GODWIN
Godwin md 1020 Githa; he d 1053; was an English Statesman. His parentage
is uncertain, but thought to be a son of Wulfnoth who was a son of Ethelmer
who was a son of Ethelric. Godwin became chief adviser to King Canute;
was made earl of Wessex, and was given great wealth and lands. After
Canute's death, Godwin and King Canute's widow, Queen Emma (of Normandy),
supported the claims of the throne of her son by Canute, Harthacanute,
against those of Harold Harefoot, Canute's son by AElgifu of Northampton.
Godwin apparently permitted the murder of another claimant to the throne,
Alfred AEtheling, son of Queen Emma by her first husband, AEthelred II,
and brother of Edward (later Edward the Confessor). This brutality
seems to have earned him the enmity of Harthacanute and of Edward, who
succeeded Harthacanute. The king married Godwin's daughter in 1045
and Godwin was the most powerful earl in England.
Harold, son of Godwin
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