Man and Myth

Nine hundred years have elapsed since the death of Edward the Confessor, the last English king descended directly from Cerdic, king of Wessex in the sixth century - and so from the pagan gods. Nine hundred years are a long time; and if Edward had been succeeded by a son, or if his actual successor, Harold, had won the battle of Hastings, it is doubtful whether later generations would have paid much attention to his reign or person, even more unlikely that he would have obtained any place at all in popular history or tradition. Edward, as we know him, is a creation of the Norman conquest. In fact...