Editing Godwin, Earl of Wessex (section)

==Later conflicts, decline, and death==
[[File:Public_Schools_Historical_Atlas_-_England_1065.jpg|thumb|England in 1065; Earldoms in Godwin's immediate house are those east of Dehaubarth and Gwent shaded white]]

Soon after Edward became king, he extended Godwin's jurisdiction to include Kent.<ref>Baxter, p. 1191 and n. 14; Licence, pp. 101-102</ref> Then in January 1045, Godwin secured the marriage of his daughter [[Edith of Wessex|Edith]] (Eadgyth) to the king.<ref>Weir, p. 33</ref>

As Edward drew advisors, nobles and priests from his – and his mother's – Normano-French circle to develop his own power base, Godwin led opposition to the influx of the nascent European [[Normans|Norman]] dominion. After a violent clash between people of [[Dover, England|Dover]] and the visiting [[Eustace II]], [[Count of Boulogne]], Godwin was ordered to punish the people of Dover (as he and [[Leofric, Earl of Mercia]] had done in [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], in that earldom). This time, however, Godwin refused, choosing to champion his own countrymen against a visiting foreign power and defying his own king. Edward saw this as a test of power, negotiating the backing of [[Siward, Earl of Northumbria]] and Leofric, Earl of Mercia, to [[attainder|attaint]] and exile Godwin. Godwin and his sons were exiled from England in September 1051. He along with his wife Gytha and sons Sweyn, Tostig and Gyrth sought refuge in [[Flanders]]; sons Leofwine and Harold fled to [[Dublin]], where they gained the shelter and help of [[Diarmait mac Máel na mBó]], [[List of kings of Leinster|King of Leinster]]. They all returned to England the next year with armed forces, gaining the support of the navy, burghers, and peasants, so compelling Edward to restore the earldom. This set a precedent: followed by a rival earl before 1066; then by Godwin's own son, Tostig, in 1066.

The year after his restoration to earldom, on 15 April, Godwin died suddenly, days after collapsing at a royal banquet at [[Winchester]]. Contemporary accounts indicating that he just had a sudden illness, possibly a [[stroke]]. According to the Abingdon version of the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', under the year 1053: "On Easter Monday, as he was sitting with the king at a meal he suddenly sank towards the footstool bereft of speech, and deprived of all his strength. Then he was carried to the king's private room and they thought it was about to pass off. But it was not so. On the contrary, he continued like this without speech or strength right on to the Thursday, and then departed this life."<ref>[[David C. Douglas|Douglas, David C.]] (1990) ''William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England'' London: Methuen.  {{ISBN|0-413-24320-6}}, p. 412.</ref> But according to one colourful account by the 12th-century writer [[Aelred of Rievaulx]], which appears to be no more than [[Normans|Norman]] propaganda, Godwin tried to disclaim responsibility for Alfred Ætheling's death with the words "May this crust which I hold in my hand pass through my throat and leave me unharmed to show that I was guiltless of treason towards you, and that I was innocent of your brother's death!".  The work says he then swallowed the crust, but it stuck in his throat and killed him.<ref>[[David C. Douglas|Douglas, David C.]] (1990) ''William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England'' London: Methuen.  {{ISBN|0-413-24320-6}}, pp. 412–413.</ref> 

His son Harold (Godwinson) succeeded him as Earl of Wessex, that is, overlord of roughly the southernmost third of England. On the deaths of Earl Siward of Northumbria (1055) and later Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia (1062), the children of Godwin were poised to take near-total overlordship of England, under the king. Tostig was helped into the earldom of Northumbria, approximating to England's northern third. The Mercian earl for the central third of England was then sidelined, especially after Harold and Tostig broke the Welsh-Mercian alliance in 1063. Harold later succeeded Edward the Confessor and became King of England in his own right in 1066. At this point, both Harold's remaining brothers in England were among his nominally loyal earls, Wessex vested in the King directly, and he had married the sister of Earl E(a)dwin(e) of Mercia and of [[Morcar, Earl of Northumbria]] (who had replaced Tostig). Thus this "[[House of Godwin]]" looked set to found a multi-generational royal dynasty, but instead Harold was overthrown and killed in the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]].