A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

Importance of Earl Godwine.

Harold. 1037.

Harthacnut. 1040.

With him fell his plans, both of the Scandinavian Empire and of good government in England. His sons, Harold and Harthacnut, in no way inherited his greatness; they appear to have been little better than savage barbarians. The succession was disputed between them. Godwine and the West Saxons obtained the South of England for Harthacnut, while Harold reigned in the North. But as Harthacnut did not come to England, but remained in his kingdom of Denmark, Godwine was the practical ruler. This great Earl, whose sympathies were wholly national, was accused of putting to death Alfred, the son of Æthelred and Emma, who seems to have taken advantage of the absence of Harthacnut to aim at re-establishing himself in Wessex. But as the actual murderers were the men of Harold whom Godwine had opposed, it would seem that the charge was a false one. The continued absence of Harthacnut enabled Harold to secure the whole of the kingdom, over which he reigned for two years. On his death, in 1040, Harthacnut stepped unopposed into his position. His short reign was marked by no great events. Godwine, having cleared himself by oath and by compurgation (in which a large number of Earls and Thegns joined) of the charge of murdering Alfred, remained in power. A tyrannical use of the King’s House-carls in collecting a tax produced an outbreak in Worcester, which was punished with brutal severity. And when the King fell dead, while drinking at a bridal feast, the English were glad to be rid of a line of such barbarous sovereigns, and to restore the House of Cerdic in the person of the late king’s half-brother Edward, who, in the absence of direct descendants of the Danish house, entered almost unopposed on the kingdom.

Edward the Confessor. 1042.

Rivalry between Godwine and the French party.

Godwine banished. 1051.

Return and death of Godwine. 1052.

It was the eloquence of Godwine which overcame the slight opposition offered to Edward’s election, and secured him the throne. This nobleman thus reached the summit of his power, and two years afterwards his daughter Edith became the King’s wife. Edward’s education and training had rendered his tastes and policy as decidedly French as those of Godwine were national. There thence arose, and continued throughout the reign, a constant enmity between the two parties—the Frenchmen, whom Edward brought over in great numbers and employed particularly as bishops, and the national party, headed by Godwine and his sons. It is the progress of this quarrel which forms the history of the reign, side by side with the efforts of Godwine to push his family prominently forward in opposition to the family of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. On the one hand, the King lavished favours upon his foreign followers. A Frenchman, Robert of Jumièges, became Bishop of London, and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury; Ulf, another Norman, became Bishop of Dorchester in Oxfordshire; Ralph, the son of Edward’s sister and the Count of Mantes, was made an Earl; and Eustace of Boulogne, her second husband, was loaded with honours. On the other hand, Godwine succeeded in securing for members of his own family the earldoms of Somersetshire and Herefordshire, and of the East and Middle Angles. The crisis of the rivalry at length arrived. It arose from an outrage committed by the followers of Eustace on the citizens of Dover. The townsmen rose against the insolent Normans and drove them from the city; and when Godwine, as Earl, was called upon to punish the citizens, he positively refused unless they were fairly tried before the Witan. Both sides took up arms,—Godwine and his sons on one side; the King, with Siward of Northumberland, Leofric of Mercia, and his own French partisans on the other. The armies faced each other in Gloucestershire; but Godwine, unwilling to press matters to extremity, accepted the proposal of Leofric that the question should be referred to the Witan. When the Witan assembled, the King was there with a great army. Overawed by this force, the Witan, recurring to the old charge against Godwine and to a late act of violence on the part of his son Swend, ordered Godwine and his sons to appear before them as criminals. This they refused to do unless hostages were given, and as this demand was refused, they would not appear, and were outlawed. Godwine and three sons retired to Baldwin of Bruges, Leofwine and Harold to Ireland. The French party were triumphant. Robert, as we have seen, was made Archbishop, William, another Frenchman, succeeded him as Bishop of London, and Odda, probably an Englishman in the French interest, was given the western part of Godwine’s earldom. Harold’s earldom was given to Ælfgar, son of Leofric. At the same time, to complete the French influence, William of Normandy came over to England, and, as he always declared, received a promise of the succession from his cousin Edward.

The administration of foreigners was so unpopular and so unsuccessful, that Godwine and his family thought that an opportunity had arisen for their return. Unable to procure their restoration by peaceful means, they determined upon using force; and after various expeditions, but feebly opposed by the English, who at heart wished them well, Godwine found himself strong enough to sail up the Thames; and so preponderating was the feeling of the country in his favour, that, as the King refused justice, it was agreed that the matter should be referred to the Witan. What their decision would be was not doubtful, so the French prelates and earls and knights, who had been building feudal castles, at once fled, and Godwine and his sons came back in triumph. Stigand, a priest, who had been originally appointed by Cnut to an abbey raised at Assandun in memory of the Danish victory over Edmund Ironside, and who had acted as principal mediator, was elected to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, left vacant by the flight of Robert. The next year Earl Godwine died suddenly, while at dinner with the King.[1] His death restored the balance between the two great families. While Harold succeeded to the earldom of the West Saxons, and the vacant earldom of Northumbria was given to his brother Tostig, East Anglia was restored to Leofric’s son Ælfgar. Earl Siward of Northumbria had died in 1055.[2]