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Godwin (Earl of the West Saxons)

Earl of the West Saxons.

He was probably son of the South-Saxon Wulfnoth, who was outlawed in 1009, and regained his father's lands by his conduct in the contest with Canute. By 1018 he was an earl, and the year after he married the daughter of Ulf, and soon became Earl of the West Saxons. In 1042 he took the foremost part in raising Edward to the English throne, and was rewarded by the marriage of his daughter Edith to the English king. Godwin led the struggle against the worthless king's fondness for foreign favorites, and thus incurred the enmity of the court party. The king heaped insults on Queen Edith, seized her dower, and her money, and closely confined her in the monastery of Wherwell. Godwin and his sons were banished, but they contrived to keep alive the antipathy of the English to the Norman favorites of Edward, and in the summer of 1052 landed on the S. coast of England. The royal troops, the navy, and vast numbers of the burghers and peasants went over to Godwin; and finally the king was forced to grant his demands, and replace his family in all their offices. Godwin died April 14, 1053.