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Birth:          ABT  992 of Wessex
Death:          15 Apr 1053 Winchester, Hampshire, England
Burial:         Old Minster, England

Notes
favorite of Knut
a great statesman of the reign of Edward "the Confessor"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin,_Earl_of_Wessex
Godwin of Wessex (Old English: God?in; 1001 – 15 April 1053) was one of the most 
powerful earls in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. 
Cnut made him the first Earl of Wessex. Godwin was the father of King Harold 
Godwinson and Edith of Wessex, wife of King Edward the Confessor.
Rise to power[edit]

Godwin's father was probably Wulfnoth Cild, who was a thegn of Sussex. His origin is 
unknown but 'Cild' normally refers to a man of rank. In 1009 Wulfnoth was accused of 
unknown crimes at a muster of Æthelred the Unready's fleet and fled with twenty 
ships; the ships sent to pursue him were destroyed in a storm. Godwin was probably an 
adherent of Æthelred's eldest son, Æthelstan, who left him an estate when he died in 
1014.[2] This estate in Compton, Sussex, had once belonged to Godwin's father.[3] 
Although he is now always thought of as connected with Wessex, Godwin had 
probably been raised in Sussex, not Wessex[3] and was probably a native of Sussex.
[1]

After Cnut seized the throne in 1016, Godwin's rise was rapid. By 1018 he was an earl, 
probably of eastern Wessex, and then by around 1020 of all Wessex.[2] Between 1019 
and 1023 he accompanied Cnut on an expedition to Denmark, where he distinguished 
himself, and shortly afterwards married Gytha, the sister of the Danish earl, Ulf, who 
was married to Cnut's sister, Estrid.[4]

Height of power: support of Harold[edit]

On 12 November 1035, Cnut died. His kingdoms were divided among three rival rulers. 
Harold Harefoot, Cnut's illegitimate son with Ælfgifu of Northampton, seized the throne 
of England. Harthacnut, Cnut's legitimate son with Emma of Normandy, reigned in 
Denmark. Norway rebelled under Magnus the Noble. In 1035, the throne of England 
was reportedly claimed by Alfred Ætheling, younger son of Emma of Normandy and 
Æthelred the Unready, and half-brother of Harthacnut. Godwin is reported to have 
either captured Alfred himself or to have deceived him by pretending to be his ally and 
then surrendering him to the forces of Harold Harefoot. Either way Alfred was blinded 
and soon died at Ely.

In 1040, Harold Harefoot died and Godwin supported the accession of his half-brother 
Harthacnut to the throne of England. When Harthacnut himself died in 1042 Godwin 
supported the claim of Æthelred's last surviving son Edward the Confessor to the 
throne. Edward had spent most of the previous thirty years in Normandy. His reign 
restored the native royal house of Wessex to the throne of England.

Later conflicts, decline, and death[edit]

Despite his alleged responsibility for the death of Edward's brother Alfred,[5] Godwin 
secured the marriage of his daughter Edith (Eadgyth) to Edward in 1045.[6] As Edward 
drew advisors, nobles and priests from his former place of refuge in a bid to develop 
his own power base, Godwin soon became the leader of opposition to growing Norman 
influence. After a violent clash between the people of Dover and the visiting Eustace 
II, Count of Boulogne, Edward's brother-in-law, Godwin was ordered to punish the 
people of Dover (as he and Leofric, Earl of Mercia had done in Worcester, in Leofric's 
own earldom). This time, however, Godwin refused, choosing to champion his own 
countrymen against a (visiting) foreign ruler and his own king. Edward saw this as a 
test of power, and managed to enlist the support of Siward, Earl of Northumbria and 
Earl Leofric. Godwin and his sons were exiled from the kingdom in September 1051. 
Godwin, along with his wife Gytha and sons Sweyn, Tostig and Gyrth sought refuge in 
Flanders, while his sons Leofwine and Harold fled to Dublin, where they gained the 
shelter and help of Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, King of Leinster. They all returned to 
England the following year with armed forces, gaining the support of the navy, 
burghers, and peasants, so compelling Edward to restore his earldom. This however 
set a precedent to be followed by a rival earl some years later, and then by Godwin's 
own son, Tostig, in 1066.

On 15 April 1053 Godwin died suddenly, after collapsing during a royal banquet at 
Winchester. According to one colourful account by the 12th-century writer Aelred of 
Rievaulx Godwin tried to disclaim responsibility for Alfred Ætheling's death with the 
words "May this crust which I hold in my hand pass through my throat and leave me 
unharmed to show that I was guiltless of treason towards you, and that I was innocent 
of your brother's death!". He swallows the crust, but it sticks in his throat and kills 
him.[7] However this appears to be no more than Norman propaganda, contemporary 
accounts indicating that he just had a sudden illness, possibly a stroke. According to 
the Abingdon version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the year 1053: "On Easter 
Monday, as he was sitting with the king at a meal he suddenly sank towards the 
footstool bereft of speech, and deprived of all his strength. Then he was carried to the 
king's private room and they thought it was about to pass off. But it was not so. On 
the contrary, he continued like this without speech or strength right on to the 
Thursday, and then departed this life."[8]

His son Harold succeeded him as Earl of Wessex, an area then covering roughly the 
southernmost third of England. With the death of Earl Siward (1055) and later Earl 
Ælfgar (1062), the children of Godwin were poised to assume sole control. Tostig was 
helped into the earldom of Northumbria, thus controlling the north. The Mercian earl 
was sidelined, especially after Harold and Tostig broke the Welsh-Mercian alliance in 
1063. Harold later succeeded Edward the Confessor and became King of England in 
his own right in 1066. At this point, both Harold's remaining brothers in England were 
earls in their own right, Harold was himself king and in control of Wessex, and he had 
married the sister of Earl Edwin of Mercia and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria (who had 
replaced Tostig). Godwin's family looked set to inaugurate a new royal dynasty, but 
instead Harold was overthrown and killed in the Norman Conquest.

Family[edit]

Children[edit]
Sweyn Godwinson, Earl of Herefordshire (c. 1021 – 29 September 1052)
Harold II of England (c. 1022 – 14 October 1066)
Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria (c. 1026 – 25 September 1066)
Edith of Wessex, (c. 1026 – 18 December 1075), queen consort of Edward the 
Confessor
Gyrth Godwinson, Earl of East Anglia (c. 1032 – 14 October 1066)
Leofwine Godwinson, Earl of Kent (c. 1035 – 14 October 1066)
Wulfnoth Godwinson (c. 1040 – died after 1087)
Alfgar, possibly a monk in Rheims
Edgiva
Elgiva (died c. 1066)
Gunhilda, a nun (died 24 August 1087)[9]
Legacy[edit]

It is sometimes claimed that the Goodwin Sands off the coast of Deal in Kent owe their 
name to Earl Godwin; that they were once an island owned by him, but that the sea 
washed the island away in 1097. However, no such island is mentioned in Domesday 
Book, which was compiled in 1085-86, nor is there any geological evidence for its 
existence,[10] and Goodwin has been alternatively explained as an ironic name for a 
dangerous shoal, deriving from the Old English for "good friend".[11]

Godwin has been portrayed by Torin Thatcher in the film Lady Godiva of Coventry 
(1955), by Norman Rodway in the BBC TV series Churchill's People (1974–75), and by 
Bill Wallis in an episode of the British educational TV series Historyonics entitled 
"1066" (2004). Godwin is also the lead character of Justin Hill's novel, Shieldwall 
(2011).

Parents
OF WESSEX Wulfnoth (Cild) (ABT  973 - BEF Jun 1014)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
____ Godwin (ABT  992 - 15 Apr 1053)

Marriage To THORKELSDOTTIR Gytha (Thyra) (ABT  997 - ABT 1069)
    m.  

Notes
his second

Parents
STYRJORNSSON Thorgil "Sprakling" (ABT  970 - ABT 1009)
____ Sigrid (ABT  971 - )

Children by THORKELSDOTTIR Gytha (Thyra) ABT  997 - ABT 1069
OF SUSSEX Druella (ABT 1013 - )
GODWINSSON Harold II (ABT 1022 - 14 Oct 1066)

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