Swegen
Swegen, was the son of Earl Godwin, and the brother of Harold, Eadgyth, Tostig and Gyrth. By the time Edward the Confessor became king in 1042, Earl Godwin was the most powerful Anglo-Saxon in England. To maintain Godwin's loyalty Edward married his daughter, Edith. Godwin hoped that his daughter would have a son but Edward had taken a vow of celibacy and it soon became clear that the couple would not produce an heir to the throne.
Godwin's sons also became powerful figures in England. Swegen was earl of Hereford, Gloucester and Oxford whereas Harold held the earldom of East Anglia.
In 1046 was outlawed for seducing the abbess of Leominister. His brother Harold and his cousin Beorn, shared his earldoms of Hereford, Gloucester and Oxford. Harold and Beorn opposed the restoration of Swegen in 1049. When he returned to England he killed Beorn and was forced to flee to Flanders.
Robert of Jumieges became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1050. He now tried to use his new position to destroy Godwin's influence with Edward the Confessor.
In 1051 a group of Normans became involved in a brawl at Dover and several men were killed. Edward the Confessor ordered Godwin, as earl of Wessex, to punish the people living in the town for this attack on his Norman friends. Godwin refused and instead raised an army against the king. Godwin marched on Gloucester but a war was averted when it was agreed that the Witan would sort out the dispute.
The earls of Mercia and Northumbria remained loyal to the king and the Witan eventually declared that Godwin and his sons had five days to leave England. Godwin and his sons, Harold, Tostig and Gyrth, joined Swegen in Flanders. Swegen died in 1052 while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
