Gyrth Godwinson
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Gyrth Godwinson (
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
: ''Gyrð Godƿinson''; 1032 – 14 October 1066) was the fourth son of Earl Godwin, and thus a younger brother of Harold Godwinson. He went with his eldest brother
Sweyn Sweyn is a Scandinavian masculine given name. Notable people with the surname include: Kings: * Sweyn Forkbeard (960–1014), King of Denmark, England, and Norway as Sweyn I * Sweyn or Svein Knutsson (c. 1016–1035), King of Norway as Sweyn II * S ...
into exile to Flanders in 1051, but unlike Sweyn he was able to return with the rest of the clan the following year. Along with his brothers Harold and Tostig, Gyrth was present at his father's death-bed.


Biography

Following the death of his father in April 1053, the Godwinsons managed to retain their hold on England. Harold inherited the Earldom of Wessex and became second in power only to the king. Gyrth was made Earl of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire some time between 1055 and 1057. Together with his brother Leofwine's Earldoms of Kent, Essex, Middlesex, Hertford, Surrey and probably Buckinghamshire the Godwinsons now controlled the entirety of East England. According to
Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis (; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England.Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 6 Working out of ...
and
William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury (; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a gifted historical scholar and a ...
, Gyrth tried (ineffectually) to prevent Harold from engaging William of Normandy in battle, saying that he instead could lead the English forces and that he must stay in London to lead another battle and reminding him of the oath which he had sworn to William. Harold, however, ignored Gyrth's advice. Gyrth fought at and was killed in the
Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England. It took place appr ...
alongside his brothers Harold and Leofwine.''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' (D and E), 1066


Popular culture

Gyrth was portrayed by actor Malcolm Webster in the two-part
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
TV play ''Conquest'' (1966), part of the series '' Theatre 625''.


Citations


Sources

* *


External links

* House of Godwin Anglo-Norse people Anglo-Saxon people Norman conquest of England Earls of East Anglia 11th-century English nobility Anglo-Saxons killed in battle 1030s births 1066 deaths {{House of Godwin