The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day Nine: Feast of St Basil and Gregory.

 The ninth day of Christmas, 2nd January is the feasts of Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus. In 1066 this was a Tuesday.

 “The Three Hierarchs of Eastern Christianity refers to Basil the Great (also known as Basil of Caesarea), Gregory the Theologian (also known as Gregory of Nazianzus) and John Chrysostom. They were highly influential bishops of the early church who played pivotal roles in shaping Christian theology. In Eastern Christianity they are also known as the Three Great Hierarchs and Ecumenical Teachers, while in Roman Catholicism the three are honored as Doctors of the Church. The three are venerated as saints in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, and other Christian churches”. [wiki]

One has to ask the question why the feast only recognises two of the three.   

“Disputes raged in 11th century Constantinople about which of the three hierarchs was the greatest.  …All three have separate feast days in January: Basil on January 1, Gregory on January 25, and Chrysostom on January 27. The Eastern Churches teach that the three hierarchs appeared together in a vision to St. John Mauropous, bishop of Euchaita, in the year 1084, and said that they were equal before God: "There are no divisions among us, and no opposition to one another." As a result, a January 30 feast day commemorating all three in common was instituted around 1100 under the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.” [wiki]

  

Sources say that Edward lapsed into semi consciousness for two days prior to his death. Counting backwards, this would be the first of the two days. The sources say that he took the last rites and this must have been whilst he was still conscious.

Barlow’s Life of Edward 

 “Up till then, for the last two days or more, weakness had so tired him that when he spoke scarcely anything he said had been intelligible.”

“When King Edward, replete with faith, perceived that the power of the disease was forcing him to his end, with the commendation and prayers of the most important of God’s faithful he resigned himself to the funeral rites.”

King Edward continued to decline for several days. Nothing is related regarding the administration of the kingdom during his illness. It is assumed that Harold Godwinson as the leading earl was managing things. Both Symeon of Durham and Florence of Worcester call him the “under-king”.