Gytha Thorgilsdatter ~ Godwin of Wessex

Gytha/Gyda Thorgilsdatter/ Thorkelsdottir (Old English: Gȳða Þorkelsdōttir), also called Githa,  ~ Godwin Wulfnotson of Wessex. ( Old English:  Godƿin)

Gytha -(from wikipedia).

Gytha/Gyda,  –1040–, was a daughter of Thorgils Styrbjørnsson Sprakaleggg/Sprakling and a sister of Ulf Jarl, who was married to Estrid, a daughter of Svend Tveskæg and a sister of Canute the Great. At an expedition in England Ulf was said to have had assistance from Godwin, whom he therefore protected and recommended to his brother-in-law king Canute. He soon learned about Godwin's skills, and Godwin, who had married Gytha ab. 1019, became Earl of Wessex in 1020 and the king's special counselor. Godwin was a skilled warrior, but also ingenious, knowledgeable and of character. He possessed great eloquence and an ability to win people. Gytha seems to have been his equal of character, she held sincere piety and was very charitable to the church and to the poor.

Gytha shared the shifting fate of her husband. Godwin kept his power under Hardicanute and under Edward the Confessor, who married Godwin's daughter Eadgyth/ Edith in 1045. Godwin and his sons, who also were in high positions, were for a period the most distinguished governors of the kingdom. But gradually the French influence began to make an impact on the king, and when Godwin - supported by the public opinion - would not yield to this, he was banished from the country in 1051. He went with his family to Flanders.

When Godwin arrived with a fleet at the coast of England and people joined him, Edward felt obliged to let him return in 1052. Godwin became ill not long after and died 15 April 1053. His son Harald/Harold inherited his position and influence and ascended the throne after Edward's death in 1066. But William of Normandy made his claim, and in the Battle of Senlac (Hastings) the same year Harold was killed together with his two brothers Leofwine and Gyrth. Gytha arrived the day after the battle to William and asked having Harold's body delivered against paying his weight in gold. Her request was rejected.

Godwin's party had still after the conquest of the country a strong support from the western Shires, and during a rebellion in 1068 was Exeter, where Gytha lived, the center of the movement. The city had to surrender to William, but before the gates were opened, Gytha had escaped and sought refuge in some islets in the British Channel. She later went to Saint Omer in Flanders. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Gytha left England after the Norman conquest,  together with the wives or widows and families of other prominent Anglo-Saxons, all the Godwin family estates having been confiscated by William. Little else is known of Gytha's life or future, although it is probable that she went to Scandinavia (like her granddaughter and namesake), where she had relatives. Her surviving (and youngest) son Wulfnoth lived nearly all his life in captivity in Normandy until William the Conqueror's death in 1087. Only her eldest daughter Queen Edith (d. 1075) still held some power (however nominal) as widow of Edward the Confessor. Gytha's year of death is unknown.

Bayeux tapestry (English history.com)

Godwin of Wessex (died 15 April 1053) was one of the most powerful earls in England under the Danish King Canute the Great and his successors. Canute made him the first Earl of Wessex. Godwin was the father of King Harold Godwinson and Edith of Wessex, wife of King Edward the Confessor. Godwin's father was probably Wulfnoth Cild, c. 1014, who was a thegn of Sussex, who is regarded by historians as the probable father of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and thus the grandfather of Harold Godwinson. It is known that Godwin's father was called Wulfnoth, and in the view of Frank Barlow the Godwin family's massive estates in Sussex are indisputable evidence that Wulfnoth was the South Saxon thegn.  His origin is unknown but 'Cild' normally refers to a man of rank. In 1009 Wulfnoth was accused of unknown crimes at a muster of Æthelred the Unready's fleet and fled with twenty ships; the ships sent to pursue him were destroyed in a storm. Godwin was probably an adherent of Æthelred's eldest son, Æthelstan, who left him an estate when he died in 1014. This estate in Compton^, Sussex, had once belonged to Godwin’s father. Although he is now always thought of as connected with Wessex, Godwin had probably been raised in Sussex, not Wessex and was probably a native of Sussex 
 
After Canute seized the throne in 1016, Godwin's rise was rapid. By 1018 he was an Earl, probably of eastern Wessex, and then by around 1020 of all Wessex. Between 1019 and 1023 he accompanied Canute on an expedition to Denmark, where he distinguished himself, and shortly afterwards married Gytha , the sister of the Danish Earl, Ulf, who was married to Canute's sister Estrid. 12 November 1035, Canute died. His kingdoms were divided among three rival rulers. Harold Harefoot, Canute's illegitimate son with Ælfgifu of Northhampton, seized the throne of England. Harthacnut, Canute's legitimate son with Emma of Normandy reigned in Denmark. Norway rebelled under Magnus the Noble. In 1035, the throne of England was reportedly claimed by Alfred Ætheling, younger son of Emma of Normandy and Æthelred the Unready, and half-brother of Harthacnut. Godwin is reported to have either captured Alfred himself or to have deceived him by pretending to be his ally and then surrendering him to the forces of Harold Harefoot. Either way Alfred was blinded and soon died at Ely. In 1040, Harold Harefoot died and Godwin supported the accession of his half-brother Harthacnut to the throne of England. When Harthacnut himself died in 1042 Godwin supported the claim of Æthelred's last surviving son Edward the Confessor to the throne. Edward had spent most of the previous thirty years in Normandy.  His reign restored the native royal house of Wessex to the throne of England.

Despite his alleged responsibility for the death of Edward's brother Alfred, Godwin secured the marriage of his daughter Edith (Eadgyth) to Edward in 1045. As Edward drew advisors, nobles and priests from his former place of refuge in a bid to develop his own power base, Godwin soon became the leader of opposition to growing Norman influence. After a violent clash between the people of Dover and the visiting Eustace, Count of Boulogne, Edward's brother-in-law, Godwin was ordered to punish the people of Dover (as he and Leofric, Earl of Mercia had done in  Worcester, in Leofric's own earldom). This time, however, Godwin refused, choosing to champion his own countrymen against a (visiting) foreign ruler and his own king. Edward saw this as a test of power, and managed to enlist the support of Siward, Earl of Northumbria and Earl Leofric. Godwin and his sons were exiled from the kingdom in September 1051. However, they returned the following year with an armed force, which gained the support of the navy, burghers, and peasants, so compelling Edward to restore his earldom. This however set a precedent to be followed by a rival earl some years later, and then by Godwin's own son in 1066.

On 15 April 1053 Godwin died suddenly, after collapsing during a royal banquet at Winchester. Some colourful accounts claim that he choked on a piece of bread while denying any disloyalty to the king. However this appears to be later Norman propaganda. Contemporary accounts indicate that he just had a sudden illness, possibly a stroke.


His son Harold succeeded him as Earl of Wessex, an area then covering roughly the southernmost third of England. With the death of Earl Siward (1055) and later Earl Ælfgar (1062), the children of Godwin were poised to assume sole control. Tostig was helped into the earldom of Northumbria, thus controlling the north. The Mercian earl was sidelined, especially after Harold and Tostig broke the Welsh-Mercian alliance in 1063. Harold later succeeded Edward the Confessor and became King of England in his own right in 1066. At this point, both Harold's remaining brothers in England were earls in their own right, Harold was himself king and in control of Wessex, and he had married the sister of Earl Edwin of Mercia and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, (who had succeeded his brother Tostig). Godwin's family looked set to inaugurate a new royal dynasty. But instead Harold was overthrown and killed in the Norman Conquest.

Gytha and Godwin's children.
1. Edith of Wessex (c. 1020-18 December 1075) queen consort of Edward the Confessor.
2. Harold II Godwinson of England (c. 1022 - d.14 October 1066)
3. Sweyn Godwinson, Earl of Mercia  (c. 1023 - d. 29 September 1052).
4. Tostig Godwinson , Earl of Northumbria (c. 1026 - d.25 September 1066)
5. Gyrth Godwinson ( c. 1030 - d.14 October 1066)
6. Leofwine Godwinson, Earl of Kent ( c. 1035 - d.14 October 1066)
7. Wulfnoth Godwinson ( c. 1040 - d. after 1087)
8. Alfgar, possibly a  monk in Rheims.
9. Edgiva.
10.Elgiva/Ælfgifu (c. 1035 -  d. c. 1066).
11.Gunhilda , a nun ( c. 1035 - d. 24 August 1087).



sources:
F.M. Stenton:  Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford History of England), 2001
Ian Walker: Harold : The Last Anglo-Saxon King, 1997
Ann Williams: The English and the Norman Conquest, 2000.
wikipedia 

Ælfgifu/Aelfgifu of Northampton (c. 990 - after 1040) , consort of King Cnut of England and Denmark.,

 












Ælfgifu of Northampton (c. 990 – after 1040) was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who became the first consort of King Cnut of England and Denmark, and mother of King Harold I of England (1035–1040). She served as regent of Norway from 1030 to 1035. She is not to be confused with her rival Emma of Normandy, whose name could be rendered as Ælfgifu in Old English, nor with King Ætehlred's first wife, Ælfgifu of York.

Ælfgifu was born into an important noble family based in the Midlands ( Mercia). She was a daughter of Ælfhelm, ealdorman of southern Northumbria, who was killed in 1006. John of Worcester names his wife Wulfrun, but it is possible that he had her confused with the Wulfrun, who was Ælfhelm's mother and possibly patron of the community at Wolverhampton. Another noteworthy figure who belonged to this family was Ælfhelm's brother (hence Ælfgifu's uncle)Wulfric Spot, a wealthy nobleman and patron of Burton Abbey. her cognomen of Northampton attached to her in Manuscript D of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in order to distinguish her from Emma of Normandy, and consequently adopted by later historians such as John of Worcester. It would seem to indicate that she was a prominent landholder in the area.

Ælfgifu's date of birth is unknown. Any conjectures are largely based on the date of her father's death (1006), the approximate date of her betrothal to Cnut (1004 x 1016, see below) and the time by which she had borne him sons, whose ages are themselves difficult to establish. To remain on the safe side, it can be assumed that she was born sometime between the (mid-)980's and (mid-)990's.

In 1013 Swein Forkbeard (Sven Tveskæg),King of Denmark, invaded northern England. The northern peoples, many of them of Scandinavian descent, immediately submitted to him. He then married his young son Cnut to Ælfgifu to seal their loyalty. Swein went on to conquer the whole of England and was accepted as King, but he died in February 1014 after a reign of only five weeks. Æthelred then sent an army which forced Cnut to flee back to Denmark, leaving his wife and their baby son,Svein (Svend Alfifasen) the future King of Norway, behind with her family. They were anxious to make their peace with Æthelred, but unwilling to hand Ælfgifu and her son over to Æthelred to be murdered, so they sent the mother and child with King Swein's body to Denmark. There she became pregnant again and in 1015 or 1016 she gave birth to Harold Harefoot (Harald Harefod).

Her two sons were to figure prominently in the empire which their father built in northern Europe, though not without opposition. After his conquest of England in 1016, Cnut married emma of Normandy, the widow of King Æthelred It was then regarded as acceptable to put aside one wife and take another, a which might be described as "serial monogamy".Emma's sons, Edward and Ælfred by Æthelred and Harthacnut (Hardicanute) by Cnut, were also claimants to the throne of her husband. Exactly how the second marriage affected Ælfgifu's status as Cnut's first consort is unknown, but there is no evidence to suggest that she was repudiated.

Cnut sent Ælfgifu with their eldest son Svein to rule Norway, in 1030. Their rule was, however, so harsh that the Norwegians rebelled against them. They were driven out, in 1034 or 1035, while Svein died of wounds in Denmark shortly after, probably in 1036. In Norway, where she was known as Álfífa in Old Norse, this period entered history as 'Álfífa's time' (Álfífuǫld), remembered for her severe rule and heavy taxation. In the Norwegian Ágrip, for instance, the following verse is attributed to her contemporary, the skald Sigvatr (Sigvard:

Ælfgyfu’s time

long will the young man remember,

when they at home ate ox’s food,

and like the goats, ate rind.

Cnut died at Shaftesbury in 1035. Symeon of durham and Adam of Bremen suggest that Cnut had reserved the English throne for Harold, while the Encomium Emmae Reginae claims that he done so for Harthacnut. In any event, on Cnut's death, Ælfgifu was determined that her second son Harold should be the next English king. She had returned to England (at least) by 1036, while Emma's son Harthacnut was away in Denmark, at war with the Norwegian king Magnus I, and the Swedes under their king Anund Jacob. Emma's other sons, Ælfred and Edward, stayed in Normandy. With help from her supporters, Ælfgifu was able to secure the throne for her son. In the view of Frank Stenton, she was probably the real ruler of England for part, if not the whole, of his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (versions C, D and E) describes how Harold and his men forcefully laid claim on the treasury house in Winchester, where Cnut was buried and Emma had taken up residence: That Ælfgifu was such a key figure in these political machinations is spelled out in messages which reached the German court. Immo, a chaplain and cathedral canon at the court of Worms, reported to the bishop of Worms that Anglo-Saxon messengers (legati Anglorum) had come to Worms and there informed Gunhild, daughter of Cnut and Emma, about the latest developments.

It is unfortunate that most of the sources are extremely biased in favour of Emma and her sons. While in the previous letter, which can hardly be called neutral, Ælfgifu is accused of using deception, lavish feasts and bribery in order to wheedle support, Emma's encomiast attributes to her even more seriously dishonest methods. Apart from claiming that Harold was only accepted as a temporary regent, he makes Ælfgifu an accomplice in the murder of Ælfred Ætheling by suggesting that she was responsible for sending a forged letter to Normandy inviting Ælfred to England.

Another way in which the legitimacy of Harold's succession was disputed in the wake of the succession crisis was by focusing on his and his brother's parentage:

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Harold's claim that he was the son of Cnut and Ælfgifu is either distrusted or simply denied.

Encomium Emmae Reginae: heard that Harold was secretly a servant's son

John of Worcester: heard tales in which the fathers of Svein and Harold were respectively a priest and a shoemaker. 

Adam of Bremen  states that Svein and Harold were sons to Cnut and a concubina (but that Cnut nevertheless reserved England for Harold, Denmark for Harthacnut).

Ælfgifu fell into obscurity after Harold's death in 1040, and the crowning of Harthacnut, the legitimate heir to Cnut and also the King of Denmark. It is unknown when she died. 

Source: Wikipedia
grethe bachmann   ©​ copyright
 ___________________________________________________________________________________

Primary sources:

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MSS C, D and E, ed. D. Dumville and S. Keynes, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A Colloborative Edition. Cambridge, 1983; tr. M.J. Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. 2nd ed. London, 2000. Encomium Emmae Reginae, ed. and tr. Alistair Campbell, Encomium Emmae Reginae. Cambridge, 1998. Letter of Immo, chaplain at the court of Worms, to Bishop Azeko of Worms, preserved in the Lorsch manuscript, Codex Palatinus Latinus 930 (Vatican Library), ed. W. Bulst, Die ältere Wormser Briefsammlung. MGH Epistolae. Die Briefe der deutschen Kaiserzeit 3. Weimar, 1949. 20–2 (no. 5.). Available from the Digital MGH. William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum, ed. and tr. R.A.B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson and M. Winterbottom, William of Malmesbury. Gesta Regum Anglorum. The History of the English Kings. OMT. 2 vols: vol 1. Oxford, 1998. Symeon of Durham, ed. T. Arnold, Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia. 2 vols. London, 1885. John of Worcester, Chronicle (of Chronicles), ed. Benjamin Thorpe, Florentii Wigorniensis monachi chronicon ex chronicis. 2 vols. London, 1848–9. Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum §§ 27, 32, 35, ed. and tr. M.J. Driscoll, Ágrip af Nóregskonungasǫgum. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series 10. 2nd ed. 2008 (1995). Available online from the Viking Society for Northern Research Theodoricus monachus, Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium, chapter 21, tr. David and Ian McDougall. The Ancient History of the Norwegian Kings. Viking Society for Northern Research, 1998. Legendary Óláfs saga helga ch. 71 Morkinskinna, ed. Finnur Jónsson. Morkinskinna. Copenhagen: Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur, 1932. Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. The Chronicle of Hugh Candidus  Secondary literature 'Ælfgifu 1', 'Ælfhelm 17', 'Wulfrun', 'Wulfric 52', Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England. Campbell, M.W. "Queen Emma and Ælfgifu of Northampton. Canute the Great's women." Medieval Scandinavia 4 (1971): 60–79. Rognoni, L., "Presenza e azione di Ælfgifu di Northampton, regina madre e reggente nell'Impero del Nord di Canuto il Grande (1013–1040)" (in Italian) [1] Stenton, Frank. Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford, 1971. 397–8. Stevenson, W.H. "An alleged son of King Harold Harefoot." English Historical Review 28 (1913): 112–7.

Hardicanute, 1018-42, and Gunhild (Kunigunde), son and daughter of Cnut the Great and Emma of Normandy. Gunhild ~ king Henrik III of Germany.

Dansk Biografisk Lexicon
Carl Fr. Bricka
Project Runeberg
(1887-1905)

Hardicanute, 1018-42, king, son of Cnut the Great
and Emma, was appointed king in Denmark 1028, but
since he after his father's death stayed too long
in Denmark, his halfbrother Harald was elected king
of England. H. had been busy fighting Norway's
king Magnus, but he finally had an agreement with
him and could in 1039 go with a fleet to Flandern
to his mother. Harald died shortly after,and the
English magnates agreed in summoning H., who was
crowned king in June 1040. His rule did not last
for long, the weak king died 8. June 1042, when he
at a wedding toasted the bride; he was buried in
Winchester by his father's side.

Unfortunately there is nothing good to be told about
this last male of the Danish kings' family in
England; he had persecuted his opponents in a brutal
way, he had taunted his brother's body and imposed a
considerable war tax, which caused unrest in the
country.

Freeman, Norman Conquest I.
Dictionary of National Biography XXIV.
Steenstrup, Normannerne III.

Gunhild, ab.1020-1038, daughter of Cnut the Great.
In his marriage to Aethelred's widow Emma of
Normandy Knud had two children, Hardicanute and
G. In June 1035 Knud arranged with Emperor Conrad
II a marriage between G. and the emperor's son
king Henrik, the later Henrik III, but Knud never
saw the marriage established, since he died 12
November 1035. The wedding took place in great
splendor in June 1036 in Nimwegen, where G. was
crowned and took the name Kunigunde.
G. is described as a fine and delicate woman with
a body and mind like a child. She had a weak
constitution and died after 2 years of marriage
18 July 1038; she had only one child, the daughter
Beatrix, who became an abbess.

Legend and folklore has incorrectly transferred to
G. the tale about a queen, who by her husband's
accussation of adultry proved her innocence by
letting a dwarf defend her in a fight with a giant
and defeat him.

Steindorff, Jahrbïcher des deutschen Reichs unter
Heinrich III.
J. Steenstrup, Normannerne III.

Johannes C. H. R. Steenstrup.

Dansk Biografisk Lexicon
Carl Fr. Bricka
Project Runeberg
(1887-1905) 

translation grethe bachmann  ©​ copyright 

Thorkel the Tall, -- ab. 1024, ~Eadgytha - and their son Harald Thorkilsson, --1042, ~Gunhild

Dansk Biografisk Lexicon
Carl Fr. Bricka
Project Runeberg 

Thorkel the Tall, --o.1024, Jarl, was the son of Strut-Harald, 

Jarl in Skåne.

At the magnificent wake for his father, which T.'s brother, Sigvald,
the Jomsborg-chief, let celebrate, Sigvald swore on his Brage-cup to go on an 

expedition to Norway to overthrow Hakon Jarl, and T. swore that he would accompany

his brother. The expedition took place shortly after, but in the unlucky battle

at Hjørungavaag the two brothers were both the first to take flight; in the

famous battle at Svold (1000) T. is said to have given Erik Jarl, Hakon
Jarl's son, the useful advice to put logs from his ship up to Olaf Tryggvasson's

ship «Ormen hin Lange», so the ship began to lean and they could
enter it. 

In the Danish expeditions to England during the next years took T. part together

with the Jomsborg-vikings (1009). After having conquered Canterbury (1012),

when the Vikings assailed the captured archbishop Aelfheah to force him to pay

ransom, T. tried in vain to save the archbishop's life by offering a big
reward to the warriors. Shortly after had T. an agreement with king Aethelred;

with a crew of 45 ships he went to serve him and undertook to defend the country,

if he was paid living and clothes for himself and his warriors. 

T. met his duty in the following years; he defended London with endurance and

courage , when king Svend attacked the town, (1013), and Aehtelred seeked refuge

with T. on his fleet; T. and his warriors were paid 21.000 pounds.

Shortly after came a change. After king Svend's death ( February 1014) the Anglo

Saxons made an attempt to surprise the Danes in their castles; T.'s brother 

Hemming was killed with all his crew. And T. left Aethelred and his case, he

sailed with 9 ships to Denmark and urged king Knud to attack England. With a large

fleet Knud went to England (1015) and subjected large parts of the country
during several struggles, in which T. took part, like at Ashington. At king

Edmund's death the same year Knud was elected king by all the people, and T. was

given the rule of one of the 4 large parts of the country, East Angel.

AFter king Knud had Eadric Streona killed, T. was for some years Knud's first

advisor and right hand. Upon the battle-field of Ashington Knud and T. built

together a church, and the church Bury St. Edmunds had a warm protector in T.; 

he appointed monks to do service instead of priests.

T. had married Eadric Streona's widow Eadgytha,a daughter of king Aethelred, 

and this made Knud suspicious. Since the king had planned to let England rule by 

the English only, he banished T.to Denmark(1021). A few years later he reconciled 

with his old war comrade and turned over the management of Denmark to T. as a 

guardian for Harald, Knud's and Aelfgifu's son, (1023), but T. died shortly after,

according an unreliable English chronicle he was let down by the Danish chiefs 

and killed by the peasants. His son Harald was then by Knud appointed
regent in Denmark.

Munch, Det norske Folks Historie III.
Freeman, The Norman conquest I.
Steenstrup, Normannerne III.
Stephen, Dictionary of national biography LVI.

Johannes C. H. R. Steenstrup.

Harald (Thorkilsson), --1042, Jarl, son of Thorkil the Tall, 

was married to Cnut the Great's sister's daughter Gunhild. Knud appointed in 1028 

H. as regent in Denmark and the Wendic possessions. When Magnus the Good after 

Hardicanute's death (June 1042) won Denmark's throne, was H. regarded as a

dangerous rival, and the Saxon duke's son Ordulf - who was married to Magnus' 

sister, let H. kill 13. November 1042, when he after a pilgrimage to Rome went 

through Holstein.

Johannes C. H. R. Steenstrup.
Dansk Biografisk Lexicon
Carl Fr. Bricka
Project Runeberg
(1887-1905)  
(1887-1905)

  ©​ copyright