Harold's family

Chester emerged from the Dark Ages as a place of some importance. Exactly how it did this is a matter of some conjecture, and events at Chester in 900 are discussed in another article. In brief the Vikings raided it, Æthelflæd restored it, Edward the Elder died at Farndon. The Battle of Brunanburh was most likely fought nearby. Edgar the Pacific used it as an important naval base and for his ceremonial boat trip from Edgar's Field. The family of Leofric and his son Ælfgar had an important power-base here.

By 1066 Chester was a prosperous town with a population of perhaps 2,500-3,000. Rendering a farm of £45 and three timber of marten pelts (i.e. 120 skins), together with an additional payment from the moneyers, it was assessed as a half hundred including the adjacent townships of Handbridge, Newton by Chester, 'Lee' (Overleigh and Netherleigh), and 'Redcliff', expressly said to be 'outside the city' but taxed with it. The city had its own laws and customs, administered by its hundredal court, over which presided 12 judges or doomsmen (iudices civitatis) drawn from the men of king, earl, and bishop, and liable to fines payable to the king and earl for failure to attend. The judges have been regarded as evidence of Scandinavian influence on the city's institutions and equated with the 'lawmen' (lagemen or iudices) of certain boroughs in the Danelaw. There is, however, no indication that they enjoyed the same status as the lawmen, who had extensive properties and judicial privileges. Indeed the laws of Chester, which were recorded in Domesday Book in exceptional detail, suggest that, as in other western towns dominated by a great local magnate, the status of its citizens was comparatively low. They were obliged to pay 10s. on taking up land in the city, and were also liable to heavy fines for failure to pay gavel or rent and for other misdemeanours.

Harold Godwinson traditionally has an association with Chester through the probable myth that he was the initial hermit who inhabited the Hermitage. Another important link to Chester is that the lands which became associated with the Earldom of Chester were to a significant extent - about 30% - those which had previously belonged to Harold.

The story of the family of Harold Godwinson did not end with the battle fought near Hastings in 1066 and has some actual historical links with Chester. In addition, these various traditions which are often in contradiction say something about the process by which the historical record is formed. What history records about the actions of Godwin and his sons has been filtered through later historians and other story-tellers, some of which would have had a pro-Norman bias and others of which would have wished to paint Harold and his relatives in as heroic a light as possible.

Family Background
Harold was a son of Godwin (c. 1001–1053), the powerful Earl of Wessex, and of Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, whose brother Ulf the Earl was married to Estrid Svendsdatter (c. 1015/1016), the daughter of King Sweyn Forkbeard (died 1014) and sister of King Cnut the Great of England and Denmark (and according to tradition Knutsford). Ulf and Estrith's son would become King Sweyn II of Denmark in 1047. Victorian historians, especially those writing for a popular audience and trying to do so in wholly positive terms often miss out Harold's father and make Harold's brother Tostig the seemingly aberrant "black sheep" of the family. Another aspect of the events around 1066 which the Victorians omitted was the role played by the women in the story.

Godwin, Harold's father


Godwin was the son of Wulfnoth, probably a thegn and a native of Sussex. Very little else is known for certain of the ancestry of the Godwins. According to the twelfth-century chronicler John of Worcester, Godwin was the son of a Wulfnoth who was the son of Æthelmær, brother of Eadric Streona, both sons of an otherwise unknown Æthelric. However this appears to be impossible in terms of dates and may be an attempt to link Godwin to Eadric Streona simply because Streona had such a poor reputation. It is from John of Worcester’s chronicle that we know what happened to some of Harold Godwinson’s family in the aftermath of the Conquest. Whether there is any bias in John of Worcester's account is an interesting question. John originally worked under the instructions of Bishop Wulfstan the last surviving pre-Conquest bishop, the only English-born bishop after 1075 and had been a confidant of Harold Godwinson, who helped secure the bishopric for him.

Godwin began his political career by supporting King Edmund Ironside (reigned April to November 1016). The location of Edmund's death is uncertain though it is generally accepted that it occurred in London, rather than in Oxford where Henry of Huntingdon claimed it to be in his version of events, which included Edmund's death from multiple stab-wounds whilst he was defecating on a privy. Geoffrey Gaimar narrates a similar occurrence with the weapon being a crossbow; but with a number of other medieval chroniclers, including the Encomium Emmae Reginae, not mentioning murder, it is thought Edmund's cause of death may possibly have been caused by wounds received in battle or by some disease. It is certainly possible, however, that he was murdered. Godwin was probably too young to have been involved in any murder, but the murder followed shortly after Edmund had been betrayed by Eadric Streona at the Battle of Assandun (1016), so even if Godwin was not involved, he was exposed to political treachery at an early age. If fact this was not the first instance of treachery in the young Godwin's life - in 1008, King Æthelred the Unready ordered the construction of a fleet, and the following year 300 ships assembled at Sandwich, Kent to meet a threatened Viking invasion. There Brihtric, another supposed brother of Eadric Streona, brought unknown charges against Wulfnoth before the king, (unjustly according to John of Worcester). Wulfnoth then fled with twenty ships and ravaged the south coast. Brihtric followed with eighty, but his fleet was driven ashore by a storm and burnt by Wulfnoth. After the loss of a third of the fleet the remaining ships were withdrawn to London, and the Vikings were able to invade Kent unopposed. Æthelred almost certainly confiscated Wulfnoth's property as a result. Just what John of Worcester is trying to say when he recites this complex family feud is not clear.

Godwin had switched to supporting King Cnut by 1018, when Cnut named him Earl of a part of Wessex and he became one of the select few signing Cnut's charters. Godwin had survived Cnut's purge of English nobles and remained an earl throughout the remainder of Cnut's reign, one of only two earls to survive to the end of that reign. It appears that Godwin helped Cnut in crushing a rebellion in Denmark (between 1019 and 1023) and was rewarded by being made first Earl of Devon and later, Earl of the whole of Wessex. Eadric Streona was not so fortunate as soon after Cnut gained the throne he was disposed of, premanently.



On Cnut's death in 1035, Godwin originally supported Harthacnut instead of Cnut's initial successor Harold Harefoot, but managed to switch sides in 1037 — although not without becoming involved in the 1036 murder of Alfred Aetheling, half-brother of Harthacnut and younger brother of the later King Edward the Confessor. Alfred Ætheling had landed on the coast of Sussex with a Norman mercenary bodyguard, possibly at the invitation of Godwin, and attempted to make his way to London. However he was betrayed, captured by Earl Godwin of Wessex, and blinded; he died soon afterwards. In 1929 the remains of 223 soldiers, whom excavators identified as Normans based on their stature, prominent skulls and slender leg bones, were found on the prominent hillside immediately west of Guildford's centre. They were bound and had been executed. The grave has been dated to c. 1040 and is generally believed to provide some physical evidence of the slaughter of the Norman mercenary bodyguard.

When Harold Harefoot died in 1040, Harthacnut became King of England and Godwin's power was imperiled by his earlier involvement in Alfred's murder, but an oath and large gift secured the new king's favour for Godwin. Harefoot had been buried in Westminster Abbey but his body was subsequently exhumed, beheaded, and thrown into a fen bordering the Thames when Harthacnut assumed the throne. After some postumous adventures he was reburied but there are conflicting accounts as to where. There were suspicious circumstances about the death which has been attributed to "a mysterious illness", possibly poison. Harthacnut's death in 1042 probably involved Godwin in a role as kingmaker, helping to secure the English throne for Edward the Confessor. Harthacnut's death is also not without suspicious circumstances. The young king, aged something like 24, was at a wedding in Lambeth, probably where the Archbishop's Palace stands today. The groom was a wealthy lord called Tovi the Proud while the bride was Gytha, daughter of the courtier Osgod Clapa. The happy occasion, recorded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles as 8 June 1042, soon turned to tragedy. According to this account, Harthacnut rose to toast the bride and groom but never completed his speech. He:




 * "died as he stood at his drink, and he suddenly fell to the earth with an awful convulsion; and those who were close by took hold of him, and he spoke no word afterwards".

One theory is that he was very possibly poisoned and the person with most to gain from his death was Earl Godwin.

In 1045 Godwin reached the height of his power when the new king, Edward the Confessor married Godwin's daughter Edith. There can be no doubt that it was Earl Godwine’s intention that the marriage of Edward and Edith should produce a boy, his grandson, who would be the next king of England. But there everything did not go according to plan. The marriage of Edward and Edith remained childless. It suited some later religious authors to portray this childlessness as a deliberate policy – a depiction in which the king is pious and unworldly, and in which the marriage is more like a father-daughter relationship. Unfortunately this does not quite fit the facts. When it became clear that his marriage to Edith of Wessex would produce no children, he sent a mission to Germany to negotiate the return of his nephew Edward the Exile. Like Edward, the nephew had gone into exile (as an infant) in 1016. In modern terms, one might say he was next in line for the throne. It is testimony to the power of blood-entitlement that he was recalled after 40 years in a foreign land, just as Edward himself had been recalled after a quarter of a century in Normandy. Unfortunately, the nephew died immediately upon his return without even meeting the king. This was convenient for the Godwins, and murder has again been suggested.

It was around this time that a great rivalry started to grow between the Godwins of Wessex and the house of Leofric of Mercia, who had a major power base at Chester. In several charters, such as one in 1043 (founding Coventry Abbey), Leofric is referred to as the "comes" (count) of Chester. Bradshaw, in his "Life of St Werburgh" refers to him as the Earl of Chester (stanza 176) who made important donations to St Johns (stanza 175) and the "Minster of St Werburgh" (later the Cathedral}.

Like Harthacnut, Edward was never convinced of Godwin’s innocence, a fact which added to the increasing distrust and conflict between the king and his most powerful earl in the first ten years of Edward’s reign. Indeed, when the Godwin family and Edward quarrelled ias part of the crisis of 1051, it was Edward’s demand to have his (dead) brother returned to him that made Earl Godwin realise there would be no rapprochement; the earl sailed into exile in Flanders with his family.

Godwin and Gytha had several children—six sons: Sweyn, Harold, Tostig, Gyrth, Leofwine and Wulfnoth; and three daughters: Edith of Wessex (originally named Gytha but renamed Ealdgyth (or Edith) when she married King Edward the Confessor), Gunhild and Ælfgifu. The birthdates of the children are unknown, but Harold was the second son, Sweyn being the eldest. Harold was aged about 25 in 1045, which makes his birth year around 1020.



Godwin's Death
One act that Godwin never forgave Edward the Confessor for, was the appointment of Robert of Jumieges as Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1052 he removed him from office and appointed Stigand. An act that was condemned by Pope Leo IX. He was immediately excommunicated for replacing an Archbishop without the express permission of the Pope whilst the incumbent is still alive. Evidently Godwin felt that Robert, along with a number of other Normans, had been the driving force behind his exile. Robert's treatment was later used by William the Conqueror as one of the justifications for his invasion of England, the other being that Edward had named William his heir.

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, the old chestnut of murder came up and 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 swallowed the crust, but it stuck in his throat and killed him. 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."

Other versions of events, such as that of Aelred of Rievaulx, put a slightly different slant on things:


 * "The king watched him die in misery, and realising that divine judgment had come upon him, called to the bystanders: “Take this dog out,” he said. Godwin’s sons ran in, removed him from under the table and brought him to a bedroom, where soon afterwards he made an end fitting for such a traitor."

Given the number of sudden deaths associated with the royal household the possibility that Godwin was poisoned cannot be excluded. However, the story of his sudden death shortly after displacing Archbishop Robert could also have been used by later Norman chroniclers as a convenient way of "proving" that William was in the right to invade England.



Godwin's times were violent and dynastic struggle was frequent. However he does appear to have a remarkable knack of being associated with sudden and violent deaths. Whether he was just a typical earl of the times, or was prepared to climb up the ranks of aristocracy on a pile of corpses it certainly seems like he was prepared to take action to advance the position of himself and his sons. These elements of his character may well have been influenced by his formative years as part of a family which had dubious loyalties and he no doubt passed much of his ambition and ruthlessness onto his sons. Godwin was later portrayed unfavourably by the church: the late 12th century wax seal of Westminster Abbey shows Edward the Confessor trampling on Earl Godwin (with St Peter trampling on Nero on the other side).

Links with Chester
The rivalry between Wessex and Mercia goes back to at least the time of Ecgbert in around the year 829. The Viking incursions of the time of Alfred of Wessex and his brothers forced a truce between Wessex and the remains of Mercia, and Alfred married his daughter Æthelflæd into the Mercian ruling house. While Wessex managed to recover much of the Scandinavian ruled territory over the next few years England collapsed to Scandinavian rule following the reign of Edmund Ironside. During the reign of Cnut the tension between Wessex and Mercia crystallised into the rivalry between the houses of Wessex-based Godwin and Mercia-based Leofric. The rise of a local or at least Mercian ealdorman and the Mercian particularism fostered by Ælfhere and his like already meant that increasingly Chester lay on the fringes of royal authority. Ælfgar's alliance with the Welsh king Gruffudd ap Llywelyn led to the latter's acquisition of lands west of the Dee, near Chester, and when in 1063 Earl Harold attacked Gruffudd's palace at Rhuddlan in Flintshire he made Chester his base. Although with Gruffudd's defeat in the same year the lands beyond the Dee returned to English control, the main beneficiary was not the king but Ælfgar's youthful son and heir, Earl Edwin, who had gained his title around 1062. By then the king had relinquished all his Cheshire lands to the earls of Mercia, leaving them in a position not so very unlike that of their Norman successors at Chester. The wars in Wales during the middle years of Edward the Confessor can almost be seen as a "proxy war" between the Godwins and the House of Leofric which Edwin and Harold seem to have largely resolved.

There are few details known of the "alliance" between Edwin and Harold, but the key to it may well have been Ealdgyth, daughter of Ælfgar, widow of the Welsh prince Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and sister to Edwin.



Another possible link between the Godwins and Chester is St Olave. A case can at least be made for the Godwin family endorsing the traditions of Olaf II. Their association with St Olave's church in Exeter is demonstrable: it was founded in 1053 by Gytha, the mother of King Harold. St Olave's church in Southwark is highly likely to have been a Godwin-related foundation: the church’s probable beginning is as a private chapel of Godwin, Earl of Wessex from at least 1018. St Olave's church in Chichester is also likely to have been so: the Godwins owned land there and nearby Bosham (two miles away) is mentioned by name in the Bayeux Tapestry:


 * "Ubi Harold Dux Anglorum et sui milites equitant ad Bosham ecclesia[m]" (Where Harold, Earl of the English, and his army ride to Bosham church)

Harold's strong association with Bosham and the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon grave in the church has led some historians to speculate that King Harold was buried there.

Harold and his Brothers
The death of Edward the Confessor is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry in a curiously out-of-sequence section. Edward's funeral is shown first, followed by his death-bed scene and then Harold's coronation. This is followed by the apparition of Halley's comet. Harold is depicted as being present at Edward's death apparently touching his body. Some English sources claimed that on his deathbed, King Edward designated Harold as his heir. The Bayeux Tapestry makes it clear that there is some sort of conversation and promise taking place, but whether Harold is promising to take over the kingdom or to cede it to William is unclear, and one of the primary reasons that the allegiances of the Tapestry’s makers is so ambiguous.

Sweyn
Sweyn Godwinson (Old English: Swegen Godƿinson) (c. 1020 – 1052), also spelled Swein, was the eldest son of Earl Godwin of Wessex. There is some evidence suggesting that Sweyn claimed to be a son of King Canute, but his mother indignantly denied this and brought forth witnesses to his parentage.

Sweyn was much involved in Welsh politics. In 1046, he joined in on an invasion of Deheubarth. On his return from this campaign Sweyn abducted Eadgifu, the Abbess of Leominster, apparently intending to marry her and gain control of Leominster's vast estate. However, King Edward refused permission and Eadgifu returned to her abbey. Late in 1047 Sweyn left England to take refuge with Baldwin V, Count of Flanders. During his exile he travelled first to Flanders, then to Denmark before returning to England in 1049 to beg for forgiveness. In his absence, his land had been divided, between his brother Harold and his cousin Beorn (a viking and the son of Cnut’s sister). Beorn, accompanied by only three men, was attacked by Sweyn, and brutally killed. His body was left on the riverside, although Harold would later seek it out and give it a proper burial. The scandal was immense, and Sweyn was bestowed with the title "niðing", meaning “man of no honour”. Once more, he was exiled. Next, while returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, an English archbishop bumped into Sweyn in France, and was so convinced by the change of character he saw that he was prepared to vouch for Sweyn to the king. Sweyn, against all odds, was returned to England an acquitted man. In 1051 the Godwins were exiled en-masse - and as this was Sweyn's third exile it was made permanent. He then embarked on a barefoot pilgrimage to Jerusalem, as was to die on the way back. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states his death occurred at Constantinople, John of Worcester records it at Lycia, Asia Minor. According to William of Malmesbury, he was ambushed by Saracens almost at the start of his trip home and mortally wounded.

Tostig
Tostig Godwinson (c. 1023/1028 – 25 September 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria. When Siward, the long-term Earl of Northumbria died in 1055, his only surviving son was still a child, and King Edward awarded the earldom to Harold’s inexperienced brother Tostig. Although the King was no fan of of the late Earl Godwin, there is evidence that Godwin's third son was a favorite at court. Since he was half Danish, Tostig didn’t seem like a bad choice for the region inhabited by Norsemen, and he served as Earl of Northumbria for ten years before he had serious trouble. He was never popular with the Northumbrian ruling class, a mix of Danish invaders and Anglo-Saxon survivors of the last Norse invasion. Tostig was said to have been heavy-handed with those who resisted his rule, including murdering several members of leading Northumbrian families. In late 1063 or early 1064, Tostig had Gamal son of Orm and Ulf son of Dolfin assassinated when Gamsl visited him under safe conduct.

On 3 October 1065, the thegns of York and the rest of Yorkshire descended on York and occupied the city. They killed Tostig's officials and supporters, then declared Tostig outlawed for his unlawful actions and sent for Morcar, younger brother of Edwin, Earl of Mercia. The northern rebels marched south to press their case with King Edward. They were joined at Northampton by Earl Edwin and his forces. There, they were met by Earl Harold, who had been sent by King Edward to negotiate with them and thus did not bring his forces. Harold persuaded Edward the Confessor to agree to the demands of the rebels. Tostig was outlawed a short time later, possibly early in November, because he refused to accept his deposition as commanded by Edward.

After being exiled on the advice of his elder brother Harold, Tostig later supported the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada's invasion of England, and was killed along with Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.



Gyrth
Gyrth Godwinson (Old English: Gyrð Godƿinson; c. 1032 – 14 October 1066) was the fourth son of Earl Godwin, and thus a younger brother of Harold Godwinson. He went with his eldest brother Sweyn into exile to Flanders in 1051, but unlike Swegen he was able to return with the rest of the clan the following year. Along with his brothers Harold and Tostig, Gyrth was present at his father's death-bed.

Gurth is traditionally said to have died at the Battle of Hastings, and indeed his death is shown in the Bayeux Tapestry, but the Vita Haroldi suggests that he survived. The Norman poet Wace (c. 1110 – after 1174) wrote:


 * "Gurth, Harold's brother, who also survived the battle of Hastings, confidentially confirmed Sebricht's statement that the canons of Waltham were deceived as to the body of Harold, which had been interred at Waltham."

The Vita is an extremely suspect text, but the 13th Century author is aware his account differs from most others but insists he is not writing fiction, criticising other chroniclers for believing what they are told rather than seeking out the truth. He claims the rumours of Harold’s death were started as an attempt to protect the king while he was recovering from his wounds.

Leofwine
Leofwine Godwinson (c. 1035 – 14 October 1066) was the fifth son of Earl Godwin. When the Godwin family was exiled from England in 1051 he went with Harold to Ireland, where they were sheltered and helped by Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, King of Leinster. He would have returned with the rest of the family the following year, but was not present at the death-bed of his father in April 1053.

The Godwinsons managed to retain their hold on England. Harold inherited the Earldom of Wessex and became second in power only to the king. Leofwine was made Earl of Kent, Essex, Middlesex, Hertford, Surrey and probably Buckinghamshire some time between 1055 and 1057. Together with his brother Gyrth's Earldoms of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire the Godwinsons now controlled the entire east of England.

Traditionally his fate is that he was killed alongside his brothers Harold and Gyrth in the Battle of Hastings. His death is depicted in scene 52, which places it very early in the battle. According to William of Poitiers:


 * "Victory won, the duke returned to the field of battle. He was met with a scene of carnage which he could not regard without pity in spite of the wickedness of the victims. Far and wide the ground was covered with the flower of English nobility and youth. Harold's two brothers were found lying beside him."

William of Poitiers Gesta Guillelmi provides the traditional narrative of the Battle of Hastings. His work is biased: as William is made to be a paragon, so Harold is vilified. His victory at Stamford Bridge is ignored and Harold portrayed as duplicitous ingrate, an impious usurper, a tyrant, and a perjurer (William of Jumièges was content simply to denigrate Harold for his perjury).

Wulfnoth
Wulfnoth Godwinson (1040-1094) was the sixth son of Godwin. Wulfnoth was given as a hostage to Edward the Confessor in 1051 as assurance of Godwin's good behaviour and support during the confrontation between the earl and the king which led to the exile of Godwin and his other sons. Upon Godwin's return to England at the head of an army a year later, following extensive preparations in Ireland and Flanders, Norman supporters of King Edward, and especially Archbishop Robert of Jumièges fled England. It is likely at this point that Wulfnoth (and Hakon, son of Svein Godwinson, Godwin's eldest son) were spirited away by the fleeing archbishop, and taken to Normandy, where they were handed over to Duke William of Normandy. According to Historia novorum in Anglia by English historian Eadmer, the reason for Harold's excursion to Normandy in 1064 or 1065 was that he wished to free Wulfnoth as well as his nephew Hakon. To this end he took with him a vast amount of wealth, all of which was confiscated by Count Guy I of Ponthieu when Harold and his party were shipwrecked.

However, Harold's reasons for travelling to the continent are not clear, and there are other reasonable explanations, not the least of which was a sounding out among continental magnates of a response to his own intention to ascend the English throne at one point, given Edward's advanced age and lack of heir. Wulfnoth was not released until 1087, by the dying King William I in an amnesty. He was only freed briefly, before King William II Rufus took him to confinement in England. Of course, there are many other explanations of Wulfnoth's enduring captivity. Even following William's victory at Hastings (1066) over Harold and crowning as King of England in London later that year, England's pacification remained uncertain. William may have held Wulfnoth as hostage against a resurgence of a remnant of Godwinson power. Wulfnoth stayed in sometimes comfortable, if not enviable, captivity in Normandy and later in England, and died in Winchester in 1094, still a prisoner.

Edith of Wessex
Edith was Queen of England from her marriage to Edward the Confessor in 1045 until Edward died in 1066. Unlike most English queens in the 10th and 11th centuries, she was crowned. The principal source on her life is a work she herself commissioned, the Vita Ædwardi Regis or the Life of King Edward who rests at Westminster, which is inevitably biased. Edith has been suggested as the possible "author" of the Bayeux Tapestry, but other origins have been proposed.

Edith was, according to the traditional view, the only senior member of the Godwin family to survive the Norman conquest on English soil, the sons of Harold having fled to Ireland. She died at Winchester on 18 December 1075 and was buried near her husband's tomb. Late medieval tombs list say that she was re-buried on the left side of the new Shrine. Nothing marks her grave. In medieval times a lamp was burned in her memory by the High Altar.

Harold's Wives
For some twenty years Harold was married "More Danico" (Latin: "in the Danish manner") to Edyth Swannesha ("the fair") and had at least six children with her. She was considered Harold's mistress by the clergy, but this may have been only in hindsight. It was not until the mid-twelfth century that church courts were universally acknowledged as the arbiters of legal marriage, or indeed that the church developed a universal doctrine of what constituted a legally binding marriage. Therefore statements about whether Harold was legally married to Edyth probably date from much later than Harold's own time.

Edyth the fair
Edyth is sometime called "Edyth Swan-neck", but this could be an error in translation of swann hnesce, "gentle swan" as swann hnecca, "swan neck".

Harold probably met Edyth at about the same time as he became Earl of East Anglia, in 1044, which makes it possible that Edith the Swan-neck and the East Anglian magnate, Eadgifu the Fair, are one and the same. Eadgifu the Fair held over 270 hides of land and was one of the richest magnates in England. The majority of her estates lay in Cambridgeshire, but she also held land in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk; in the Domesday Book, Eadgifu held the manor at Harkstead in Suffolk, which was attached to Harold’s manor of Brightlingsea in Essex, and some of her Suffolk lands were tributary to Harold’s manor of East Bergholt.

According to folklore, Edith identified Harold's body after the Battle of Hastings. The body was horribly mutilated after the battle by the Norman army of William the Conqueror, and, despite pleas by Harold's mother, Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, for William to surrender Harold's body for burial, the Norman army refused, even though Harold's mother offered Harold's weight in gold. It was then that Edith the Fair walked through the carnage of the battle so that she might identify Harold by markings on his chest known only to her. Of course, if she picked-out a badly damaged (or even partially decayed) body which had been stripped of anything valuable then this might not have been Harold. The whole story of two noble women turing up just after the battle to identify the body is also somewhat suspicious. Given the range of ages to be found among Harold’s "bastard" children, it seems plausible to accept that he had a number of mistresses and that Edith was simply the one known to the canons at Waltham because she lived near their abbey.

Edyth has also been identified with Richeldis de Faverches a devout English noblewoman who is credited with establishing the original shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham following a series of visions. However there is some debate as to whether Richeldis actually lived at that early date. Walsingham became a major pilgrimage location on the back of the legend.

Adeliza
According to Orderic Vitalis, Harold was at some time betrothed to Adeliza, a daughter of William the Conqueror; if so, the betrothal never led to marriage. The story occurs in many different versions. Orderic may have confused Adeliza with another daughter, possibly Agatha. Both daughters were very young when the supposed betrothal would have taken place. Some historians have suggested that the woman in the Bayeux Tapestry titled “Aelfgyva” is in fact Adeliza. The Malmesbury Chronicle says that William’s daughter died before she could be married to Harold and this added to Harold’s justification for breaking his oath to support William.

Ealdgyth
About January 1066, Harold married Edith (or Ealdgyth), daughter of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia, and widow of the Welsh prince Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Edith had one son, named Harold, probably born posthumously. Another of Harold's sons, Ulf, may have been a twin of the younger Harold, though most historians consider him a son of Edyth Swannesha. Both these sons survived into adulthood and probably lived out their lives in exile. It was presumably in the year of her father's appointment (c. 1057) that Ælfgar's daughter Ealdgyth married his political ally, King Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. Gruffudd, had actually defeated and killed Leofric's brother at the battle of Rhyd-y-Groes (near Welshpool) in 1039, but this did not seem to be an objection to Eadgyth marrying her father's uncle's killer. William of Jumièges describes her as a woman of considerable beauty. Walter Map also wrote of a beautiful lady much beloved by the king and so he may have had Ealdgyth in mind. On her marriage, she was given a modest amount of land in England, though the only estate which can be certainly identified as having belonged to her is one at Binley, Warwickshire. The alliance between Ealdgyth's father and husband was of great significance in resisting the growing power of the Godwins - the death of Edwin (leofric's brother) appears to have been overlooked as a matter of political expediency. On the death of Earl Ralph ("The Timid") in 1057, Hereford was added to Harold's earldom. The following year, Ælfgar was outlawed for a second time, but he was restored to office before long. Ælfgar is last heard of in 1062 and seems to have died by 1063.

After her husband's death, Ealdgyth fled for refuge to her brothers, Edwin, Earl of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria, but both men made their peace with King William initially before rebelling. Traditionally she is said to have given birth to Harold's postumous son, another Harold, in Chester.

The eventual fate of Ealdgyth, widow of both the Welsh and the English king is unknown. However, in 1770 (according to Lysons' Magn. Brit. vol. ii) two skeletons were discovered near St Johns in coffin-shaped cavities, scooped out of the rock. Legend has it that Harold's queen, Aldgyth, became a nun in Chester and when she died, she was said to have been buried in the grounds of St Johns. Two bodies - perhaps Harold and his queen together again at last or just wishful thinking?



Harold's Children
Harold Godwinson's defeat and death at Hastings were a disaster for his family, especially since the surviving Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot in London responded by electing as king not one of Harold's sons but Edgar Ætheling, a great-nephew of Edward the Confessor and son of Edmund Ironside. Edgar's brief "reign" – he was never actually crowned – ended when William the Conqueror reached London in December 1066. The new regime thus established was dominated by the most powerful surviving members of the English ruling class: Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, Ealdred, Archbishop of York, and the brothers Edwin, Earl of Mercia and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria. The commitment of these men to Edgar's cause, men who had so recently passed over his claim to the throne without apparent demur, must have been doubtful from the start. The strength of their resolve to continue the struggle against William of Normandy was questionable, and the military response they organised to the continuing Norman advance was ineffectual. There are probably some elements of truth in the story of what happened to Harold's surviving relatives, but they have also had various legends associated with them. Some of these legends seem to confuse the various actors, which is perhaps unsurprising given the similarity of the names of Harold's mother and his two wives.

Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, the widow of Earl Godwin, retreated to the south-west of England to consolidate her power in that still unconquered part of the country. At the time (1067) William had travelled to Normandy and when he returned he found several revolts in England. Gytha was the first to be dealt with and at the beginning of 1068 William led his army against her, and besieged her in Exeter. The mid winter siege lasted 18 days and a large part of the Norman army perished in the process. The city finally capitulated when the expected support from local thegns did not appear. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Gytha fled before the end of the seige and left England, together with the wives or widows and families of other prominent Anglo-Saxons, all the Godwin family estates having been confiscated by William. She is said to have travelled via the island of Flatholm, or possibly Steepholm. Little else is known of Gytha's life after that time, although it is possible that she went to Scandinavia where she had relatives.

Godwin
Godwin or Godwine (fl. 1066 – 1069) was probably the eldest son, of Harold Godwinson. He is the only one recorded in Domesday Book as holding land in 1066, he was named first by the chronicler John of Worcester when listing Harold's eldest sons, and he was the one named after Harold's father. Godwin's adventures after Hastings closely follow those of his brother Edmund (see below).

Edmund
Edmund's precise date of birth is unknown, but can be estimated from the fact that his elder brother is thought to have been born in the mid- or late 1040s. Edmund is not specifically mentioned in contemporary sources as being part of the failed south-western rebellion, but it is very likely that he and his brothers Godwin and Magnus were there, asserting their claim to be leaders of the Anglo-Saxon opposition. Harold's older children were back in 1068 with the support of Irish king Diarmait mac Máel na mBó and a force of Dublin Norse mercenaries. They attempted to make Bristol their base, but the locals proved to be unsympathetic, so they were forced to try and take it by storm. The reason for the resistance may have been a fear of William's known wroth, or a dislike of the Hiberno-Norse mercenaries rather than disloyalty to the Godwin family. The city held, and the brothers sailed off with the booty they had taken from the surrounding countryside. They landed in Somerset near land that had been held by the Godwins for years, they might have intended to raid the Taunton mint. The local Fyrd led by Eadnoth Staller met them. Eadnoth had been a loyal supporter of their father but after his death at Senlac had submitted to William. The battle was hard fought with big casualties on both sides and Eadnoth's death. The failure of the Haroldsons to re-establish a base in England caused Gytha and the family to seek refuge with Count Baldwin VI of Flanders. Baldwin and the Godwin kin were tied by the marriage of Tostig Godwinson to Baldwin's aunt, Judith. Whilst, according to some accounts, Gytha and her daughter Gunnhild entered the nunnery of St Omer, where Gunnhild died in 1087 after performing many good works, the brothers Godwin and Edmund journeyed to the court of their cousin, King Sweyn of Denmark.

Harold's sons, Godwin and Edmund, fled to Ireland and then invaded Devon, but were defeated by Brian of Brittany.

Magnus


Magnus (fl. 1068) appears to have been named after Magnus the Good, king of Norway and an illegitimate son of the same Olaf II that St Olave is dedicated to. He was, in all likelihood, driven into exile in Dublin by the Norman conquest of England, along with two of his brothers, and from there took part in one, or perhaps two, expeditions to south-western England, but with little military success. They probably cost him his life. However there is a legend that he too survived. Remarkably, the legend is quite similar to that of Harold and the Hermitage at Chester. A set of inscribed stones now built into an outer wall of the Church of St John sub Castro, Lewes has a Latin inscription which reads:


 *  "Clauditur hic miles Danorum regia proles Mangnus nomen ei mangne nota progeniei; deponens mangnum se moribus induit agnum, prepete pro vita fit parvulus anachorita" ("There enters this cell a warrior of Denmark's royal race; Magnus his name, mark of mighty lineage. Casting off his Mightiness he takes the lamb's mildness, and to gain everlasting life becomes a lowly anchorite.")

The first description of the monument is given by Camden in 1610, who tells us of a very neglected church:
 * "..in the walls thereof are engraven in arched worke certaine rude verses in an obsolete character which imply that one, Magnus, descended from bloud roial of the Danes, embracing a solitary life, was there buried"

The tradition about Magnus being the son of Harold is generally considered a myth, and it unclear whether the similar legend at Chester has influenced its development. Associated with the inscribed stones is a medieval grave slab which is rather incongruously displayed up-ended. This features a "floriate cross" similar to that which can be seen near the HQ building in Chester. Whether there is any real association between the slab and the arch, and even with Magnus Haroldsson, is unknown.

Gytha
Gytha of Wessex (born c. 1053/1061 - died 1098 or 1107). According to the thirteenth-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, Gytha and two of her brothers (probably Magnus, son of Harold Godwinson and one of Godwin and Edmund) escaped to the court of their first cousin once-removed, King Sweyn Estridsson of Denmark. The two brothers were treated by Sweyn with hospitality, Magnus entering into high-level service with Bolesław II the Generous while their sister was married to Waldemar, King of Ruthenia, i.e. Vladimir II Monomakh, one of the most famous rulers of Kievan Rus. Gytha was the mother of Mstislav the Great, the last ruler of united Kievan Rus. In the Norse sagas, Mstislav is called Harald, after his grandfather. During her lifetime Gytha, as Vladimir's spouse, was Princess of Smolensk, however she died before her husband became Grand Prince of Kiev (in 1113), so she never was Grand Princess of Kiev.

Gunild
Gunild of Wessex (ft 1066-1093) remained in England after the Norman conquest and received her education at Wilton Abbey. She once met Anselm of Canterbury and afterwards wrote to him that she intended to follow a religious life. However in 1093 she eloped with Alan the Red, a companion of King William, then in his middle 50s, who was probably present at the Battle of Hastings. They did not marry and there is speculation as to whether they had a child. After Alan the Red's death shortly after the elopement in 1093, Gunhild settled with his brother Alan the Black, who was heir to his brother's vast estates. Anselm wrote to her again to refute her previous arguments and urge her again to return to Wilton.

Ulf
Ulf or Wulf (fl. 1067 – 10??/11??) may also have been born in Chester as the twin of Harold (see below), although there is some debate about this and other historians place his birth in the period 1047-53. According to some versions, at some point in William the Conqueror's reign, Ulf was taken prisoner and moved to Normandy, where he remained until 1087. When William was on his deathbed he was persuaded by the church dignitaries in attendance on him to release all of his political prisoners, Ulf among them. Apparently the terms of Ulf's imprisonment had been loose enough to allow him to learn the skills of a mounted warrior, since William's successor as Duke of Normandy, Robert Curthose, knighted Ulf. He also allowed Ulf to leave Normandy, but it is not known whether he did so since there is no further record of Ulf's career.

Harold
Harold (fl. 1067 – 1098) was born after the death of his father and his mother was Ealdgyth, daughter of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia, and widow of the Welsh prince Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Harold was probably born posthumously in Chester, where his mother had fled to escape the advancing army of William the Conqueror. The myths surrounding a "Widow's son", in this case doubly so, are complex (and occur both in the Grail Legends and elsewhere), and will occur again in the English royal line in the case of Arthur of Brittany, later stepson of Ranulf de Blondeville and born six months after the death of his father, Geoffrey Plantagenet. It is always possible that a little "myth engineering" has crept into the legend of Harold Haroldsson.

Harold was taken into exile by the Norman conquest of England, and probably first found refuge in the Norse-Irish city of Dublin, which had previously sheltered other members of Harold's family. He later appears at the court of the king of Norway, Magnus Barefoot. Here he was welcome with gratitude because of Harold Godwinson's generosity in allowing Olaf III, son of Harald Hardrada, to return home after the disastrous battle of Stamford Bridge.

The younger Harold's link with Chester involves Hugh of Avranches and his conquests in Wales. Magnus may have been approached by half-Viking Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd, who had been driven to Ireland by the Norman earls Hugh of Montgomery and Hugh of Avranches. With six ships (according to Orderic Vitalis), Magnus steered towards Anglesey in Gwynedd, Wales. Appearing off the coast at Puffin Island, he interrupted a Norman victory celebration after their defeat of the Gwynedd king — for the Welsh, "so opportunely it was ascribed to divine providence" according to historian Rosemary Power (although Magnus had not necessarily intended to side with them). In the ensuing battle (known as the Battle of Anglesey Sound, according to Power "the most widely reported event in the history of Magnus"), on or about 31 July 1098, Magnus shot Hugh of Montgomery dead with an arrow through his eye and brought about the defeat of the Norman forces. Contemporary non-Norse sources all agree that Magnus Barefoot himself was responsible for the shot, while the Norse sagas are somewhat less inclined to attribute the decisive shot to Magnus alone, noting that his shot hit Hugh almost simultaneously with that of another of his men. In one of history's great ironies, Harold, son of Harold, is said to have been with Magnus when the Norman lord was shot through the eye.

Some sources indicate that Magnus regretted killing Montgomery, suggesting that he may have been interested in an alliance with the Normans, having even sailed up displaying a red shield as the customary peace symbol. He abruptly returned to Mann with his men, leaving the Norman army weak and demoralized, and soon to retreat back to England. The defeat of the Normans allowed for the return of the exiled Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd, who thereby regained control of his former lands. The story appears to be repeated in a garbled form by Bradshaw in his life of Werburgh from about 1513. Yet another version of the battle associates it with Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney.

What came next?


By the spring of 1070, having secured the submission of Waltheof and Gospatric in Northumbria, and driven Edgar the Outlaw and his remaining supporters back to Scotland, William the Conqueror returned to Mercia, where he based himself at Chester and crushed all remaining resistance in the area before returning to the south which had been raided by a Danish fleet. At times William's own troops were close to revolt as when William set out across the Pennines, in "rain and hail", to deal with "the Welsh and the men of Chester". For more on this see: Devastation of Cheshire.

Many tales relate that the first Norman Earl of Chester was Gherbod the Fleming, but he was soon replaced by Hugh of Avranches. A footnote in Gerald of Wales tells it thus:


 * "The first earl of Chester after the Norman conquest, was Gherbod, a Fleming, who, having obtained leave from king William to go into Flanders for the purpose of arranging some family concerns, was taken and detained a prisoner by his enemies; upon which the conqueror bestowed the earldom of Chester on Hugh de Abrincis or of Avranches, "to hold as freely by the sword, as the king himself did England by the crown."

The earls of Chester from 1070 to 1232 were guaranteed a prominent place in English history by their landed estates, which placed them among the leading aristocracy of the realm whatever roles they chose to play, whether as faithful or rebellious subjects of their lord the king, or as  peaceable friends or ruthless enemies of their neighbours the Welsh. The heart of the earldom was the city of Chester, which gave the earls the dignity of their title and contained the abbey of St. Werburgh, their first monastic foundation in England and usual place of burial.

Conclusions
Harold Godwinson's connection with Chester includes far more than the legend associated with the Hermitage. Chester was a power center of the most important faction opposing the House of Godwin, that of Leofric, count of Chester and his son Ælfgar. Ælfgar's daughter Ealdgyth would eventually become Harold's wife, and the mother of Harold's postumous son, another Harold, who is said to have been born in Chester. The marriage would cement the alliance between Earls Edwin and Morcar (brothers to Ealdgyth) who would aid Harold in achieving victory at Stamford Bridge in 1066. Harold's son, Harold, would later become involved in a battle at which Norman Earl of Chester Hugh of Avranches would lose much of his lands gained in Wales. Magnus, another of Harold's sons, would become associated with a legend of a Hermitage in Lewes which has some similarity to the legend associated with the Hermitage at Chester. The links between the Godwins and the cult of St Olave, whose church is in Lower Bridge Street are speculative, but a case can be made out for it.

Although the roots of the Norman Palatinate of Chester lay in part in the almost independent fief of Leofric and his kin, much of the land which it comprised would come from Harold's lands and in some sense perhaps his lost kingdom would survive in the myths and institutions of the Palatinate.

Related Pages

 * Chester in 900:
 * Ælfgar:
 * Hermitage:
 * St Olave;
 * Gherbod the Fleming:
 * Earls of Chester:

Online

 * Harold's family;
 * The Wives and Family of King Harold II;
 * Cnut and the Rise of Earl Godwin:
 * The Dreadful Fate of Alfred the Aetheling:
 * The History Jar: blogs on the Godwins;
 * Edwin Earl of Mercia: a timeline;
 * Edwin & Morcar the Enigmatic Earls;
 * Sweyn the Pirate:
 * "The tragedy of Harold Godwinesson, once king of England":
 * Formation of the Earldom:
 * A Note on Gherbod the Fleming, Earl of Chester:
 * William the Conqueror and Chester — The Making of a Myth: William the Conqueror’s assault on Cheshire in 1070;
 * The Godwins, Towns and St Olaf Churches: Comital Investment in the Mid-11th Century;
 * In Search of Magnus, the Lewes Anchorite;
 * A history of St John Sub Castro;