Wikipedia:Monthfeature/2004September
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Edward the Martyr (c. 962 – 18 March 978) was King of the English from 8 July 975 until he was killed in 978. His father, King Edgar, had been a strong and overbearing monarch who had forced the nobility to surrender land to the monasteries. Edward's reign is remembered as a time of lawlessness, because of the efforts of the nobles to get their land back, sometimes by force, and because of disputes between the leading magnates, although these never led to warfare. His short reign ended in his murder in unclear circumstances. Medieval kings were believed to be sacrosanct, and Edward's violent death deeply troubled contemporaries. He soon came to be regarded as a saint, and his feast of 18 March is still listed by the Church of England. Edward was known in his own time for his violent temper, and the historian Tom Watson comments: "For an obnoxious teenager who showed no evidence of sanctity or kingly attributes and who should have been barely a footnote, his cult has endured mightily well." (Full article...)