GOD'WIN, or GODWINE ( ?-1053). An earl of the West-Saxons. Nothing is known definitely of him until 1018, when he is described as dux or earl. About 1020 he was Canute's most power ful official. More than any other person he con tributed to the elevation of Edward the Confessor to the English throne, and from that time God win was the head of the national party, as op posed to the Norman Court favorites. He was Earl of Wessex, and enormously wealthy; his son Swegen was Earl of Hereford, Gloucester. and Oxford; his son Harold was Earl of East Anglia ; his wife's nephew, Beorn, was Earl of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire; and his daughter Edith was Edward's Queen. As the Nor man party became powerful, Godwin's influence over the King declined. The crimes of his son Swegen, who was outlawed for the seduction of an abbess and the murder of his cousin Beorn, weakened his position. Finally in 1051, when Godwin refused to obey the orders of Edward, to punish the citizens of Dover on account of com plaints of ill treatment made by the Normans, he lost the Kifig's favor, was outlawed, and fled to Flanders. Godwin attempted to treat with the
King, but finding this of no avail, resorted to violence, encouraged in this by the promises of support extended him everywhere in England. In September, 1052, he sailed up the Thames with a strong fleet and was enthusiastically re ceived by the people. The King yielded, and on September 15th restored to him and his family all his property which had been confiscated. Soon after Godwin became ill, and died, April 14, 1053. Consult: Freeman, The Norman Conquest, vols. i. and ii. (Oxford, 1870-79), for a favor able view of Godwin; and Green, The Conquest of England (London and New York, 1883), for a rather unfavorable estimate.