnut and was crowned in Winchester Cathedral in 1043.

Crowning of a king

Crowning of a king

Edward’s coronation in Winchester Cathedral depicted on a 15th-century stone screen in the Confessor’s chapel in the Abbey
Image: Westminster Abbey

Edward's Coronation In Winchester Cathedral, Depicted On The Mid 15Th Stone Screen In His Chapel In The Abbey

Crowning of a king

Edward’s coronation in Winchester Cathedral depicted on a 15th-century stone screen in the Confessor’s chapel in the Abbey
Image: Westminster Abbey

Once on the throne, however, Edward found it impossible to leave his subjects and the Pope released him from his vow on condition that he should found or restore a monastery to St Peter. Having established his new Palace of Westminster on the banks of the river Thames, Edward chose to fulfil his vow by re-endowing and greatly enlarging a Benedictine monastery which stood nearby. The monastery had been founded some hundred years earlier, in 960AD, under the patronage of King Edgar and St Dunstan. The large stone church he built, dedicated to St Peter the Apostle, became known as the ‘west minster’ to distinguish it from St Paul's Cathedral (the east minster) in the City of London.

Edward's church

Edward's church

A conjectural drawing of how Edward’s stone Abbey may have looked
Image: Westminster Abbey

Confessors Church With St Margarets

Edward's church

A conjectural drawing of how Edward’s stone Abbey may have looked
Image: Westminster Abbey

Edward’s new church was consecrated on Holy Innocents’ Day, 28th December 1065, but the king was too ill to attend and died just a few days later, on 5th January 1066. The burial procession from Westminster Hall to the Abbey, where prayers were said all day and the following night, is shown on the Bayeux Tapestry. He was buried the following day, 6th January - the Feast of the Epiphany - before the High Altar of the church that he had built. There he rested for almost one hundred years until, on 13th October 1163, St Edward's body was moved – or translated – to a shrine specially prepared for it in the church.

Funeral procession

Funeral procession

The body of King Edward is carried to Westminster Abbey for his funeral, depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Bayeux Tapestry Scene 26 The Body Of King Edward Is Carried To WA. Image Wikimedia Commons

Funeral procession

The body of King Edward is carried to Westminster Abbey for his funeral, depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry
Image: Wikimedia Commons

A life of piety

The king’s piety had greatly endeared him to his people and he came to be regarded as a saint long before he was officially canonised as Saint and Confessor by Pope Alexander III in 1161. The term 'Confessor' applies to those who have suffered for their faith but who were not martyred.

He was associated with legends including a story from towards the end of his life. Edward was riding by a church in Essex and an old man asked for alms. As the king had no money to give he drew a large ring off his finger and gave this to the beggar. A few years later two pilgrims were travelling in the Holy Land and became stranded. They were helped by an old man and when he knew they came from England he told them he was St John the Evangelist and asked them to return the ring to Edward telling him that in six months he would join him in heaven. The story is one of fourteen scenes from the king’s life – real and legendary – carved on a mid-15th-century stone screen in the Abbey. Also shown are his birth, his coronation, Christ appearing to Edward at Mass, and the dedication of a church, assumed to be the Abbey.

Pilgrims

Pilgrims

St John gives Edward’s ring to two pilgrims in the Holy Land
Image: Westminster Abbey

Edward C Screen Ring Given To Pilgrims DL 300 Westminster Abbey Copyright

Pilgrims

St John gives Edward’s ring to two pilgrims in the Holy Land
Image: Westminster Abbey

A new church

Edward’s 11th-century monastery stood for some two hundred years until 1245 when King Henry III began building a much grander Abbey in honour of St Edward, to whom he was especially devoted.

Edward's monastery

Edward's monastery

In the cloisters is the Pyx Chapel, which with its round arches and massive supporting columns, is one of the few survivals from Edward’s monastery that can be seen today.
Image: Westminster Abbey

IMG 2321

Edward's monastery

In the cloisters is the Pyx Chapel, which with its round arches and massive supporting columns, is one of the few survivals from Edward’s monastery that can be seen today.
Image: Westminster Abbey

The new church was consecrated on 13th October 1269, when Edward’s remains were once again moved, this time to a new shrine behind the High Altar. Henry, his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and his two sons bore the coffin on their shoulders in a solemn procession.

Henry had lavished huge sums on the church. The cost of the shrine alone was £45,000 or around £15 million in today’s money. It was richly decorated with Cosmati mosaics, the work carried out by Italian craftsmen led by Pietro di Oderisio.

Holy place

Holy place

St Edward’s tomb in the chapel dedicated to him at the heart of Westminster Abbey
Image: Westminster Abbey

20130819 JD WA Shrine 2

Holy place

St Edward’s tomb in the chapel dedicated to him at the heart of Westminster Abbey
Image: Westminster Abbey

Such was Henry’s devotion to St Edward, that following his death in 1272, he was buried in a Purbeck marble tomb in the Confessor’s chapel. A further four kings and four queens were later buried here too, including Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, Richard II and Anne of Bohemia, and Henry V.

A tradition of pilgrimage

A cult of St Edward had grown up and until he was superseded by St George in the 14th-century, many regarded Edward as the patron saint of England. The sick made pilgrimages to the shrine and knelt in the recesses to pray for healing – a tradition which continues to this day.

Continuing the tradition

Continuing the tradition

Worshippers pray in the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor during the Edwardtide pilgrimage, October 2019
Image: Westminster Abbey

913847 136 (2)

Continuing the tradition

Worshippers pray in the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor during the Edwardtide pilgrimage, October 2019
Image: Westminster Abbey

Every year, the Octave of St Edward is celebrated in the Abbey from 13th - 18th October. A national pilgrimage to Edward's shrine is held, attracting worshippers from across the United Kingdom and further afield, all of whom come to experience the beauty of the Abbey in an atmosphere characterised by prayer. The celebrations in 2019 were particularly significant, marking as they did the 750th anniversary of Edward’s translation and the dedication of Henry III’s Abbey. Pilgrims had the opportunity to venerate a new icon of St Edward, written by the Orthodox Russian iconographer Archimandrite Zinon (Teodor), which was dedicated and placed in the shrine.

Icon

Icon

The new icon of St Edward, made of egg tempera on a lime board and framed in oak
Image: Westminster Abbey

Icon On Shrine 2019

Icon

The new icon of St Edward, made of egg tempera on a lime board and framed in oak
Image: Westminster Abbey

Although COVID-19 restrictions mean that the 2020 pilgrimage is reduced in scale, worshippers will nonetheless have an opportunity to visit the shrine, continuing a centuries-long tradition of prayer and devotion.

St Edward’s burial in the Abbey, the coronations and burials of many of his successors, together with commemorations of people of national and international significance have led to Westminster Abbey becoming a unique place of prayer and thanksgiving as well as pilgrimage.

Further reading

Discover more about St Edward and how you can join us in celebrating the life of this king and saint and the re-founder of Westminster Abbey:

Edward the Confessor

Edwardtide services

Explore the history of Westminster Abbey

I’ve worked here for over thirty years and have seen many of the major services - it’s strange to realise that you are in a small way part of history.

Pamela - Rector's Secretary

 
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