Harold by Ian W. Walker Read Free Book Online Page B

or even for her supposed provocation of Magnus of Norway to invade. However, it seems unlikely that Emma should wish Magnus to invade as she would then lose her influence as Queen Mother, unless she proposed to marry him and so become queen again! It is more likely that Edward’s action was prompted by his desire to take a wife, who would usurp Emma’s position of influence as Queen Mother, a position she had resolutely sought to maintain through the previous seven years. 45
    Another indication of the growing links between the king and Earl Godwine in this period came in 1044 when Eadsige, Archbishop of Canterbury, resigned his post due to infirmity. The latter sought permission to consecrate Siward, Abbot of Abingdon, as suffragan in his place, not only from King Edward, as was customary, but also from Earl Godwine. We should beware of reading more into this than is necessary. Some have seen it as evidence of Godwine’s interference in Church appointments but, with the exception of the events of 1051, there is otherwise little sign of this. Instead, it was probably an attempt to gain strong secular support for the archbishopric in what was likely to be a difficult period. The sickly Archbishop Eadsige would no longer be in a position to personally maintain the Church’s rights to its lands and properties. He would therefore require the active assistance and protection of powerful secular authorities including the king and, in the local context, Earl Godwine, providing another example of king and earl acting in concert. In return for his agreement to fulfil this protective role by supporting Siward in the shire courts, Godwine probably received grants of Church lands. These grants, although no doubt judged by Eadsige as a worthwhile investment at this time, would be perceived rather differently by his successor and were to cause considerable difficulties for Godwine. However, such problems lay in the future, and for the moment king and earl worked together. 46
    In return for such backing by the three earls, and by Godwine in particular, King Edward issued rewards of land and authority and many of these naturally fell to Godwine’s family. Among these were earldoms for two of Earl Godwine’s sons, Swein and Harold, the future king, and for his nephew, Beorn. The seal was set on this alliance between the king and his great earl when King Edward married Earl Godwine’s eldest daughter, Edith, on 23 January 1045. In this year Earl Godwine was at the height of his power and influence. He was father-in-law of the king, he was Earl of Wessex, the richest earldom in England, and members of his family held a further three small earldoms. 47

TWO
H AROLD , S ON OF G ODWINE
    His eldest – and also his wisest – son Harold, . . . wielded his father’s powers even more actively, and walked in his ways. 1
    E arl Godwine had survived this crisis period between 1035 and 1042 and emerged, as a result of his new alliance with King Edward, with enhanced power and influence. As part of this triumph his elder sons, royal brothers-in-law, entered public affairs, including his second son, Harold, the later king, who became Earl of East Anglia. Harold witnessed several royal diplomas, dated to 1044 and 1045, as nobilis or ministri but he first appears as earl at the head of the Norfolk witnesses in the will of Thurstan, son of Wine, which has been dated to 1044. This apparent confusion may arise from differing dates for the start of the year, but what is clear is that from 1045 onwards, Harold is styled dux or earl in all surviving royal diplomas. 2
    There had been no earl in East Anglia since Cnut removed Earl Thorkell in 1021. The main reason for Harold’s appointment here and at this time probably lay in the renewed threat from Scandinavia at the start of King Edward’s reign. Cnut had needed no earl to defend this region after 1021, when he himself had controlled Denmark and dominated Norway thereby neutralizing any potential Viking