Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/283

OlSr THE LIFE AND DEATH OF EARL GOD WINE. 247 plan of conciliation between the Danes and the English, bestowed the sister of Ulf (the husband of his own sister Estrith) on " the satrap of the English, Godwine," to whom she bore Harold, Biorn, and Tostig/ The earlier English authorities give more fragmentary information. The Chronicle gives no formal list, but mentions of Godwine's children, Harold, Swegen, Tostig, Gyrth, Leofwine, and Eadgyth. Florence to this adds (a. 1051), that Swegen was the eldest, and seems to imply that Harold was the second son. He also (a. 1067) calls the mother of Harold Gytha, sister of Svend, King of the Danes. So, also, Simeon of Durham. But Florence previously (a. 1049) calls Ulf, the father of Svend, the " avunculus " of the sons of Godwine, which would make their mother the sister of Ulf, not of his son. In Domesday Book we find "Gytha mater Heraldi," " Gytha Comitissa," and the like, in various forms and spellings. The historical sons of Godwine all also occur in that record. It may, also, perhaps, help us to two daughters of Godwine, besides Queen Eadgyth. There is an entry of " iElveva soror Heraldi,'"^ which must be taken in connection with the fact recorded by some writers, that William of Normandy, among the obligations which he laid upon Harold, required his sister to be given to one of the Norman nobles.^ According to Sir Henry Ellis,^ Godwine had a third daughter, Gunhild, who is entered in Domesday among the Godwine family, and in the Exeter Domesday appears distinctly as " Gunnila filia Comitis Godwini." The Knytlinga Saga, quoted by Turner, states, as we have seen, that Godwine's early patron Ulf bestowed on him the hand of his sister Gyda. The romantic legend called " Vita Haroldi," tells a strange tale of a stratagem by which Godwine obtained in marriage the sister of Cnut." 7 Benevolentiam enim quam Canutus Godwine married Ulf's sister, and not perfidis Ulvonis meritis denefjavit, con- Cnut's. sanguinese sibi prolis respectui tribuendani ^ Ellis' Introd., i. 309. putavit. Quinetiam sororem Anglorum ^ Sim. Dun. a. 1066. satrapse Godwino nuptiis junxit, gentem ^ Introd. ii. 136. genti animis atque attinitxite couserere - Chroniques Anglo- Normandes, ii. 157. cupiens. Ex qua Haralduni, Biornoncm, Cnut, jealous of Godwine's abilities, Tostonemque ortos memoria proditum sends him into Denmark with lettei's, habemus, 196. Saxo's Latin is none of ordering the Danes, or some of them, to the clearest, but I suppose he means that cut off his head. Godwine, like the slave VOL. XI. K K