Edward never expected to be King of England. He was a younger son forced into exile in Normandy while the Danes marauded his land. And there were others who could force their claims to the throne.

But one heir was murdered; another died suddenly; and in 1043, the crown came to Edward.

THE SILVER KING relives this tempestuous time in history, a time of violence and treachery, of heroism and nobility, as it follows the life of its greatest figure.

Edward embodied the virtues of his age, both Anglo-Saxon and Norman. As ruler he brought peace, justice and concern for the general welfare to an embattled land. He left an unsurpassed monument to faith—Westminster Abbey— and a tradition of courage, loyalty and generosity to a troubled world.

The crowning of William the Conqueror in 1066, a year after Edward the Confessor's death, began a new era in English history, founded on what was best and greatest in the old. It is the mark of Edward's greatness that, in his reign, the best of the old was preserved and the path opened up for the best of the new.

From the dust jacket