Harold Godwinson

“ Only perhaps among the ceorls, at the end of the hall, might be seen some compassion on anxious faces; for before those deeds of crime had been bruited abroad, none among the sons of Godwin more blithe of mien and bold of hand, more honoured and beloved, than Sweyn the outlaw. But the hush that succeeded the charges was appalling in its depth. Godwin himself shaded his face with his mantle, and only those close by could see that his breast heaved and his limbs trembled. ”

“ The stout Vebba looked perplexed; but after stroking his beard thoughtfully, he answered thus:
“Though of Kent, and therefore in his earldom, I am not one of Godwin’s especial party; for that reason was I chosen his bode. Those who are under him doubtless love a chief liberal to give and strong to protect. The old age of a great leader gathers reverence, as an oak gathers moss. But to me, and those like me, living peaceful at home, shunning courts, and tempting not broils, Godwin the man is not dear—it is Godwin the thing.” ”

“ Harold was a more religious man than his father, who was greedy and unscrupulous, and laid hands on some of the possessions of the Church. Unlike the other chief nobles of England at this time, Godwine was not a benefactor to any religious house. His son, however, founded a church at Waltham in honour of the Holy Rood. Contrary to the fashion of the day, he made his foundation collegiate, not monastic; he did not build his church for monks, whose special aim was to secure their own salvation, but made it a college of secular clergy or canons, whose duty it was to do good to others. ”

“ The elder of these youths, whose name was Harold, was particularly amiable, and became the victim of designing men, who worked successfully on his generosity to draw him into their snares. He took up the theory of Godwin, and believed, with more sincerity than his master, in the infinite perfectibility of the human race. Ascribing all the evil which he beheld under the sun to the various corruptions of administration, and the venality of governors, benevolence was in fact the destroying angel of his mind ”

“ It is but to renew the old accusation, to say Godwin's sudden death was God's proof of his crime, and even Edward himself would forgive the Duke for thy bloody death. But grant the best; grant that the more lenient doom were but the prison; grant that Edward and the English invaded Normandy to enforce thy freedom; knowest thou what William hath ere now done with hostages? He hath put them in the van of his army, and seared out their eyes in the sight of both hosts. Deemest thou he would be more gentle to us and to thee? Such are thy dangers. ”

“ On the death of Cnut in 1035 Godwine supported the claim of Harthacnut, the son of Cnut by Emma. In this he was endeavouring to carry out the plan of Cnut, and to secure a continuance of the connection between England and Denmark. While he and the men of his earldom were in favour of Harthacnut, earls Siward and Leofric and the people north of the Thames and the Londoners declared for Harold. A meeting of the witan was held at Oxford; Godwine and the chief men of Wessex persisted as long as they could, and at last yielded to a proposal that the kingdom should be divided [see under Harold I] . ”

“ Harold, in that filial obedience which belonged, as of course, to his antique cast of character, made no farther effort to escape, but with a sigh followed Godwin into one of the contiguous chambers.
“Harold,” then said Earl Godwin, after closing the door carefully, “thou must not let the King keep thee longer in dalliance and idleness: thine earldom needs thee without delay. Thou knowest that these East Angles, as we Saxons still call them, are in truth mostly Danes and Norsemen; people jealous and fierce, and free, and more akin to the Normans than to the Saxons. ”

“ Offer not to the Vala the bath for mortal weariness, and the wine and the food meet for human guests. Sit thee down, daughter of the Dane, and thank thy new gods for the past that hath been thine. Not ours is the present, and the future escapes from our dreams; but the past is ours ever, and all eternity cannot revoke a single joy that the moment hath known.”
Then seating herself in Godwin’s large chair, she leant over her seid-staff, and was silent, as if absorbed in her thoughts.
“Githa,” she said at last, “where is thy lord? I came to touch his hands and to look on his brow.” ”

“ Reign, it is your duty; better to live in glory than die in exile. You are of mature years, and having known sorrow and need, can better feel for your people. Rely on me, and there will be none of the difficulties you dread; whom I favour, England favours.”
And shortly afterwards, in the national assembly, Godwin won Edward his throne. “Powerful in speech, powerful in bringing over people to what he desired, some yielded to his words, some to bribes.” 104 Verily, Godwin was a man to have risen as high, had he lived later! ”

“ We love justice; whatever his offences, Godwin was banished unjustly. We love our laws; Godwin was dishonoured by maintaining them. We love England, and are devoured by strangers; Godwin's cause is England's, and— stranger, forgive me for not concluding."
Then examining the young Norman with a look of rough compassion, he laid his large hand upon the knight's shoulder and whispered:
"Take my advice—and fly."
"Fly!" said De Graville, reddening. "Is it to fly, think you, that I have put on my mail, and girded my sword?" ”

“ The scroll dropped noiseless from Harold’s hand.
“Thus,” said he, mournfully, “hath passed away less a life than a dream! Yet of Sweyn, in our childhood, was Godwin most proud; who so lovely in peace, and so terrible in wrath? My mother taught him the songs of the Baltic, and Hilda led his steps through the woodland with tales of hero and scald. Alone of our House, he had the gift of the Dane in the flow of fierce song, and for him things lifeless had being. ”

“ Godwin placed his hand on Harold’s head, and the tears came to those close cold eyes.
“Thou knowest by nature what I have learned by art. Go, and prosper. Be it as thou wilt.”
“He takes thy post, Sweyn—thou art the elder,” said Tostig, to the wild form by his side. ”

“ As yet, however, she had wholly failed in gaining any ascendancy over the young Earl’s vigorous and healthful mind: and though, before his exile, he came more often than any of Godwin’s sons to the old Roman house, he had smiled with proud incredulity at her vague prophecies, and rejected all her offers of aid from invisible agencies with the calm reply—“The brave man wants no charms to encourage him to his duty, and the good man scorns all warnings that would deter him from fulfilling it.” ”

“ Tostig (as we have seen) had married the daughter of Baldwin, Count of Flanders, sister to Matilda, wife to the Norman Duke: and thus the House of Godwin was triply allied to princely lineage—the Danish, the Saxon, the Flemish. And Tostig might have said, as in his heart William the Norman said, “My children shall descend from Charlemagne and Alfred.”
Godwin’s life, though thus outwardly brilliant, was too incessantly passed in public affairs and politic schemes to allow the worldly man much leisure to watch over the nurture and rearing of the bold spirits of his sons. ”

“ It was stipulated that he should give hostages for his future loyalty and peaceable conduct; and that the primate, and all foreigners, should be sent out of the realm. Godwin died shortly afterwards, whilst sitting at table with the king. He was succeeded in the government of Sussex, Kent, and Essex, as well as in the office of Steward of the Household, by his son Harold, who, equally ambitious as his father, possessed more prudence and address. ”

“ Godwine appears to have been a remarkably able man, ambitious, unscrupulous, and eager for the aggrandisement of his house. His marriage with Gytha, and the benefits which he received from Cnut, naturally gave him Danish sympathies, his two elder sons Swegen, or Swend, and Harold were called by Danish names, and though he lived to represent English national feeling, it is not unlikely that at this period ‘he must have seemed to Englishmen more Dane than Englishman’ (Green, Conquest of England, p. 479) . ”

“ The passing from the scene of the strangely unsubstantial and shadowy figure of the sainted Eadward ‘the Confessor’ was the signal for the bursting of the storm that was to overwhelm Anglo-Saxon England. For the last thirteen years of his reign the country had been practically governed by his great minister, Harold Godwineson, Earl of Wessex. Harold’s character has suffered much at the hands of Norman chroniclers; there is no real reason to think that he was morally worse than most men of his age. ”

“ Ulfnoth, the only remaining son of the bold Godwinsons, was the hostage that Edward the Confessor had placed in the hands of the Duke of Normandy; he was seized upon once more by William Rufus, and remained in captivity till his death. The Conqueror kept his vow, and erected the splendid Battle Abbey on the field that gave him a kingdom. The high altar stood where Harold’s banner had been planted, and the enclosures surrounded every spot where the conflict had raged. ”

“ William extorting a promise from Harold.
HAROLD, THE SAXON KING.
When Earl Godwin breathed his last, under circumstances so memorable, his second son, Harold, succeeded to his earldom, and inherited his influence. A robust and active man, of tall, though not gigantic stature, with long fair hair, a pleasing countenance, dignified manners, [Pg 46] and popular address—such appears to have been Harold, the son of Godwin.
It was when Hardicanute died so suddenly, at the marriage feast at Lambeth, that Harold began to figure in public, and to take a prominent part in national affairs. ”

“ It was then resolved that Elfgiva, the mother of Hardacnute, should remain at Winchester with the household of the king her son. They held all Wessex in hand, and Earl Godwin was their chief man. Some men said of Harold, that he was the son of King Knute and of Elfgive the daughter of Alderman Elfelm; but it was thought very incredible by many men. He was, nevertheless, full king over all England. Harold himself said that he was the son of Knute and of Elfgive the Hampshire lady ”

“ But Godwine refused, saying—what was true enough—that the count's followers were to blame, and the burghers in the right. Edward was angry at the earl's disobedience, and called to him in arms those of the English nobles who were jealous of Godwine, especially Leofric, the Earl of Mercia, and Siward, the Earl of Northumbria. Godwine also gathered a host of the men of Wessex, and it seemed that civil war would begin. But the earl was unwilling to fight the king, and when the Witan outlawed him, he fled over seas to Flanders with his sons, Harold, Swegen, and Tostig. ”

“ Godwine was now dead, and Harold was all-powerful. Leofric of Mercia, Godiva’s husband, still lived, but must have been an old man, since we find his grandsons, only ten years later, men in the vigour of manhood. For some reason or other—it is difficult not to see the hand of the great rival family in the affair—a charge of treason was brought against Leofric’s son, Elfgar, who had, we may remember, received the earldom of East Anglia when it was resigned by Harold on succeeding to Wessex. ”

“ With him fell his plans, both of the Scandinavian Empire and of good government in England. His sons, Harold and Harthacnut, in no way inherited his greatness; they appear to have been little better than savage barbarians. The succession was disputed between them. Godwine and the West Saxons obtained the South of England for Harthacnut, while Harold reigned in the North. But as Harthacnut did not come to England, but remained in his kingdom of Denmark, Godwine was the practical ruler. ”

“ Dissension and strife in our house have they wrought already; and if the feuds between Harold and me have sown grey in thy locks, thank thyself when, flushed with vain soothsayings for thy favoured Harold, thou saidst, in the hour of our first childish broil, 'Strive not with Harold; for his brothers will be his men.'"
"Falsify the prediction," said Godwin, calmly; "wise men may always make their own future, and seize their own fates. Prudence, patience, labour, valour; these are the stars that rule the career of mortals."
Tostig made no answer ”

“ Edith, after a long homily from the King, returned to Hilda; nor did her godmother renew the subject of the convent. All she said on parting, was, “Even in youth the silver cord may be loosened, and the golden bowl may be broken; and rather perhaps in youth than in age, when the heart has grown hard, wilt thou recall with a sigh my counsels.”
Godwin had departed to Wales; all his sons were at their several lordships; Edward was left alone to his monks and relic-venders. ”

“ At his death, Godwin was known to have wished, and even armed, for the restoration of the Saxon line; and only yielded to the determination of the Witan, no doubt acted upon by the popular opinion. Of one dark crime he was suspected, and, despite his oath to the contrary, and the formal acquittal of the national council, doubt of his guilt rested then, as it rests still, upon his name; viz., the perfidious surrender of Alfred, Edward's murdered brother. ”

“ He had not reckoned, however, with the astute Earl Godwine, who was now no longer the zealous adherent of the queen-dowager, but was prepared to make his peace with Harold by the sacrifice of her son.210 He met the young Etheling, swore to become his “man,” guided him to Guildford, billeted his followers about in various inns, caused them to be supplied with meat and drink—especially the latter—in great abundance, and so left them, promising to return on the morrow. ”