Wulfnoth Godwinson

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Wulfnoth Godwinson (b.1040) was a younger brother of Harold II of England, the sixth son of Godwin. He was given as a hostage to Edward the Confessor when the Godwin family returned from exile in 1052 as an assurance of the family's good behaviour and support, and was subsequently handed over to Duke William of Normandy. According to Eadmer's Historia novorum in Anglia, the reason for Harold's excursion to Normandy in 1064 or 1065 was that he wished to free Wulfnoth as well as his nephew Hakon. To this end he took with him a vast amount of wealth, all of which was confiscated by Count Guy I of Ponthieu when Harold and his party were shipwrecked. When later Harold swore an oath to William agreeing to become his vassal and to support his succession to the English crown, one of the promises made by William in return was that Wulfnoth would be returned safe and sound when William had become king. In fact Harold's assumption of the crown broke this agreement and Wulfnoth was never released. He died in chains at Salisbury in 1094.

[edit] Pop culture references

The Anglo-Saxon metal band Forefather wrote a song about Wulfnoth's imprisonment called "Forever in Chains"- track six on their Engla Tocyme album.