Godwin, Earl of Wessex

d.1053

Godwin was one of the Anglo-Saxon nobility who quickly accepted the rule in England of the Danish king Cnut. He is commonly held to be responsible for the death in 1036 of King Aethlered's son Alfred.

Following the death of Harthacnut in 1042 he supported Edward 'the Confessor' who established earldoms on his sons. But in 1051 he refused to carry out an order of Edward's to attack the town of Dover, in retribution for the townspeople's perceived maltreatment of some visiting Frenchmen. Godwin was forced into exile, only to return the following year with a large army. With civil war very much a possibility, Edward allowed the return of Godwin and the reinstatement of his family's lands and titles. Godwin was also able to force the dismissal of many Norman's from the king's service. Godwin died soon after his return, apparently choking while at King Edward's dinnertable. His son Harold Godwinson was briefly king of England in 1066.

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