229:
307:, Frank Barlow sympathetically examined the arguments put forward by Anscombe and Lundie Barlow. He included a family tree based on their work, showing Godwin's descent from Æthelred I, and at one point described Wulfnoth Cild as the son of Æthelmær the Stout. Elsewhere he was more cautious, describing Wulfnoth as the probable son of Æthelmær, and questioning whether a family which had used names for seven generations almost all starting with Æthel- or Ælf- would suddenly have thrown up a Wulfnoth, particularly as Æthelmær the Stout's known sons continued the tradition. He stated nevertheless that "This pedigree, even if mistaken, is of the right type."
296:. Though the Worcester chronicler gives his Agelmær a different father from the known father of Ealdorman Æthelmær, and Anscombe points out its inherent chronological problems, he argues that, though flawed, the pedigree retains the memory of a father-son relationship between Æthelmær the Stout and Wulfnoth Cild. Æthelmær was the son of the late tenth-century chronicler and ealdorman
348:, only the son of a present or former king could be an ætheling, and when Edward the Confessor gave this designation to his great-nephew Edgar, it was a form of adoption without known recent precedent, because for the first time since the beginning of the ninth century there was no living ætheling in the strict sense of a son of a king.
336:: "The Anglo-Saxon ætheling in the period from the ninth-century Scandinavian settlements to the Norman Conquest was a prince of the royal house. He shared with the reigning king descent from a common grandfather at least". All known West Saxon æthelings after 900 were the sons of kings except for Harold's rival for the throne in 1066,
310:
Frank Barlow is almost alone among modern scholars in taking the theory seriously. Peter Rex, in his biography of Harold, describes Godwin as one of Cnut's new men, and dismisses claims that the family had aristocratic ancestry. Emma Mason, in her history of the Godwin family, describes
Wulfnoth as a
219:
means child, young man, warrior); his ability to detach twenty ships from the royal fleet suggests a man of at least local importance. Frank Barlow goes further, arguing that Godwin must have been of aristocratic origin, and that the family's massive land holdings in Sussex are indisputable evidence
279:
in Alfred the Great's will. It was later in the possession of
Wulfnoth, presumably confiscated after his rebellion, and left to "Godwin, Wulfnoth's son" in 1014 in Æthelstan Ætheling's will. Immediately before the bequest to Godwin is one to an "Ælmære". Calling him Ælmær, Anscombe identifies this
164:
married Godwin's daughter Edith. If Godwin was Æthelric's great-grandson, then Edith was his great-great-granddaughter. David Kelley, however, argues that Edward, being a child of a later marriage, could have been almost a generation younger than his sister, and if both he and Eadric married much
159:
this is chronologically impossible. If the relationship were true, the pedigree would result in a significant generational displacement, with two children of Æthelred the
Unready marrying the son and great-great-granddaughter of Æthelric. Æthelred's daughter Eadgyth married Æthelric's son Eadric
165:
younger wives and if Eadric was among the youngest brothers of Æthelmær, this could close up the chronological differences. John of
Worcester also stated that Wulfnoth's rebellion was provoked by unjust charges brought by Eadric Streona's brother, Brihtric.
311:
mystery man who was probably a minor figure at court in the late tenth century, and Ian Walker in his biography of Harold gives a similar description of
Wulfnoth as "a relatively minor figure who attended court only infrequently". Williams in her
178:, who was Harold's sister, is silent on her family's origin. In a section designed to eulogise her family, Godwin is described as "blessed in his ancestral stock", but nothing further is said of this stock. In the view of the historian
332:, that is throne-worthy princes of the royal house. In earlier Anglo-Saxon times, eligibility depended on descent from the fifth- or sixth-century founder of each kingdom, but it later became more restricted. According to
327:
Even if Harold was descended from Æthelred I, it would not have given him a hereditary claim to the throne according to the rules of royal succession in later Anglo-Saxon
England. Eligibility was confined to
52:, but he was young and lacked powerful supporters. Harold was the head of the most powerful family in England and Edward's brother-in-law, and he became king. In September 1066 Harold defeated and killed King
284:, in his view the father of Wulfnoth Cild. He supports this relationship with two further arguments. He finds significance in the occurrence in documents of an Æthelmær with the same epithet as Wulfnoth,
22:
1261:
144:. In 1009 Wulfnoth was accused of unknown crimes at a muster of King Æthelred's fleet, and fled with twenty ships; a force sent in pursuit was destroyed in a storm.
94:, and by the mid-1050s Harold and his brothers had become dominant, almost monopolising the English earldoms. Godwin's origin is obscure. He was probably the son of
319:
article on Harold, do not mention the theory when discussing Godwin's ancestry, and according to
Stenton: "Of his origin nothing can be said with any assurance."
292:
argument "untenable". Anscombe also cites in support of his thesis John of
Worcester's pedigree showing Godwin's father Wulfnoth as son of Agelmær, a brother of
228:
137:
it is likely that he was the Godwin mentioned in Æthelstan Ætheling's will. Historians think that he was probably the son of the outlawed South Saxon
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260:. The theory was first proposed by the historian Alfred Anscombe in 1913, and advocated by the genealogist Lundie W. Barlow in 1957 and the
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says of Godwin: "The origins of this parvenu are extremely obscure." He was "the quintessential new man". However, Williams says that the
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300:, whose own writings record that he was descended from Æthelred I, although the exact nature of this descent has been debated.
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is probably first recorded in 1014, when Godwin, son of
Wulfnoth, was left land at a place called Compton in the will of King
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182:: "There is massive evasion here." Historians generally discount a later medieval tradition that he was the son of a
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951:
Studies in
Genealogy and Family History. Tribute to Charles Evans on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday
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The theory depends in part on tracing the ownership of certain estates, especially Compton in
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82:, who had risen to a position of wealth and influence in the 1020s under Danish King
344:. Edgar was thus an ætheling according to Dumville's definition, but in the view of
1201:
Yorke, Barbara (2001). "Edward as Ætheling". In Higham, N. J.; Hill, D. H. (eds.).
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369:
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907:
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329:
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155:, both sons of an otherwise unknown Æthelric, but in the view of the historian
110:(865–71), but almost all historians of Anglo-Saxon England reject this theory.
1143:
977:
Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources
843:
503:
376:. Cnut probably arranged the marriage between Godwin and Gytha in about 1022.
356:
Godwin's wife, and the mother of his children including Harold and Edith, was
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851:
958:
931:
151:, Godwin was the son of a Wulfnoth who was the son of Æthelmær, brother of
288:, though another advocate of the theory, Lundie Barlow, found Anscombe's
261:
872:"Harold II [Harold Godwineson] (1022/3?–1066), king of England"
830:(1979). "The ætheling, a study in Anglo-Saxon constitutional history".
814:
Barlow, Lundie W. (1957). "The Antecedents of Earl Godwine of Wessex".
784:
364:, a Dane whose origin is unknown, although he was probably a Dane from
365:
257:
244:
A few scholars have put forward a genealogical reconstruction making
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1179:"The Family and Career of Harold II Godwineson, King of the English"
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64:, and Harold was himself defeated and killed the following month by
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died in January 1066 his closest relative was his great-nephew,
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that the Wulfnoth who was Godwin's father was the Saxon thegn.
1144:"Godwine [Godwin], earl of Wessex (d. 1053), magnate"
1122:
Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England c.500-1066
949:(1989). "The House of Aethelred". In Brook, L. L. (ed.).
275:, which was probably the Compton left to Æthelred's son
129:. As Earl Godwin was later recorded as holding land at
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953:. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. pp. 63–93.
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816:New England Historical and Genealogical Register
797:The Godwins:The Rise and Fall of a Noble Dynasty
998:The House of Godwine: The History of a Dynasty
1188:, Sapporo, Japan, on 21 November 2006. Hokuga
8:
765:Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
315:article on Godwin, and Robin Fleming in her
147:According to the twelfth-century chronicler
1262:Medieval genealogies and succession lists
1124:. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan Press Ltd.
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215:the South Saxon" implies a man of rank (
32:Very little is known for certain of the
1148:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
1038:. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
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189:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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160:Streona, while Eadgyth's half-brother
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78:is named after Harold's father, Earl
36:, the family of the last Anglo-Saxon
7:
1232:Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
1000:. London, UK: Hambledon and London.
442:
666:
14:
1105:. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing.
1101:Harold: The Last Anglo-Saxon King
236:, AD 873–888 (11th-century copy,
1017:Harold II: The Doomed Saxon King
924:Dictionary of National Biography
196:) article on Godwin's son, King
340:, who was the grandson of King
761:"The Pedigree of Earl Godwine"
1:
86:. In 1045 Godwin's daughter,
1170:UK public library membership
908:UK public library membership
174:, commissioned by his widow
171:Life of Edward the Confessor
25:King Harold depicted on the
1205:. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
1150:. Oxford University Press.
1082:. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
926:. Oxford University Press.
878:. Oxford University Press.
372:married King Cnut's sister
1278:
1058:Queen Emma and Queen Edith
240:Stowe MS 944, ff. 29v–33r)
16:Ancestry of a noble family
1034:Smyth, Alfred P. (1995).
844:10.1017/S026367510000301X
759:Anscombe, Alfred (1913).
211:s reference to "Wulfnoth
62:Battle of Stamford Bridge
1203:Edward the Elder 899–924
1186:Hokkai Gakuen University
513:at the Electronic Sawyer
323:Succession to the throne
264:scholar and genealogist
1097:Walker, Ian W. (1997).
733:, pp. 76, 82, 88..
559:Keynes and Lapidge 1983
252:'s elder brother, King
106:'s elder brother, King
34:ancestry of the Godwins
1177:Williams, Ann (2006).
1156:10.1093/ref:odnb/56555
1120:Williams, Ann (1999).
1019:. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
884:10.1093/ref:odnb/12360
241:
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1036:King Alfred the Great
280:legatee as Ealdorman
231:
207:Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
66:William the Conqueror
24:
1257:Anglo-Saxon families
996:Mason, Emma (2004).
981:. Penguin Classics.
561:, pp. 177, 321.
358:Gytha Thorkelsdóttir
186:or a farmer. In her
162:Edward the Confessor
123:Æthelred the Unready
92:Edward the Confessor
46:Edward the Confessor
1080:Anglo-Saxon England
1015:Rex, Peter (2005).
832:Anglo-Saxon England
799:. Pearson Longman.
717:, pp. 12, 32;
621:, pp. 131–132.
597:, pp. 133–134.
585:, pp. 136–137.
1252:Anglo-Norse people
645:, pp. 21, 27.
509:2016-03-04 at the
481:, pp. 132–33.
362:Thorgils Sprakaleg
338:Edgar the Ætheling
282:Æthelmær the Stout
242:
127:Æthelstan Ætheling
70:Battle of Hastings
50:Edgar the Ætheling
30:
1168:(subscription or
1131:978-0-312-22090-7
1089:978-0-19-280139-5
1076:Stenton, Frank M.
1067:978-0-631-16679-5
1054:Stafford, Pauline
988:978-0-14-044409-4
920:"Godwin (d.1053)"
906:(subscription or
893:978-0-19-861412-8
806:978-0-582-78440-6
681:, pp. 24–25.
657:, pp. 25–26.
549:, pp. 63–93.
469:, pp. 23–24.
457:, pp. 70–71.
360:. Her father was
303:In his 2002 book
224:Æthelred I theory
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643:Barlow 2002
607:Barlow 1957
571:Barlow 2002
547:Kelley 1989
535:Barlow 1957
491:Barlow 2002
467:Barlow 2002
455:Kelley 1989
305:The Godwins
273:West Sussex
246:the Godwins
119:Earl Godwin
1241:Categories
1192:2 February
1161:19 January
937:19 January
899:19 January
771:: 129–50.
719:Smyth 1995
679:Mason 2004
631:Yorke 2001
380:References
298:Æthelweard
114:Background
108:Æthelred I
76:The family
1228:Ælfmær 16
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910:required)
860:159954001
852:0263-6751
443:Hunt 1890
330:æthelings
277:Æthelhelm
268:in 1989.
1142:(2004).
1078:(1971).
1056:(2001).
959:22235011
932:13955143
918:(1890).
870:(2004).
838:: 1–33.
822:: 30–38.
795:(2002).
667:Rex 2005
507:Archived
502:Charter
262:Mayanist
232:Will of
785:3678418
752:Sources
374:Estrith
131:Compton
125:'s son
68:at the
60:at the
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504:S 1507
366:Scania
258:Wessex
135:Sussex
80:Godwin
58:Norway
1182:(PDF)
856:S2CID
781:JSTOR
767:. 3.
184:churl
176:Edith
139:thegn
100:thegn
88:Edith
1207:ISBN
1194:2015
1163:2015
1126:ISBN
1107:ISBN
1084:ISBN
1062:ISBN
1040:ISBN
1021:ISBN
1002:ISBN
983:ISBN
955:OCLC
939:2015
928:OCLC
901:2015
888:ISBN
848:ISSN
801:ISBN
317:ODNB
313:ODNB
290:Cild
286:Cild
217:cild
213:cild
194:ODNB
168:The
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1152:doi
880:doi
840:doi
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773:doi
370:Ulf
256:of
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