Godwin

Godwin or Godwine , d. 1053, earl of Wessex. He became chief adviser to King Canute , was created (c.1018) an earl, and was given great wealth and lands. After Canute's death (1035) Godwin and Queen Emma, Canute's widow, supported the claims to succession of her son Harthacanute , against those of Canute's illegitimate son Harold Harefoot . Godwin apparently permitted the murder of another claimant to the throne, Alfred Ætheling, son of Queen Emma by her first husband, Æthelred the Unready, and brother of Edward (later Edward the Confessor ). This brutality seems to have earned Godwin the enmity of Harthacanute and of Edward, who succeeded Harthacanute. Nevertheless, Godwin became even more powerful; he secured earldoms for his sons Sweyn and Harold and married (1045) his daughter, Edith, to Edward. In 1051, when Edward ordered Godwin to punish the people of Dover for a fracas with Eustace II of Boulogne and his retinue, Godwin took the opportunity to challenge the king's strength by refusing. Edward met the challenge and exiled Godwin and his family. However, in 1052, taking advantage of the popular dislike of the king's Norman friends, Godwin and his sons led an armed invasion of England, and the settlement they forced upon Edward restored Godwin to his former importance and outlawed many of the Norman newcomers. Godwin was succeeded as earl of Wessex by his son Harold.

Bibliography: See F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (3d ed. 1971).

Godwine, earl of Wessex (d. 1053). Godwine rose to prominence in the reign of Cnut, as one of his chief advisers, and has traditionally been held responsible for the brutal death of Æthelred the Unready's exiled son Alfred in 1036. When the Danish line ended (1042), Godwine supported the accession of Alfred's brother Edward, who married Godwine's daughter. With his sons established in earldoms, his area of influence was vast. In 1053 Godwine died, his enemies said choking while protesting his innocence of Alfred's murder. Wessex passed to his son Harold, who died at Hastings in 1066.

Godwin ♂ From the Old English personal name Godwine, derived from god ‘god’ + wine ‘friend’. This was borne in the 11th century by the Earl of Wessex, the most important man in England after the king. He was an influential adviser to successive kings of England, and father of the King Harold who was defeated at Hastings in 1066. The personal name continued in use after the Norman Conquest long enough to give rise to a surname. Modern use as a given name is probably a transferred use of the surname, rather than a revival of the Old English name.