The Witan was the king's council in the Anglo-Saxon government of England from before the seventh century until the 11th century. It was composed of the leading magnates,both ecclesiastic and secular,and meetings of the council were sometimes called the Witenagemot. Its primary function was to advise the king on subjects such as promulgation of laws,judicial judgments,approval of charters transferring land,settlement of disputes,election of archbishops and bishops and other matters of major national importance. The witan also had to elect and approve the appointment of a new king. Its membership was composed of the most important noblemen,including ealdormen,thegns,and senior clergy.
Godwin of Wessex was an English 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.
Edgar Ætheling or Edgar II was the last male member of the royal house of Cerdic of Wessex. He was elected King of England by the Witan in 1066 but never crowned.
The Norman Conquest was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman,French,Flemish,and Breton troops,all led by the Duke of Normandy,later styled William the Conqueror.
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.
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.
The House of Wessex,also known as the House of Cerdic,the House of the West Saxons,the House of the Gewisse,the Cerdicings and the West Saxon dynasty,refers to the family,traditionally founded by Cerdic of the Gewisse,that ruled Wessex in Southern England from the early 6th century. The house became dominant in southern England after the accession of King Ecgberht in 802. Alfred the Great saved England from Viking conquest in the late ninth century and his grandson Æthelstan became first king of England in 927. The disastrous reign of Æthelred the Unready ended in Danish conquest in 1014. Æthelred and his son Edmund Ironside attempted to resist the Vikings in 1016,but after their deaths the Danish Cnut the Great and his sons ruled until 1042. The House of Wessex then briefly regained power under Æthelred's son Edward the Confessor,but lost it after the Confessor's reign,with the Norman Conquest in 1066. All kings of England since Henry II have been descended from the House of Wessex through Henry I's wife Matilda of Scotland,who was a great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside.
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.
Siward or Sigurd was an important earl of 11th-century northern England. The Old Norse nickname Digri and its Latin translation Grossus are given to him by near-contemporary texts. It is possible Siward may have been of Scandinavian or Anglo-Scandinavian origin,perhaps a relative of Earl Ulf,although this is speculative. He emerged as a regional strongman in England during the reign of Cnut. Cnut was a Scandinavian ruler who conquered most of England in the 1010s,and Siward was one of many Scandinavians who came to England in the aftermath,rising to become sub-ruler of most of northern England. From 1033 at the latest,he was in control of southern Northumbria,present-day Yorkshire,governing as earl on Cnut's behalf.
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England,existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from soon after the end of Roman Britain until the Norman Conquest in 1066,consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927,when it was united as the Kingdom of England by King Æthelstan. It became part of the short-lived North Sea Empire of Cnut,a personal union between England,Denmark and Norway in the 11th century.
The history of Anglo-Saxon London relates to the history of the city of London during the Anglo-Saxon period,in the 7th to 11th centuries.
Events from the 1060s in England.
Events from the 1050s in England.
The House of Godwin is 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.
Tovi the Proud,fl. 1018–1043,was a rich and powerful 11th-century Danish thegn who held a number of estates in various parts of southern England. A translation of the legend of Waltham Abbey cites the Lord of Waltham as 'Tovi le Prude',"totius Angliae post regnem primus". He was staller to King Cnut the Great.
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.
The Burning of Southwark was a battle fought in Southwark during the Norman Conquest of England in October 1066.
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.
Staller is an Anglo-Saxon title that was held by various high-ranking officials of the crown during the 11th century. It ceased to be used in the 1070s.
