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.
The
Normans: Classroom Activities
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