bAn authoritative life of Edward the Confessor, the monarch whose death sparked the invasion of 1066b pbIn putting flesh back on Edward's bones Licence has brought a new succession story to popular attention.--Leanda de Lisle, bib The Timesbi pbThis fine biography of Edward the Confessor is both entertaining and elegiac.--Nicholas Vincent, bibThe Tabletbi p One of the last kings of Anglo-Saxon England, Edward the Confessor regained the throne for the House of Wessex and is the only English monarch to have been canonized. Often cast as a reluctant ruler, easily manipulated by his in-laws, he has been blamed for causing the invasion of 1066--the last successful conquest of England by a foreign power. p Tom Licence navigates the contemporary webs of political deceit to present a strikingly different Edward. He was a compassionate man and conscientious ruler, whose reign marked an interval of peace and prosperity between periods of strife. More than any monarch before, he exploited the mys