House of Godwin facts for kids

The House of Godwin was a very powerful Anglo-Saxon family. They were one of the most important noble families in England during the 50 years before the Norman Conquest. This was when William the Conqueror took over England. The most famous person from this family was Harold Godwinson. He was King of England for nine months in 1066.

The family's rise to power began with Earl Godwin. King Cnut helped him become important. Godwin was made the Earl of Wessex around 1020. He kept his high position when Cnut's sons, Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut, became kings. Godwin's power grew even more when King Edward the Confessor made his two oldest sons, Sweyn and Harold, earls. Their mother was Gytha, who was Danish.

The family even survived being sent away by the king for a short time. After Godwin died, his sons held important earldoms. These included Wessex, East Anglia, and Northumbria. Harold Godwinson became the most powerful man in England. He was even more powerful than the king. When King Edward the Confessor died without children in 1066, Harold Godwinson became king.

Harold won a big battle against the Norwegian invader Harald Hardrada and his own brother, Tostig Godwinson. This was at the battle of Stamford Bridge. But just three weeks later, Harold was defeated and died at the battle of Hastings. This battle ended Anglo-Saxon rule in England. Later generations of the Godwin family moved to different parts of northern Europe. One part of the family did very well in Norway. They even provided one of Norway's kings, Inge II. They also had a person who tried to become king, Skule Bårdsson. Through their female relatives, the Godwin family became ancestors of many royal families across Europe.

The Beginnings of the Godwin Family

The family is named after Godwin, Earl of Wessex. His father was Wulfnoth. This Wulfnoth was likely Wulfnoth Cild, a nobleman from Sussex. In 1009, Wulfnoth left the service of the English king Æthelred the Unready with twenty ships. He had been accused of some wrongdoings. Wulfnoth Cild might also have been the father of Ælfwig, an abbot who died at the battle of Hastings. He died by 1014. Some historians have suggested Wulfnoth was related to the House of Wessex, but most experts are not sure about this. They believe Wulfnoth's family history is unknown.

Godwin's Rise Under Danish Kings

Godwin was born around the year 993. He first appeared in history as a supporter of Æthelstan Ætheling. Æthelstan was the oldest son of King Æthelred the Unready. When Æthelstan died in 1014, he left Godwin some land. Godwin then likely supported Æthelstan's brother, Edmund Ironside. This was during Edmund's short reign and his fights against the Danish king Cnut.

When Edmund died in 1016, Cnut became King of England. Godwin seemed to make peace with the new king. He survived Cnut's removal of many English nobles. In fact, Godwin became more powerful. He was made earl of part of Wessex, and then the whole province around 1020. Around 1022, he married Gytha. She was the sister of a Danish earl named Ulf. Ulf was also King Cnut's brother-in-law. By 1023, Godwin was seen as the most important nobleman in Cnut's English kingdom. He was loyal to Cnut and trusted by him.

When Cnut died in 1035, his two sons, Harthacnut and Harold Harefoot, both wanted to be king. Godwin strongly supported Harthacnut, but Harold Harefoot eventually became king. In 1036, another son of Æthelred, Alfred, came to England. He was captured by Godwin and then by Harold Harefoot. Alfred was blinded and died. It is not clear if Harold meant to kill him, or how much Godwin was responsible. But people were suspicious of Godwin for the rest of his life. When Harold died in 1040, the new king, Harthacnut, made Godwin swear he was innocent. Godwin said he had only followed Harold's orders.

Godwin's Challenges with King Edward

Godwin and his family returning by ship to King Edward the Confessor's court in 1052.

A portrait of Godwin's daughter Edith.

In 1042, Harthacnut died. Godwin strongly supported Edward the Confessor to become the new king. Edward was the brother of the unfortunate Alfred. By this time, Godwin had a large family. He had six sons and three daughters. His older sons were ready to take on their own responsibilities. King Edward needed to reward Godwin, who had helped him become king more than anyone else.

Sweyn was usually thought to be Godwin's oldest son. In 1043, he was given an earldom that included many counties. Godwin's second son, Harold, became the earl of East Anglia the next year. In 1045, Beorn Estrithson, Godwin's wife's nephew, also received an earldom. The same year, Godwin's oldest daughter, Edith, married King Edward. This sealed the family's power. The Godwin family now held four English earldoms. Only Mercia and Northumbria were held by others. They even had a family member, Edith, in the king's own household.

In contrast, King Edward's personal wealth was large but spread out. He had no strong local power base. He had also just returned to England as a half-Norman stranger. He had no experience with English politics or leadership. A struggle for power between the king and the earls began.

The first problem for the Godwin family came from Sweyn's behavior. He first teamed up with Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, a Welsh king. Together, they attacked south Wales. Sweyn's lands were split between his brother Harold and his cousin Beorn. Sweyn went to Flanders and then Denmark. Two years later, in 1049, he came back to get his lands. Instead, he murdered Beorn. He was again outlawed and went back to Flanders. But the king allowed him to return in 1050.

Even though Edward was lenient, he started to act against the Godwin family. He gave Beorn's earldom to his own nephew, Ralph the Timid, not to anyone allied with Godwin. He also stopped Godwin's relative, Ælric, from becoming Archbishop of Canterbury. Instead, he chose Robert of Jumièges, who was an enemy of the Godwins. Edward also allowed a few castles to be built by his foreign friends in the lands held by Godwin and his sons.

Things became very tense in 1051. Men of Eustace, Count of Boulogne, who was visiting Dover, fought with the townspeople. King Edward decided Dover should be punished. He ordered Godwin, whose earldom included Dover, to carry out the punishment. Godwin refused. He and his sons gathered an army. The earls of Mercia and Northumbria gathered their men to defend the king. Neither side wanted to attack the other. They agreed that a meeting of the witan (a council of wise men) would settle the problem. But when the king called up the English militia, Godwin's side was outnumbered.

As a result, the whole family was banished. Godwin, his wife, and their sons Sweyn, Tostig, and Gyrth fled to Bruges in Flanders. Harold and his brother Leofwine went to Ireland. Their sister, Queen Edith, was sent to a nunnery. The next year, 1052, Godwin and Harold both launched small fleets. They met off the coast of England. They then got support from towns in Sussex and Kent. This combined fleet sailed to London. There, Godwin forced the king to agree to his terms. His family's earldoms were given back to them. The queen was recalled. Most of the king's French friends were outlawed. The family had regained its power so strongly that Edward never tried to fight them again.

But Godwin did not enjoy his victory for long. In 1053, while celebrating Easter with some of his sons and the king, he suddenly collapsed. He died a few days later. Later writers added stories that suggested this was a punishment from God. In one story, he choked to death after praying he would not be able to swallow bread if he was guilty of murdering King Alfred.

Godwin's Sons Take Charge

The coronation of Harold Godwinson, from the Bayeux Tapestry.

Godwin's second son, Harold, took over his father's earldom of Wessex. Harold's old earldom of East Anglia was given to Ælfgar, the son of the Earl of Mercia. Godwin's oldest son, Sweyn, could not get any title. He had gone on a religious journey to Jerusalem and died on his way back in September 1052.

Over the next few years, other earldoms became available. They were given to Harold's younger brothers. First, Siward, Earl of Northumbria, died in 1055. Tostig became the new earl. Then, in 1057, the Earl of Mercia died. His son Ælfgar took over, which freed up East Anglia. A smaller part of this earldom was given to Gyrth. The counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent became a new earldom for Leofwine. The same year, King Edward's nephew Ralph the Timid died. His earldom of Hereford was added to Harold's Wessex. The Godwin family now controlled almost all of England. King Edward the Confessor was mostly happy to let his earls rule.

In 1063, Harold led a cavalry attack to try and kill Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. Gruffydd had been ruling all of Wales since 1055. The attack failed. Harold returned the same year with his brother Tostig. They launched a joint invasion of Wales using both land and sea forces. They caused so much damage that Gruffydd's own men killed him and sent his head to Harold.

Not long after, probably in 1064, Harold sailed in the English Channel. A storm blew his ship onto the coast of Ponthieu. The count there handed him over to William the Bastard, the Duke of Normandy. We don't know why Harold was traveling. Norman writers later said he was sent by King Edward to confirm William as the next king of England. But historians think he might have been looking for a marriage alliance. He might also have wanted to free his youngest brother, Wulfnoth, and Sweyn's son, Hakon. They had been held hostage in Normandy for a long time. Or he might have been going somewhere else for unknown reasons.

Harold went with William on a military campaign against Brittany. Then, he was forced to swear an oath. He promised to support William's claim to be Edward's heir. Finally, he was allowed to go home.

Tostig's time as Earl of Northumbria had mixed results. He was successful in foreign affairs. He became friends with the King of Scotland, which helped prevent problems on his northern border. He also led a group to Rome for King Edward. But inside his earldom, his harsh rules made him unpopular with his own nobles. In 1065, while Tostig was at King Edward's court, the nobles revolted against him. They killed his men and demanded he be banished. Harold did not want to start a civil war. He refused to invade Northumbria to put Tostig back in power. King Edward sadly agreed to the rebels' demands and exiled Tostig.

Tostig was very angry that his brother did not support him. He left for Flanders. There is evidence he visited William of Normandy, King Sweyn II of Denmark, and King Harald Hardrada of Norway. He was trying to find allies to help him regain power. The earldom of Northumbria was given to Morcar. He was the brother of the Mercian earl Edwin. Harold allied himself with the brothers by marrying their sister, Ealdgyth.

At the start of 1066, Edward the Confessor died without children. He had apparently named Harold as his heir. The witan (council) chose Harold as king. They preferred him over the late king's great-nephew, the young boy Edgar Ætheling. Harold was crowned the day after Edward's death. His reign lasted only nine months. As the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says, "he met little quiet in it as long as he ruled the realm."

King Harold II's Short Reign

A penny (coin) of King Harold Godwinson.

King Harold faced threats from the Duke of Normandy and the King of Norway. There were also possible Welsh raiders. But the first to act was his own brother Tostig. In the spring of 1066, Tostig attacked the Isle of Wight and other places on England's east coast. He then suffered a big defeat in Lincolnshire and went to Scotland for safety. Harold expected an invasion from William of Normandy. He moved to the south coast to prepare his defenses. But on September 8, he had to send his army home because he could not feed them anymore.

That same month, Harald Hardrada left Norway to try and take the English crown. He sailed via Shetland and Orkney. He met Tostig at the river Tyne, where Tostig joined him as one of his earls. Together, they fought a Northumbrian army at Fulford in Yorkshire. They won a complete victory and took the city of York. Harold Godwinson quickly called his army back. By marching very fast, he was able to surprise Harald and Tostig's army at Stamford Bridge on September 25. This was only five days after the battle of Fulford. Harold won a huge victory against them. He allowed the few survivors, including Tostig's sons Skule and Ketel, to return peacefully to Norway.

Three days later, Duke William landed his invasion fleet at Pevensey in Sussex. He then moved to Hastings and began to destroy the countryside in Sussex. This was part of Harold's old earldom of Wessex. This action made Harold march south very quickly, as William intended. On October 14, the two armies met seven miles north of Hastings. The town of Battle now stands there. Harold, with his brothers Gyrth and Leofwine, commanded an army that was very tired. They could not stand up to the repeated Norman attacks. By the end of the day, Harold's army was completely defeated. All three brothers were dead. This marked the end of Anglo-Saxon rule in England.

The Family Spreads Out

Only two members of the family were allowed to live peacefully in England under Norman rule. Edward the Confessor's widow, Edith, Godwin's daughter, lived quietly. She kept all her private lands until she died in 1075. She was buried near her husband in Westminster Abbey. Her niece, Gunhild, Harold Godwinson's daughter, was in a nunnery in Wilton until 1093. She was then taken by Alan the Red, a Breton lord. She lived with him, and then with his successor. After that, she disappears from history.

Godwin's youngest son, Wulfnoth (born around 1036), was held hostage in Normandy from 1051 until William the Conqueror died in 1087. He was then moved to Winchester by William Rufus. He might have become a monk there. He is thought to have died around 1094.

The seal of King Inge II of Norway.

Haakon IV and Skule Bårdsson, from a 14th-century manuscript.

After the Battle of Hastings, Godwin's widow, Gytha, who was in her sixties, went to the southwest of England. She owned large estates there, and people were resisting the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror began to crush this resistance in early 1068. He attacked the city of Exeter. But Gytha had already fled. She probably went with her daughter Gunhild and Harold's daughter Gytha. They took refuge first on an island in the Bristol Channel, likely Steep Holm. Then they went to Saint-Omer in Flanders.

Harold's young sons, Godwin and Edmund, and possibly their brother Magnus, might have been at the siege of Exeter. They definitely went to the court of King Diarmait of Leinster in Ireland. From there, they launched two unsuccessful attacks against southwest England. Two of the sons, probably Godwin and Edmund, survived to join their relatives in Saint-Omer. From there, the whole group seems to have gone to Denmark. They hoped that King Sweyn II would help them regain their position in England. Sweyn did not help them with this. But after a few years, he arranged a good marriage for the younger Gytha. She married Vladimir Monomakh, a prince who later became a Grand Prince in Kiev. Their descendants married into royal families across Europe. They passed on the bloodline of the Godwins to many, including the current queens of Great Britain and Denmark.

Ulf, a younger son of Harold Godwinson, was captured by William the Conqueror at some point. He was held prisoner in Normandy. When William the Conqueror died, his son Robert Curthose released Ulf and made him a knight. Nothing more is known about his life.

Harold, the youngest son of Harold Godwinson, was taken by his mother to Dublin. He later went to Norway, where the king welcomed him. In 1098, he was one of the men Magnus III Barelegs took with him on a trip to Orkney, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, and Anglesey. No more is mentioned of Harold in any historical records.

After the Battle of Stamford Bridge and Harald Hardrada's death, Skule and Ketel, the two sons of Tostig Godwinson, were taken to Norway. They were under the care of Hardrada's son Olaf. Olaf became King of Norway. He gave land to Ketel and arranged a good marriage for him. According to a 13th-century writer, "from him are descended many great people." Skule became known as Skule Kongsfostre, meaning "king's foster-son." He was remembered as a very intelligent and handsome man who commanded the king's guards. He married a relative of the king, Gudrun Nevsteinsdotter. Their son was Åsolv of Rein. Åsolv's son, Guttorm of Rein, was a close friend and supporter of King Sverre Sigurdsson. He fought alongside him in several battles. He was rewarded by marrying the king's half-sister, Cecilia Sigurdsdotter.

Bård and Cecilia's son, Inge Bårdsson, was born around 1185. In 1204, when the child-king Guttorm Sigurdsson died, Inge and his half-brother Haakon Galen were the two main candidates for the crown. Haakon was Cecilia's son by another husband. After a power struggle, Inge was recognized as king. Haakon kept his command of the army. This did not bring peace. A group called the Bagler split the kingdom. Inge ruled the western half, and their own candidate, Philip Simonsson, ruled the eastern half. Also, Earl Haakon renewed his claim to the crown. This claim only ended when he died in 1214. King Inge himself died in 1217.

Since 1213, the leader of the army had been Inge's half-brother Skule. Skule was a son of Bård Guttormsson by another wife. So, like King Inge, he was a fifth-generation male descendant of Tostig Godwinson. The new king, Haakon IV, was just a boy. Skule acted as his regent. In 1225, Skule married his young daughter, Margrete, to the king. But this did not create perfect friendship between the two men. In 1239, Skule openly rebelled. He claimed the title of king for himself. The war that followed went against him, and he was killed in 1240. From Haakon IV and Margrete Skulesdotter, later kings of Norway are descended, right up to the present day.

Family Tree of the Godwins

This family tree shows the main male-line descendants of Wulfnoth Cild. Some known male-line descendants of Guttorm of Rein have been left out to make it clearer.