The eleventh day of Christmas, 4th January is not assigned a feast day. In 1066 this was a Thursday.
The image shows the death of Edward and his reception into heaven, attended by St John and St Peter.
http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-EE-00003-00059/63
ASC CD&E 1065
"He [Edward] died on the eve of twelfth-day; and he was buried on twelfth-day in the same minster; as it is hereafter said. "
The eve of twelfth day is of course the eleventh day or the 4th of January, and he was buried the next day which is the eve of the Epiphany. Some writers have confused the eve of twelfth day i.e. the eleventh, with the eve of the Epiphany which is the twelfth. Note that the Epiphany is sometimes referred to as the thirteenth day of Christmas. This has caused some writers to give his death date as the 5th January.
Before he died he made some dying statements to the people gathered around his bed. These statements were preceded by the account of the monks dream and prophecy related above. What he said and to whom varies from writer to writer.
King Edward draws to his end,
There is no one who has not great sorrow for it ;
His flesh is already half dead,
His people he calls again and again comforts ;
Note that the scene as depicted in the Bayeax Tapestry shows Queen Edith at his feet as described in the Life of Edward. " that is to say, the queen, who was sitting on the floor warming his feet in her lap, her brother, Earl Harold, and Rodbert the steward of the royal palace and a kinsman of the king, also Archbishop Stigand and a few more"
Barlow's Life, p79 gives his speech to Queen Edith and he commends her to her brother Harold, who is named as his 'governor'. This confirms that Harold had been governing England on Edward's behalf and with his consent, throughout his illness.
“ When he was sick unto death and his men stood and wept bitterly he said “do not weep …”
Then he addressed his lst words to the queen who was sitting at his feet ..’
“And stretching forth his hand to his governor, her brother Harold, he said,
“I commend this woman and all the kingdom to your protection. Serve and honour her with faithful obedience as your lady and sister, which she is and do not despoil her, as long as she lies, of any honour got from me.
Likewise I also commend those men who have left their native land for love of me, and have up till now served me faithfully. Take from them an oath of fealty, if they should so wish, and protect and retain them or send them with your safe conduct safely across the Channel to their own homes with all that they have acquired in my service.
Let the grave for my burial be prepared in the minster in the place which shall be assigned to you. I ask that you do not conceal my death, but announce it promptly in all parts, so that the faithful can beseech the mercy of Almighty God on me, a sinner.”
p80 says he was now up to his last hour
“And so coming with these and like words to his last hour, he … gave up his spirit to God the Creator on the fourth of January …”
p81 they bear him from the palace
“ They bore his holy remains from his palace home into the house of God, and offered up prayers and sighs and psalms all that day and the following night. Meanwhile, when the day of the funeral dawned, they blessed the office of the interment they were to conduct with the singing of masses and the relief of the poor.”
and here the book 'the Life of Edward' ends.
Paris’s Lives of Edward
And when all was accomplished.
The soul left the body ;
Angels descend from above,
Singing Te Deum Laudamus ;
All the court of Heaven is full
Of glory, and of the joy which conducts him.
And Saint Peter, his dear friend,
Opens the gate of Paradise,
And Saint John, his Own dear one,
Conducts him before the Majesty,
And God gives him his kingdom,
Who puts the crown on his head ;
Makes him possessed of this great glory
Which shall never be ended.
And thus from an earthly kingdom
He passed to a Heavenly.
Truly blessed was this king,
Who here and there was crowned ;
And so much more is worth that (kingdom) than this,
As gold is than mire ;
For the one is brief and ends soon,
The other sure and enduring.
In the thousand and sixty-sixth year
Since God took flesh,
After he had reigned twenty-three years
And a half, King Edward
Died, the fourth day of January,
Virgin of body, pure throughout.
Note the shape of the gates of heaven as depicted by Matthew Paris, above, is a yoni. There are other examples of heaven being shown with this shape in medievil manuscripts. The question must be asked, why these medievil monks were depicting heaven with this shape, and were they aware of its significance?
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