History Today, September 1st, 2001
September 8th, 1051
EARL GODWIN of Wessex was the most formidable figure in Edward the Confessor's England. He had first come to prominence as a henchman of Canute and by his well-connected Danish wife he had strong-minded sons to support him. The vicious eldest son, Swein, and the second son, Harold, were both earls themselves and in 1045 they became the king's brothers-in-law when the Confessor married Godwin's daughter Edith. The king, however, resented the Godwin family's dominance and showed a partiality for Norman and French advisers which angered them. In 1051 Edward's insistence on ...
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