The Life and Times of Saint Margaret: Queen and Patroness of Scotland

To understand what took place at this crisis in the affairs of England, we must remember that the father of Edmund Ironside was twice married. When Edmund's mother died, Ethelred, his father, married Emma, the Flower and the Pearl of Normandy, and the aunt of William, afterwards the conqueror. Her eldest son, Edward, became a favourite with the English; from his retreat in Normandy he had, for many years, watched the stormy course of events in his own country and now that the Danes were gone, and the English in want of a king of their own, he stepped in, and secured the crown without difficulty. Accord ing to the laws of feudal succession, there can be no doubt that it belonged to Margaret's father, Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside's eldest son. Yet even our interest in all belonging to this young princess will hardly dispose us to regret an arrangement that gave St. Edward the Confessor to the throne of England.