Sweyn Godwinson (Old English : Swegen Godƿinson) (c. 1020 – 1052), also spelled Swein, was the eldest son of Earl Godwin of Wessex, and brother of Harold II of England.
In 1043 Sweyn was raised to an earldom which included Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Somerset. [1] [2] He signed his first Royal charter in 1044. [3]
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. [4]
From the start, Sweyn sought peace with Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, the King of Gwynedd in northern Wales. This allowed the King of Gwynedd to gain the upper hand on Gruffydd ap Rhydderch, King of Deheubarth and his main Welsh rival. [5] Sweyn supported the King of Gwynedd with more than words of alliance. In 1046, he joined in on an invasion of Deheubarth. [6]
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. [2]
During his exile he travelled first to Flanders, then to Denmark before returning to England in 1049 to beg for forgiveness. He appears to have been expelled from Denmark for an unspecified offence. His brother Harold and cousin Beorn first opposed Sweyn's return, but Beorn eventually agreed to support him.
While accompanying his cousin to meet the King, Sweyn had his cousin Beorn murdered and was again exiled, condemned as a niðing, a man of no honour. [7]
It appears that Sweyn was pardoned, despite his crimes, the following year (1050), and restored to his office. Some say it was his father Earl Godwin who pleaded his case to the King, others that it was Aldred or Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester, who met him in Flanders returning from his pilgrimage. In any case, his last stay in England would not be long.
In 1051, Earl Godwin and all his sons were exiled from England following a dispute with the King. Sweyn received the sternest judgement of them all, and was exiled for life. Again, he travelled to Flanders – this time never to return.
It appears he was driven by remorse for his sins, as he undertook a barefoot pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was on his return from there he was killed, although the sources differ on where. [a] [8]
Sweyn had one son, Hakon, said to have been a hostage in Normandy until brought back by Harold in 1064, but nothing more is known of him. [2]
The exile and eventual death of Sweyn left Harold as the heir apparent of the Godwinson family.
Ealdred was Abbot of Tavistock, Bishop of Worcester, and Archbishop of York in early medieval England. He was related to a number of other ecclesiastics of the period. After becoming a monk at the monastery at Winchester, he was appointed Abbot of Tavistock Abbey in around 1027. In 1046 he was named to the Bishopric of Worcester. Ealdred, besides his episcopal duties, served Edward the Confessor, the King of England, as a diplomat and as a military leader. He worked to bring one of the king's relatives, Edward the Exile, back to England from Hungary to secure an heir for the childless king.
Harold Godwinson, also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon English king. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the decisive battle of the Norman Conquest. Harold's death marked the end of Anglo-Saxon rule over England. He was succeeded by William the Conqueror.
Godwin of Wessex was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who became one of the most powerful earls in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made Godwin the first Earl of Wessex. Godwin was the father of King Harold II and of Edith of Wessex, who in 1045 married King Edward the Confessor.
Edward the Confessor was an Anglo-Saxon English king and saint. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 until his death in 1066.
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the first and only Welsh king to unite all of Wales under his rule from 1055 to 1063. He had also previously been King of Gwynedd and Powys from 1039 to 1055. Gruffydd was the son of Llywelyn ap Seisyll, king of Gwynedd, and Angharad daughter of Maredudd ab Owain, king of Deheubarth, and the great-great-grandson of Hywel Dda. After his death, Wales was again divided into separate kingdoms.
Tostig Godwinson was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson. After being exiled by his brother, Tostig supported the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada's invasion of England, and was killed alongside Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.
Lyfing of Winchester was an Anglo-Saxon prelate who served as Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of Crediton and Bishop of Cornwall.
Magnus Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1066 to 1069, jointly with his brother Olaf Kyrre from 1067. He was not included in official Norwegian regnal lists until modern times, but has since been counted as Magnus II.
The Battle of Fulford was fought on the outskirts of the village of Fulford, just south of York in England, on 20 September 1066, when King Harald III of Norway, also known as Harald Hardrada, a claimant to the English throne and Tostig Godwinson, his English ally, fought and defeated the Northern Earls Edwin and Morcar.
Earl of Hereford is a title in the ancient feudal nobility of England, encompassing the region of Herefordshire, England. It was created six times.
Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, also called Githa, was a Danish noblewoman. She was the wife of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and the mother of King Harold Godwinson and Edith of Wessex, the latter of whom was the queen consort of King Edward the Confessor.
Gyrth Godwinson 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 Sweyn 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.
Leofwine Godwinson was a younger brother of King Harold Godwinson, the fifth son of Earl Godwin.
Ralph the Timid, also known as Ralf of Mantes, was Earl of Hereford between 1051 and 1055 or 1057. His mother was Godgifu, the daughter of King Æthelred the Unready and his second wife Emma. His father was Drogo of Mantes, Count of Valois and the Vexin, who died on pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1035.
The House of Godwin was an Anglo-Saxon family who were one of the leading noble families in England during the last fifty years before the Norman Conquest. Its most famous member was Harold Godwinson, King of England for nine months in 1066.
Hakon Sweynson was the only son of Sweyn Godwinson, brother of Harold II of England.
Godwin or Godwine was a son, probably the eldest son, of Harold Godwinson, King of England. He was driven into exile in Dublin, along with two of his brothers, by the Norman conquest of England, and from there he twice led expeditions to south-western England, but with little success.
Edmund or Eadmundᚪᛖᛞᛘᚩᚾᛞ or Ædmund was a son of Harold Godwinson, King of England. He was driven into exile in Dublin by the Norman conquest of England, along with two of his brothers, and from there he twice took part in expeditions to south-western England, but with little success. He disappears from history in the early 1070s.
Ansgar the Staller or Esegar was one of the wealthiest and most powerful nobles in late Anglo-Saxon England. He escaped badly wounded from the Battle of Hastings in October 1066, then led the defence of London.
The Northumbrian Revolt of 1065 was a rebellion in the last months of the reign of Edward the Confessor against the earl of Northumbria, Tostig Godwinson, brother of Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex. Tostig, who had been earl since 1055, is said to have provoked his nobles to rise against him by his harsh administration of justice, raising of tax levels, frequent absences from his earldom, and murder of several political opponents. In October 1065 the rebels entered Northumbria's capital, York, killed Tostig's men, looted his treasury, renounced their allegiance to Tostig and proclaimed Morcar, brother of Edwin, Earl of Mercia, as their new earl. They then marched south to Northampton, causing much devastation in Yorkshire and the North Midlands as they went, and joining forces with the army of Mercia. The king sent his chief earl, Harold Godwinson, to negotiate with them, and when they refused to compromise on the deposition of Tostig he tried and failed to raise his own army against them. On Harold's advice, he finally gave in to their demands and recognised Morcar. Tostig was sent into exile in Flanders, from where, disgusted at what he saw as his brother's betrayal, he shortly afterward raided the English coast, finally dying in arms against him at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.