Godwin
Godwin or Godwine (both: gŏd'wĭn), d. 1053, earl of Wessex. He became chief adviser to King Canute, was created (c.1018) an earl, and was given great wealth and lands. After Canute's death (1035) Godwin and Queen Emma, Canute's widow, supported the claims to succession of her son Harthacanute, against those of Canute's illegitimate son Harold Harefoot. Godwin apparently permitted the murder of another claimant to the throne, Alfred Ætheling, son of Queen Emma by her first husband, Æthelred the Unready, and brother of Edward (later Edward the Confessor). This brutality seems to have earned Godwin the enmity of Harthacanute and of Edward, who succeeded Harthacanute. Nevertheless, Godwin became even more powerful; he secured earldoms for his sons Sweyn and Harold and married (1045) his daughter, Edith, to Edward. In 1051, when Edward ordered Godwin to punish the people of Dover for a fracas with Eustace II of Boulogne and his retinue, Godwin took the opportunity to challenge the king's strength by refusing. Edward met the challenge and exiled Godwin and his family. However, in 1052, taking advantage of the popular dislike of the king's Norman friends, Godwin and his sons led an armed invasion of England, and the settlement they forced upon Edward restored Godwin to his former importance and outlawed many of the Norman newcomers. Godwin was succeeded as earl of Wessex by his son Harold.
Bibliography
See F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (3d ed. 1971).
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Godwin
Godwin is an Anglo-Saxon name. It may refer to:
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Contents
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People
- Arts and entertainment
- Godwin Mercado, Computer Scientist, Professional Dota Player
- Edward William Godwin (1833-1886), English architect
- Fay Godwin (1931-2005), British photographer
- Frank Godwin (1889-1959), American illustrator, creator of Connie comic strip
- Gail Godwin (born 1937), American novelist and short story writer
- George Godwin, architectural journalist
- George Stanley Godwin, author
- Jeff Godwin, American fundamentalist, former rock musician
- Joscelyn Godwin (born 1945), English musicologist and translator
- Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 1797–1851), author of Frankenstein
- Parke Godwin (born 1929), American writer
- Parke Godwin (journalist) (1816-1904), American journalist
- Paul Godwin (1902-1982), Polish violinist and bandleader
- Peter Godwin (writer)
- Peter Godwin (singer)
- Ted Godwin (born 1933), Canadian artist
- Tom Godwin (writer)
- Politics and governance
- Godwin, Earl of Wessex
- Hannibal Lafayette Godwin (1873-1929), North Carolina Congressman
- Mills E. Godwin Jr. (1914-1999), Virginia Governor
- William Godwin, political philosopher
- Religion
- Saint Godwin of Stavelot
- Francis Godwin (1562-1633), English bishop
- Godwin (bishop), a bishop of Lichfield
- Jeff Godwin, American fundamentalist, former rock musician
- Thomas Godwin (bishop)
- Science
- Harry Godwin (1901-1985), English botanist
- Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen (1834-1923), English geologist and ornithologist
- Linda M. Godwin (born 1952), American astronaut
- Robert Alfred Cloynes Godwin-Austen (1808-1884), English geologist
- Sport
- John Godwin (baseball), American baseball player
- John Godwin (rower), British rower at the 1924 Olympics
- Neville Godwin (born 1975), South African tennis player
- Tommy Godwin (footballer)
- Tommy Godwin (cyclist born 1912), English cyclist and world record holder for miles covered in a year
- Tommy Godwin (cyclist born 1920), British track cyclist active during the 1940s and 1950s
- Wayne Godwin (born 1982), English rugby player
- Other people
- Becky Godwin (1954-1968), daughter of Virginia Governor Godwin, killed by lightning
- Glen Stewart Godwin (born 1958), American murderer, FBI Ten Most Wanted
- James Godwin, admiral in US Navy
- John Godwin (Royal Navy officer), British Naval Reserve officer during World War II
- Mike Godwin (born 1956), American lawyer, created Godwin's Law of Internet discussions
Fictional people
- Neil Godwin, fictional character from The Office
Places
Other
- General Godwin, convict ship
See also
- Godwin's Law on Nazi comparisons in Internet discussions
- Goodwin (disambiguation)
- List of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) surnames
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