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We must now leave the Coronations, and turn to think of some of the great people who are buried and commemorated in the Abbey.

[D. Weller. SHRINE OF KING EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.

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“There is

One great society alone on earth:

The noble Living and the noble Dead.”

Wordsworth (Prelude).

King Edward the Confessor is such an important person in the history of the Abbey that his Chapel and Shrine must be described in a chapter by themselves.

As has already been told, the Confessor died on January 5th, 1066, and was buried the next day, January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany. He was laid in front of the high altar of his newly built church, and the Conqueror afterwards presented splendid hangings to cover the simple tomb which was erected over the grave.

There is an interesting old story of something that happened at this tomb in the reign of William the Conqueror.

When Lanfranc became Archbishop of Canterbury, most of the Saxon bishops were sent away and Normans were put in their places. Among the Saxon bishops was the good old St. Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester. He was made bishop in 1062, in the Confessor’s time. The Normans despised him, and thought him ignorant because he could not speak French, and they thought he would not be able to give any good advice to the King. Wulfstan was told that he must come to Westminster to meet the other bishops. They then said to him that he must give up the pastoral staff, which belonged to him as a bishop. Wulfstan showed no anger, but only said quite simply that he would resign his staff, not to the archbishop, “but rather to St. Edward, by whose authority I received it.” He then went into the Abbey, walked up to the Confessor’s tomb, and, raising his arm slowly, he struck the pastoral staff into the stone, saying: “Receive, my lord the King; and give it to whomsoever thou mayst choose.” It is said that the staff remained firmly fixed in the stone, so that no one could pull it out. The King and the Archbishop were amazed, and acknowledged that they had done wrong in trying to turn Wulfstan out of his bishopric. They begged Wulfstan to take his staff once more. The old man came near, and drew the staff out quite easily. The King and the Archbishop went down on their knees and begged his forgiveness, but, as the old story says: “He, who had learned from the Lord to be mild and humble in heart, threw himself in his turn upon his knees.”