De initiis regni ejus, et de fratre, et nepotibus ejus.
Darkness Before the Dawn
In the chaos following King Æthelred's death, treachery and civil strife engulf the island, Edmund is slain, his infant sons are sent to be killed, Alfred is destroyed by cruelty, and the young Edward lives in destitute exile, yet finds refuge in prayer to God.
The stormy spirit still raged, and its waves were swollen, and to the evils from without was added civil strife, so much so that no one could be found to trust another, no one to whom anyone could entrust the secrets of his own mind. The island was full of traitors: trust was nowhere safe, love nowhere free from suspicion, speech without pretense. At last the treachery and hostile cunning of civil strife advanced so far that, after the king's death, a great part of the island, with the legitimate heirs disowned, gave their hands to Cnut—who had invaded the kingdom—and after the most unconquered king Edmund had been slain, heir to his father's honor and to his labor, they even sent his sons, still in their cradles, to be killed by the barbarians. From this point, when everything had yielded to Cnut according to his desire, he feared that the legitimate heir might someday reclaim the kingdom that was owed to him by right, supported by Norman strength, and so, to bind the duke's affection more closely to himself, he married Emma, the late king's widow. After some time had passed, Alfred, Edward's brother, crossed into England on account of a maternal meeting, and was destroyed by enemies and citizens alike with unheard-of cruelty. Then Edward, destitute of all human help, lived as an exile from his homeland—but not from justice; from the kingdom, but not from faith; from honor, but not from virtue. He feared the plots of the wicked, whose treacheries he had often experienced, and he was terrified that he might be betrayed by his own people or bought off by his enemies to face death. Having found a saving plan, as was his way he prostrated himself before God, and deploring his solitude with words like these: "See, Lord, there is no help for me within myself, and those I need have turned away from me.
A Lonely Prayer and a Pilgrim's Vow
Edward laments his abandonment in words echoing the Psalms, recalls the exile and death of his family, remembers God's past deliverances of holy kings, makes a vow to visit Rome if God restores him, and is strengthened in faith and hope.
My friends and my neighbors have closed in against me and stood there.✦ After many hardships my father withdrew from worldly affairs; the cruelty of persecutors swallowed up my brothers; my grandsons have been driven into exile; and my mother, given in marriage to our rivals by the enemy, has made him my stepfather. And so I am left here alone, and they are hunting for my life.✦ But to you, Lord, I, a poor man, have been abandoned; you will be the helper of the one left as an orphan.✦ Once you preserved Eadwin, the most noble man of our nation, when he was exposed to death, in a marvelous way, and kept him for life and for a kingdom. You made that glory of England, the holy king Oswald, once an exile, stronger than all enemies through the sign of the cross. If, then, you will be with me, and will guard me, and will bring me back into my father's kingdom, you will always be my God, and blessed Peter the apostle will be my patron; whose most holy relics I promise to visit in the city where he rests with his fellow apostle, with you approving, with you ruling, and with you accompanying me. He had spoken, and from then on the blessed man grew stronger in faith, more eager in hope, and waiting as he waited for the Lord, he was not put to shame in his expectation.✦
The Sun Rises on England
With Cnut and his sons dead, Edward is joyfully received and crowned king, bringing peace, order, and cosmic renewal to England; foreign kings marvel and seek his friendship, fulfilling the scriptural image of Solomon's wisdom.
For once Cnut was removed from human affairs and his sons had been snatched away by an early death, the English, freed from the Danish yoke as if from Egyptian slavery, chose blessed Edward as king — the man to whom the whole island had already pledged its faith before he was even born — and when he was received into England with the highest honor and the greatest rejoicing of all, the archbishops of Canterbury and York, along with nearly all the bishops of England, anointed and consecrated him as king. What glory was theirs then, what shared joy for the English, when it seemed that their old happiness had returned — the very thing they had almost given up hope of recovering — and in Edward the people found peace, the nobles found honor, and the church found freedom. Then the sun rose and the moon stood in its course, when Edward was crowned with glory and honor: priests shone with wisdom and holiness, monasteries flourished in every form of religious life, the clergy held to its proper office, and the people kept their rightful place. Indeed, the earth seemed more fertile, the air healthier, the sun more serene, the sea's waves more peaceful — because with a long-reigning and peace-loving king, all things came together in one bond of peace, so that there was nothing pestilent in the air, nothing stormy at sea, nothing barren on the land, nothing disordered in the clergy, and nothing turbulent among the common people. News of such great happiness, coming as he took up rule, was carried to every neighboring kingdom. Kings and princes were staggered by such a remarkable turn of events, and they rejoiced to enter into a treaty with so great a king, to form friendships, and to establish peace. The Roman emperor — whose relative, the king's grandson, was the son of Edmund of the Iron Side, one of the two whom Cnut had condemned to exile — married his kinswoman, and rejoicing in the king's great good fortune, he sent messengers and bound Edward to himself more closely by friendship and treaty. The king of the Franks, already close to Edward by ties of blood, became even closer through the intervention that produced peace. In this way it is known to fit blessed Edward what holy Scripture says of Solomon: 'All the kings of the earth desired to see his face and to hear his wisdom.'✦
A Threat from the North
Despite the general peace, Denmark still threatens destruction against England, foreshadowing further conflict.
But Dacia alone, still breathing hard and hungry for slaughter, continued to threaten the destruction of the English; what so great an effort would ultimately produce, the events that followed would make clear.1
Read the original Latin
Stabat adhuc spiritus procellae et exaltati sunt fluctus ejus externisque malis accessit civilis discordia, adeo ut quis cui crederet, quis cui mentis suae secreta committeret nesciretur. Plena erat proditoribus insula: nusquam tuta fides, nusquam sine suspicione amor, sermo sine simulatione. Tandem eo usque proditio civilis et astutia processit hostilis, ut defuncto rege magna pars insulae legitimis abdicatis haeredibus Cnutoni qui regnum invaserat manus darent, peremptoque invictissimo rege Eadmundo paterni honoris simul et laboris haerede, etiam filios ejus adhuc in cunis agentes barbaris mitterent occidendos. Exhinc cum Cnutoni omnia pro voto cessissent, timens ne haeres legitimus regnum quod sibi jure debebatur, aliquando Normannica fultus virtute reposceret, ut ducis sibi arctius colligaret affectum, Emmam defuncti regis relictam duxit uxorem. Emenso autem tempore Alfredus, Edwardi frater, ob maternum colloquium in Angliam transvectus, inaudita crudelitate ab hostibus civibusque perimitur. Tunc Edwardus omni humano destitutus auxilio, vivebat exsul patriae sed non justitiae, regni non fidei, honoris non virtutis. Timebat impiorum, quas saepe fuerat expertus, insidias, et ne a suis proderetur, vel ab hostibus emeretur ad mortem plurimum formidabat. Invento autem consilio salutari, more suo Deo prosternitur, et hujusmodi verbis suam deplorans solitudinem: «Ecce, inquit, domine, non est mihi auxilium in me, et necessarii mei recesserunt a me.
Amici mei et proximi mei adversum me appropinquaverunt et steterunt. Pater meus post multos labores rebus humanis excessit, fratres meos crudelitas persecutorum absorbuit, nepotes in exsilium acti sunt, mater aemuli nostri nuptiis tradita ex hoste mihi vitricum fecit. Ita relictus sum ego solus, et quaerunt animam meam. Sed tibi, Domine, derelictus sum pauper, pupillo tu eris adjutor. Tu quondam Eadwinum nobilissimum gentis nostrae virum expositum morti mirabili modo et vitae reservasti et regno. Tu illud decus Angliae sanctum Oswaldum regem factum ex exsule, per signum crucis reddidisti cunctis hostibus fortiorem. Si igitur fueris mecum et custodieris me, et reduxeris me in regnum patris mei, eris tu mihi semper in Deum, et beatus Petrus apostolus in patronum; cujus sanctissimas reliquias in urbe qua cum suo coapostolo requiescit, te annuente, te regente, te comitante, me visitaturum promitto.» Dixerat, et exhinc vir beatus fide robustior, spe alacrior, exspectans exspectavit Dominum et non est confusus ab exspectatione sua.
Cnutone enim rebus humanis exempto, filiisque ejus immatura morte praereptis, Angli Danico jugo quasi ab Aegyptia servitute liberati, beatum Edwardum cui necdum nato tota insula fidem fecerat, in regem elegerunt, quem cum summo honore maximoque omnium tripudio receptum in Angliam, archiepiscopi Cantuariensis scilicet et Eboracensis cum universis fere Angliae episcopis unxerunt et consecraverunt in regem. Quae tunc Anglis gloria, quae tunc in commune laetitia, cum redisse cerneretur antiqua felicitas, et quae fere desperabiliter plorabatur, amissam reciperet in Edwardo populus pacem, proceres gloriam, ecclesia libertatem. Tunc elevatus est sol et luna stetit in ordine suo, quando Edwardo gloria et honore coronato, sacerdotes sapientia et sanctitate fulgebant, monasteria omni religione pollebant, clerus in officio suo, populus stabat in gradu suo; videbatur etiam terra fecundior, aer salubrior, sol serenior, maris unda pacatior, quoniam diu rege pacifico regnante, in uno vinculo pacis omnia convenirent, ut nihil pestilentiosum esset in aere, nihil in mari tempestuosum, in terra nihil infecundum, nihil inordinatum in clero, nihil in plebe tumultuosum. Fama tantae felicitatis ipso sumente imperium, ad vicina quaeque regna defertur. Reges et principes pro tanta rerum mutatione admiratione procelluntur, et cum tanto rege foedus inire, amicitias jungere, pacem componere gratulantur. Imperator Romanus cujus cognatam regis nepos filius Eadmundi ferrei lateris, unus e duobus quos exsilio Cnuto damnaverat, uxorem duxit, tantae regis felicitati congaudens, missis nuntiis arctiori eum sibi amicitia foedereque conjunxit. Rex Francorum ei sanguinis propinquitate vicinus, pacis factus est interventione vicinior. Sic beato Edwardo noscitur convenire, quod de Salomone sacra Scriptura commemorat: Cuncti reges terrae desiderabant videre faciem ejus, et audire sapientiam illius.
Sola tamen Dacia adhuc spirans et anhelans caedes, Anglorum interitum minabatur; verum quis fuerit tanti conatus finis sequentia declarabunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.38.11 — My heart pounds, my strength has left me; even the light in my eyes — it is no longer with me.
- ↩Ps.38.12-Ps.38.13 — My loved ones and my neighbor stand at a distance from my plague, and my close relatives have stood far off. Ps.38.13 — Those who seek my life lay snares, and those who pursue my harm speak ruinous things, and all day long they mutter deceit.
- ↩Ps.10.14 — You have seen it, for you look upon trouble and vexation to requite it with your own hand; the helpless one entrusts himself to you; you have been the helper of the orphan.
- ↩Ps.22.5 — In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
- ↩2Chr.9.23;1Kgs.10.24 — And all the kings of the earth were seeking the face of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had placed in his heart. 1Kgs.10.24 — And all the earth was seeking the face of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
Notes
- 1 ↩The personification of Dacia 'breathing and panting for slaughter' (spirans et anhelans caedes) is vivid and somewhat rhetorical; rendered literally to preserve the source's force.
Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita Sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris companion
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