earl of Wessex Godwine

Godwine, earl of Wessex (d. 1053). Godwine rose to prominence in the reign of Cnut, as one of his chief advisers, and has traditionally been held responsible for the brutal death of Æthelred the Unready's exiled son Alfred in 1036. When the Danish line ended (1042), Godwine supported the accession of Alfred's brother Edward, who married Godwine's daughter. With his sons established in earldoms, his area of influence was vast. In 1053 Godwine died, his enemies said choking while protesting his innocence of Alfred's murder. Wessex passed to his son Harold, who died at Hastings in 1066.