Online Encyclopedia

GODWINE (d. 1o53)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 179 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GODWINE (d. 1o53)  , son .of Wulfnoth,
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earl of the West-
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Saxons, the leading Englishman in the first
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half of the rrth century . His birth and origin are utterly uncertain; but he rose to power early in Canute's reign and was an earl in Ior8 . He received in
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marriage Gytba, a connexion of the king's, and in 1020 became earl of the West-Saxons . On the
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death of Canute in 1035 he joined with Queen Emma in supporting the claim of Hardicanute, the son of Canute and Emma, to the
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crown of his
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father, in opposition to Leofric and the
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northern party who supported Harold Harefoot (see HARDICANUTE) . While together they held Wessex for Hardicanute, the 1etheling /Elfred, son of Emma by her former
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husband "
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Ethelred II., landed in England in the hope of winning back his father's crown; but falling into the hands of Godwine, he and his followers were cruelly done to death . On the death of Hardicanute in 1042 Godwine was foremost in promoting the election of
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Edward (the
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Confessor) to the vacant
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throne . He was now the first man in the
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kingdom, though his power was still balanced by that of the other
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great earls, Leofric. of
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Mercia and Siward of Northumberland . His sons Sweyn and Harold were promoted to earldoms; and his daughter Eadgyth was married to the king (1045) . His policy was strongly
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national in opposition to the marked Normanizing tendencies of the king . Between him and Edward's
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foreign favourites, particularly Robert of Jumieges, there was deadly
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feud . The appointment of Robert to the archbishopric of Canter-bury in 1o5I marks the decline of Godwine's power; and in the same
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year a series of outrages committed by one of the king's foreign favourites led to a breach between the king and the earl, which culminated in the exile of the latter with all his
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family (see EDWARD THE CONFESSOR) . But next year Godwine returned in triumph; and at a great meeting held outside
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London he and his family were restored to all their offices' and possessions, and the archbishop and many other
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Normans were banished., In the following year Godwine was smitten with a
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fit at the . king's table, and died three days later on the 15th of
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April 1053 .

Godwine appears to have had seven sons, three of whom—King Harold, Gyrth and Leofwine—were killed at

Hastings; two others, Wulfnoth and "Elfgar, are of little importance; another was Earl Tostig (q.v.) . The eldest son was Sweyn, or ,Swegen (d . 1052), who was outlawed for seducing Eadgifu '79 abbess of
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Leominster . After fighting for the king of Denmark he returned to England in 1049, when his
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murder of his cousin Beorn compelled him to leave England for the second time . In lose), however, he regained his earldom, and in 1051 he shared his father's exile . To atone for the murder of Beorn, Sweyn went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and on the return journey he died on the 29th of September 1052, meeting his death, according to one account, at the hands of the
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Saracens .

End of Article: GODWINE (d. 1o53)
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