"In putting flesh back on Edward's bones Licence has brought a new succession story to popular attention."--Leanda de Lisle , Times (UK) " Edward the Confessor is as much a master class in the interpretation of eleventh-century sources as it is an engaging biography."--Mary Frances Giandrea, Speculum " Edward the Confessor is a triumph of scholarship that combines erudition with readability. Tom Licence reveals Edward as an intelligent, conscientious and compassionate man who consistently favoured his great-nephew Edgar the aetheling as his successor but in the end was dramatically betrayed by his brother-in-law Harold. This new analysis of a familiar story is told with clarity and verve: a magisterial achievement."--Elisabeth van Houts, author of Married Life in the Middle Ages, 900-1300 "This may be one of the most important, certainly one of the most original books on eleventh-century England . The great virtue of this study is the author's determination to tell the story of Edward's life from a contemporary perspective, setting events in the context in which they unfolded, with full consideration of what moved the actors in their immediate present. The result throws a new light on Edward's motives and actions, and promotes a complete re-thinking of the significance of his reign.

"--Ann Williams, author of The English and the Norman Conquest "A worthy successor to Frank Barlow's Edward the Confessor , Tom Licence's book authoritatively probes and reassesses supposedly well-known sources and presents us with a remarkable reappraisal of the king and an important historical period. Overall a magnificent achievement."--David Bates, author of William the Conqueror.