Introduction
Edward the Exile was one of two princes, sons of Edmund Ironside, driven to Kiev after the Danish warrior-king Cnut the Great took their father’s crown in 1016. In 1054, Edward returned to England with his wife and young son Edgar, encouraged by his uncle King Edward the Confessor to believe that he was about to regain his lost throne.
IN 1016, the Danish King Cnut the Great took the English crown from Edmund Ironside, son of Ethelred the Unready, at the Battle of Assandun. Edmund’s two infant sons, Edmund and Edward, were banished to Sweden; Cnut’s plan was to have them assassinated, but the boys were smuggled to safety at the court of Stephen I of Hungary. A second attempt in 1028 drove them to Kiev, under the protection of Yaroslav the Wise.*
There, Edmund forfeited Yaroslav’s goodwill by having an affair with a noble lady at court, so when Cnut’s son and successor Harthacnut died in 1042, the talk was of Edward returning to England as King. In the event, both Edward and Edmund returned to Hungary, to help Andrew, a relative of Stephen, capitalise on the Vata Uprising in 1046 and claim the Hungarian throne.* Success raised Edward’s profile further, and in 1054 he was summoned back to England, as heir presumptive to the childless Edward the Confessor.
English connections to Kiev were apparently renewed in the time of Yaroslav’s grandson Vladimir II Monomakh, who is said by some Scandinavian sources to have married a daughter of King Harold Godwinson of England. See Gytha and Vladimir.
Stephen’s son Peter Orseolo had lost the confidence of his nobles and allowed Hungary to be dominated by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III. Andrew was the nobles’ choice, as well as Yaroslav’s (Andrew had been exiled to Kiev like Edward and Edmund), as King of a more independent Hungary. Perhaps this helps to explain why the English who fled England after the Conquest in 1066 and went to live by the Black Sea asked for Hungarian priests to minister to them. See The Voyage of Sigurd.
Précis
Edmund and Edward were sons of Edmund Ironside, exiles after Cnut the Great took their father’s crown in 1016. They ended up in Kiev, where Edward won the respect of Yaroslav the Wise, and after helping Andrew of Hungary to win the Hungarian throne, Edward was deemed the outstanding candidate to be heir to the ailing King Edward the Confessor. (60 / 60 words)
Edmund and Edward were sons of Edmund Ironside, exiles after Cnut the Great took their father’s crown in 1016. They ended up in Kiev, where Edward won the respect of Yaroslav the Wise, and after helping Andrew of Hungary to win the Hungarian throne, Edward was deemed the outstanding candidate to be heir to the ailing King Edward the Confessor.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, may, or, since, unless, until, whether.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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