Historical Fun

The Long and Winding Journey of How Edward The Confessor became King Of England     It wasn't an easy journey and took a lot of effort.   Edward's father, Ethelred-I-Need-To-Prepare-Some-More, was king. But he abdicated in favour of an invading Cnut.   Not a misspelling. I'm pretty sure he was called worse back in the day.   It was actually Sweyn Forkbeard, the Cnut the Great's father, who seized the throne from Ethelred The Unready, Edward The Confessor's father .   Have you noticed how difficult it is to make jokes out of the names of Kings back in the day?   As a result of the new change in leadership in England , Ex-King Ethelred-The-Unready, Edward-Not-Yet-A-Confessor, Alfred-Brother-Of-Edward (keep an eye on him), and the sister with the weird name, fled into exile to Normandy.   There went a bit of back and forth for the next few years.   Sweyn...

Fun Facts About Edward the Confessor   1. Edward the Confessor was born as a baby.   Yes, that's generally how it happens. It's not certain of the exact date, as they weren't good at keeping accurate records back in the day, but he was definitely a baby when he was born.   Most historians believe Edward the Confessor was born in 1003ish in Oxfordshire, England.   2. Edward's father was Ethelred the Unready , which was his excuse to his wife on their wedding night.   "I wasn't ready. Can we try again in ten minutes?"   3. Edward had two brothers, Alfred, and Godgifu.   Oops, Godgifu was his sister. Wonder why that name didn't catch on? He also had a myriad of older half-siblings. His father and mother were a little promiscuous to say the least.   4. Edward the Confessor was called The Confessor because he ran a series of experiments on hedgehogs trying to extract c...