GODWIN, or GODWINE, EARL OF THE WEST SAXONS, an Anglo-Saxon noble: b. about 990; d. 1 April 1053. Godwin became the leading Englishman in the first half of the Ilth cen tury and was father of the last king of the English native stock. He ingratiated himself with Ulf, brother-in-law of King Canute, the latter gave him his daughter in marriage and he soon became one of the most powerful of the English nobles. He was the most powerful factor in procuring the English throne for Ed ward the Confessor and from that time headed the national party (1042) in opposition to the Norman court favorites. His son Harold (afterward king) was Earl of East Anglia; his son Swegen was Earl of Hereford, Glou cester and Oxford; his wife's nephew, Beorn, was Earl of Hertfordshire and Buckingham shire; and for the service he had rendered to the king Edward had married his daughter Editha. This union, however, was not happy. Editha was cruelly neglected by Edward, and her father, by his dislike of the Normans, in curred the royal enmity. A quarrel afterward
arose between the king and Godwin, occasioned by the partiality of the former for Norman favorites and Godwin in consequence headed a rebellion, but was compelled to submit and with his family was banished from the kingdom (1051). His estates were confiscated and then given to favorites. Queen Editha was made to feel even more bitterly the misfor tunes of her family. Her husband seized her dower; he took from her her jewels and her money; and allowing her only the attendance of one maiden, he closely confined her in the monastery of Wherwell, of which one of his sisters was lady-abbess. In September 1052, however, Godwin returned with an army, forced Edward to enter into negotiations with him, re-established himself triumphantly in his old supremacy and caused the expulsion from the kingdom of most of the Norman intruders.