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This article attempts to elucidate the question of the origin of the “poetic” laudes published by E. Henderson and H.E.J. Cowdrey, which have until now lacked contextualization. After analyzing their manuscript tradition and their genetic links with the figure of Ealdred, bishop of Worcester (1046–1061) and archbishop of York (1061–1069), we renamed them English imperial laudes, because of their focus on the image of the basileus Anglorum. Initially, we examine them in the context of the royal coronations of William I and Matilda in 1066 and 1068, highlighting the fact that the use of the title of basileus Anglorum in some of the king’s charters reflects the public performance of imperial laudes on these occasions. Then, going back in time to the reign of Edward the Confessor, we argue that their origin lies in the pilgrimage of Ealdred, still bishop of Worcester at the time, to Jerusalem and his stay in Constantinople, under the reign of Isaac I Comnenus in 1060–1061, having been devised for his induction as archbishop of York, in the presence of King Edward and Queen Edith. The intellectual author of these laudes and the music that accompanied them is probably Folcard of Saint-Bertin, who also wrote the Vita Ædwardi Regis. They are thus linked to the profound transformation of the royal representation of Edward the Confessor, a result of Byzantine and Ottonian influences, brought to light by the analysis of the royal seal of the time. Finally, we argue that the imperial representation of Anglo-Norman royal power did not cease with the death of Ealdred of York in 1069 and the end of the use of the title of basileus Anglorum in the charters subsequent to that date. On the contrary, it was idealized in the work of William of Poitiers through the metamorphosis of the figure of William into a Christian imperator modeled on Theodosius the Great (379–395).